Must read op-ed on the effects of the Lucia case in Florida:

Dr. Haedicke was on call for Memorial Hospital and came in to see her. He evaluated her, drained her abdomen, ordered antibiotics and consulted four other physicians (who were also sued) to evaluate her condition. Her own surgeon returned to Tampa later that afternoon to assume care. Dr. Haedicke had seen her for a total of five hours.

Mrs. Lucia’s attorney, Steve Yerrid, is good. He recently won a case for more than $200 million against another hospital and group of emergency room physicians. He wins lofty awards for those who have been ‘wronged,’ but it never seems to be about ‘the money.’ He creates empathy that jurors feel for his client. He was quoted as saying that Mrs. Lucia and her husband were ‘righteous.’

I’ve know Dr. Haedicke for more than 15 years. He is a religious man who tragically lost his 10-year-old son in a vehicular accident. When I spoke with him, he told me he’s been thinking about Mrs. Lucia’s case for the past six years. He says with conviction that if he had the opportunity to do it again, he would have treated her in the same manner.

For the past 20 years, Dr. Haedicke has been one of the rare ‘go to’ surgeons in Tampa when there were patients with injuries so severe that no one else would take them. He’s done more than 50,000 operations, saving many lives, and has not been sued.

We, of course, feel sorry for Mrs. Lucia, who had her legs amputated below the knees and her fingers removed because of lack of blood flow. The truth is that she came to Memorial Hospital in septic shock and multiple organ failure, a condition in which the death rate can be as high as 90 percent, but her life was saved. Now she can see her three children grow up. Had she died, I doubt this suit would have taken place, but because she survived and had an untoward outcome, she decided to sue.

(via Overlawyered)