Greetings From Justinland
There's No Place Like Home archives sign SEND YOUR LOVE INTO THE FUTURE I Link, therefore I am Your Love Boat Crew Take a Walk in Our Garden 100 things clix Goatboi Gallery Tell Dr JJ all about it
2-20-2003 - 3:09 p.m.

Malpractice

Perhaps you have been following the story about Jessica Santillan, the 17 year old girl who desperately needed a heart-lung transplant and ended up receiving organs from a mismatched donor. This isn�t like get onion rings when you ordered fries. �Oooops� doesn�t begin to cover this catastrophic error.

No doubt malpractice insurance lawyers are circling North Carolina like vultures.

Meanwhile, kindly ol� Doc Hawk has had a frivolous malpractice suit slapped against him. He�s not supposed to talk about the circumstances but nobody said I couldn�t.

The Facts: There are 3 ways to diagnosis strep throat:

Look at it, Full blown strep can be pretty obvious

Get a positive result from a 5 minute rapid strep test

Get a positive result from a strep culture that grows in the lab for 48hrs or more

One Friday afternoon recently, Hawk looked at a child�s sore throat. He didn�t think it was strep by the appearance, but ordered a rapid strep test and a 48hr throat culture anyway�just to be sure. This is standard medical practice.

When the child�s rapid strep test came back negative, Hawk declared that the sore throat was �probably viral� because everything is �probably viral� until proven otherwise. �Tylenol and icy liquids� were prescribed. Mom and lil darling were sent home and told if the 48hr culture came back positive, they would be called.

Monday morning rolls around, and according to the 48hr lab, the child did have strep throat afterall. That�s why physicians order the backup test. The system works. Hawk�s nurse calls the child�s mother with the results and a prescription. Mom goes crazy and screams at the nurse, then she screams at Hawk for allowing her baby to suffer with strep throat all weekend.

Mothers with sick children aren�t rational, I understand that. But she doesn't buy Hawk�s perfectly reasonable explanation of how the system works and that no permanent damage has been done. She claims Hawk should have started the child on antibiotics Friday. It's true that some bad doctors will give you antibiotics, because it�s easier to write a prescription than explain why you don�t need one.However, these bad doctors probably never had their boyfriend almost die of antibiotic resistant strep meningitis, but that�s a whole other story.

Mom threatens malpractice and claims that she will �own his house�.

Whoa, bitch�that is MY house. I don�t think so.

Have I mentioned that Hawk is a Leo and doesn�t respond well to threats? There�s a damn good chance he wasn�t as polite as he should have been after the word �malpractice� came up.

Later that day, hospital lawyers and several department heads descend on Hawk�s office. She�s found an ambulance chasing lawyer willing to sue the hospital for $10 million! She won�t get it because Hawk has done nothing negligent, but his hospital has a long history of �settling cases� just to make them go away quickly.

Miss Jessica received a second heart lung transplant during the night. Keep her in your prayers, and while you are at it, say one for angry mothers and children with sore throats and your hard working health care provider.

Lawyers are on their own



Go Back
Previously in Justinland: Our Last Five Entries

Wagons Ho! - 4-23-2004

This Old Barn - 4-17-2004

Death and Taxes - 4-15-2004

MMQB:Leftover Peeps - 4-12-2004

The Alamo; The Movie not the Shrine - 4-10-2004


pot luck? Take a chance

comments
hosted by DiaryLand.com