The only American doctors who don’t worry about
malpractice suits are fresh out of training. They believe that practicing good
medicine will keep them safe. Once they are sued, they join the worriers.
Fifteen percent of surgeons are sued every year. It’s twenty percent for
high-risk subspecialties like neurosurgery and cardiac surgery. Family doctors
like me do better -- only five percent per year. This means that every doctor
is sued sooner or later. Mostly we win, and almost no one pays a penny even if
we lose, but it’s a miserable experience. I work hard to find material for this
blog, but you’ll never read about my suit.
One reason doctors are sued for malpractice is
malpractice, but plenty of other reasons exist.
Hollywood generally presents doctors in a good light,
but in the dozen or so movies about medical malpractice, the doctor character
is always evil. Hollywood generally presents lawyers in a bad light, but in
those same movies about malpractice, the victim's lawyer is always the
hero.
I once wrote a courtroom drama about a surgeon who was
committing malpractice – doing hysterectomies strictly for the money. But he
had a pleasant personality, so patients liked him (in the movies these doctors
are always sleazy); he was a skillful surgeon, so there were no pitiful victims
to testify, and he had a smart lawyer, so he won. I thought the story was
deliciously ironic, but the number of editors who agree is holding steady at
zero.
Posts
