Guess who used to sue OB-GYNs?
Mr. John Edwards!!
From my point of view… I think we’re missing some things…
I agree that there are some cases that should absolutely be persued… gross negligence , ie using a medication that is known to cause birth defects during labor and producing a disabled child… leaving instruments inside bodies… etc…
but, what needs to be recognized, as others have said is that drs are human… and they’ll make mistakes…
what I’m seeing more and more though, is that the system is setting physicians up to make these mistakes… by overloading physicians with patients… billing issues, etc… it’s forcing a lot of physicians to spend a lot less time with patients and they are, honestly, missing a lot of issues. now, due to the litigious nature of our culture, these same drs are being sued over “missing things” that they couldn’t catch because of insurance companies lack of willingness to pay claims (so the tests could be run in the first place), or patients having to jump through hoops (gotta go to the GP 5 times before getting a referral to wait 3 months to see the specialist and by that time you have advanced cancer that’s inoperable)…these things are happening more and more and more…
And unless the physician is uber wealthy by other means or has an extrem sense of conscious… and refuses to only spend 15 minutes with a patient… these things are going to continue to happen, and more likely than not, with increasing frequency…
If someone is debilitated because of a stupid mistake someone made that was totally unnecessary… yeah, they are due some money or something… maybe a contract for free medical care… I don’t know… but so many people are suing just for the heck of it.
I’m ALL for healthcare reform… and I’m ALL for malpractice caps… and I’m ALL for lowering premiums…
it won’t be until, IMHO, a lot of these things happen, and the attitude of Americans changes, that we will see a change in the system…it’s got to stop…
now, to add to that… I was witness to a procedure where a 4X4 turned up missing…they couldn’t find it… looked everwhere… at least twice while I was in there… they’d already done all the closure of the patient except for the fascia prior to locating the 4x4… the even brought x-ray in to try to find it after it hadn’t been found… and I was witness to a surgeon say… “hell, let them sue me, I’m tired of looking for the damn thing!”… this is the WRONG attitude to have, btw… incidentally, on about the 5th pass through, the 4x4 was located stuck to a bloody lap sponge.
Dear patient,
Welcome to our free clinic. Well, it’s “free” in the sense that the amount you pay is a pittance compared to what it actually costs to treat you.
Before you can receive your treatment, you must sign the following waiver. We’d just like you to acknowledge that our healthcare practitioners are human, we can make mistakes, and if we do make a reversible mistake we will do our utmost to put things right.
The waiver also states that we have NO malpractice insurance and so if you do want to sue us, few lawyers out there will take your case on contingency because you’re not going to get very much even if you do win.
The waiver further states that legal action against us by a former patient may elicit a counter-suit against the patient and his or her lawyer for defamation, extortion, false claims, legal malpractice, violation of contract, and conspiring to defraud. We have a very good and highly motivated lawyer-MD on staff who will energetically pursue this sort of case, so be warned. Note that she doesn’t do this for the money but for the sheer fun of it, having been sued herself too many times back when she was delivering babies for a living.
It is our policy to share all information with you, the patient, and we do not keep any secrets from you about your own health. We give you a copy of all X-rays, MRIs, Ultrasounds, blood tests, etc. because we believe that you are partners with us in your health maintenance. All decisions are thoroughly discussed with you and you are the final arbiter of your own healthcare.
Thank you and we hope we need to see you once a year but no more often!
There, that just about covers it ;-)
adennis,
I don’t even think the docs see the patients for 15 minutes, unless they are 3rd year residents. I think its less than that for practicing docs. The residency FP program where I used to go as a patient listed the residents, and beside their picture, it had a listing of how many patients they were expected to see per hour.
Kathy