Will any physician vote for John Edwards?

It’s somewhat of a handicap to his presidential run that he alienated an entire profession:

During his 20 years of suing doctors and hospitals, he pioneered the art of blaming psychiatrists for patients who commit suicide and blaming doctors for delivering babies with cerebral palsy, according to doctors, fellow lawyers and legal observers who followed Mr. Edwards’ career in North Carolina.
“The John Edwards we know crushed [obstetrics, gynecology] and neurosurgery in North Carolina,” said Dr. Craig VanDerVeer, a Charlotte neurosurgeon. “As a result, thousands of patients lost their health care.”
“And all of this for the little people?” he asked, a reference to Mr. Edwards’ argument that he represented regular people against mighty foes such as prosperous doctors and big insurance companies. “How many little people do you know who will supply you with $60 million in legal fees over a couple of years?”

Comments

Anonymous
““The John Edwards we know crushed [obstetrics, gynecology] and neurosurgery in North Carolina,” said Dr. Craig VanDerVeer, a Charlotte neurosurgeon. “As a result, thousands of patients lost their health care.””
This is true because. . . Dr. VanDerVeer says so?
“How many little people do you know who will supply you with $60 million in legal fees over a couple of years?”
What a stupid statement. One, because if he made $60 million, he’s lost a lot of it since then, and two, because those fees come with a lot of horrific injuries.
Anonymous
Incidentally, between 1992-2003, N. Carolina had a 41% increase in physicians.
And, in 2003, some 8 years after Edwards handled his last case, North Carolina was named one of the top states to practice medicine by Modern Physician magazine.
Physician growth has been consistent in NC for the last decade at around 2%, according to UNC.
Interestingly, at the height of the North Carolina “crisis”, 3.2% of doctors, each of whom had made 2 or more payouts, were responsible for over 40% of NC malpractice payouts. Perhaps if the good doctor were a little more diligent about policing his own, he’d save some money.
Anonymous
A’hm channelin’ the souls of ten thousand CP babies who will vote for me in the 2008 election!
Pass the hairbrush, honey.
Anonymous
Not the hairbrush, honey…just pass me the Man!
Anonymous
Edwards is a smarmy little puking and mewling wretch. However, it is the provider(s) again that come out as being even worse. VanDerVeer – The providers chose to monopolize the system as being the only ones who could legally provide care and the providers are the ones not giving the care to the patients. The fault lies with the providers.
Anonymous
“As was described, the neurosurgeons on the coast quit, and one patient died in transit to the nearest center.”
So wait, even when another physician TESTIFIES it was malpractice, you guys don’t believe it. But if you read in a newspaper that she died in transit, you assume she would have lived had a neurosurgeon been next door? We can tell that?
Dr. VanDerVeer described that, but was he right? Over the last 10 years, how many neurosurgeons has the area had? Have they come and gone or has there always been 2 or 3? Has the population increased? Has a new hospital been built 10 miles away in a different town?
Do you guys always swallow this stuff whole?
Anonymous
Do you always shovel it out?
I don’t know those guys in North Carolina. I know the neurosurgeons in my area. They stopped intracranial, they do spine, they moved their intracranial to non-trauma centers. The motivation was malpractice liability risk.
I see it with my own eyes. My medical community. People I know. You, and your opinion, I don’t give a damn about.
Anonymous
Yeah CJD just like the $hit you swallow whole such as:
“Interestingly, at the height of the North Carolina “crisis”, 3.2% of doctors, each of whom had made 2 or more payouts, were responsible for over 40% of NC malpractice payouts. Perhaps if…”
Now what is the make up of that 3.2% of doctors? You do realize that being in high risk specialties such as OB, neurosurg, and ED exposes you to claims much more than pathology or FP. Without breakup of the indivdual specialty in comparison with other docs of the same specialty the statistic is meaningless. But let’s not talk about something that doesn’t fit into your agenda right CJD.
Anonymous
” I know the neurosurgeons in my area. They stopped intracranial, they do spine, they moved their intracranial to non-trauma centers. The motivation was malpractice liability risk.”
What area is that?
“I see it with my own eyes. My medical community. People I know. You, and your opinion, I don’t give a damn about.”
That’s your mistake. Because me, the voter, will be the one deciding if you get paid entirely by the govt. or if you still have a shot at the free market. Although I doubt you have the people skills to survive out there.
Anonymous
” Without breakup of the indivdual specialty in comparison with other docs of the same specialty the statistic is meaningless.”
It’s interesting you question my statistics when you provide literally none at all for your claims. Do you miss the irony in that?
Anonymous
All I know is that in my large and conservative city the only supporters are the Great Whites, Tigers, and Hammerheads of the tort industry. Realize that these folks essentially direct and produce a high stakes theatrical production. John Edwards is Broadway caliber. Cases where the facts support malpractice usually settle, and I don’t think anybody really has a problem with this. It is the defensible, statistical bad-outcome case that goes to trial and is decided on emotional theatrics rather than facts that is irksome to say the least. These cases are the exceptions, but it is hard to shake their deleterious effects. You cannot respect any person who has lied, cheated, or stolen simply because they can argue a point persuasively, whether they be used car salesman or presidential candidate.
Anonymous
In what cases, based on your review of the evidence, did John Edwards lie, cheat or steal? I assume, if you’re going to accuse another person of such things, that you have some proof they did them, right? Or you’re Ann Coulter.
What basis do you have to disagree with the physician who testified for the plaintiff?
Anonymous
Whoa, slow down, counselor. I don’t see where anybody named Johnny Rotten or otherwise was accused of lying, cheating, or stealing….Perhaps Freud or the like might have a thing or two to say about your association of John Edwards with that last sentence. I have to admit though that I never respected Richard Nixon much after the truth was revealed. Maybe Mr. Edwards is just a victim of poor casting.
Anonymous
Oh, so you weren’t implying John Edwards was one of those when you referenced “presidential candidates” in a paragraph about attorneys who represent individuals like you? My mistake for misreading.
What truth has been revealed about Edwards? Other than that his critics don’t know the first thing about the merits of his cases?
Anonymous
Well, I suppose it would be fair to say one wouldn’t confuse him with the “great communicator”, another actor-cum-president, based on the apparent ignorance of the otherwise highly educated medical populace. Some might argue the “great channeler” might be more appropriate, at least according to the reports I have seen.
Anonymous
So were you or were you not referring to Mr. Edwards? And if you weren’t referring to him, who were you referring to?
You don’t strike me as the kind of mealy mouthed person who just makes vaguely defamatory statements and then dissembles away from them. So who were you referring to?
Tell me, did any of the “reports you’ve seen” include the medical records from the case? Or is that not something you need to determine if malpractice occurred? I know a straight shooter like yourself will give me an honest answer, right?
Anonymous
Anyone who can channel a child, or who thinks he knows what Jesus thinks, is beyond my comprehension.
Anonymous
Ahh, so you don’t have a straight answer. How disappointing, but unsurprising.
Interestingly, the tort “reformer” in chief, GWB, who I sure is popular in your lovely conservative city, and who I have no doubt you can comprehend, can look into the heart of Vladimir Putin. If Bill Frist can diagnose PVS from a 5 minute video, and all you doctors can diagnose the lack of malpractice from a newspaper article, you can’t imagine someone knowing what Jesus thinks?
Weird where your capacity for such things stops.
Anonymous
Do you believe physicians believe Bill Frist can diagnose PVS from a five minute video? Then again, he isn’t running for president.
Anonymous
CJD:
re: “It’s interesting you question my statistics when you provide literally none at all for your claims. Do you miss the irony in that?”
Don’t blame me for pointing out you provide incomplete (and uncited) statistics.
Anonymous
John Edwards is the arch enemy of any physician in a high-risk specialty. As a neurosurgeon, I would literally rather have Charlie Manson released from prison to be our next president. He is the personification of a plaintiffs bar that has decimated my profession. I have personally left clinical practice altogether for a position in the medical device industry to escape the impossible burden of liability. Many more in may field are also looking for their ticket out.
He made his fortune largely by suing OBGYNS on CP cases using flimsy, and subsequently disproven, evidence. The “experts” he used where highly questionable- you can unfortunately pay almost anyone to say anything.
Mr. Edwards is emblematic of a tort system that has determined that intracranial neurosurgeons and high-risk obstetricians simply carry an unacceptible risk of liability. Period. When the liability costs exceed the potential income from any venture, it simply cannot be rationally performed.
John Edwards has made millions extorting these bravest and most vulnerable members of the medical profession, and perversely wrapping that extortion in a false illusion of justice and “fighting for the little man.”
There is no doubt that he’s an effective litigator- but thank goodness the presidential election is NOT a courtroom. The American electorate, particularly the primary electorate, is not a sympathetic and uneducated jury for Mr. Edwards to manipulate. He is trailing in the polls, despite sinking in a fortune of his own ill-gotten gains.
If John Edwards does manage to get elected, it will be nothing less than the triumph of evil over justice.
-NeuroMD
Anonymous
The average neurosurgeon pays about 8% of his gross to his liability carrier, and still brings home in excess of $250,000.
We should all be so “decimated.”
Anonymous
“The average neurosurgeon pays about 8% of his gross to his liability carrier, and still brings home in excess of $250,000.”
Please cite a reference for this supposed fact, and also what state.
Anonymous
“…bravest and most vulnerable members of the medical profession…”
Let the hyperbole flow man! Stop paying them enormous chunks of cash money and see how brave they are.
Anonymous
Here’s what a North Carolina neurosurgeon can expect:
http://www.physicianrecruiting.com/jobs/NS/nc?PHPSESSID=1ebaacb09849c75b8ae8b9d2c9b2f878
(Given that, I may have undershot the number)
Nationwide:
http://www.centerjd.org/Specialists%20Income.pdf
Anonymous
Before I left, nearly half of my overhead went to liability insurance.
When I said decimated, I wasn’t just talking about the financial aspect of liability. That’s not actually the main issue, in my opinion.
The main issue is the constant fear we must work in. The ever-present threat of being hauled into court for a bad outcome or an angry patient is constantly over our heads. It has ruined the doctor patient relationship and turned the job into misery. No amount of money can or should make up for that.
How can we at once care for a patient while knowing that he can lawyer up at any minute and drag us and our families through the dirt?
I now work for a medical device company. There is still of course the risk that the company can get sued, but my personal risk is minimal. Liability goes to the corporation and its insurers, not to me and my family.
I sleep much better at night now! Many, many more who can will follow a similar path. My only fear is that there will soon be no docs left to use my companies’ products!
NeuroMD
Anonymous
Good for you. Although I’m sure there are many more with more intestinal fortitude who will be willing to brave it for half a million a year.
Luckily or unluckily for all, though, we’ll soon have universal care and a no-fault style system, so you’ll get half your wish.
Anonymous
I have plenty of intestinal fortitude, thank you. In fact, it took major guts for me to walk away from the steady paycheck of clinical medicine to do something else I found more rewarding. Many other docs quietly toil in misery, too afraid to change their situation.
About universal care, it is you who are half right. Yes there will be some sort of universal program, but rest assured the ability for patients to sue will be left intact. It will be a “worst of both worlds” situation for the docs.
I thing that is why Edwards (and other dems) plan retains a role for the private sector – that way there will be someone left to sue. If it was a purely federal play, litigation would be much more difficult.

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