Interesting Revenge

[Guest MikeSC]

Doctors shun lawyers

 

Malpractice debate grows uglier

 

By DON BABWIN

 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

 

Fighting back

 

CHICAGO - Two area doctors say they understand why a South Carolina physician suggested a ban on treating attorneys involved in medical malpractice cases.

 

"We don't have many ways to fight back, and as distasteful as it sounds, that's one of the only recourses to fight back," said Dr. Michael Moses, a general surgeon.

 

Moses said he knows of a couple of doctors who are already declining to treat trial lawyers involved in malpractice suits. But he said he would not decline treating anyone.

 

"I've treated plaintiff attorneys before," he said.

 

"I've operated on plaintiffs attorneys more than once," said Dr. Paul Mace, a general surgeon. "I'm not going to turn my back on any patient who is in need for medical attention. It's part of our canon of ethics that we subscribe to."

 

But he knows others might feel differently.

 

"I can understand how other physicians might be willing to use that as a tool," Mace said. "We've been preyed upon unjustly by attorneys for their own financial gain."

 

DAVID TORTORANO A South Carolina surgeon dropped a patient when he found out her husband was a trial lawyer.

 

In New Hampshire, a neurosurgeon told the head of the state's trial lawyers that he wouldn't treat him for non-emergencies.

 

A plastic surgeon in Mississippi refused to treat the daughter of a state lawmaker because of his stand on malpractice suits.

 

The long-running battle over the high cost of malpractice insurance has taken an ugly turn. Many doctors blame trial lawyers and their malpractice suits for causing huge jumps in insurance premiums. Lawyers blame it on the insurance industry.

 

At this week's meeting of the American Medical Association, many doctors stayed out of the fray. They angrily shouted down a proposal by Dr. J. Chris Hawk of Charleston, S.C., to refuse treatment for attorneys involved in medical malpractice cases.

 

But the actions of other doctors and hospitals suggest that plenty of them agree that taking out their anger on lawyers - and sometimes their families - is an acceptable response to what they see as a threat to their livelihood.

 

"If somebody takes a position that is very deleterious to your welfare, you have a right not to do business with him," said Dr. Clinton "Rick" Miller, a neurosurgeon in Portsmouth, N.H. Miller did just that, telling Tim Coughlin, president of the state's trial lawyers association, that he would not treat him for elective surgery because he lobbied against limits on malpractice lawsuits.

 

"He's one of the reasons I have $84,000 medical practice premiums even though I've never had a malpractice judgment against me in my life," said Miller, who also emphasized that he would treat Coughlin in an emergency.

 

Coughlin said Miller's anger is misplaced.

 

"His insurance company is charging him too much," Coughlin said.

 

While Miller said he would have no problem treating Coughlin's family, Hawk would. He dropped a patient when he found out her husband was a prominent trial attorney.

 

"I don't think it violates the Hippocratic oath," he said.

 

Nor, apparently, did Dr. Michael Kanosky, a plastic surgeon in Mississippi. Just last week it was reported that Kanosky refused to treat the daughter of a state lawmaker who opposed limits in damage lawsuits against physicians in the state.

 

"He asked me who I worked for and then asked me who my father was," Kimberly Banks told The Associated Press. "I told him (state Rep.) Earle Banks. He told me, 'I can't see you because your father is against tort reform.' "

 

Kanosky was in Chicago for the AMA meeting and did not immediately return calls for comment. He earlier told a Mississippi television station that he believed treating the woman would be a conflict of interest because his wife is a lobbyist for doctors.

 

Doctors say such cases are rare. Dr. Ken Printen, the president of the Illinois State Medical Society, said he has never heard of any doctor in the state refusing care to an attorney, nor should it ever happen.

 

"To deny somebody treatment just because he's a lawyer, you just can't do that," he said.

 

At the AMA's annual meeting a committee recommended that the policy-making delegates reject Hawk's proposal, saying it would "jeopardize and sidetrack" the group's efforts to combat high insurance rates and malpractice lawsuits. The delegates endorsed the rejection by voice vote Tuesday without debate.

 

A number of doctors at the meeting agreed with the committee's concern. Several said that they would never deny medical care to a lawyer.

 

Joseph Selby, a doctor from Morgantown, W. Va., said his 12-year-old son has a friend whose attorney father recently won a $6 million judgment against the hospital where Selby works.

 

"Do I hate him? Would I not treat him? Would I not treat his son? Of course not," Selby said. "I don't criticize attorneys for doing what the law allows. We need to change our legal system."

 

But there are indications that the fight over medical malpractice is getting more contentious.

 

Earlier this year, a furor erupted over a database that was billed as the first to profile plaintiffs, their lawyers and expert witnesses in malpractice cases in Texas and other states. The Web site, www.DoctorsKnow.Us, shut down after critics accused it of blacklisting patients who had sued doctors for malpractice.

 

In New Jersey, Dr. George Ciechanowski has sued the state's medical society, claiming other doctors have boycotted his practice because of his support for a medical malpractice reform plan they opposed.

 

And in Texas, a nursing student claims she was dismissed from her job at a hospital because her husband works for a firm that handles medical malpractice cases.

 

It all adds to "an alarming trend in a kind of vigilante-style behavior for what appears to be an extremist group of doctors... looking to punish innocent patients and their attorneys who help them exercise their constitutional rights," said Dan Lambe of Texas Watch, a consumer research and advocacy group that helped publicize the Web site.

 

This anger is showing up in more subtle ways, too. Lawyer Ken Suggs said some doctors are becoming less willing to help attorneys when called to provide their expert opinions.

 

"It's a little bit harder to get their cooperation in those things," said Suggs, who like Hawk practices in South Carolina.

 

But Suggs agrees with fellow lawyers who think doctors' anger with them is misplaced.

 

"We've always considered this an insurance issue," he said. "Their malpractice insurance is rising, as is ours."

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/8932714.htm

I can fully appreciate doctors getting pissed at lawyers over lawsuits and the like.

 

But, I'm not sure this is the best way to go about expressing it.

-=Mike

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I heard about this and think it's funny as hell.

 

I probably wouldn't refuse service if I were a doctor and had a trial lawyer as a patient, but I'd make damn sure my instruments were extra cold...

[Firestarter 0]

Excellent. The world needs fewer and better lawyers. Anything that serves to diminish their health or numbers is just fine with me.

[Guest MikeSC]

Excellent. The world needs fewer and better lawyers. Anything that serves to diminish their health or numbers is just fine with me.

Well, my brother is one, and while he can be a total prick, I'd hate to see him or his kids suffer.

-=Mike

[Firestarter 0]

Guess you're not getting to the front of the line in an ER anytime soon...

[Guest MikeSC]

Guess you're not getting to the front of the line in an ER anytime soon...

Already had my surgery.

 

Don't worry --- I unload on my brother Chris about this regularly.

 

"Lawyers can be sued for malpractice, ya know" he says.

 

"Of course, that requires OTHER LAWYERS to take the case --- and lawyers really don't like going after their own" I reply.

-=Mike

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

"Of course, that requires OTHER LAWYERS to take the case --- and lawyers really don't like going after their own" I reply.

 

HA.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

My old man sued his former employer for making him sick (long, long story) and his scumbag lawyer fucked up the case, and my old man decided to sue his lawyer for it. He had a bitch of a time trying to find another scumbag lawyer to take up his case against his first scumbag lawyer. The reason he was most fed? Lawyers don't sue other lawyers...

[Styles 0]

Can't say I blame them, enough is enough.

 

...But couldn't this just bring about another lawsuit?

[Guest MikeSC]

Can't say I blame them, enough is enough.

 

...But couldn't this just bring about another lawsuit?

I actually worry it could. I don't think doctors can refuse treatment to people based on their professions.

-=Mike

[Firestarter 0]

They're private citizens. They can refuse anyone non-emergency treatment for any reason.

[Guest MikeSC]

They're private citizens. They can refuse anyone non-emergency treatment for any reason.

Really? Didn't know that.

-=Mike

[Guest Cerebus]

Docs treat rapists, murderers, thieves, pedophiles, and gang bangers all the time. They consider trial lawyers BELOW them? I love a good lawyer joke now and again but this is going way too far.

[Vyce 0]

I find this hilarious.

 

And hell, I'll officially BE a lawyer in about a year from now.

[Guest MikeSC]

Docs treat rapists, murderers, thieves, pedophiles, and gang bangers all the time. They consider trial lawyers BELOW them? I love a good lawyer joke now and again but this is going way too far.

Well, lawyers will fuck you, whether you like it or not. Seems to almost fit.

-=Mike

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Well, I live in a small town. And my most recent doctor just left after we went through all the work to get him knowledge of my full medical history.

 

So far, my problems with doctors leaving has not been because of malpractice suits. It has been with doctors going to San Francisco for more money.

[Guest Smues]

Docs treat rapists, murderers, thieves, pedophiles, and gang bangers all the time. They consider trial lawyers BELOW them? I love a good lawyer joke now and again but this is going way too far.

Not that I'm sure I agree with not treating lawyers, but at least the rapists and theives and pedophiles don't usually punish a doctor for doing his job. Something REALLY needs to be done about medical malpractice lawsuits in this country.