Lawyers Celebrate, then Defense Verdict Thrown Out --- What About Your Lawyers?

I'm catching up on stuff left over from the hazy, lazy days of summer, and this is an e-newsletter/blog post that has been sitting on the top of my pile for a while.  This is important stuff.  Please forward this content to colleagues and friends.  

Recently I have noticed a greater frequency of med-mal defense lawyers "spiking the football" on LinkedIn.  "Hooray..we got a defense verdict in a $5M claim," or some other big number case is trumpeted in the professionals' version of Facebook. I can't help but think that before such a "spike" occurs several things have to transpire: 1) somebody's loved one has to get hurt or killed in a healthcare organization; 2) the medical team and leadership probably doesn't do a great job running to the problem; and 3) there is enough evidence to be that one percent of cases which actually gets picked up by a med-mal plaintiff's attorney and litigated, yet the defense won and now a family has been devastated a second time. Is this really cause for celebration?  However, the applause and "high fives" are ever present on LinkedIn, including plaudits from countless healthcare professionals. How can people in healthCARE participate in this online debauchery?

A California med-mal defense lawyer, Robert McKenna III, took the post-verdict celebration to a new low earlier this summer.  After accusing the plaintiffs -- two daughters suing over medical care they believed killed their working class father -- of being "greedy," McKenna laughingly admitted to his office colleagues in a post-verdict bell-ringing ceremony videotaped and posted on his firm's social media page that the case had merit, the father was likely killed by negligence, but they got the jury to look away from their client and the death certificate. You can't make this stuff up. Here's a snippet from an article published by the Los Angeles Times about the infamous -- and stupid -- video: 

The case involved “a guy that was probably negligently killed, but we kind of made it look like other people did it,” McKenna said. “And we actually had a death certificate that said he died the very way the plaintiff said he died and we had to say, ‘No, you really shouldn’t believe what that death certificate says, or the coroner from the Orange County coroner’s office.'"

McKenna was not done.

“Overcoming all of those hurdles, we managed to sock three lawyers in the face,” he said, referring to three plaintiffs’ attorneys. It was the fastest defense verdict he had ever won, he said, inviting the legal partner who had tried the case with him to ring a victory bell.

Here is the link for the entire LA Times story.   And, again, here is the link for the online video recorded at McKenna's law firm and voluntarily placed on the firm's social media page (how stupid are they?), only to be taken down after a firestorm of criticism.  As you watch the video be sure to focus on McKenna's partner who is giggling in the corner and runs up to ring the "victory bell" at McKenna's beckoning. Justice would be both McKenna and his partner having a loved one felled by medical errors; though I truly don't wish for this occurrence, it might be the only way for these two idiots to understand what medical malpractice cases are all about.     

But, perhaps, justice is being done. McKenna's conduct was publicly excoriated, the daughters (the plaintiffs) acquired some high-powered legal help due to all the publicity, and the judge in the case recently threw out the verdict and granted a new trial. Not surprisingly, McKenna will not be representing the defendant doctor a second time.  

I share this story to get you thinking about your own lawyers.  Are they interested in "socking" opposing counsel in the face, or getting to the truth of what happened and helping everyone heal?  Do they truly care about patient safety?  Do your lawyers support your disclosure and apology program, or are they working against you and continually throwing sand in the gears?  Do your lawyers serve you, your medical staff, and patients and families, or are they all about ringing some stupid "victory" bell?  If the answers to these questions leave you feeling uncomfortable, I have one final question: Why haven't you fired your lawyers? 

Sorry Works! is here to help you develop and think about your disclosure program.  We have seen what works (and doesn't work) from around the country.  Put our knowledge to work for you.  Call 618-559-8168 or email doug@sorryworks.net.

Sincerely,

- Doug

Doug Wojcieszak, MA, MS
Founder and President
Sorry Works, a 5013 non-profit
618-559-8168 (direct dial)
doug@sorryworks.net