Comments on: Are insurance companies forcing defense attorneys to settle? http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing.html Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:56:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Anonymoushttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing.html#comment-66008 Anonymous Mon, 07 Aug 2006 15:09:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing-defense-attorneys-to-settle.html#comment-66008 Who gives a fuck? Just let the Sodomites settle with each other, as long as it doesn;t hit your pocketbook. Why fight this bullshit system? As to the idea that settling a case will hurt your reputation as a doc, again, who gives a fuck? Maybe it'll teach you it's time to get out of your stupid raped specailty like Emergency medicine or OB-GYn and let women deliver babies in Mexico or something, who needs this lawyer bullshit, I can work at home selling porno movies online and I don't have to deal with these lawyer assholes. Just remember, these lawyer assholes can't put you in jail or take away your children just because you did your job and some poor scmuck had a bad outcome and can make a jury of your "peers" cry. Who gives a fuck? Just let the Sodomites settle with each other, as long as it doesn;t hit your pocketbook. Why fight this bullshit system? As to the idea that settling a case will hurt your reputation as a doc, again, who gives a fuck? Maybe it’ll teach you it’s time to get out of your stupid raped specailty like Emergency medicine or OB-GYn and let women deliver babies in Mexico or something, who needs this lawyer bullshit, I can work at home selling porno movies online and I don’t have to deal with these lawyer assholes. Just remember, these lawyer assholes can’t put you in jail or take away your children just because you did your job and some poor scmuck had a bad outcome and can make a jury of your “peers” cry.

]]> By: Greedy Trial Lawyerhttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing.html#comment-65869 Greedy Trial Lawyer Sat, 05 Aug 2006 09:55:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing-defense-attorneys-to-settle.html#comment-65869 Gosh, economic factors are infringing on the ability of the doctor to properly defend himself in a malpractice lawsuit. <br/><br/>That is particularly ironic because it is probably economic factors that caused the doctor to provide poor medical care in the first place. The number one medical publication in the U.S. is <i>Medical Economics</i>. Making every minute of practice produce maximum bucks has been the goal of the medical profession for some time in our country. Gosh, economic factors are infringing on the ability of the doctor to properly defend himself in a malpractice lawsuit.

That is particularly ironic because it is probably economic factors that caused the doctor to provide poor medical care in the first place. The number one medical publication in the U.S. is Medical Economics. Making every minute of practice produce maximum bucks has been the goal of the medical profession for some time in our country.

]]> By: Anonymoushttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing.html#comment-65864 Anonymous Sat, 05 Aug 2006 04:04:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing-defense-attorneys-to-settle.html#comment-65864 Crazy doc it is time to go nite nite. Crazy doc it is time to go nite nite.

]]> By: Anonymoushttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing.html#comment-65857 Anonymous Sat, 05 Aug 2006 02:50:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing-defense-attorneys-to-settle.html#comment-65857 The insurance companies and the physicians do not necessarily have opposing interests...it may be in the physician's interest to settle the case for a value within policy limits to avoid a russian roulette scenario where he/she could be faced with a mgaverdict... granted, this does not frequently happen, but could be devastating if it does. <br/>We should be discussing how to avoid lawsuits in the first place. Remember, always refer and overtest these American animals...order labs, psa, and refer like crazy...any abnormal lab value or test should lead to more referrals and tests until the animal dies from the procedure or they are lost to followup in which case you document that as well. Always have a mechanism in the office whereby your staff recalls the patient when they haven't been in for a while or haven't followed up on an abnormal lab/imaging study. This is usually the form of a letter being mailed to the patient saying "You have not followed up on mammogram, abnormal blah blah blah, etc as we advised previously..." The insurance companies and the physicians do not necessarily have opposing interests…it may be in the physician’s interest to settle the case for a value within policy limits to avoid a russian roulette scenario where he/she could be faced with a mgaverdict… granted, this does not frequently happen, but could be devastating if it does.
We should be discussing how to avoid lawsuits in the first place. Remember, always refer and overtest these American animals…order labs, psa, and refer like crazy…any abnormal lab value or test should lead to more referrals and tests until the animal dies from the procedure or they are lost to followup in which case you document that as well. Always have a mechanism in the office whereby your staff recalls the patient when they haven’t been in for a while or haven’t followed up on an abnormal lab/imaging study. This is usually the form of a letter being mailed to the patient saying “You have not followed up on mammogram, abnormal blah blah blah, etc as we advised previously…”

]]> By: Greg Phttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing.html#comment-65854 Greg P Sat, 05 Aug 2006 02:00:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing-defense-attorneys-to-settle.html#comment-65854 The question is, who is the client?<br/>For some insurers, they tell you up front when you get insurance from them that they are the client and when they decide to settle, you settle, unless you want to hire your own attorney.<br/><br/>That is why others have as a selling point that they promise not to settle unless you want to settle. The question is, who is the client?
For some insurers, they tell you up front when you get insurance from them that they are the client and when they decide to settle, you settle, unless you want to hire your own attorney.

That is why others have as a selling point that they promise not to settle unless you want to settle.

]]> By: Anonymoushttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing.html#comment-65843 Anonymous Fri, 04 Aug 2006 21:11:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing-defense-attorneys-to-settle.html#comment-65843 Not to mention, you cannot settle a case without the consent of the client - ie the physician. Without their consent, no settlement.<br/><br/>However, physicians, who don't like to take responsibility for anything, are even shifting the burden of their decision to settle to someone else. <br/><br/>What a cowardly group. Not to mention, you cannot settle a case without the consent of the client – ie the physician. Without their consent, no settlement.

However, physicians, who don’t like to take responsibility for anything, are even shifting the burden of their decision to settle to someone else.

What a cowardly group.

]]> By: KipEsquirehttp://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing.html#comment-65842 KipEsquire Fri, 04 Aug 2006 20:32:00 +0000 http://clients.emmense.com/kevinmd/2006/08/are-insurance-companies-forcing-defense-attorneys-to-settle.html#comment-65842 <i>"The underlying problem is that defense attorneys really have two clients: the doctors they're defending and the insurance companies that pay their bills."</i><br/><br/>Any lawyer who thinks that way or acts on that premise risks permanent disbarment.<br/><br/>You only duty is to the client. End of discussion. (Well, you also have a duty to the courts to prevent abuses. Oh, and a duty to the profession to uphold its ethical standards. We have oaths and codes, too, just like physicians.)<br/><br/>And if I were an insurance company's supervisor of attorneys, I wouldn't want anybody on the list who didn't understand this. Otherwise the insurer might wind up needing its own defense attorney. Which hardly "cuts legal costs." “The underlying problem is that defense attorneys really have two clients: the doctors they’re defending and the insurance companies that pay their bills.”

Any lawyer who thinks that way or acts on that premise risks permanent disbarment.

You only duty is to the client. End of discussion. (Well, you also have a duty to the courts to prevent abuses. Oh, and a duty to the profession to uphold its ethical standards. We have oaths and codes, too, just like physicians.)

And if I were an insurance company’s supervisor of attorneys, I wouldn’t want anybody on the list who didn’t understand this. Otherwise the insurer might wind up needing its own defense attorney. Which hardly “cuts legal costs.”

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