When one of my clients brings a case against a health care provider, it often feels like climbing up a mountain. A big reason is, unlike a claim involving a car crash, my client is pointing the finger directly at a health care provider, someone who has gone to a lot of school to learn how to help people, and was likely trying to help your client.
In my experience, doctors and nurses enjoy the benefit of the doubt in cases alleging bad care. Absent egregious wrongdoing, most folks are willing to give professionals in white coats a pass, even if the care is less than ideal.
One way to tip the balance and level the playing field is if you can show a bad motive on the part of the doctor or nurse for their actions. It is rare to find such things, as they are often not written down in a patient’s chart.
Still, once in a while you can gather enough evidence to show that, at least circumstantially, the defendant doctor, nurse or hospital was prioritizing other than the patient’s best interests.
A recent Seattle Times exposé shed light on a possible motive for poor medical care. The case of Dr. Johnny Delashaw, formerly of Swedish Hospital, highlights one possible motive: greed.
The series highlighted Swedish’s desire for increased revenue through this high-producing neurosurgeon, including an amazing $86 million in billed charges for the hospital in his first 16 months there. Allegations include unnecessary surgery, residents doing the bulk of surgeries while Dr. Delashaw was out of the OR, and a lack of resources to deal with post operative complications.
The ordeal at Swedish with Dr. Delashaw highlights my point: folks will forgive bad outcomes when doctors are trying to help; but when they find wrong motive, they are less forgiving.
You can read some of the fine journalism from the Seattle times here:
[Quantity of Care – A special Investigation: High Volume, Big Dollars, Rising Tension](https://projects.seattletimes.com/2017/quantity-of-care/hospital/)
[Top neurosurgeon Johnny Delashaw resigns from Swedish](http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/top-neurosurgeon-johnny-delashaw-resigns-from-swedish/)
