Doctor Accused Of Performing Wrong Surgery On Over 50 Patien
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From WFTV.com News website (headline is linked)
Story originally from Associated Press (copyrighted by Associated Press)
Doctor Accused Of Performing
Wrong Surgery On Over 50 Patients
POSTED: 9:04 am EST February 10, 2005 * UPDATED: 10:38 am EST February 11, 2005
WILMINGTON, N.C. -- A doctor may have performed the wrong type of gastric bypass surgery on more than 50 patients at a Wilmington hospital, officials said.
Dr. Steven E. Olchowski performed the surgeries between December 2000 and the spring of 2002 at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, which is facing eight malpractice lawsuits stemming from the weight-loss operations.
"We cannot be sure about any conversation in Dr. Olchowski's office between him and his patients," Dr. Samuel Spicer, vice president of medical affairs at New Hanover Regional, said Wednesday.
The lawsuits claim Olchowski told patients he would perform a gastric bypass surgery known as Roux-en-Y, which usually is covered by health insurance. According to the lawsuits, he performed minigastric bypass, which usually is not covered.
The difference between the surgeries is how the stomach and intestines are attached.
Attorneys for six of the patients said their clients had serious complications such as stomach ulcers and required a second surgery to convert the bypass into a Roux-en-Y.
It wasn't immediately clear how much the lawsuits sought in compensation.
Olchowski, 57, resigned from New Hanover Regional in 2003. He now practices at Ionia County Memorial Hospital in Michigan.
He did not return a call Wednesday to the Star-News of Wilmington.
Ok, for the record, this is exactly the kind of case I would very much like to see "the government" be the litigant for. Be it a State's Attorney General, a local community's State's Attorney, or a Federal Prosecutor. It should be one of the above (or similar) and they should sue this doctor into oblivion.
You see, for as much as I may be in favor of tort reform, I'm in favor of tort reform that makes sense.
In My world my solution would be the following:
Caps of $250,000 for punitive damage (sometimes called PAIN AND SUFFERING) payments to individuals that brind lawsuits - OVER AND ABOVE fees that would go to the lawyer(s) that successfully pursue the case. The lawyers fees should be capped at $125,000 (which is pretty generous) for an individual, or $200,000 for a group or firm.
Victims would still be entitled to unlimited COMPENSATORY damages -- payments to make things right again. If a doctor botched a medical procedure, or a car manufacturer made bad cars/trucks, etc., and that equipment malfunctioned, there'd be no cap on the amount that could be mandated to make things right for the victim.
But, over and above the capped punitive damages for the individual and the individual lawyer, group of lawyers or law firms that are involved in the case, I would allow for, and pretty much demand that the government be permitted or required to pursue UNCAPPED PUNITIVE DAMAGE claims against habitual or repeat "violators" of the public trust. Meaning, if a doctor such as the one referenced in the article above performed so badly, his individual victims would get fair compensation, and the city, state or federal government would proceed to sue the doctor out of business with the punitive damages paid into the city, state or federal revenue system where the money would benefit all, and not just a few lawyers, or individuals that were unlucky enough to have been affected by the negligent individual.
We so badly need tort reform that makes sense, but, as this article makes obvious, we also need reform of the medical profession -- including serious oversight by peers and the public (or a duly elected representative there of) -- that makes sense. Doctors that are not competent or are perpetrators of fraud should lose their licenses, or go into a probationary system that would be used to make things right and avoid problems in the future.
Companies that are purposefully negligent should be forced to clean up their act, and should be over seen by the judiciary and the public so that they will not willfully make the same mistakes again in the future.
Lets see far fewer cases like the one referenced above.
Story originally from Associated Press (copyrighted by Associated Press)
Doctor Accused Of Performing
Wrong Surgery On Over 50 Patients
POSTED: 9:04 am EST February 10, 2005 * UPDATED: 10:38 am EST February 11, 2005
WILMINGTON, N.C. -- A doctor may have performed the wrong type of gastric bypass surgery on more than 50 patients at a Wilmington hospital, officials said.
Dr. Steven E. Olchowski performed the surgeries between December 2000 and the spring of 2002 at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, which is facing eight malpractice lawsuits stemming from the weight-loss operations.
"We cannot be sure about any conversation in Dr. Olchowski's office between him and his patients," Dr. Samuel Spicer, vice president of medical affairs at New Hanover Regional, said Wednesday.
The lawsuits claim Olchowski told patients he would perform a gastric bypass surgery known as Roux-en-Y, which usually is covered by health insurance. According to the lawsuits, he performed minigastric bypass, which usually is not covered.
The difference between the surgeries is how the stomach and intestines are attached.
Attorneys for six of the patients said their clients had serious complications such as stomach ulcers and required a second surgery to convert the bypass into a Roux-en-Y.
It wasn't immediately clear how much the lawsuits sought in compensation.
Olchowski, 57, resigned from New Hanover Regional in 2003. He now practices at Ionia County Memorial Hospital in Michigan.
He did not return a call Wednesday to the Star-News of Wilmington.
Ok, for the record, this is exactly the kind of case I would very much like to see "the government" be the litigant for. Be it a State's Attorney General, a local community's State's Attorney, or a Federal Prosecutor. It should be one of the above (or similar) and they should sue this doctor into oblivion.
You see, for as much as I may be in favor of tort reform, I'm in favor of tort reform that makes sense.
In My world my solution would be the following:
Caps of $250,000 for punitive damage (sometimes called PAIN AND SUFFERING) payments to individuals that brind lawsuits - OVER AND ABOVE fees that would go to the lawyer(s) that successfully pursue the case. The lawyers fees should be capped at $125,000 (which is pretty generous) for an individual, or $200,000 for a group or firm.
Victims would still be entitled to unlimited COMPENSATORY damages -- payments to make things right again. If a doctor botched a medical procedure, or a car manufacturer made bad cars/trucks, etc., and that equipment malfunctioned, there'd be no cap on the amount that could be mandated to make things right for the victim.
But, over and above the capped punitive damages for the individual and the individual lawyer, group of lawyers or law firms that are involved in the case, I would allow for, and pretty much demand that the government be permitted or required to pursue UNCAPPED PUNITIVE DAMAGE claims against habitual or repeat "violators" of the public trust. Meaning, if a doctor such as the one referenced in the article above performed so badly, his individual victims would get fair compensation, and the city, state or federal government would proceed to sue the doctor out of business with the punitive damages paid into the city, state or federal revenue system where the money would benefit all, and not just a few lawyers, or individuals that were unlucky enough to have been affected by the negligent individual.
We so badly need tort reform that makes sense, but, as this article makes obvious, we also need reform of the medical profession -- including serious oversight by peers and the public (or a duly elected representative there of) -- that makes sense. Doctors that are not competent or are perpetrators of fraud should lose their licenses, or go into a probationary system that would be used to make things right and avoid problems in the future.
Companies that are purposefully negligent should be forced to clean up their act, and should be over seen by the judiciary and the public so that they will not willfully make the same mistakes again in the future.
Lets see far fewer cases like the one referenced above.
