"Hello Doctor. I Wouldn't Hesitate To Sue You."
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Guest post by Dr. Mandy Huggins
How many times during your day does the specter of a malpractice law suite rear its ugly head?
“I wouldn’t hesitate to sue you.”
"I’m sorry, what?"
That is what I heard from the mother of one of my patients. At the time, I was only 2-3 months into practice, and I was evaluating a high school athlete who had recurrent stingers and a possible episode of transient quadriparesis . I wasn’t on the sidelines for these injuries, so I had to go on the reports given to me by the athlete and the school’s athletic trainer. However, with that information, I did not want to clear this player to return to football until I could be certain he didn’t have cervical stenosis or any other abnormality that might put him at risk for permanent damage if he suffered another neck injury. I told the athlete and his mother that I needed to get an MRI of his cervical spine in order to determine this. The athlete was understandably upset with my decision, but his mother supported my decision to proceed with caution. She explained to me that if her son played again, sustained another injury, and something “bad” happened, she would be more than happy to take legal action against me.
Fantastic.
