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When doctors fight lawyers: Patient's view
My lasting pain and suffering mean nothing to legislators
Dallas Morning
News,
Sunday, August 22,
2004
By KIM TUTT
When I was 34 years old, I was diagnosed with small cell
neuroendocrine carcinoma, a fatal form of cancer. My doctors told me
I was going to die very soon. I was forced to say goodbye to my
friends and family and tell my two young boys that I was not going
to be there to watch them grow up. I drafted a will and tried to
accept my fate.
My
doctors told me that if I underwent a radical, 12-hour surgery, I
could possibly live six months. I believed that any amount of time I
could gain with my family was worth the pain of that surgery. My
lower right jaw was removed and replaced with the fibula from my
left leg.
A
short time after this disfiguring surgery, my surgeon called my
husband and me into his office. He told me there had been an error.
Apparently, the lab had contaminated my test with cancer cells from
another patient. I did not have cancer.
I
was filled with rage when I learned that all my suffering could have
been prevented. The pathologist only needed to double-check his
records – which would have revealed the remarkably unlikely
occurrence of two simultaneous cases of this rare cancer – and then
run a simple DNA test on the cells from my slides. However, rather
than personally check the records, he asked his young receptionist
to perform this critical task, and the contamination went
undetected.
The pathologist and his insurance company took the position that the
pathologist was not at fault, so I had to file a lawsuit. When I
look back on the extreme stress of the legal fight, which happened
while I was undergoing more than 10 surgeries to reconstruct my face
and jaw, the settlement I received seems insignificant. (Under the
terms of the settlement, I am not allowed to disclose the amount.)
I
believe that the insurance companies and the lawyers who represent
them will do anything possible to make the lives of the malpractice
victims miserable during the litigation process. Withdrawing my
lawsuit would have been much easer than fighting the insurance
company and the pathologist. However, I am very glad that my family
and I chose to continue the fight, regardless of the misery.
I
do not think anyone would disagree that doctors should be held
accountable for the mistakes they make, just like the rest of us
are. Research indicates that the percentage of doctors who commit
malpractice is surprisingly low. If doctors are so concerned that
rising malpractice premiums are driving up the cost of health care,
why don't they clean up their profession and the one that insures
them? I do not feel that it is fair for all doctors to pay increased
malpractice insurance premiums because of the errors of just a few
doctors. Something is wrong here.
In
2003 the Legislature, led by Republicans, took the wrong approach to
the problem by passing Proposition 12. That constitutional
amendment, later ratified by voters, puts a $250,000 cap on damages
in malpractice cases for anything other than direct financial
losses. That means my damages would have been limited to $250,000.
Why? Because I am a full-time mother and housewife and therefore do
not make a direct "financial contribution" to my family. My lasting
pain and suffering, as well as the emotional scars that I deal with
every day, apparently mean nothing to our legislators and their
friends in the insurance industry.
I
am a conservative Republican who voted for George W. Bush both for
governor and president of this great nation. Medical malpractice
happens to everyone, not just Democrats. It is time for consumers
and doctors to take a stand and fight for what is actually right for
all of us.
"Frivolous lawsuits" and "tort reform" are words that are thrown
around daily in the political arena. Any doctor, lawyer or
politician who wants to look at me and say that I filed a "frivolous
lawsuit" is more than welcome to call me so we can discuss it.
Texans have been, and continue to be, misled on what "frivolous
lawsuits" and "tort reform" really mean.
Kim Tutt lives in Tyler. Her e-mail is kimtutt@cox-internet.com.
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