This series is only several months old, but in blog time that counts as a millennium.

The Surgeonsblog recently mentioned that he had posted about his ordeal in a medical malpractice case. Below are the links to the three posts. I quote a few highlights (and leave out a few things that are more raw than what I’d like search engines to find on this blog) but please read the whole thing carefully. It is a great (as in accurate and grim) account of the medmal litigation process.

Losing my virginity, part one

One of the issues that comes out is that lawsuits are fearful things quite apart from monetary damage.

it hit me like… well, it hit me like a lawsuit. And it was only the first blow in a series that lasted over a couple of years, wrenching me back and forth, up and down, tearing me apart in every possible way. Robbing my sleep, souring my outlook, breaking my cherry in the most bloody of ways… At the time my dad was Chief Judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals. My brother was (and is) a very big-time lawyer. Neither of them ever understood how or why it was so deeply painful. “Why are you taking it so personally,” they’d ask, completely seriously. “It’s just the way the system works.”

Losing my virginity, part two.

Here we see it emphasized how doctors and lawyers act when involved in one of these cases. The only bright spot is his recollection of the hearing by the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners. The rest is a nightmare. Here is one minor example:

My next lesson in the way of the world was when the records arrived from the referring family doc. The last entry in his notes from the time of transfer was “Situation critical. Urgent surgery advised.” WTF? It had been a couple of years, but I knew I’d remember such a statement had it been in the notes I received with the patient. Poor Doctor FP: he must not have remembered that he’d sent copies of his notes with the patient at the time of transfer and that they’d be included in the hospital records. Clear as day, the son… had altered his notes later, to cover his ass once again. What did he care? I wasn’t in his area any more.

Losing my virginity, part three.

Again, there is a lot here to read; go do so. But I thought this description of how one’s life is disrupted by the “game” was really interesting (in an accident-on-the-highway sort of way).

Trial dates were announced, my schedule was cleared for that week, and then within a few days of the date, it was canceled and rescheduled. Once again my schedule would be cleared, once again the day would approach, and be canceled once again. It wreaks havoc with a practice, in obvious ways. Lawyers, conceivably, are no more stupid than the rest of us (well, there’s a bell-curve); I’m sure it was a game well-played. With each cancellation, there came notification that the amount of money being sought was lowered. Sometime after the prayer (that’s the official term for the amount of money in play: “prayer.” Hmm.) was lowered to well within the limits of my coverage, I heard from the “personal” attorney I’d hired. He wanted me to request settlement. Hey, wait a damn minute!! Much as the idea of being hammered on a witness stand frightened me, I’d long since gotten to the point of anger-fueled certainty that I’d prevail (well, that’s too strong a word: not certainty, but resolution to proceed), and settlement was the last thing on my mind. The reason, he told me, was that since I’d originally been sued for more than my coverage, if it were to go to trial and I were to lose, and if the judgment were for more than my coverage, then, having requested settlement, I’d be able to demand full payment by the insurer.

Normally, when I recommend an article offsite, I say, “enjoy!” or something like that. But that’s not exactly the right sentiment in this case. Still, you should read these posts.