Last Sunday, Dr. Scott E. Miller, West Virginia heart surgeon, took out a newspaper ad that read: "Thanks Dr. R. E. Hamrick for standing up for the rights of patients and doctors." What generated such expensive praise for Dr. Hamrick, a fellow surgeon? Some great new life-saving procedure? Nope. His triumph was - he won a lawsuit! (Actually, so he didn’t have to purchase medical malpractice insurance.)
So normally we wouldn’t find this remarkable. We think courts should be available for anyone. But a little reality check here.
There isn’t a state in the country that has been under a more brutal and relentless attack by organized medicine, including surgeons, and the business community than West Virginia. (See here, here, and here) Patients in West Virginia have seen their rights demolished, including a severe cap on damages that passed in 2003.
Maybe we can convince these heart surgeons to actually stand up for the rights of patients like they say they are, and fight to repeal some of these brutal tort restrictions that their profession helped push down the throats of West Virginia families.
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