Malpractice Crisis Impairs Medical Care
Skin care and cosmetic enhancement/cosmetic surgery
Edward B. Lack MD
President, MetropolitanMD
Chicago’s Cosmetic Surgery Center
A friend of mine was describing his apprehension at getting married again. He said, “when you have stepped on the rake once, you are hesitant before you do it again”. Doctors are basically good people who get their self-esteem from satisfied patients. Most of us have good intentions and work hard to please our patients. So you can imagine how we must feel being bombarded every day by the Trail Lawyers Association (friends of Hilary Clinton and our 2 senators from Illinois) in attempts to make money from someone’s misfortunes at the expense of physicians. They would not support legislation to get rid of bad doctors in the state because that would deprive them of their rationalization that patients are victims of doctors. They like having bad doctors in the state so these few bad apples can generate the news that allows unscrupulous lawyers to sue good and well meaning doctors. And this supports the few selfish citizens who hope that a doctor lawsuit can be their lottery pick. I had a patient a few years ago who angrily told me she wanted to sue her obstetrician because her C-section scar was not as smooth as she wanted it. She said a plastic surgeon she consulted said the OB did a terrible job. “Oh”, I said. “And was the plastic surgeon there for your delivery so he knows if the OB did a poor job? And did you have a healthy baby after the delivery?” She said she had so I added, “then I suggest you call your OB and thank him for your lovely child which he brought safely into this world”. This is certainly more nonsensical though no less pernicious than parents and lawyers getting rich after a child develops cerebral palsy from a lack of oxygen and sues the physician who labored to deliver the child safely.
Physicians are not Gods. When we take care of patients, whether it is to cure disease, make the infirm more comfortable, or to enhance appearance we are doing our best. Perhaps not our perfect best, our best none-the-less. Physicans win more than 80% of malpractice cases yet we pay a toll in the form of malpractice premiums and emotional distress. When you hear that doctors are concerned with the malpractice crisis and we request relief in the form of tort reform remember that we have already stepped on the rake. And it is the mission of the Trial Lawyers Association and our legislators who come from their ranks to keep putting the rake in front of us in the hopes that one day we will step on it again.
Edward B. Lack MD
President, MetropolitanMD
Chicago’s Cosmetic Surgery Center
A friend of mine was describing his apprehension at getting married again. He said, “when you have stepped on the rake once, you are hesitant before you do it again”. Doctors are basically good people who get their self-esteem from satisfied patients. Most of us have good intentions and work hard to please our patients. So you can imagine how we must feel being bombarded every day by the Trail Lawyers Association (friends of Hilary Clinton and our 2 senators from Illinois) in attempts to make money from someone’s misfortunes at the expense of physicians. They would not support legislation to get rid of bad doctors in the state because that would deprive them of their rationalization that patients are victims of doctors. They like having bad doctors in the state so these few bad apples can generate the news that allows unscrupulous lawyers to sue good and well meaning doctors. And this supports the few selfish citizens who hope that a doctor lawsuit can be their lottery pick. I had a patient a few years ago who angrily told me she wanted to sue her obstetrician because her C-section scar was not as smooth as she wanted it. She said a plastic surgeon she consulted said the OB did a terrible job. “Oh”, I said. “And was the plastic surgeon there for your delivery so he knows if the OB did a poor job? And did you have a healthy baby after the delivery?” She said she had so I added, “then I suggest you call your OB and thank him for your lovely child which he brought safely into this world”. This is certainly more nonsensical though no less pernicious than parents and lawyers getting rich after a child develops cerebral palsy from a lack of oxygen and sues the physician who labored to deliver the child safely.
Physicians are not Gods. When we take care of patients, whether it is to cure disease, make the infirm more comfortable, or to enhance appearance we are doing our best. Perhaps not our perfect best, our best none-the-less. Physicans win more than 80% of malpractice cases yet we pay a toll in the form of malpractice premiums and emotional distress. When you hear that doctors are concerned with the malpractice crisis and we request relief in the form of tort reform remember that we have already stepped on the rake. And it is the mission of the Trial Lawyers Association and our legislators who come from their ranks to keep putting the rake in front of us in the hopes that one day we will step on it again.
posted by Edward Lack MD at 11:19 AM
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