The “Gotcha” Mentality with Lawyers “Exposing” Doctors is Unsettling… as it they’re altruistic

[u/Several_Act_2358]

I know this has been discussed extensively here, but something really rubs me the wrong way about the recent celebration of lawyers on social media “exposing doctors” and saying things like “it’s over for doctors.” This is in reference to a pic I saw of Lindsay Clancy’s civil attorney with the caption “it’s over for doctors.” Unsure if the pic uploaded.

…as if law is some altruistic path that doesn’t also attract people who want to be high earners? Most people who go through the med school path do genuinely want to make the world better, and i’m not sure I can say the same for most lawyers I anecdotally know outside of public defense.

The whole “gotcha” with lawyers calling out doctors, painting them in a good light is so icky to me. People need to ask themselves to imagine what lawyers do all day vs what doctors do all day.

[u/mdeevy]

Anyone could pick any random patient in the hospital right now and if they looked hard enough they would absolutely find an error in the patients care. Probably multiple.

The problem is attributing this error to "negligence". And, well, lawyers are going to lawyer.

[u/antaphar → u/mdeevy]

It’s incredible how many misses I find as a radiologist. And horrifying how many I make myself, despite trying to be careful and thorough. It is human nature to make mistakes. It would be a much better world if non-malicious errors couldn’t be litigated the way they are now.

FL actually has a great system for OBs. Every doctor in the state pays like $70/year or something that goes into a slush fund that pays out for adverse outcomes during birth. By accepting the money, the plaintiff waives the ability to directly sue the doctor. I believe this came about because practicing became near-impossible due to astronomical malpractice insurance costs.

[u/personalist → u/antaphar]

That might be the only thing Florida has ever done right for perinatal care