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Posted By: Kenny Cole

Spare me the sob story about doctors leaving. That's right up there with "the check's in the mail." A couple of years ago, the government perfomed a study on that issue, looking at 5 of the alleged "medical malpractice crisis" states, in each of which the doctors made that same claim. The result of the study was that the claims were "wildly exaggerated" and that the study was "unable to confirm" that it was occurring in ANY of those states.

I don't know about other states, but here in Oklahoma, one carrier insures about 80% of the doctors. It is a mutual company, so every insured doctor owns a piece. I can't tell you how many times I've had a doctor tell me that Dr. X committed egregious malpractice, but that he would lie and deny it if called to testify. I've got some friends who defend doctors, and I also can't tell you how many times they've laughed over a beer while their telling me how far beneath the standard of care their client fell, but how they got him off anyway.

The fact of the matter is that doctors don't get hit near as often as they should. They are also absolutely the worst at policing their profession. Further, they almost never settle because they are so successful at trial. However, when they do, it is never because they were negligent, its because either the plaintiff's lawyer cheated or their lawyers were incompetent. In short, they always want to have it both ways. Oh, did I mention that doctors are also among the most litigious people I've ever met when it comes to a business deal going south? They're way in favor of suing then - its only when they get sued that a problem exists.

I just went through all of the public hearings conducted by the Oklahoma Legislature on so-called "medical malpractice reform." Almost nothing the doctors said could be substantiated. While I agree that doctors' malpractice rates are rising, all of the evidence points to poor insurance investments as the root cause of the problem. The other problem which doctors face is low reimbursement rates from medicare and health plans. Neither one of those problems is caused by verdicts or settlements in medical malpractice cases.

Most of the doctors I know make upward of $500,000 a year. Most of the surgeons I know make upward of $1,000,000 a year. And I'm suppsed to feel sorry for them when they rightfully are held responsible for maiming or killing someone? I should tell my clients not to sue those poor doctors because that will raise their malpractice rates and they'll only make $1.2 million this year instead of the $1.4 million they were expecting? I don't think so.

Every professional person who makes a substantial amount money does so because they have had advanced training in their field of practice. That's fine. That's why the got the advanced training. However, the flip side of charging a lot of money due to having advanced training
is that people they serve (assuming that a doctor can ever be said to "serve" anyone) are entitled to rely upon their advanced training. When a professional screws up, the results can be catastrophic and when that occurs, the professional should not be held to any different standard than the guy who screws up by running a stop sign and causing a deadly wreck.

While some of them don't act like its true, doctors wake up in the morning and put on their clothes just like "regular" people. Negligence is negligence, whether committed by a neurosurgeon or a ditch-digger. Doctors aren't entitled to any special exemptions just because they have M.D. behind their name. I better stop now, because this is one topic that always gets me pissed off.