ILLINOIS PATIENTS ASKED TO SIGN PLEDGE NOT TO SUE

The Chicago Sun Times recently reported about some doctors at a local Chicago area health clinic using a new tactic to dissuade patients from filing medical negligence lawsuits. The Clinic, WomanCare, asks patients to sign a contract promising not to file "frivolous" lawsuits. The doctors don't require patients to sign, and will even treat those patients who refuse. Wow, those doctors sure are humanitarians.

The contract is supposed to "level the playing field". This idea apparently originated with some outfit called Medical Justice Services, out of North Carolina. Medical Justice CEO Dr. Jeffrey Segal explained that most patients "...see themselves as rational and reasonable, and not the type of person who would file a frivolous claim". The unstated inference there, in case you missed it, is that anyone who does file a medical negligence claim must be both unreasonable and irrational. Segal explained that if a patient who signs the contract later files a medical negligence lawsuit, the doctor can then sue the patient for breach of contract. Medical Justice has also pledged to pay up to $100,000 in legal fees to help doctor with the contract claims. Suits are apparently pending in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Segal commented that the threat of being countersued will deter "frivolous lawsuits"

There are just so many things wrong with this. First, who decides whether a lawsuit is frivolous? The contract, doesn't define the term. But Dr. Segal says the litigation guidelines from medical societies could be used to determine if a lawsuit is frivolous. So in effect, the people who are being sued get to decide if the lawsuit has merit? That doesn't sound like a level playing field to me.

And the whole idea of patients running around filing silly claims against doctors is absurb. First, most medical malpractice cases involve catastrophic injuries. There is nothing "frivolous" about the victims of medical negligence. Lots of these victims die. And lots of them are condemned to lives of permanent disability, deficit and disfigurement. The fundamental assertion in medical cases is that some medical provider caused those conditions. How then, could anyone suggest the case is "frivolous"? Medical malpractice cases are extraordinarily complicated and expensive. In Illinois, just to file the case you need to have a medical expert review the facts and certify a case as meritorious. After that, the patient's lawyer has to be prepared for years of expensive, technical litigation, where he is risking hundreds of thousands of dollars in out of pocket expense, not to mention the cost of his time. Simply put, lawyers don't file medical malpractice claims on a lark in an attempt to squeeze the doctor's insurer for a quick settlement. Any lawyer who did wouldn't be in practice very long.

The saddest part of all this is that there will be victims of medical negligence out there who won't assert their rights because of this scare tactic. Which is just what those guys who blabber on about a "level playing field" want.