For doctors, a malpractice lawsuit is personal

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Paul Levy eloquently writes about what a physician goes through when named in a malpractice suit. What is “just business” for lawyers is intensely personal for physicians, thus forming the basis of the eternal battle between the professions:

Doctors devote their lives to alleviating human suffering caused by disease. They spend decades in training. They disrupt their family lives to be available to help others. For them, this is a calling. It is not part of their life. It is their life. They measure their worth to their community and ultimately value themselves by their unfettered dedication to this cause — and by society’s appreciation for it.
A malpractice claims shatters this construct. In the doctor’s mind and heart, it says, “Society does not value all that I have devoted my life to. They do not believe I am worthy of trust that is granted to me, notwithstanding the effort, energy, and dedication I have given to this calling.” And perhaps he even says, “Maybe I am not really as good a doctor or as good a person as I think I am.”
For someone who has spent his or her whole life basking in the gratitude and admiration of individuals and society, this can be a devastating experience. Even when the verdict is issued, clearing the doctor of all wrong, it can leave a terrible scar.

Comments

Anonymous
“For someone who has spent his or her whole life basking in the gratitude and admiration of individuals and society”
He can’t be serious. Today’s patients (especially people under age 40) are much less inclined to show any gratitude! It’s all take, take, take and entitlement. Admiration for doctors went out the window when we became glorified drug dealers.
Anonymous
Haven’t we seen this exact same posting before? Someone call the practitioners a waaaahmbulance. Get out of the legal system en toto and then perhaps you will have a moral high ground from which to preach about the evils of being a defendant in a legal action. This feels like a broken record but sleeping with the lawyers when one can screw over another defendant and then whining when one finds oneself as a defendant is the height of hypocrisy.
Anonymous
Why do doctors never want to talk about the patient? After all, without a patient, there is no malpractice claim.
The “eternal battle”? Talk about your nonsense. Physicians use lawyers all the time. They use them to write their partnership agreements, do their wills, protect their assets, sue their partners when things go wrong, sue their patients’ insurers when they don’t pay. And lawyers use doctors for their services.
And spare us the “doctors devote their lives. . . .” tearjerkers. I’m sure the guy who did Anna Nicole’s breast implants isn’t spending his days musing on the human condition. Some doctors are good, some are bad. You’re no more or less sanctified than any other profession. More of you just take yourselves much, much more seriously than any other.
Anonymous
“Devote their lives” to whom and for what?
I think we have all read enough on here to know what some of you devote your life doing. Making as much money as possible. When we all agree to give up cars, TVs and a house to live it and instead put all our money in a trust account payable only to you will you really devote to us.
You have convinced me that you are interested only in money and you want noone to have anything except give it all to you.
Yes, our health system needs redone desperately. You docs are out of control!
Anonymous
“More of you just take yourselves much, much more seriously than any other.”
So do you and lawyers as well. Thats why you argue in court that patients deserve millions in compensation for “mistakes”, because the consequences of doctors actions matter much more than lawyers or most other professions.
Cant have it both ways. Either docs are just like everybody else in terms of profession and therefore our mistakes are on the same caliber and dont deserve outrageous monetary awards, OR doctors are a special breed in which life/health hangs in the balance; when “mistakes” happen they matter a lot more than other jobs.
Anonymous
“I think we have all read enough on here to know what some of you devote your life doing. Making as much money as possible.”
If you believe that to be true, why do you disparage us for it? Every profession operates by that principle.
Again, you are speaking with double tongue and using conflicting logic to define the profession.
On one hand, you insist that doctors have “normal” jobs just lik everybody else and that our job duties are nothing special.
Then on the other hand, you insist that we shouldnt be primarily motivated by money like lawyers, accountants, engineers, or any other job group.
So which is it? Are doctors “special” or not?
Anonymous
“Thats why you argue in court that patients deserve millions in compensation for “mistakes”, because the consequences of doctors actions matter much more than lawyers or most other professions.”
What are you talking about? You’re not making sense.
Paul Levy
First, I am not a doctor — so please don’t ascribe motivation to me personally.
Second, notwithstanding what many of you said, doctors are on the whole admired by others in society. This is especially the case for those who have faced serious diseases.
Third, I am not preaching the evils of any system. I was trying to explore why a well intentioned person might feel shame at being accused of something.
Fourth, do you feel no empathy at all for someone in this situation? I am not asking you not to also feel empathy for a patient who has been mistreated. I am asking you to have some feeling for a competent and well-meaning person. That you cannot do this — or choose not to do this — is a very sad statement.
Anonymous
I think everyone has said they feel empathy, but your statements are a little much. Some physicians are good, some are bad, some do it because they love the patients, some just do it for the money, some do it for the status.
The real empathy should probably be reserved for the patient, who has a higher likelihood of dealing with the shame of not being able to pay their bills because they can’t work, and living with the injury on a daily basis.
DBR
So let me see if I understand the general tone of the responses to this piece…
Doctors should shut up and accept the consequences of the profession they’ve chosen, i.e., being sued as merely part of the cost of doing business.
In the process, since it IS only business, they’re not allowed to “feel” anything about it, much less to express those feelings.
Funny, I’m pretty sure I’ve read previous posts on this website which derided doctors for not “feeling” enough.
So which is it? Doctors are supposed to “feel” or doctors aren’t supposed to “feel?”
It’s a pretty small human being who can’t, at the VERY least, acknowledge the right of another human being to “feel,” yet many of the posters to this site want to deprive physicians of that right AND of a forum on which to do so.
Every time a physician bares his or her feelings on this site, one or more of the doctor-haters who inhabit cyberspace attacks with a level of venom that reminds me of the “Insult Islam and die” crowd.
Makes me “feel” REALLY sad….
Anonymous
Donna, the irony of you lamenting others’ venom is not lost on anyone.
Anonymous
So which is it? Are doctors “special” or not?
This is the question that your profession needs to be asking itself. It would appear, when it comes to taking of privileges, destroying competition and creating an oligopoly that maximizes the amount of after-expense compensation for your work-product… you guys are real special. When it comes to having a level of responsibility commensurate with your position… pass the buck, it’s just a job and your just human. This is where the dichotomy arises. If you want a God complex then expect to be judged like a God (hint: bad outcomes are not expectable when a God is my provider). The self-serving whining in the first paragraph of the original post is legendary. Helping others, dedication… give me a break. What a bunch of fairytale candyland BS. It is for the $$$$. I am unsure as to who the original author is, but the post reeks of allopathic idolatry (see the start of the third paragraph and somehow fitting for a day with the Wiener awards and its incumbent celebritard idolatry). BTW, any provider that has the overinflated massive ego view described in the original post needs to get a clue and realize how the world really works – Protect yourself, don’t be blinded by your own hubris and the moronic worship of the idolatrous masses and realize that deep pockets = defendant.
If you want the moral high road in the malpractice issue then get your brethren out of the business of sleeping with the same trial attorneys that turn around and file malpractice claims against your ilk. No more lying in the courtroom and using junk science logic based solely on the implied assumption of veracity on a litigant (as well as treatment on a lien).
Paul Levy
“I am unsure as to who the original author is…”
I am the original and only author.
Anonymous
The problem with malpractice in the USA is that physicians are now being sued for less-than-perfect results or complications(that are usually explained to the patient prior to surgery). True malpractice should be identified and compensated for, and repeat offenders should lose their licenses. The current pugilistic system does nothing to help patient victims , protect physicians from unnecessary lawsuits, or weed out incompetent physicians.
DBR
“Donna, the irony of you lamenting others’ venom is not lost on anyone.# posted by Anonymous : 12:12 PM”
The irony of you addressing me by name when you don’t have the balls to identify YOURSELF isn’t lost on anyone, either….
Anonymous
Donna, I’m just one of those “disappearing docs” from Pennsylvania that you made up.
ismd
“Donna, I’m just one of those “disappearing docs” from Pennsylvania that you made up.”
Oh, please!! That statement is so bogus. Since you have absolutely no clue as to what’s been happening in PA, you obviously must have been living off of baloney ATLA propaganda. If you’d like proof, check out the list at http://www.fightingdocs.com/main/disappearing_docs.html. At least Donna, and the PAPA group in PA, have had the courage to bring out the truth of what’s happening to medical access in that state. Living across the river in NJ, not far from Philly, I can testify to the truth of the disappearing docs.
Anonymous
Donna was exposed by a local newspaper, not ATLA. The list is bogus.
Sorry ismd, but the rumors of the docs fleeing to this magical state where you can galivant in the field, act in a negligent manner without being held responsible, and make all the money you want simply doesn’t exist. The CBO also confirmed that these reports were unsubstantiated. There were rural areas that lacked physicians, but then they’d always lacked physicians.
ismd
Sorry anonymous – the supposed “expose” of the list was run by a viciously anti-doctor local newspaper in PA. This “expose” didn’t even have it’s facts straight. The list is truth. And if you look at the list via the link I provided, you’ll find that the docs left for numerous states – anywhere but PA. Much as we’d wish it, there is no magical ideal state in which to practice medicine.
Anonymous
Tell yourself whatever you need to, but the list was made up. That’s a fact.
ismd
“Tell yourself whatever you need to, but the list was made up. That’s a fact.”
Really?? According to who? Cite me the source. Just because you say it’s made up doesn’t make it so. So – please – tell YOURSELF anything you need to to support your made up “fact”.
Supremacy Claus
This doctor suffered an injury from lawyer carelessness and expert bogus testimony. The lawyer has dealt itself total immunity from accountability to adverse third parties for their legal malpractice. The doctor should sue the plaintiff lawyer for his injury and the plaintiff expert should face prosecution. He cannot by common law. These self-dealt immunities have no policy justification outside of corrupt lawyer self-dealing.
What is do good for all of us, being sued, the lawyer has prevented for itself. These self-dealt immunities require legislation to end them. The lawyer claims that these immunities protect it from state retaliation for taking unpopular cases. Fine. Let juries regulate the lawyer, not the state.
Anonymous
Malpractice lawsuits are devastating to the doctor and their family and most of the time are completely unfair. And it NOT true that a medical legal malpractice cause of action is similar to other lawsuits. These lawsuites aver VERY different to the ones encountered in other industries.
>
> . In addition Doctors who spend 4 year of college at the top of their class, 4 years of medical school (Grueling studies), one year of internship (sleep deprived), Another 2 to 3 years residencies, Specialities fellowship, board certifications, lilcensing exam and Board Re-Certification, do not have the time to appreciate the cynism of the legal profession and its consequence.
> .
> Doctors are taught to be honest, and it is very counterintuitive
> to discover that the legal profession is dishonest and
> fraudulent at its core.
>
> I did read the comments of people who feel that they are
> entitled to malpractice monies if malpractice has been
> committed. But no comments or uproar if a patient commits harm
> to a doctor.
> It is very important to believe that there are serious double
> standards in the legal system in this country.
> The winner being always the Lawyer.
>
> Any patient who feels they want to win the lottery can ask a
> lawyer to hear for free their case. The paradox is that on the
> other hand, a doctor cannot sue a patient or an unscrupulous
> lawyer for a frivolous lawsuits, or malpractice. They even cannot sue a lawer for malpractice if the defendant attornay feels that
> their defense attorney did not do a good job defending them and
> therefore committing legal malpractice. And there is the injustice.:
> The plaintiff lawyer is usually an attorney in the top 10
> percentile of his or her law school class who is aggressive and
> makes the business decision to proceed with a suit or not, (a
> medical record chart is viewed as $ bills only and the discovery process is viewed solely as an opportunity to enhance the $ value of the case for eg. Deposing a Doctor, tricking and intimidating him/her to make them look bad so that a potential jury would have the false perseption that the doctor is incompetent)(Only the defendant physician is under oath, the other layers could lie all they want to get their point accross) the defendant
> attorney usually paid by the malpractice insurance company uses
> billable hours to defends the doctor and charges the insurance
> company for phone calls, research etc…… and milk as much moneys
> as possible to the insurance company for their profit of course
> the Defendant Legal Billing information sent to the Doctor’s Malpractice
> insurance carrier is not available for to the defendant doctor to review for billing fraud. (One the other
> hand when a doctor bills an insurance company for health care
> services, the patient does receive the explanation of benefit from the insurance company carrier
> and then immediately is free to contact the doctors office, the
> licensing board or the OPMC if he/she feels that there fraud
> without fear of reprisal. The defendant the Doctor is
> essentially the unwilling participant, who pays the ever
> increasing malpractice insurance premium in order for the
> lawyers/judge and other participant of this fraudulent industry to become rich. The Defendant Lawyer
> play the game of defending the physician (billable hours). That Lawyer is
> often the lower tier lawyer in their Law School class, and their only job is to act as teddy bear
> and pretend to care and spend a lot of time talking to the
> doctor (every telephone conversation and letters at outrageous
> hourly wages, (again remember that these Juris Doctors only go to school after college for
> three years learning the mumble jumble legalese jargon…)(The
> defendant doctor will not get to see the bill the defendent lawyer sends to the Malpractice carrier insurance company. conveniently!) However He/She only sees
> his/Her insurance premium increasing the following year. The
> plaintiff lawyer with their 1/3 contingency fees usually do
> pretty well. . The Defendent Attorney will not try to cross or upset the
> Plaintiff Lawyer because they both have the vested interested to
> keep this fraudulent racket going.
>
> By the way if the patient who sues and wins and Malpractice case (in court or via
> settlement), the money is “Tax Free” lottery money. (Often
> frivolous law suits where the physician who clearly is not
> guilty of malpractice is forced to settle because the cost of
> going to trial would be (suppositly) too expensive for the insurance company.
> The physician who defends Him/Herself is lead to believe that
> The other Huge misperseption is that the defendent lawyer is in the side of the defending physician. This cannot be more completely
> erroneous assumption (Often unknown to the defendant doctor) ; the defending lawyer is always on the side of the
> Malpractice Insurance company(they pay their billable hours, even though the money comes from the doctor malpractice premium).
For instance when the doctor is told that the suit against him/her should be settled, the defendant lawyer will tell the defendent
> physician that if he/she does not settle the malpractice claim
> (even when the physician is innocent of wrong doing of
> malpractice (and their names will appear on the national Data
> bank for every one to see) , the defendent doctor will be
> threaten of being responsible for the greedy non board certified
> lawyer bills as a result of being uncooperative. (and will point
> the clause in the malpractice insurance contract written in
> small prints) (Even if it was in large prints, a doctor cannot
> practice medicine without malpractice insurance)
>
> The field of Law has become a complete scam:
> Lawyer/Juges etc….:They extort moneys from the government to
> create these intimidating halls of justice; they call themselves
> JD (Doctor in Law) after only spending 3 years in law school and
> not having to defend a thesis, very few of them are respectful
> of their profession by taking board certification in their
> respective field. (eg. Tort, Health law etc….)
> They use the “Mumble Jumble legalese language” so that someone
> else should hire another lawyer to translate this intimating
> language, (We command you….Aforementionned…..Fraudulent…..etc….)
> They intimidate the client telling them that horrible things
> could happen to them if they do not continue to pay them for a
> defense.
>
> Ultimately it is society that pays all these hidden costs.
>
> The system of law was creased by our forefather to be upheld
> with the true goal for justice to take place and not to be
> hijacked, monopolized and distorted so that only money will
> decide of ones ability to gets its day in court.
> Lawyers only goes to school for 3 years (after college) then
> after taking the little Bar exam (which they always wine about) (not requiring recertification
> ever…..), most of them refuses to get board certified in their
> respective field and then develop this kind of entitlement
> justifying their billing practice.
> In the 1950’ ss American Bar association started the “Billable
> hours scam” because they were jealous that MD who save people
> lives and goes to school for over 10 to 15 years after college
> makes more money than they do.
> The system is so incredibly corrupted that even honest lawyers
> have to follow what their corrupted peer or partners tells them and are valued as a result of their billable hours which results inevitably as becoming corrupted themselves.
>
> If a physician wants to sue the patient for not informing for
> instance that they have AIDS in their blood and the surgeon cuts
> him/herself and contracts AIDS and or hepatitis, then tough luck
> for the physician.
> If a physician (in my case) a colleague resident in Neurology
> who goes and sees his girlfriend in the city of White Plains NY
> and gets shot three times in the chest by a civilian police
> officer, in his parked car, resulting in death, then there is no
> recourse for the family to obtain compensation for their
> malpractice. (Blue wall of silence)
> If a physician gets investigated by the Office Of Processional
> Misconduct (OPMC) then the physician has NO DUE PROCESS (in the state of NY)
> available to him/her in the discovery process and could loose
> their license and livelihood unless they hire a verminous lawyer
> ( on a unchecked Billable Hour basis) who will know the
> secretive inner working of the OPMC and might give you a better
> chance for a fair hearing. The investigated physician (anyone
> can ask for an inquiry against a doctor, there is even an
> anonymous hot line to contact the OPMC….) This places the Doctor in the very vulnerable
> situation of being charged billable hours (Impossible to check
> for fraud) to help defend the often fraudulent complaints
> against the doctor. (The attitude at the OPMC is that if a doctor looses their license to practice medicine is >Well! they can always get another job at Wallmark….)
> If a physician mistakenly bill an insurance company $ 10 too
> much, they could go to jail.
> If an attorney bill Billable hours ( Do scrutinize their itemized bills if you alloud to!
> like: Research, Having conversations with
> their partners or if they decide to recycle 2-3 hours of research time performed for another legal case and cut and paste the research document already payed by a previous client
> to a new task they re-bill the doctor (insurance company) for the same or more
> billable hours etc….. or other un-verifiable legal tasks) they
> get away with it. The frighten accused doctor has to pay the
> lawyer for fear that his known innocence will be validated.
> Only the Verminous (the fat Hogs) (lawyer) gets a slap in
> their face when they are caught billing 2600 hours per year, or
> even 40 hours per day.
>
> A colleague of mine, a plastic surgeon was wrongly accused of
> sexual misconduct by a patient who has a long history of making
> these false claim. This Poor doctor colleague ended up in prison at Riker
> Island, NY, having to hire an expensive lawyer to defend himself
> and 2 years later and over $ more than 200.000$ later of Lawyer meter
> bills, was found to be cleared of all charge. The consequence:
> The lawyer got richer (writing their mumble jumble legalese
> words) looked good, because he defended a righeous cause of an
> innocent man, the judge made his/her money, the patient got a
> slap on her hand and the doctor and family were left devastated.
> (See NY Post article). His acquittal only appeared in page 10
> of the paper and in the mean time had to deal with the NY OPMC
> (which is a Gestapo type of inquisition where doctors do not
> have proper due process in the discovery process of the
> complaint), and loss of income, and loss of reputation without
> mentioning harm to his family. The District attorney who
> prosecuted the doctor during these two years got brownie points
> and got promoted. …
>
> To conclude, if a patient has the right to sue and obtain damage
> for their pain an suffering, then a doctor should also be aloud
> to sue with the same freedom if there are unjustifiably sued, or
> if the OPMC unjustifiably commits malpractice and falsely
> punishes the doctor without proper due process, if a police
> office kills a doctor by accident and commits malpractice or if
> a lawyer commits malpractice and not defending the doctor
> appropriately but create unnecessary paper work to optimize his
> or her billable hours.
> Now managed care companies who are well known for stealing 20 to
> 50 % of the health premium payed by employer for their administrative cost so that
> their CEO could earn 10 to 20 million $ bonuses (e.g Oxford Aetna US health care, United State Farm….
> healthcare), and aware of the lack of due process OPMC
> organization utilizes to prosecutes doctors, will use this route
> to get rid of doctors who order too much tests or are
> overzealous in being the patient advocate with the ultimate goal
> of easily stripping them of their medical license and therefore
> guaranteeing them less claims to be paid in the name of managed
> care. (Ex Governor Pataki conveniently vetoed a bill whcih would have allowed the accused
> physician by the OPMC to have proper due process in the
> discovery process to get a fair hearing)
> (Governor Spitzer on the other hand did not use managed care
> prostitutes and like his other acolytes always appear to be on
> the right side of the railroad tract and not punished for their
> action)
>
> Did you know that in NY:
> When in NY a patient becomes incapacitated mentally and does not
> have a next of kin, then a judge will appoint a guardian (a
> Lawyer) to take care of the estate of the patient. often a
> defenseless elderly and that guardian Lawyer will charge 10% of
> the assets for the elderly (hard work!), and of course, it is
> the verminous friend of the judges who will get the wealthy
> patients. (10 % of 1 million dollar asset is better than 10 %
> fee of a 20 thousand dollar asset). In order to get into the
> bandwagon, the verminous lawyer will work for a hospital and
> identify the potential rich patient who will be soon go to a
> nursing home and then will position himself or herself to become
> a guardian.
> (As if a Lawyer, only trained for three years is qualified as
> financial expert).
>
Conclusion:
>
> There is plenty of mechanism at every level (Medical school, Residencies, Place of employement, Hospital and SNF privileges to punish, bad doctors. Striping
> them from their medical license,
> Bad doctor should be punished and/or stripped of their license,
> but the system that we have only looks at financial gains where
> doctors are there for the only purpose of giving administrative
> judges, lawyer etc… a job to make more money. This absurd system is fueled by layers giving patients the sense of entiltlemnt they they should be owed huge award for thir pain and suffering.
Very few industries gives such award for pain and suffering.
The whole process is a Hoax.
(for fear of reprisal for spreading the truth I have to remain anonymous) I have been president of medical board of hospitals, chairman of credential committees, board of trustee member of hospital and have had over 20 years of first hand observation of this process. I did not even delve in the double standard of race how african american and hispinics are targetted as well….. that is for another day.
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