Think the PI industry isn't a healthcare cost problem?

Victim? The other avenue that victim had was to not use the implant and die. Life's not perfect, nor is medicine. It's time people realized that.

 

You're right, doctors have caught on to the game and charge outrageous fees for medical records and their time for legal matters. The reason is that they figure that they're just getting skinned alive anyway, so why not play the game at the level of the competition? I know this, BTW, from speaking to a number of friends who are surgeons.

The downside of all of this that most people overlook is that for the most part doctors now view every patient as a potential lawsuit. That's not a good healtcare environment.

 

I some times read a rag called Scientific American one of there editorial a few year back was about Junk Sciene in the court rooms. Some in mal practice some in product lib.



I think we all know that thilidimide is back on the market.

 

werd!!!!

 

Frank,

What if she could have chose Mongo's Meaty Meds implant instead but she didn't because Mad Brad's devices seemed better and were marketed better to the medical community? Maybe the victim made a choice or teh doc made a recommendation based on data that was presented as whole and complete but was not. What then...?

 

You'd think the courts might, one day, adopt this type of thinking. Excellent post, Frank. :up:

 

I have no problem on lawsuits for real negligence or fraud. I don't believe that the Vioxx case falls into that category for the reasons already covered. No drug is perfect, all have adverse reactions. The adverse reactions of Vioxx were well known, and for 99.99999% of people they are not a problem. The extended clinical trials shed new light on a potential problem when the drug was used for an unusually long period of time. It should also be said that there is NO PROOF that the deaths in the trial were directly attributable to Vioxx, but Merck chose to take a conservative route and pull the drug from market. I don't see how that can be construed as either negligence or fraud. The company should be applauded, not decimated.

 

I would not be surprised if this were true, but it, by itself, means nothing. For instance, the economics of med mal in NY (for me anyhow) is that a case must be worth about $500,000 in damages to be worth bringing and that liability must be very, very clear -- virtually indisputable. I must have physician-experts signed up who will testify that the case is clear negligence and that the negligence committed by the doc resulted in very significant injury.

So, if you have an injury worth only $200,000 you may be out of luck unless the doctor has already gone on the record as having cut off the wrong limb.

Sooooooooooo, the value of the verdicts/settlements in med mal cases will go up b/c only the very large cases will be taken. Just my theory based on personal experience and what I have seen in Western NY.

 

now that is sort of interesting a few years ago in Fla there was a doc that did this the right foot was to be cut off and when healed up the left foot was as it was thought to be to tramatic to cut them both off at once. well the doc cut off the wrong one first. It was in all the papers they just left out the part about both needed to go.

edit Ps I do not know if he was sued or not.

 

The doctor was sued in that case. But, a conservative Judge said the case was without merit, and threw it out...






















...Judge said the plaintiff didn't have a leg to stand on.

 

Groooaaannn