Organ Transplant Debacle

[brad]

i think, at least historically, its because of doctors military role.

[brad]

well if u had a publicly funded clinic and it was shut down (as some have been / will) you might think, gee, i could fund this whole op for price of futile operation.

[John Ho]

Yeah my brother went through the very same thing during his residency. It's absolutely ridiculous.

But the residents have no recourse...unless they want to turn their back on all the med school bills and start another career. The hospitals really take advantage of them. I guess it's no different than being a new lawyer at a big law firm and billing huge hours when you start. But the decision making, as far as I know, still is in the hands of a more experienced attorney.

[John Ho]

I like your idea of having experts judging these things. It's too easy for lawyers to bring conflicting "experts" and confuse the jury. When it comes down to it, if a little girl dies the jury is going to give the benefit of the doubt to the family and give them a huge settlement.

[HDPM]

One area of reform in malpractice cases is in the area of expert witnesses. Particularly those doctors who testify for the defense. Yes there are "plaintiff's whores" out there of course, but often overlooked are doctors who will unethically shade their testimony to defend other doctors. I think the docs' professional organizations are starting to discipline docs who offer ridiculous testimony. This would be a big help. And there are cases where one side has a preeminent expert who knows everything about a subject - who has literally written the book on something and testifies honestly. The other side will get a hack to just disagree. The jury then discounts both experts. Injustice then prevails. Feh.