[HSF] Standard of care for lawyers

Ben Bidstrup benjamin.bidstrup at bigpond.com
Thu Apr 10 22:36:24 EDT 2008 

The next malpractice case you get involved in then you should present 
this as precedent!

>Ed,
>     My original plan was to get an opinion from the  Counsel for Discipline
>then bring an action against this lawyer for his  unbelievably 
>shoddy work.  If
>you read my letter to the Court you would  have thought is was a complete no
>brainer decision but guess what.  I  wasn't totally surprised that the Counsel
>didn't rule against the lawyer but the  statements that is was basically okay
>to be negligent was shocking even to me so  it will probably be a total waste
>of time to try to sue his a**.  I hate  the whole idea anyway but feel like I
>got screwed.  And to think the  Supreme Court would use the term "bungle" in
>it's opinion is sadly  amusing.  When was the last time you heard the term
>"bungle" in a medical  malpractice action.  OMG.   I'm so upset with the whole
>situation  I could spit but will undoubtedly just chalk it up to 
>experience.  I
>just  thought the Forum should know the incredibly low standard that lawyers
>are held  accountable to in their own profession.  I had no idea and this
>official  letter set the bar, so to speak, even lower than I thought possible.
>
>
>                                                                              
>                   Ed 
>
>Edward P.  Raines, M.D., J.D.
>BryanLGH Cardiothoracic Surgery
>BryanLGH Medical Center  East
>1600 South 48th Str.
>Lincoln, Nebraska 68506
>Office:  402-481-8430
>Cell: 402-730-9242
>Fax: 402-481-8429 
>
>
>In a message dated 4/9/2008 5:49:32 P.M. Central Daylight Time, 
>ebender001 at charter.net writes:
>
>Mike:
>I was holding back.  I don't kid myself to think that  there are no
>legal-type lurkers on this forum.  If there are any  listening in, I've got a
>hot tip on several cases of negligence and some  adverse drug reactions that
>have yet to be published.  I'm just  looking for a finders fee.  All kidding
>aside, I would bet that in  every hospital in the country (USA), there are
>paid informants that report  back to litigators when they see an adverse
>outcome.  Sometimes it  might even be your colleague, your favorite nurse or
>respiratory therapist,  or even the custodial staff.  It is surprising how
>little "blood  money" it takes.
>
>Ed Bender, MD
>
>
>On 4/9/08 5:34 PM, "Michael  Firstenberg" <msfirst at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  Ed
>>  Tell us  how you really feel - dont hold back it is just us.
>>
>>
>>   Michael Firstenberg <msfirst at gmail.com>
>>
>>  -----Original  Message-----
>>  From: "Edward Bender"  <ebender001 at charter.net>
>>  To:  OpenHeart-L at lists.hsforum.com
>>  Sent: 4/9/2008 5:48 PM
>>  Subject:  Re: [HSF] Standard of care for lawyers
>>
>>  This is disturbing but  not that surprising.  Perhaps if lawyers were
>>  required to carry  malpractice insurance that paid as well as medical
>>  malpractice  insurance, there would be an incentive for one attorney to go
>>  after  another.  As it stands, what's in it for a prospective plaintiff?
>>   Ethics are obviously not involved.
>>
>>  I related your story to  one of my cardiologists with whom I regularly trade
>>  legal nightmare  stories.  He tells me of a surgeon who was in the middle of
>>  an  aortic aneurysm repair who was mistakenly paged by an outside ER for a
>  >  trauma case.  He wasn't on call and obviously could not deal with the 
>acute
>>  trauma during his AAA repair in any case.  The correct  surgeon was called,
>>  the patient was transferred but died in the ER of  severe multiple trauma.
>>  The mistakenly called surgeon was named in the  subsequent law suit, and the
>>  plaintiff's attorney refused to drop him  from the case unless he was paid
>>  some money.  This went on for  years, and he was eventually dropped.  The
>>  surgeon wanted to sue  the attorney but could find no attorney that was
>>  willing to take the  case.  The surgeon was so angered by this that he spent
>>  the next  year learning how to file and pursue this himself, and he
>>  eventually  won a huge settlement from the litigator's law firm.  The moral
>  >  of the story is that litigators are scum sucking, bottom 
>dwelling,  garbage
>>  eating pig-f**kers, who have crawled out of the a**hole of  hell - and I
>mean
>>  that with all due respect.
>>
>>  Ed  Bender, MD
>>
>>
>>  On 4/9/08 1:28 PM, "dukeb60 at aol.com"  <dukeb60 at aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>>  ?? It has been fairly  quiet on the forum so I'll post this recent response
>>>  from our  State Supreme Court to induce some reaction.? As you know, I am a
>>>   lawyer although I have never practiced law but do have a little  more
>>>  background than the average person and did pass the bar.? I  recently had a
>>>  lawyer handle a case for me in which he performed  very poorly and what I
>>>  considered to be in a frankly negligent  manner by not representing my
>>>  interests and failing to even read  some rather pertinent legal
>materials.? As
>>>  a result, I filed a  complaint with the Counsel for Discipline of our State
>>>  Supreme  court to review his handling of the case.? The response startled 
>even
>>>  me not so much in the conclusion but the rational for the  same, which I
>will
>>>  share.? The respondent wrote,
>>> 
>>>  "Isolated instances of ordinary negligence or errors of judgement  do not
>rise
>>>  to the level of a disciplinary violation and are not  sufficient to warrant
>>>  disciplinary action.?
>>>   ?
>>>  ??As stated in Modern?Legal Ethics (1986):
>>>  ??? 
>>>  ????????? To date, the enforcement of competence standards has  been
>generally
>>>  limited to relatively exotic, blatant, or repeated  cases of lawyer
>bungling.?
>>>  Lawyers who make some showing of  effort, and who do nothing other than
>>>  perform
>>>  badly,  rarely appear in the appellate reports in discipline cases.? The
>>>   lawyers who are disciplined for? incompetence have usually aggravated 
>their
>>>  situation.? For example, several cases involve lawyers who,  after their
>>>  incompetent work, concocted elaborate schemes or lies  to decieve a client
>>>  whose case was mishandled.
>>> 
>>>  ?? ... For the above reasons I have concluded, pursuant to Rule  of
>Discipline
>>>  9(C), that your allegations against Attorney "X" do  not warrant further
>>>  inquiry by this office."?
>>> 
>>>  ???? So, this is the standard to which our legal professionals  are held in
>>>  their handling of cases.? I am quite certain it is not  the same standard
>to
>>>  which we, as medical professionals, are held  in the handling of our
>cases.?
>>>  It
>>>  is okay to bungle as  long as you don't concoct a scheme to conceal the
>>>   bungling.
>>>  ?
>>>  As much as it is hard to believe that is  actually what a representative of
>>>  the
>>>  Supreme Court  wrote it is true.? Caveat emptor, clearly, is the rule in
>law.?
>>>   While I appreciate the education of a law degree, it is indeed 
>embarrassing
>>>  sometimes to be one.
>>>
>>> 
>>> 
>?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????>
>>
>?
>>>   ????????????????????????????????????????? Ed
>>>   _______________________________________________
>>>  OpenHeart-L  mailing list
>>>
>>>  Send postings to:
>>>    OpenHeart-L at lists.hsforum.com
>>>
>>>  To UNSUBSCRIBE, to  CHANGE email address, or to view archives:
>>>   http://mmp.cjp.com/mailman/listinfo/openheart-l
>>>
>>>  All  messages transmitted by the OpenHeart-L are subject to the policies 
>and
>>>  disclaimers posted at:
>>>   http://www.hsforum.com/listdisclaim
>  >>  -----------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>   _______________________________________________
>>  OpenHeart-L mailing  list
>>
>>  Send postings to:
>>    OpenHeart-L at lists.hsforum.com
>>
>>  To UNSUBSCRIBE, to CHANGE email  address, or to view archives:
>>   http://mmp.cjp.com/mailman/listinfo/openheart-l
>>
>>  All messages  transmitted by the OpenHeart-L are subject to the policies and
>>   disclaimers posted at:
>>  http://www.hsforum.com/listdisclaim
>>   -----------------------------------------
>>
>>   _______________________________________________
>>  OpenHeart-L mailing  list
>>
>>  Send postings to:
>>    OpenHeart-L at lists.hsforum.com
>>
>>  To UNSUBSCRIBE, to CHANGE email  address, or to view archives:
>>   http://mmp.cjp.com/mailman/listinfo/openheart-l
>>
>>  All messages  transmitted by the OpenHeart-L are subject to the policies and
>  >  disclaimers posted at:
>>  http://www.hsforum.com/listdisclaim
>>   -----------------------------------------
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>OpenHeart-L  mailing list
>
>Send postings  to:
>OpenHeart-L at lists.hsforum.com
>
>To UNSUBSCRIBE, to CHANGE email  address, or to view  archives:
>http://mmp.cjp.com/mailman/listinfo/openheart-l
>
>All  messages transmitted by the OpenHeart-L are subject to the policies and 
>disclaimers posted  at:
>http://www.hsforum.com/listdisclaim
>-----------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>**************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides.   
>   (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)
>_______________________________________________
>OpenHeart-L mailing list
>
>Send postings to:
>  OpenHeart-L at lists.hsforum.com
>
>To UNSUBSCRIBE, to CHANGE email address, or to view archives:
>http://mmp.cjp.com/mailman/listinfo/openheart-l
>
>All messages transmitted by the OpenHeart-L are subject to the policies and
>disclaimers posted at:
>http://www.hsforum.com/listdisclaim
>-----------------------------------------


-- 
Ben Bidstrup FRACS FRCSEd FEBCTS
Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon

More information about the OpenHeart-L mailing list