If you found out that your physician or some other health care professional was being sued for wrongful death/incompetence by 2 or 3 grieving families, would that bother you? Would that knowledge change your relationship or level of trust? Assume you have no other information on the lawsuits and no previous problems with the professional.
Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :
I've never really been a fan of personal injury lawsuits such as wrongful death and "pain and suffering" ones. I guess, if there were no malpractice problem, or if a doctor was found not guilty of malpractice previously, I would try to maintain my level of trust.
One of the few things I liked about Bush's State of the Union a year ago was his promise to try to limit monetary payments for pain and suffering. Hopefully that would allow malpractice insurance to get cheaper and reduce medical bills.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Honestly, I'd really want to know how this rate of lawsuits compared to the rates of a) other physicians in the area, and -- more importantly --b) other physicians in the same specialty or subspecialty.
Some areas of medicine are fraught with difficult situations and many more poor outcomes: e.g., high-risk maternal/fetal medicine (OB/gyn). Others are remarkably low-key in that aspect; e.g., preventive medicine, occupational medicine. It's oft-quoted that a very small percentage of physicians are responsible for the vast majority of the lawsuits. This often leads to the implicit or explicit conclusion that we should just ditch the "bad ones."
That isn't very helpful if we end up ditching the whole class of, say, high-risk OB/Gyne physicians and Level III trauma surgeons. Yes, fewer lawsuits, but possibly only because the sickest people aren't being treated. (Mind you, that's possible a defensible position anyway, but it should be addressed with clear forethought, not accidentally.)
Without knowing reliable rates of comparison, I would have no idea how to interpret the information given.
[ January 22, 2004, 04:19 AM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
Posted by BookWyrm (Member # 2192) on :
It would depend on the circumstances. I happen to know a couple VERY good docs that are being sued right now. I'm also aware of the circumstances (which I'm not at liberty to discuss) and know this lawsiut is frivolous and totally without merit. Will they settle? Most likely because thats now the American Way. Its cheaper to settle than fight nowadays. And that, my friends, is a sad state of affairs.