On bad outcomes and worse outcomes

I admit that I am guilty of flaunting my former affiliation with the defense medical malpractice bar.  I do so not to give me any particular credibility in discussing or advising on medical malpractice issue but because to not do so would invalidate the past 14 years of my life.  Morever, even as a plaintiff (patient) medical malpractice lawyer I continue to see the defense perspective first.  The mantra that always comes to mind is that, “A bad outcome is not evidence of medical malpractice.”

For the most part I continue to agree with that mantra.  When assessing potential cases I constantly remind myself to not focus upon a bad outcome.  First, find the malpractice, if any.  Second, look at the outcome.  For the most part.

A client of ours passed away this week.  Her case is still in litigation so I will comment only that she would have celebrated her 54th birthday this fall.  Far too young to have died from an ovarian cancer tumor which metastasized (spread).  She did all of the right things.  She timely sought medical care from some of the “top” specialists in the area.  In the end we believe that her care failed her.  For the most part the defense has stopped fighting the malpractice portion and is now arguing about the outcome.

She suffered, greatly.  Multiple chemotherapy treatments which slowly ate her away as her cancer continued to spread throughout her body.  For the remainder of the case we will quibble about the type and stage of her cancer and how many years she may have survived had the appropriate medical treatment been received.  Such a sad thing.  Bad outcome.

posted by David Marc Schwadron, Esq.