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I guess they say lets go after that careless greedy doc... Anesthesiology has been in the news lately as one of the specialties in medicine that make bank...Yeah wow, cannot believe that was worth 500k. I was at least expecting something far worse.
I guess you gotta always be careful.
Absolutely he deserved $500,000 and that anesthesiologist should have her license suspended if not revoked. I am astounded at these doctors' immaturity and lack of compassion. If you want to blow off steam, do it in the break room or your office. Not with the patient. But even then, the statements they made were so mean-spirited and vitriolic. It is downright sociopathic and shows a lack of compassion that is frightening given their profession. Total overkill for a fear of needles, which millions of people have. I've never heard anything like this in the hospital. Not to mention they falsified notes in his chart and lied to him about giving him post-procedure instructions.
How anyone can defend these docs is beyond me. Justice well served.
The comments section is such a joke. There is no reason this man should have been awarded a penny.
The malpractice award was justified, but Jesus, $50k each for a couple of comments spoken privately? Seriously? So if someone says something nasty to my face I can take them to court for "defamation" and pay off all my student loans?
The idea of punitive damages is not to award the plaintiff. It is to punish the offending party and make sure this does not happen again.
The jury awarded the man $100,000 for defamation — $50,000 each for the comments about the man having syphilis and tuberculosis — and $200,000 for medical malpractice, as well as the $200,000 in punitive damages.
So when you have a procedure you don't care if the doctors make fun of you in an incredibly mean spirited and disrespectful fashion, record false diagnoses in your chart, and then lie about giving you post-procedure instructions?
My whole life I've actually been a big proponent of telling it like it is. So me, personally? No, I wouldn't care if I was being called out for being a grown man yet acting like a adolescent girl. I can acknowledge that some people are quite sensitive and we should be cognizant of the fact that small things we say can have a huge impact on them, but in no way do I think a settlement that large is warranted, especially considering that once you are sued those things don't go away.
Have you been in an OR before? If every patient in the country that was joked about once they went under was awarded money we'd be giving billions away.
The comments are insensitive for sure and I would agree that some form of disciplinary action should be taken by the practice/hospital. However, this guy is clearly a wimp. He's likely been told this before and other people have had to deal with his BS. He's just trying to take advantage of a system... he'd be the same guy who stops suddenly in front of you while driving, you softly love tap, then gets out of his car complaining of neck pain.
$500,000 is not justified. The ONLY way I could understand this settlement is if they went back and actually saw that the physicians falsified info in the patient's medical records or gave him inappropriate information with his discharge instructions.
When I was a teenager I was in a bicycle accident. I was taken by EMS to the ER, complaining of severe neck pain. The doctor did an x-ray and refused to do any further imaging. He said the x-ray was clean and that I was being a "pain wuss." I will never forget those exact words. My pain did not subside, so my mom took me to an orthopedic surgeon the next day. He did a new x-ray and immediately saw that I had a C1 fracture. Good thing I kept the c-collar on until I saw him. Anyone who presumptively calls a patient a "wimp" or a "wuss" is begging for a lawsuit, not to mention taking bad care of his or her patients. That kind of machismo attitude is bad for everyone. Maybe this time there was no physical harm to this particular patient (hopefully they didn't miss anything while working so hard on their clever zingers), but it's only a matter of time before their jaded, casual attitude gets somebody hurt. Verdict justified.
Of course everyone makes fun of patients to some degree. But the amount of effort and malice these folks put into it is just sickening. There's a difference in joking to a colleague "Can you have a taxi come to the unit, because [dementia patient] says she has to go to the dance" versus "I just want to punch this ****** wimp in the face."
Absolutely he deserved $500,000 and that anesthesiologist should have her license suspended if not revoked. I am astounded at these doctors' immaturity and lack of compassion. If you want to blow off steam, do it in the break room or your office. Not with the patient. But even then, the statements they made were so mean-spirited and vitriolic. It is downright sociopathic and shows a lack of compassion that is frightening given their profession. Total overkill for a fear of needles, which millions of people have. I've never heard anything like this in the hospital. Not to mention they falsified notes in his chart and lied to him about giving him post-procedure instructions.
How anyone can defend these docs is beyond me. Justice well served.
When I was a teenager I was in a bicycle accident. I was taken by EMS to the ER, complaining of severe neck pain. The doctor did an x-ray and refused to do any further imaging. He said the x-ray was clean and that I was being a "pain wuss." I will never forget those exact words. My pain did not subside, so my mom took me to an orthopedic surgeon the next day. He did a new x-ray and immediately saw that I had a C1 fracture. Good thing I kept the c-collar on until I saw him. Anyone who presumptively calls a patient a "wimp" or a "wuss" is begging for a lawsuit, not to mention taking bad care of his or her patients. That kind of machismo attitude is bad for everyone. Maybe this time there was no physical harm to this particular patient (hopefully they didn't miss anything while working so hard on their clever zingers), but it's only a matter of time before their jaded, casual attitude gets somebody hurt. Verdict justified.
Of course everyone makes fun of patients to some degree. But the amount of effort and malice these folks put into it is just sickening. There's a difference in joking to a colleague "Can you have a taxi come to the unit, because [dementia patient] says she has to go to the dance" versus "I just want to punch this ****** wimp in the face."
Agreed. I'm astonished at the number of medical students on here that take the docs' sides on this or are surprised that the patient was awarded $$$. Absolutely horrendous if you have no sympathy for the patient who lies on the table, underneath the lights, under the supposed care of medical professionals. Only to be ridiculed and mocked for physical abnormalities.Absolutely he deserved $500,000 and that anesthesiologist should have her license suspended if not revoked. I am astounded at these doctors' immaturity and lack of compassion. If you want to blow off steam, do it in the break room or your office. Not with the patient. But even then, the statements they made were so mean-spirited and vitriolic. It is downright sociopathic and shows a lack of compassion that is frightening given their profession. Total overkill for a fear of needles, which millions of people have. I've never heard anything like this in the hospital. Not to mention they falsified notes in his chart and lied to him about giving him post-procedure instructions.
How anyone can defend these docs is beyond me. Justice well served.
Turns out, some doctors are idiots. I actually don't feel bad for them at all.
I agree you guys. This lawsuit was absolutely justified, though I don't agree with the amount rewarded. There is a malignant idea in medicine that when the patient is asleep, you can say whatever you want. I'm sure anyone over an MS2 has seen it all the time. Being a physician is a profession. That means you need to act professional. Just because the patient is asleep doesn't give you the right to spout off whatever your beef is with them. Let's face it, most in the OR don't care anyway. And in the future, none of the staff you work with would ever want you working on them = zero respect.
I'm sorry to those who don't agree and think these comments are ok. But in the end, it says a lot about your personality and integrity when maintaining a professional atmosphere. One of the things that sets apart a good doctor and an excellent doctor is the ability to handle difficult patients in a professional manner. That's what we spent years training for (or maybe not, if you truly didn't give a care). If you can't do that, then you're no more professional than Joe off the street. And I'll tell you what...I don't want Joe doing surgery on me.
We're doctors, not animals. I'm of the opinion medicine demands excellence in knowledge, ethics and professionalism. If you can't [wo]man up to these tasks after at least 7 years of training, then you simply don't belong. You can always work retail and make fun of customers.
Honestly I wish she lost her license. Disgusting
See this rationale bothers me. While I agree in principle with the appropriateness of those consequences, I have a massive issue with the legality of them. This is why things get murky when lay people start to trying to apply the law to real life matters.I don't necessarily think she deserves to lose her license, but the lawsuit seems fair. Don't be a jerk to patients
What is sad about this? Don't you think what the docs did in this case was not only inappropriate, but stupid? Certainly from day 1 in medical school you learn to be professional in front of patients. In my opinion it makes it worse that they would talk about the patient when they're under GA. What they did made no sense, and comes off as school yard bully behavior. I'm actually ashamed to be associated with such people.
I agree you guys. This lawsuit was absolutely justified, though I don't agree with the amount rewarded. There is a malignant idea in medicine that when the patient is asleep, you can say whatever you want. I'm sure anyone over an MS2 has seen it all the time. Being a physician is a profession. That means you need to act professional. Just because the patient is asleep doesn't give you the right to spout off whatever your beef is with them. Let's face it, most in the OR don't care anyway. And in the future, none of the staff you work with would ever want you working on them = zero respect.
I'm sorry to those who don't agree and think these comments are ok. But in the end, it says a lot about your personality and integrity when maintaining a professional atmosphere. One of the things that sets apart a good doctor and an excellent doctor is the ability to handle difficult patients in a professional manner. That's what we spent years training for (or maybe not, if you truly didn't give a care). If you can't do that, then you're no more professional than Joe off the street. And I'll tell you what...I don't want Joe doing surgery on me.
We're doctors, not animals. I'm of the opinion medicine demands excellence in knowledge, ethics and professionalism. If you can't [wo]man up to these tasks after at least 7 years of training, then you simply don't belong. You can always work retail and make fun of customers.
I think a disciplinary action would be more appropriate in such case...What is sad about this? Don't you think what the docs did in this case was not only inappropriate, but stupid? Certainly from day 1 in medical school you learn to be professional in front of patients. In my opinion it makes it worse that they would talk about the patient when they're under GA. What they did made no sense, and comes off as school yard bully behavior. I'm actually ashamed to be associated with such people.
Money talks. Which is why she'll never talk **** about patients in this context again.I think a disciplinary action would be more appropriate in such case...
So this is an ends justify the means type thing?Money talks. Which is why she'll never talk **** about patients in this context again.
I think the 500k is justified. Aside from the medical malpractice, the guy suffered severe mental distress. For all I know, he could go on to develop major depression and lose 500k+ in lost productivity over his lifetime as a result of this incident.
And for everyone saying how the patient should just "suck it up" and "move on" -- while this may be an acceptable thing to say to a medical trainee, it's not something you should ever say to a patient.
Money talks. Which is why she'll never talk **** about patients in this context again.