As a change of pace from health policy, here's an excerpt from a recent Medscape article by Michael J. Sacopulos, JD, "
5 Unexpected Ways You Could Get Sued":
Patient Not Warned to Avoid Physical Exertion; Dies During Threesome
A Lawrenceville, Georgia, jury awarded $3
million to the estate of William Martinez. Mr. Martinez was 31 years old
in 2009, when he entered his cardiologist's office. There he complained
of chest pain that radiated into his arm.
His cardiologist found that Mr. Martinez was at "high risk" of having
coronary disease and ordered a nuclear test to be performed. The test
was scheduled to take place 8 days after Mr. Martinez' initial
appointment with his cardiologist. The cardiologist alleges that Mr.
Martinez was instructed to avoid exertional activity until after the
nuclear stress test was completed. The family of Mr. Martinez argues
that no such instruction was given.
The day before his nuclear stress test, Mr.
Martinez apparently engaged in some "exertional activity." In fact, Mr.
Martinez engaged in a threesome with a woman who was not his wife as
well as a male friend. During this encounter, Mr. Martinez died.
His family members then proceeded to bring a medical malpractice
claim against his cardiologist and the cardiologist's practice.
Presumably the family's thought was if William Martinez had been
properly instructed to avoid high-risk activities, he certainly would
have complied.
The family initially brought a claim for $5
million dollars, but this claim was reduced by a finding that Martinez
was 40% liable for his own death. Note the mathematics: One would assume
that engaging in a 3-way activity would make him one-third liable for
his own damages, but apparently there were facts not known to me that
increased his liability to 40%.
In August 2011, the New England Journal of Medicine
reported that cardiologists are the physicians most frequently named in
medical malpractice actions. In fact, cardiologists in the United
States have a roughly 1 in 5 chance of being sued in any given year.
Based on the Martinez case, you can see how these statistics can
actually be true. The cardiologist's attorney indicates that an appeal
will be taken. For now, we will all have to wait to see how the
appellant court system of Georgia reacts to this case.
Lesson learned: Document every instruction.
