I am sure there is a lawyer joke that compares my chosen profession to the animal pictured above, but this isn't a time for name calling.
This is a time for honest conversation.
No one who calls me wants to file a lawsuit. (Well, almost no one). No one wants to be the plaintiff in a medical malpractice action. No one wants to have suffered a life changing permanent injury that re-defines a person's finances, ability, and life.
But when bad medical care causes a life changing or life-ending injury (and trust me, bad medical care happens every day for a variety of reasons) where should families go?
- Risk Management - Yes, sometimes Hospital Risk Management will waive medical bills, offer explanations and apologies and even offer to make the patient financially whole after an incident of malpractice or negligent care. Risk management however has no legal obligtation to do these things, and in most cases will offer little more than platitudes or cafeteria gift certificates when a family complains about bad medical care. Moreover, not all hospitals are self insured such that hospital employees are even allowed to make payments or offer to reduce medical bills when bad care occurs.
- The media - While I am a huge fan of a free press, trust me when I say to you that notifying the local media that you received bad medical care almost never effectuates change, or provides any assistance to you the victim. While we hope that sharing our pain will cause collective uproar, it rarely does and as such the local media can do very little to help those who have suffered from bed medical care. Example - even the patients mentioned in Dr. Death filed civil suits before the podcast lead to his license revocation and conviction (https://www.vanweylaw.com/insights/dr-death/)!
- State Regulatory Boards - the Virginia Board of Medicine is not tasked with the job of protecting patients. The Board of Medicine is the state agency responsible for licensing physicians, evaluating complaints, and establishing regulations governing the practice of medicine in the Commonwealth. While they will revoke the license of an incompetent physician, or one who violates significant laws and ethics, it rarely takes any action when bad medical care occurs without criminal activity involved. So while patients have filed complaints against physicians who have caused them harm, I have never personally seen the Bd. take any action with one single act of negligent care.
Lawyers - So here we are - back where we started. Lawyers. Though no one wants to file suit our civil justice system does not provide an alternative for accountability when actions cause financial or physical harm. We lawyers and our classic tool (lawsuits) is it.
In sum, maybe we lawyers are like burros or donkeys (you thought I was going to say asses, didn't you?) - unliked, but useful, sure footed, reliable, and needed when you can't get the work done alone.
I've always like Donkeys - so I don't mind the compassion.
