Patient Sues Over Trash Talking Doctors

A Virginian patient, D.B., played back a recording expecting instructions of what to do after his colonoscopy, but he caught the doctors and nurses making fun of him.

D.B. turned on the recorder on his phone because he was going to be anesthetized and wanted to get the doctor's instructions for after the operation. He accidentally recorded the entire procedure, which included shocking comments from the doctors. Some of the audio can be found on the Washington Post.

In the recordings, the doctors make fun of the rash on the man's genitals, instructions for the medical assistant to lie to him, and joking about giving him a false diagnosis. One of the doctors did write on D.B.'s records that he had hemorrhoids, even though he didn't have any. The lawsuit noted that as a falsification of medical records.

The doctor's attorney tried to say that the recording was illegal, but in Virginia only one party has to consent, so only one person involved must know about the recording.

D.B. sued the two doctors for defamation and medical malpractice. After a three day trial, the jury awarded him $50,000 for two comments about the man having syphilis and tuberculosis for defamation, $200,000 for medical malpractice, and $200,000 for punitive damages. The total awarded by the jury was $500,000.

Comments from Allen:

The root of a defamation claim is that someone makes a derogatory statement of fact concerning you which is not true, and which makes others think less of you. In virtually all states, making a statement that someone has a venereal disease is defamatory as a matter of law. An accusation someone has tuberculosis, a highly contagious disease, would probably also be defamatory as a matter of law. $25,000 per defamatory comment is not unusual.

Medical malpractice is committed when a doctor harms someone by practicing medicine upon them and treating them beneath the standard of care for a doctor in that community. Being found liable for malpractice by falsifying medical records is unusual. It appears this was done as a joke...a very expensive joke.

The punitive damages were not particularly high but were probably appropriate in this case.


***********************************************************************************************************************

Allen Browning is an attorney in Idaho Falls, Idaho who handles personal injury and criminal defense. He has over 30 years of experience and handled thousands of cases. Allen work with cases from all over Idaho. Call (208) 542-2700 to set up a free consultation if you are facing legal trouble or you have been involved in an accident.

Also, check out browninglaw.net for more information about Allen and Browning Law.

Allen Browning can help with all personal injury claims including motor vehicle accidents, serious and disabling accidents, and wrongful death claims. Allen Browning is an attorney who can also help with drunk driving (DUI) , Felony, Misdemeanor, Domestic Violence, Drug Crimes, Theft, Juvenile Crimes, Violent Crimes, and Probation/Parole Violations. He is one of the most experienced and successful criminal defense attorneys in Idaho.


Attorney Allen Browning can help with all personal injury claims including motor vehicle accidents, serious and disabling accidents, and wrongful death claims.

Sources for more information:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/patient-sues-anesthesiologist-who-mocked-him-while-sedated/

 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/man-who-recorded-doctors-mocking-him-during-operation-sues-anesthesiologist-and-practice-for-500000-10341565.html

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/anesthesiologist-trashes-sedated-patient-jury-orders-her-to-pay-500000/2015/06/23/cae05c00-18f3-11e5-ab92-c75ae6ab94b5_story.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7 Things Lawyers Can't Tell Jurors

Image
 It is a trial lawyer's job to educate jurors, and tell them what they need to know in order to decide cases. Despite this, there are many things, true things, that lawyers are not allowed to tell jurors directly in statements to the jury or indirectly through testimony of their witnesses. Lawyers know these things, though, and I thought you might like to know some of things. #1. A lawyer can't tell the jurors anything that happened during settlement negotiations. He cannot let the jurors know, when asking them to make the defendant pay his client $100,000 that the defendant agreed to pay him $80,000 prior to the trial. The reason for this is that you want settlement negotiations to be very open. You don't want to damage a negotiation session because someone is afraid that what they say will get repeated to a jury if you don't strike a deal. #2 In Idaho, a lawyer can't tell the jurors that the defendant has insurance. In many other states, he can. Bec
Read more

Man Framed by Prosecutor Released After 29 Years in Prison Seeking Lawsuit

Image
19 year old, Charise Kamps, was found raped and strangled to death in her apartment in June 1980. Ralph Armstrong told the police that both of them were at the apartment alone doing cocaine before leaving to go see friends around 9:30 pm. Police said that they learned that Armstrong owed Kamp's boyfriend $400 and witnesses saw Armstrong handing Kamps money that night. However, the money was not found in the apartment, and Armstrong deposited $315 in his bank the next day.The defense argued that he got the money from his brother. One of the neighbors saw a lean, muscular man about 5 feet 5 inches tall with long, dark hair drive up to the apartment. Before the identification process, the police had the witness hypnotized. He was shown a photograph of Armstrong, and After being hypnotized, the witness changed the height of the man he saw. Later at a lineup to have the witness select the man he saw, he chose Armstrong. The other people in the lineup were police officers in wigs
Read more

Tuesday Tip: Reid Interrogation Technique

Image
Various methods have been used in police interrogations to elicit a confession. By far the most popular method used for over seventy years is the Reid Technique. This interrogation method assumes guilty suspects can be identified from certain behavioral cues. It is said to be proven as highly effective at getting confessions; however, there has been criticism about it for many years because it has been linked to many wrongful convictions.  Around 25 percent of post conviction DNA exonerations have been associated with a false confession from authorities using the Reid Technique. Even one of the first cases in which John Reid used this technique turned out to be a false confession. More and more scientists and scholars are saying this approach is based on outdated psychology. There are several components incorporated in this technique, including room design and how the investigator conducts the interview. There are three spatial zones the investigators use, which can be seen in
Read more