“Sometimes pain is the best teacher,” and, “shut up, close your mouth and push” are probably not the best things to say to a woman about the give birth.
This physician, who also “made cell phone calls during the more than two-hour labor, cursing about colleagues and talking about an abortion for a woman he said should never have gotten pregnant,” not only got hit with a civil suit, but made nationwide headlines as well.
Related posts:
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- Doctor shortage hits Japan
- Did an abortion ban kill this woman?
- Gastroenterologists making less than golf instructors?
- The wrong doctor sued, and still paying the price
- Making pay for performance difficult
- Being a woman vs being a doctor
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Wow. So she is sueing him for being an a hole. I wish I could sue every a hole I meet. Only in medicine.
She’s suing him for deliberately inflicting unecessary pain. The “a-hole” behaviour listed, and any testimony or other evidence offered in proof of the behaviour, will be used to support the claim that he deliberately subjected her to procedures and examinations in order to increase her pain.
I’m never willing to believe these claims when printed in the news. These are ONLY the complaints, made to sound as terrible as possible. The defendant may have a very different story.
Labor messes with perceptions. The doc definitely needs a day in court.
And she is a police officer, too! It will be an interesting outcome.
I note the nurses seem to have backed up the patient.
They seem to be ready to corroborate her story that he wanted her taught a lesson for what he felt was a lack of courtesy to him by calling ahead.
Perhaps she made him cranky by interfering with his plans to go sailing that day.
I went to his practice web-site and, while fairly standard in format, at first glance, it’s actually kind of weirdly focused on the doctor’s sailing hobby instead of his practice. I detect a touch of narcisissm, your mileage may vary.
From this year’s Judicial Hellhole list.
“Cook County, Illinois
Cook County, Illinois, with its reputation for hostility toward corporate defendants, has long been known as a receptive host for lawsuits. In past years, the Chicago area experienced a surge in asbestos claims, embraced class action lawsuits and became known for excessive awards. Cook County still hosts significantly more than its proportional share of lawsuits in the state, as its courts permit “forum shopping” whereby lawyers from other parts of the state or country can bring lawsuits that have little or no connection to Cook County. It was also a Cook County court that threw out a state law aimed at solving medical liability problems that had set physicians fleeing the state. At press time, the Illinois Supreme Court was still considering the appeal.”
Venue, smenue. Every case ought to be determined on its own merits.
To support the claim that he deliberately subjected her to procedures and examinations in order to increase her pain wouldn’t you have to show that:
1) The suit said the doctor told Skol she would soon have the baby and that there was no time for pain medication.
He knew, in advance, the exact time of delivery for a multip in active labor.
2) The doctor conducted a painful vaginal exam in the middle of a contraction and then told Skol to start pushing, despite not being fully dilated, according to the suit.
He reduced the fully effaced cervix over the presenting part to delay delivery, not speed it up.
3) “Shut up, close your mouth and push,”
The aim of giving a patient pushing instructions is to increase her pain.
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