How malpractice attorneys decide which cases to accept

I review 30-50 medical records a day for utilization and quality–not for litigation. It is frustrating to live in a state with much higher than average rates of malpractice lawsuits, to regularly hear of lawsuits that go to trial or pay out that probably had little real merit on a scientific basis—and yet I see case after case of gross negligence with harm by sloppy docs who don’t give a damn and have never been sued.

The system is very poor at identifying and indemnifying negligent injury, and IMHO does little to deter or punish problem doctors. Even if they do get sued and pay out (for actual malpractice, not just a “good case”), the insurance system just passes the costs on to their more responsible colleagues and they change nothing.

Yet, the cases are mostly weak. They fail 80% of the time, at every stage of litigation. Most just go nowhere. Those that reach discovery fail most of the time. Those that reach trial are rejected by juries 80%.

So this article, implying high selectivity, is misleading. There is a lot of lottery playing, a lot of legal extortion, a lot of indulgence by pro-lawyer, pro-litigation biased pals on the bench. That is because the predatory lawyers, including the defense bar, have the full protection and immunization of their paid off lawyer friends on the bench and in the legislature. The legal system is rigged airtight to generate make work, worthless, lawyer jobs.

I oppose all tort reform, including the Supreme Court’s limit on punitive damages. I support ending all self-dealt, legal immunities of lawyers, judges, and government units. I support the reversal of the Hans decision precluding lawsuits against the state by its own citizen. I support the repeal of the Eleventh Amendment permitting citizens of another state to sue a state. To deter the rent seeking government oppressor, bankrupt them. Force them to fight fires with buckets, after selling their assets, if they attack clinical care to plunder it. The most incompetent, laziest, most worthless, most oppressive, most destructive sector of the economy, government, has given itself impenetrable legal immunity. If a thieving Mississippi jury wants to falsely plunder productive entities of other states, let them fight fires with buckets, after their fire engines are sold at auction to satisfy a judgment in Federal court.

Even under biased, current law, all innocent doctors have an affirmative duty to protect clinical care. They should seek the personal legal destruction of the plaintiff, the plaintiff lawyer, the judge, and the defense lawyer that hesitates a second to hold the other side legally accountable. That is an investment in prevention.

The lawyer is a cowardly bully. Punch its nose, it never comes back.

I’d like to know the number of patients who didn’t even have the option of talking to a lawyer because they were never told what happened to them.

It is all too easy to simply tell the patient/family that their injury was an unavoidable complication, rather than be honest when grievous errors of judgment are made.

Don’t tell me this never happens; we all know it damn well does.