Re: CNMs
From: Joe Cutchin (forcep@intercom.net)
Tue Jul 8 19:22:26 2003
You really do not believe your last sentence,do you?If you do let me briefly
describe a case.Breast cancer,death.Lesion at 4 oclock in left breast becomes
cancer in tail of breat 3 years later.Expert opinion.Lesion at 4 oclock was
missed and that became cancer in tail of breast.Why? Because the breast
rotates!Even the female jurors laughed.Cases without clear liability are
frequent,numerous,and a disgrace to the legal "profession".
Marilyn Ringstaff wrote:
> At Mon, 07 Jul 2003, Joe Cutchin wrote:
> >
> >Marilyn, I'm curious.What do you consider as risks in obstetrics.esp.
> >unforeseen events?Unforeseen fetal death,unexpected abruption with fetal
> >demise,<< How do I reduce these risks? >>
>
> the risks we were referring to in that particular post is the risk of
> being held vicariously liable for another practitioner. IMHO, if an
> ob/gyn wants to hold a CNM under his thumb and ‘require’ signing
> everything she does, then by God, don’t act surprised when an attorney
> interprets that to mean you’ve voluntarily accepted that liability. You
> reduce your own liability by letting others rightfully accept the
> responsibility that belongs only to them.
>
> For instance, here in Georgia we have the dubious distinction of being
> the last state in the nation to grant prescription writing privileges to
> ANP’s. I can call prescriptions to a pharmacist and dispense hundreds
> of prescriptions a year, but if a patient needs a written prescription
> for some reason I have to send my secretary across town to have my
> back-up sign a prescription for a patient he knows nothing about and
> will never meet. If I make a medical error, of course an attorney is
> going to pull the ob/gyn into a suit if he signed the prescription! It’s
> a no-brainer.
>
> << Or is it that there obviously is always someone at fault for
> unexpected events? >>
>
> that’s what the process of peer review is supposed to answer, but
> unfortunately the process doesn’t always work as it should. When a
> legal review occurs in an ob/gyn case, it is your peers that answer the
> question of fault.
>
> << Nevertheless you are still sued and help accountable.>>
>
> not so. Myth of the century, almost up there with “liability caps will
> reduce your insurance rates”. It simply doesn’t happen that attorneys
> take on cases they think are borderline, with the fees experts are
> charging these days, they’d go bankrupt to pursue cases without clear
> liability.
>
> --
> Marilyn Ringstaff, CNM
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