First Do No Harm (Benjamin Davis Book Series, Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

was.
    Davis sighed. “Brad, it’s late and I’m tired. What can’t wait till Monday?”
    “I need your help. I’ve stumbled onto a great opportunity. There are these two incompetent doctors in Plains County. One’s a family practitioner, and the other’s a surgeon. They’ve been terrorizing an entire community. Do you know where Plainview is?”
    “Yes. It’s about thirty miles south of Hewes City. Plainview is the county seat of Plains County.”
    Littleton described a string of potential medical malpractice cases that occurred over the last year at Plainview Community Hospital. He said that a conspiracy involved unnecessary laparoscopic gallbladder surgeries. According to him the co-conspirators, Dr. Lars Herman and Dr. Charles English, were corroborating each other’s false diagnoses and removing healthy gall-bladders. Littleton was very critical of the hospital for allowing Herman and English to continue to admit patients and perform surgeries, even after receiving multiple incident reports. He also blamed the hospital for ignoring this clear pattern of unnecessary surgeries. According to Littleton, the hospital remained silent because the doctors were the hospital’s highest earners.
    Davis listened carefully. He knew how to try a medical malpractice lawsuit, boasting that he’d tried twelve but never lost one yet.
    After hearing Davis’s track record, Littleton could no longer remain silent. “Ben, that’s why you’re the man for this job. The defendants will be scared shitless when they hear you’re representing the other side.”
    Davis was not taken in by Littleton’s flattery. “Brad, how do you know all this? Have you met with any of the clients? Have you gotten signed medical authorizations? Have you reviewed medical records?”
    Littleton shook his head. “There’s been a recent death at the hospital. The patient died unnecessarily. The nursing staff is upset, and a physician on staff, Dr. Laura Patel, even made a formal complaint. She got sideways with the administration for reporting English and Herman for malpractice and unnecessary surgeries. The Executive Medical Committee took her information but didn’t investigate.”
    Davis was skeptical. “This doctor on staff probably won’t amount to much. She’ll never testify against her employer and fellow doctors. Patel might be a start, but you’re going to have to find an out-of-state family doctor and a general surgeon to testify.”
    Apparently Littleton hadn’t anticipated that problem because he rarely graced the inside of a courtroom. He didn’t consider that Patel’s testimony was tainted. It was equally obvious to Davis that Littleton had never prepared a medical malpractice case for trial, much less actually tried one.
    Littleton confirmed Davis’s suspicions with his next question: “Why do you need expert witnesses from out of state?”
    Davis looked over at Sammie, who was listening intently since none of this was covered in paralegal school.
    “You should know why. It will be impossible to get a Tennessee doctor to testify against another Tennessee doctor.”
    “Why’s that?”
    It was unbelievable to Davis that he had to explain this basic idea to a fellow attorney.
At least an explanation will be a teaching moment for Sammie
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    “Brad, there’s about an eighty percent chance that both English and Herman are insured by Tennessee Mutual Insurance Company. Tennessee Mutual insures about eighty percent of all doctors practicing in Tennessee. These doctors are shareholders of the company. That’s what makes it a mutual insurance company. They’re not going to testify against fellow shareholders. It doesn’t matter how egregious Herman’s and English’s actions are. No Tennessee doctor will help get a judgment against his own company. Any verdict would be paid from the doctors’ profits and would increase their premiums. No Tennessee Mutual doctor will agree to testify. You’re dreaming. This Dr. Patel won’t