It’s been awhile since we handed out one of our rare yet esteemed "Say Whaaaat?" Awards. But we read something in the New York Times today and we couldn't let it pass. So our next (drum roll please) "Say Whaaaat?" Award in the history of the Pop Tort goes to - Dr. Robert S. Lai, formerly of Syracuse, NY and now working outside Chicago.
Seems that, according to the Times, in March 2004, a woman named Sharon Yacketta walked into University Hospital in Syracuse, NY for an operation to help correct her incontinence. Enter Dr. Lai, who managed to bungle the procedure so badly that he caused urine to begin leaking into Yacketta’s abdomen. As an encore, during a follow-up operation, Dr. Lai and a colleague managed to perforate Yacketta’s colon. Four years and 20 operations later, Ms. Yacketta has now lost most of her colon and is still incontinent.
But that's not why we're honoring Dr. Lai. He wins because, according to the Times, he refused to call his actions "negligent." Just one of those “accidents,” he says.
Not only that, he has moved to another state – although it’s not clear why he moved. But he chose Illinois - a state that in 2005 limited the liability of negligent doctors and hospitals by “capping” damages in medical malpractice cases. It seems that Illinois has welcomed Dr. Lai, who some might call a doctor attracted to “caps.”
This cap will hopefully be gone soon, now that the case is before the Illinois Supreme Court. So heads up, other states with “caps.” We’re just sayin’
More on the state of hospital (un)safety tomorrow.
In Michigan, our Supreme Court is very big on dictionary definitions. Accident is defined as: "An unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance."
Though in Michigan our courts have tried to include the additional clause: "With no responsibility accruing to the careless or ignorant", Merriam-Webster has not seen fit to add to their entry quite yet.
Posted by: Mike Butler | December 08, 2008 at 10:30 PM