Should I SUE my doctor?

quit your bitching

Really? You want to sue your doctor? It's because of greedy people like you that the healthcare system is so bad in this country.

No, thank him for trying to help you and move on with your life.

Go ahead and sue. The money will probably make your hip feel much better.

And, as a bonus, when you need a new hip in 7 years I'm sure top docs will line up to do the procedure.

50 and fed up! wrote:

I am an active 50 year old female athlete who runs, back country skis, bikes and hikes. I had metal on metal hip resurfacing 3 years ago and have had an uneven recovery. I have had groin and hip pain. Because of a swelling in my groin and ongoing pain, I recently had another procedure to aspirate what turned out to be a cyst in my hip. The pathology report indicated that the fluid was loaded with chromium etc...from the Titanium implant. I have the Cormet Corin hip resurfacing system. Has anybody else had problems?

You run with a prosthetic hip and then want to sue your doctor when it incurs wear damage. What a fucking bitch. I don't have anything to say other than that you deserve whatever misfortune comes your way.

A plaintiff must establish all four elements of the tort of negligence for a successful medical malpractice claim.

1) A duty was owed: a legal duty exists whenever a hospital or health care provider undertakes care or treatment of a patient.

2) A duty was breached: the provider failed to conform to the relevant standard of care. The standard of care is proved by expert testimony or by obvious errors (the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur or the thing speaks for itself).

3) The breach caused an injury: The breach of duty was a proximate cause of the injury.

4) Damages: Without damages (losses which may be pecuniary or emotional), there is no basis for a claim, regardless of whether the medical provider was negligent. Likewise, damages can occur without negligence, for example, when someone dies from a fatal disease.

You know what? Doctors work so hard to get where they are. 4 years of Medical School where you are literally forced to pay the people to be there and work 36 hour shifts and studfy for tests day in and day out, Residency for 4 years where you only get payed $30,000 and still work 24-36 hour shifts, and then you are finally a Doctor where you try so hard to save lives and work 12 hour shifts day and nights with administration and still only get $350,000 a year(if your an MD)for all your troubles.

And here we have people like you. You get a hip problem and greedily sue people for your nasty little problems. People make mistakes sometimes and unless it is a serious one(like a REAL major mistake or a Cause of Death which is completely due to the doctor, etc.) then you need to stop being a greedy coward and taking away cash from Doctors who know a days work harder than any other job out there. They save lives and help so many people and how would you like it if because of you a doctor was layed off and that caused people to die? Then you a murderer.

Sorry, I do have personal experiences with this. My father was and still is a doctor and the stress he gets from his work and what he used to get and all the cases he's gone through it really annoys me when people get little problems and sue. It's a disgrace to human society. I don't mean to be rude, but I am telling to tell you the facts.

If, however, it is a serious medical condition severly hampering your life and is COMPLETELY due to a mistake made by your doctor that should have been easily corrected by any other knowing doctor than I say go for the sue. If it's not serious or if it is serious but not caused by the reasons above DO NOT SUE.

You are in a tough situation. I would pursue it. Are these problems typical to the proceedure? Were you notified of the risk?

Despite posts to the contrary, there aree medical quacks out there who do much damage. They need to be exposed.

Good luck with your recovery.

PS I had an unneeded knee surgery. It took me out of competitive running for 6 months. I told the surgeon my knee was imroving and he laughed and told me the MRI didn't lie. I knew if I passed on it the next opportunity for surgery would be months away.

recycled plastic wrote:

You run with a prosthetic hip and then want to sue your doctor when it incurs wear damage. What a fucking bitch. I don't have anything to say other than that you deserve whatever misfortune comes your way.

In fairness to the OP, the corning site talks about "a long-lasting implant and a return to previous levels of activity".

So unless she was specifically warned that a return to previous levels of activity did not include running, the procedure does not appear to have met expectations.

11111111987 wrote:

Really? You want to sue your doctor? It's because of greedy people like you that the healthcare system is so bad in this country.

.

Not because of greedy insurance companies, greedy drug companies, greedy for profit hospitals?

Were you warned about possible negative side effects but chose the procedure anyway? Or do you think the doctor was negligent? If it's the latter, then talk to a lawyer. Letsrun is probably not the best place to get advice, unless you enjoy being raked over the coals by judgmental people in their 20s.

long sox wrote:

recycled plastic wrote:

You run with a prosthetic hip and then want to sue your doctor when it incurs wear damage. What a fucking bitch. I don't have anything to say other than that you deserve whatever misfortune comes your way.

In fairness to the OP, the corning site talks about "a long-lasting implant and a return to previous levels of activity".

http://www.coringroup.com/medical_professionals/products/hips/cormet/introduction/

So unless she was specifically warned that a return to previous levels of activity did not include running, the procedure does not appear to have met expectations.

No, the product does not appear to have met expectations.

Are you people really not intelligent enough to realize that the doctor did not create the prosthesis?

"No, thank him for trying to help you and move on with your life."

-no doubt, you were informed of the risks and hazards. i would go see him and ask what can be done to rectify the situation, but it's no reason to sue him. do you think he maliciously and did this to you on purpose? come on, man! also, what was the advice/literature given you regarding going out and running/exercising with a metal on metal hip implant? knowing you from just a little excerpt from a written paragraph, i'd say you're a fool who likely has always blamed others for your stupid decisions.

nope

The New UncleB wrote:

11111111987 wrote:

Really? You want to sue your doctor? It's because of greedy people like you that the healthcare system is so bad in this country.

.

Not because of greedy insurance companies, greedy drug companies, greedy for profit hospitals?

Go after the company that made the prosthesis, not the surgeon. Check for recall or other problems with your specific implant.

It's not his/her fault the resurfacing leached metal into your system.

Why would you sue? Nothing in your story suggests that there was any sort of negligence or device failure. You had a hip problem bad enough where you sought out surgery, and afterwards you still had issues. Unless your physician was silly enough to give a 100% gaurantee that this procedure was risk free and would fix your problem, you have no case. I'd like to say no doc would make such a claim, but in a big enough pool of people, there may be the extreme idiot who chose to make a flip claim like that. If so, it was stupid, and you have a technical window of opportunity because of his/her lapse, but even that is a slim chance since the consent you signed likely had standard boilerplate covering this.

By the way, are you one of the people who complains about the rising costs of care, and how insurers, doctors, and hospitals are driving us deeper into debt? If so, try draw the link between what you're contemplating and the status quo.

-MN MD

First, med mal isn't driving medical costs. Texas has the most restrictive med mal tort reform in the country and our health insurance premiums have kept going up unabated even though med mal lawsuits have gone down by 90%.

Second, if you are in a jurisdiction with med mal tort reform, you will probably have a very difficult time finding a lawyer to take your case. A lawyer will usually have to front about $250,000 in expert witness fees (i.e. another doctor or two in a combination med mal/products liability case) just to get the case filed. Many states require an affidavit from a doctor swearing that they have reviewed the matter and have found that the Dr committed medical malpractice.

Third, you obviously did not have a successful hip procedure. If you think you have a claim, find an attorney in your area that has experience with hip replacement litigation. There have been a number of hip replacement devices that have failed miserably and caused people a lot of harm. And there are lawyers who have made hip replacement litigation a career. They will know whether you have a claim.

Fourth, do not feel bad about going after a doctor or a medical device company if you have been harmed by mal practice or a defective medical device. Surgeons make huge money and play golf during the week. They are insured. And they never face any professional discipline from their licensing board. There are bad doctors out there who will only be weeded out by lawsuits. If you have a claim against your Dr and feel bad about suing a Dr, then you may just be passing on the same pain and suffering to someone else.

50 and fed up! wrote:

I am an active 50 year old female athlete who runs, back country skis, bikes and hikes. I had metal on metal hip resurfacing 3 years ago and have had an uneven recovery. I have had groin and hip pain. Because of a swelling in my groin and ongoing pain, I recently had another procedure to aspirate what turned out to be a cyst in my hip. The pathology report indicated that the fluid was loaded with chromium etc...from the Titanium implant. I have the Cormet Corin hip resurfacing system. Has anybody else had problems?

I'm sorry you got such bad treatment, which is typical from asshole doctors, as you can see from their replies on this thread.

I doubt that sueing them would be effective, as they have the laws in their favor, regardless what they do. Hundreds of people die every day from their terrible treatments, and nothing much happens.

Personally I'd try to do whatever possible to get the issues retified, and move on.