Shellie’s Medical Malpractice Nightmare
and her
Fight for Freedom of Speech
Summary
If you have been a victim of medical malpractice and are thinking about suing your doctor, please read this site. I was a court reporter for many years and was still not prepared for the hell that I was put through in suing my doctor.
If you have been harmed by a negligent doctor and believe that you will find justice through the court system, think again. The odds are that you will not. To avoid responsibility the medical community often blames and discredits the victim, offers no explanation or apology, and goes to great lengths to cover up the error. The chance of a doctor being sued after a negligent event is only one in fifty. (Vincent, Young and Phillips, “Why Do People Sue Doctors”?) Why are the chances so low? Because you have to find a doctor to give you an affidavit or certificate to file with the court stating that you were a victim of negligence.
You also have to find a doctor to come to court to testify that you were a victim of negligence. Finding such a doctor is a very difficult task. The code of silence among doctors is strong. Even if you do succeed in finding such a doctor, the defense will find ten times as many doctors that will support the negligent doctor’s actions.
If you are victim of a plastic surgery error, not only will you have difficulty finding a doctor to support your claim of negligence, you will have great difficulty finding a lawyer to represent you. Victor Bergman, an attorney in Kansas City, was quoted in The Kansas City Business Journal in a 1997 article entitled, “Cosmetic Surgeons are Hard to Combat in the Courtroom,” as saying, “I think that’s one area of medicine [plastic surgery] where they [doctors] routinely get away with negligence. I’ve turned down almost every case I’ve gotten. Lawyers are less likely to take a medical negligence case against a plastic surgeon because jurors tend to have less sympathy for a person whose injury is a result of elective plastic surgery.” Mr. Bergman’s comment about jury bias is true, and as a result, malpractice suits involving plastic surgery are rarely filed. A Harvard Medical School malpractice study found that only one in sixteen people that files a medical negligence lawsuit will recover any money. Data reported in 2000 by Jury Verdict Research (a private research firm) states that for medical negligence cases that go to trial, doctors win eighty percent of the time. The Harvard study suggests that there is more malpractice being committed than is being recognized, litigated, or compensated.
The Institute of Medicine reports that more than 200 people die every day from medical errors, equivalent to a jumbo jet crash per day (ABCNEWS.com April 5, 2003). A Harvard medical malpractice study puts that figure at TWO jumbo jet airliners crashing every day.
When a malpractice suit is filed, the doctor’s malpractice insurance generally provides attorneys from powerful law firms. You are not likely have such an attorney representing you.
Your case will not be won or lost based upon the merits. Winning your case will hinge upon who has the better attorneys and experts. The jury selection process is a joke. It does not result in you having an educated and fair jury. The odds of winning a medical malpractice trial are NOT in the victim’s favor.