Comments on: Jury Finds Doctor Negligent in Death of Basketball Player

By: lov2ck

lov2ck — Tue, 04 May 2010 01:17:57 +0000

Patients have rights but no responsibility. If they are irresponsible, and there is a bad outcome, then they have to blame the doctors and get paid enormous amounts. They never have to deal with the outcome of their irresponsibility.It is very very sad to loose a child but blaming someone else getting compensated for it is not the way to handle it
These comments have to be shown to the patients so that they hear the other side of these “newsworthy” stories, which portrays doctors as irresponsible and negligent. As long as these kinds of outcomes continue to be handed out, healthcare will always be costly in this country.

By: dr. dru

dr. dru — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:29:45 +0000

i agree with all the above comments. i suspect the doc was pressured to go on and sign the form by the patient and she did so with him promising to go for the echo. it is a good lesson for us all in healthcare-don’t be ‘too’ nice and don’t assume a jury will be smart.
juries and lay people do not understand that over the course of a day you order so many tests, you can’t keep track of them. you depend on the RESULTS of the tests to prompt you for follow up-to either write/call patient and tell him/her all is normal, or contact patient for further evaluation.
doc is a physician not an personal assistant. the doc is responsible for evaluating the patient and his physical and test results-not for making him keep his appointments.

By: Nurse Sharon

Nurse Sharon — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:10:42 +0000

What a prime example of frivilous lawsuits! People wonder why healthcare is so expensive because of Drs frequently going overboard ordering (most likely unnecessary meds and test. They are afraid of this kind of judicial negligence. Why didn’t the judge throw this out? The Doctor agreed to let this patient play while also advising the parents of need for more testing to rule out the possiblity of a more serious issue. Parents failed to follow up and the kid played 5 more years before dying on the court. Had they done what the doctor said the child may still be alive. Why didn’t anyone sue the parents for stupidity?

By: Donald

Donald — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:33:13 +0000

I think it does suck, but I also think she should not have cleared him to play before seeing results of the test she ordered.

By: june

june — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:49:52 +0000

She should not have been sued and the dumb jury should not have awarded that ridiculous amount of money!! Pt should have followed up with test that was ordered. And what about the 5 other doctors that examined pt? This is the kind of stuff that needs to be reformed instead of government take over with our healthcare!

By: Marla

Marla — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:26:31 +0000

Not sure if she should have been sued. She scheduled the exam and he never showed up. That’s his fault. It doesn’t say she never followed up with him to tell him it was important to have the test as something could be wrong. That could be negligent, but, not enough to sue.