http://www.nmpinsurance.com/case_study/NMP_case_study_07-25-07.pdf
So basically, even if I do everything correctly AND someone that would have died otherwise ends up being cured, I still might end up paying for John Edwards' haircuts?
(Exhibit A, Jackass)
Reminds me of a lawsuit we talked about in conference. Young child from third world nation with medullo. Treated pro-bono at US academic medical center. All side effects discussed and documented and consent signed. Kid is cured of his cancer and lives long enough to experience said side effects. Parents sue. Settled out of court for multi-millions.
By definition, medical malpractice requires DEVIATION from accepted standards of practice and said deviation causes injury to the patient. I get the lawsuits when you cut the wrong leg off, but what the hell are you supposed to do when you do what you're supposed to do, and what you do works.
Hey, how about the next time when the fire department comes to save your house, why don't you sue them for water damage afterwards? Some people are scumbags.
7 comments:
Where's all the angst coming from, Dave? Are you preparing for another career in politics or law? Or maybe you should write for the Chronicle.
at least you're not the "hospital"... im sure that i'll be sued for something in my career... cool thing is... even though i have corporations set up to "hide" my home, etc from lawsuits... reality is........ they are still "open", if they really want to come after them.... GREAT stuff... at least you can "hide" under Duke.......
who knows what will happen... save room for the photography thing... i can be a pretty good backup shooter... :)
I had to laugh when I found this out: there are lawyers whose job is to read the local newspapers and the internet looking for stories with lawsuit potential. How does that call go? "Hello. You're answering the phone at home during the day because you are a high school dropout and don't work and have no money and the man is keeping you down. Would you like for me to try to get you money with absolutely no risk?" My infectious disease buddies have a name for something like this.
In 2005, 56 Dental schools produced 4478 graduates. In 2006, 125 medical schools produced 15925 graduates. In 2007, 195 law schools produced 43920 graduates.
It's not the Spartans at Thermopylae, but they still outnumber us, and they all have to eat and drive porsches. There's only so much room in Congress for all of them (48 senators and 148 representatives with a JD vs. 3 senators and 10 reps with an MD, one of whom has a JD as well). Duke celebrated when Edwards got elected.
Why the angst? Ed's got a very nice house. I've seen it. He's worked hard for it and built it through service and dedication and helping other people. But right now, there are literally hundreds of people, whose character and worth are not worth one of his ugly duck hooks, hoping something bad happens to one of his patients so they can take it. That bugs the sh*t out of me.
Maybe worse than the parasitic lawyers are the so called "experts" who are paid a bunch of money to testify for the litigators. Anyone can sue for any reason. Should there be a penalty for bogus lawsuits? I'm sure some of you heard about the lawyer who sued a Korean dry cleaner because they apparently lost his pants. He sued them for $67 millions dollars. Check out the story http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=3119381
Thankfully he lost the case and was ordered to pay for the dry cleaners' lawyer bills.
I know Ed and I don't have to deal with the crazy malpractice premiums you other guys have, but this is reason enough to be scared if Edwards gets anywhere near the oval office.
Dave, are you becoming a Republican?
By the way, Dave, when you were referring to Ed's ugly duck hook, were you talking about his golf or basketball shot?
you sound like my husband. it looks like you two can bond over the evil of malpractice in addition to the bowflex.
You all should come to Florida. This is where lawyers come to die, so there are almost as many as there are mosquitos, except you can't poison the mosquitos .... legally anyway.
Florida has a homestead act that says that even if you lose a lawsuit you can't lose your house.
So all the private practice guys buy enormous houses, put pretty much all of their liquid assets into their houses. Oh they also buy huge life insurance policies into which they also dump big bucks because you can't lose your life insurance either. They then borrow against either one if they need money.
So most docs around here go "bare" and don't carry malpractice insurance. If they get sued, they don't have any assets to take.
I would have to add here that part of the problem is that general counsel at medical centers also tend to have cotton balls. They tend to settle instead of fighting things out. Maybe if some of the scumbags lost $50,000 on a court case these things would stop.
And what is this talk about whether Dave is a Republican. Automatic registration comes with the MD degree, my friend. Or when your income crosses a certain threshold.
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