Doctors are whiny little bitches

WHAT’S IN A NAME? A LOT OF ANGER
Doctors Protest Renaming of Hospital Tower for Lawyer Who Sued Them

Imagine being sued for medical malpractice and, years later, having your bosses rename the place where you work in honor of the attorney who took you to court.

That’s what happened at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, where powerful plaintiffs attorney John O’Quinn donated $25 million, and the hospital renamed its landmark medical tower after him.

The move has outraged several St. Luke’s doctors, who petitioned against the move.

"It offends us to have money we earned—and which he took by suing us—going to name after him a medical building in which we work each day," stated the petition sent to the Right Rev. Don A. Wimberly, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and chairman of the hospital’s board of directors.

The arrogance is unbelievable. It's all about them. It's about them getting sued. How dare anyone question a doctor? Never about the victims they fucked up on and maimed or killed.

The Inst. of Medicine estimates that 100,000 Americans are killed every year by medical negligence and preventable errors in hospitals, more than die yearly from auto accidents or breast cancer. Where's the outrage from the docs about that?

According to Dr. Priscilla Ray, a Houston psychiatrist and author of the petition, O’Quinn sued several doctors at St. Luke’s in a massive breast-implant class action case against Dow Corning. Although Ray declined to comment for this article, she told the Houston Chronicle that despite ultimately being dropped from the lawsuit, the doctors suffered because they had to hire attorneys and prepare for depositions.

So? It was a legit suit. Dow's implants made many women sick, and they had sue to get compensation for their medical bills and injuries. That's the way the legal priocess works.

"Perhaps you are unaware of the intensity of feelings held by many physicians about Mr. John O’Quinn," Ray’s petition stated. "The primary source of his financial success has been representing plaintiffs in medical liability and products liability cases."

Woah. This is on face a bad thing according to the docs? Representing, on contingency, people who have been hurt by medical malpractice and dangerous products? This is offensive to the docs? What would they prefer those victims do?

In August, the John M. O’Quinn Foundation made the largest gift in St. Luke’s 51-year history.

"In recognition of the philanthropic donation and Mr. O’Quinn’s commitment to the health of our community, the St. Luke’s Medical Tower … will be renamed the O’Quinn Medical Tower at St. Luke’s," according to a hospital press release.

The money will go toward renovations and construction of a patient care center and a new center for spirituality and health.

[...]

But there are some benefits to medical malpractice lawsuits, says Tom Baker, director of the Insurance Law Center at the University of Connecticut School of Law and author of The Medical Malpractice Myth, which is slated for release in November. The book, which reviews the research on medical malpractice, contends there are many more malpractice cases than there are lawsuits and that such suits are rarely frivolous.

"When you think about it, at least in theory, medical malpractice law is one of our quality controls," Baker says. "Instead of treating the lawyers as the enemies, if [doctors] would learn from medical malpractice lawsuits and pay attention to them, they would do a lot better."

A voice of reason at the end of the article.

Plaintiffs attys are essentially private prosecutors. They represent people who are hurt and sue the people that hurt them. Somtimes the evidence isn't there, and sometimes innocent people get sued. But that's just the way the system works. It's the same in the criminal justice system.

America has plenty of things named after former Attorneys General, but does anyone object to a building named after RFK for instance, just because, when he was AG, I'm sure he indicted people who were later acquitted or had to drop charges?