http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/06/cop-dies-during-3-way-sex-widow-wins-3-million/1

So this guy has sex with another dude and a woman who isn't his wife in a motel room. He dies of a heart attack during intercourse and his wife sued his cardiologist for not properly diagnosing his condition and telling him to avoid strenuous physical activity until more test could be performed. The judge found the Cardiologist Group 60% responsible for his death and awarded the widow $3 million which was originally $5 million.

How do you calculate a percent responsibility for someones' death?

6/11/2012 10:35:32 AM

It's the doctor's fault 60% of the time all of the time.

6/11/2012 10:36:18 AM

how do you read that story and take away the part about the doctors responsibility?

6/11/2012 10:36:49 AM

"You can still do some light jogging and bike riding. I'd tone it down with the raquetball and squash though. You can mess around, but don't go all out. I guess that's it. Let's schedule a follow-up on.....wait, wait...I forgot....you definitely need to avoid the MMF threesomes. No way your heart can take an Eiffel Tower in its current state."

6/11/2012 10:42:02 AM

Quote :

"how do you read that story and take away the part about the doctors responsibility?"

huh?

6/11/2012 10:43:05 AM

Quote :

"How do you calculate a percent responsibility for someones' death?"

Very common in tort law to calculate responsibility for death. NC doesn't do that, but most other states do.

6/11/2012 10:54:26 AM

Quote :

"The jury on Friday found that Dr. Sreenivasulu Gangasani and the Cardiovascular Group were 60% to blame for Martinez's death from atheroschlerotic coronary artery disease, agreeing with the plaintiff that the doctor did not properly diagnose and treat Martinez for high blood pressure, chest pains, shortness of breath and irregular heartbeat. They also charged that Gangasani did not warn Martinez to avoid strenuous physical activity until more tests could be done. Last week, a Gwinnett County jury agreed, finding Gangasani "negligent." "

Here's the problem I have with our tort system. The first paragraph essentially states that the dr got the diagnosis wrong. Then later classifies it as negligent. Now, I can fully appreciate that this article doesn't do a good job in summarizing the findings of the court, and there may be some clear indication that the misdiagnosis was truly a result of negligence.

However, the fact remains that we hold doctors to an impossible standard that incentivizes the sleaziest of lawyers, personal injury attorneys, to sue for anything less than 100% accuracy. They can't get it right every time, and that shouldn't result in a multimillion dollar payday. Nearly every doctor performs a host of unnecessary tests to possibly find that one in a million diagnosis that standard tests don't, and are yet another contributor to the ever rising healthcare costs in the US. Defensive medicine helps no one except the liability insurance companies who need to deflect lawsuits.

6/11/2012 11:15:02 AM

The standard for Med Mal is impossibly high now. And the standard for negligence is pretty high too (for states where negligence is still the standard). You can't just take someone to the cleaners because they weren't right. Have you even checked what the standard is for these types of cases before writing that 2nd paragraph?

6/11/2012 11:21:44 AM

No...but his wife is a doctor, so he can bitch about this stuff now.

MCDONALD'S COFFEE IS TOO HOT!1!1!!!!11!!

6/11/2012 11:22:33 AM

^^ The standard is the same. Have just enough of a shred that'll get the other party to settle or convince a jury that being wrong was in fact negligence and get a payday. Let's be real, Personal Injury Lawyers only evaluate the case on whether money can be extracted, not whether something nefarious actually transpired.

^yes, like many people in the US, I'm concerned about the rising cost of medical care, and I pay attention. My wife happens to be a physician as are several other members of my family, and as such I learn from other sources than mass media. Obviously tort-based costs are just one of a multitude of factors contributing to the ridiculous costs of healthcare. I'm not one of those idiots that thing it's "the" cause.

[Edited on June 11, 2012 at 12:03 PM. Reason : .]

6/11/2012 12:02:45 PM

Quote :

"Let's be real, Personal Injury Lawyers only evaluate the case on whether money can be extracted, not whether something nefarious actually transpired. "

Those are directly related 99% of the time.

6/11/2012 12:04:14 PM

Quote :

"^^ The standard is the same. Have just enough of a shred that'll get the other party to settle or convince a jury that being wrong was in fact negligence and get a payday. Let's be real, Personal Injury Lawyers only evaluate the case on whether money can be extracted, not whether something nefarious actually transpired. "

I didn't realize I was speaking to someone who evaluates cases for a living. Oh, wait, that's actually me.

We evaluate cases based on value, of course we do. But into that value goes 1. Did someone get hurt? 2. Who hurt them? 3. Did the person who hurt them have a duty? 4. Did they breach that duty? 5. How did they breach that duty? 6. Was it intentional? 7. How much damage has been done here?

You don't need to have something nefarious. But if you are a doctor, and you screw up because you are lazy, you don't follow proper procedure, or you phoned out for a day and left an implement in someone, you bet your ass you're going to get sued. It's a hard standard to meet, but you don't have to be nefarious or intentional to reach it.

[Edited on June 11, 2012 at 12:07 PM. Reason : ]

[Edited on June 11, 2012 at 12:08 PM. Reason : just an fyi http://www.williamsmullen.com/medical-malpractice-reforms-favor-long-term-care-industry-]

6/11/2012 12:07:23 PM

Quote :

"But if you are a doctor, and you screw up because you are lazy, you don't follow proper procedure, or you phoned out for a day and left an implement in someone,"

as they should be. There are definitely doctors that are negligent, and they absolutely should be sued, and lose their license to practice.

I'm sure John Edwards was just trying to do the right thing and go after those lazy doctors who delivered babies that had Cerebral Palsy, because, you know it was the doctor's fault, and not caused by genetic defects...

All a lawyer has to do is make an emotional appeal to the jury (science be damned), and they'll get paid.

Your link is broken.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HealthCare/malpractice-lawsuits-doctors-common-ama/story?id=11332146#.T9Yc4b_fMkk

Quote :

"More than 60 percent of doctors over the age of 55 have been sued at least once, according to a new survey by the American Medical Association (AMA). Although most of those claims are dropped or dismissed, the new survey from the AMA shows that most physicians will be sued for malpractice at some point in their careers. This works out to an average of 95 medical malpractice lawsuits having been filed for every 100 physicians now in practice, according to the association. "

Yeah, clearly, PI Lawyers only go after those lazy negligent doctors, which is basically all of them, right?

Quote :

"The report goes on to say that while 65 percent of claims are dropped or dismissed, they are still costly. The average defense costs between $22,000 for dropped or dismissed claims, to more than $100,000 for cases that go to trial, according to data in the report from the Physician Insurers Association of America. "

Throw enough suits at doctors and hope something sticks. Yeah, real high standards for malpractice suits, that's clear.

[Edited on June 11, 2012 at 12:36 PM. Reason : .]

6/11/2012 12:34:15 PM

They don't call it the Devil's Threesome for nothin'.

6/11/2012 12:39:08 PM

Quote :

"Although most of those claims are dropped or dismissed,"

You don't need an attorney to file a malpractice claim. Most people file, get up the creek without a paddle, and then drop their case when an attorney won't take it.

Sorry for the broken link, here is the full one: http://www.williamsmullen.com/medical-malpractice-reforms-favor-long-term-care-industry-08-17-2011/

And we already know you hate lawyers, but at least try and use legitimate reasons, and not some misguided bullshit about tort reform.

[Edited on June 11, 2012 at 12:48 PM. Reason : ]

6/11/2012 12:47:26 PM

Really??? Fuck, can I sue the weatherman because he said it was only a 30% chance of precipitation but it rained all day and diluted the chlorine in my pool?

6/11/2012 2:53:44 PM

That post makes so little sense that I don't even know which side of the argument you're on.

6/11/2012 3:00:50 PM

Don't get caught in the troll...

6/11/2012 3:01:48 PM

MMF threesomes are gay

6/11/2012 3:02:10 PM

^^I can't help it.

^ only if you're one of the M's.

6/11/2012 3:03:05 PM

There’s a three general schools of thought on MMF threesomes. Some folks think they’re fine no matter what happens, some folks think they’re gay no matter what happens, and the vast majority of folks think its only gay if explicit intentional sexual contact occurs between the two male parties. This is what I choose to believe, and I’m sure many of you share a similar viewpoint.

6/11/2012 3:07:56 PM

Quote :

"and the vast majority of folks think its only gay if explicit intentional sexual contact occurs between the two male parties. This is what I choose to believe, and I’m sure many of you share a similar viewpoint."

This...but I'll go into even further detail.

I'm not going anywhere some other guy has just gone. So if I start getting blown, that's where I'm staying. On the flip side, if I start out banging the girl, I'm not letting her gag on my dick after she just gagged on my buddy's.

I've hooked up with some loose women...but I would like to think they at least showered and slept a few hours before they most recently got bottomed out.

[Edited on June 11, 2012 at 3:20 PM. Reason : .]

6/11/2012 3:19:57 PM

Sign me up

6/11/2012 3:34:01 PM

the devil's threesome strikes again

6/11/2012 5:22:54 PM

Am I the only one that keeps seeing this thread title and wondering why a dude was having a threesome during Monday Night Football?

6/11/2012 5:31:22 PM

Money cures all death related problems.

6/11/2012 5:36:29 PM