Road Race Death Witness...Get Involved?

The alternative is not necessarily "living in a country WITHOUT a good civil court system." How about we bring ours under control and do something about people who bring frivolous suits AND the lawyers who help them? I know there are plenty of good, well-intentioned lawyers out there (my daughter's godfather is one), but there are a lot of scumbags, too. It happens in every profession. But back to the point - come on people, YOU take responsibility for what YOU do.

>>A result of this lawsuit will likely be that EVERY SINGLE PARASUPPORT for EVERY RACE in the future will have a defribulator. Most likely, this will save LIVES. Of course, by that time, no one will think to thank the lawyer who brought this lawsuit.

Of course we won't thank the responsible lawyer because he will be busy suing another race where a mandated defribulator didn't save someone.

Great topic......

Get lawyers involved in ANYTHING and often the real truth will be lost.... everything becomes so skewed to the person they are representing.

Bottom line....just like politics....it's all about MONEY.

For everyone's information, a defendant can bring a claim against a plaintiff who bring a lawsuit without any basis, against both the plaintiff and the plaintiff's attorney. However, it is rarely done because 9.9 out of 10 times there is some basis in fact for the lawsuit.

Stop crying about lawsuits. I think that your statement "Thanks for footing the bill for my malpractice premiums, my children's college educations, my Porsche, and my $mln house" clearly illustrates why medical costs are so high... Trying controlling your spending, drive a Honda Accord, live in a modest 1/2 million dollar house, and maybe you will be able to pay your medical malpractice premiums and reduce your charges to patients.

MedMal caps are not going to result in insurance companies reducing their premiums, or doctors reducing their charges, both are simply going to increase their profits at the patients expense, so now 4rnnr007 can live in a 1.5 million dollar home, give me a break.

4rnnr007 wrote:

Dougruns26 wrote:

Hey Doc....The alternative is to practice medicine elsewhere.

Well, there is another alternative. I can raise rates for my services to such an exorbitant level that many of you and your employers will have to pay $10,000/yr for health insurance premiums to cover my exorbitant malpractice premiums so you can sue me at the drop of a hat b/c you won't take personal responsibility for your own health. In fact, that's exactly what me and a million other docs did. Thanks for footing the bill for my malpractice premiums, my children's college educations, my Porsche, and my $mln house. What a country!

Relax spunky, you are speaking out of both sides of your mouth. You contradict yourself by complaining and then gloating about your personal financial success. I am not saying you have not earned everything you have, but make up your mind: either this country sucks or it doesn't. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

I have heard it all from my 2 neighbors/friends (anesthesiologist and orthopaedic surgeon) as well as my best friend, an orthopaedic surgeon. However, they agree with me on many of my points I made above. Trust me, they all are enjoying the financial success you outline above and not unlike you, they earned it!

He is where I agree with you. I do think people need to accept responsibility for their own health. (do not even get me started about all the obese people I see who are costing us, the people who take care of themselves, billions in healthcare costs b/c they cannot stop themselves from stuffing a twinkie in their piehole.)Likewise, I do think that when you are named in a suit you have nothing to do with, whatsoever, that is ridiculous. You do have the right and the law provides you an avenue to recover the costs and fees incurred as a result of you being wrongfully named. You will not be able to recover for emotional distress. Kind of like when someone hits your car and you are inconvenienced and lose valuable time having to take your car in to be repaired. You just cannot get $$ back for the inconvience.

However, where I do disagree, is when a real victim of medmal has to fight tooth and nail to get compensated for their real loss. The insurance cos. and the physicians just do not admit fault and get the matter resolved. I know, medicine is not an exact science. I am talking real victims of medmal. You and I both know there are plenty of them. I know one personally.

Just to clarify, I am an attorney, but I have not in the past, do not currently and have no plans in the future to practice law in the medmal area. I was a trial lawyer involved in complex commercial and intellectual property litigation and many of my clients were physicians. At this point in time, I do not practice law (by choice) and instead have a great consulting business.

This topic has exhausted itself and lets get back to running.

Topic was a great one, but the doctors and lawyers wrecked it with their own uninformed bellyaching based on limited personal experience.

What would improve medical insurance is if the cost were atually based on someone's history of staying fit and personal responsibility. Why but why should I pay same rates for medical insurance as a smoker or fat ass who is pondering a suit against Altria and McDonalds?

What would improve law and medicine in this country is if those in both communities would start policing themselves and eliminate elitist attitudes and the unqualified clowns amongst them. If you don't know what I am talking about, please come to NYC to observe the population of jackass attorneys and physicians who stopped learning the year their diploma was printed. Attorneys can reject frivolous lawsuits; Physicians can tell people they are fat, whining babies who need to buy some running shoes.

i'd agree that it's okay to sue the paramedics -- if not having a defrib constitutes prima facie evidence of negligence -- but one way to stop some of the stupid suits is to mandate that the loser pays all costs, including the legal fees of the defendants.