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I'm not a big contributor to this forum and don't plan to become one (I recognize that this is a forum for residents, which I am not). However, my husband's malpractice cases, media portrayal and disability are the reasons I discovered this forum and I do have something of value to add here. Having endured 2 malpractices cases and a permanent disability with my husband, I have some basic advice to give.
1) Your malpractice lawyer is not picked by you (unlike the plaintiff's) so you really must be pro-active in your case, especially if you do not have a very aggressive attorney.
2) Your malpractice attorney may be sympathetic but he/she cares ultimately about the case, not your reputation. You may need to hire another attorney (with your own money) to defend attacks on your health records, investigations by the state, your finances/property, etc. Finding a lawyer to help is sometimes difficult when the only ones available happen to be golf buddies of the plaintiff's lawyer. Pray you are not sued by the President of the Trial Lawyers Association in your state - he/she has great media ties.
3) Coworkers get weird when you are sued. If your name winds up in the local news then expect to be treated differently. If you are falsely accused of unusual behaviour by the plaintiff in the media, expect to be treated as if you have avian flu.
4) You need someone to talk to when you are sued. On top of a bad outcome that you might need to talk about, you also may be hurt by the allegations of the case. Family, friends, therapists - you may need some or all of them.
5) There is no such thing as privacy. Anything you have done in your past life is discoverable and vulnerable to perversion in the retelling.
6) People lie. Some do it because they can. Some do it because they either can't face the truth or can't see the truth.
7) Treat your controlled substances like they're gold. Don't assume that someone has co-signed your waste - WATCH them sign. Don't sign over a case to someone else without reconciling your controlled substances. Your narcotic discrepancies are reportable in most (if not all) states and are discoverable. This is especially important for residents and students new to handling narcs and their paperwork/regulations.
8) Keep the times on your records straight. When you have a bad outcome especially, note that the time on the wall clock is different from the time on your monitor, which is different from the time on the defibrillator, which is different from the time in the blood gas lab (who haven't updated their machine to reflect daylight savings time).
9) If you are slandered in the media, you have little recourse unless the slander causes you financial hardship. Your reputation, by itself, is worth little in the courts. The person who slanders you will most likely have little financial worth themselves.
And now onto disability insurance. It's more important than life insurance and may be as important as retirement savings. I don't know why this isn't taught to every high-income earner during their training.
You have a higher chance of becoming permanently disabled than of dying an early death. Your disability would likely be a more of a financial burden to your family than your death.
Get your own, personal disability insurance - not the insurance offered by a group or hospital. It needs to be portable. It needs to be job specific. It needs to last until age 65, not a few years. It should have an automatic Cost Of Living Adjustment. You need to purchase additional coverage as your salary rises. DO NOT deduct the premiums from your taxes. What you save in a thousand or so dollars today would be worth tens of thousands of dollars in the future if you are disabled. You don't want your disability checks taxed - they are already less than what you were making.
Get your disability insurance as soon as possible. If you are anything less than a perfect specimen of health you will find it exceptionally difficult to get a good policy. Don't wait until you have high cholesterol, diabetes or hypertension. If you engage in extreme sports - stop. You may not be insurable.
If you become disabled then you may really need someone batting for you. Expect to be treated like a criminal or a liar. Expect to have your case reviewed by a "doctor" who has never examined you but is somehow able to make a diagnosis - which will be wrong. Expect to see lots of doctors and/or therapists and submit to many tests. You may need to hire a lawyer. Make sure you always have money in savings because you may not receive a check for many months. Expect to be accused of "malingering" - insurance companies love that word. A private investigator will follow you around. Policies differ, but most will only cover you for permanent disability if you have an untreatable disease with permanent loss of function. Psychiatric or mental illnesses such as addiction, alcoholism, depression, ect. are usually not covered or are only covered during treatment.
Your checks may stop at any time. Once the actuary figures out how long you are expected to live based on your diagnosis, you will receive a "one time offer" from the disability company for a large lump sum payout. Don't take it - chances are great that you will outlive the money. Keep all paperwork related to your disability. Be aware that there is no guarantee that the disability company won't go under and claim bankruptcy - save as much as you can. Some of the people who work for the Social Security disability department are the extras from the movie BeetleJuice. This may have changed by now. The Social Security department may come up with a whole new diagnosis for you - our lawyer said it would not be worth the time and money to get them to change the wrong diagnosis they listed for my husband (which is too hilarious and outrageous to even mention).
If you become disabled apply for social security disability as soon as possible. Apply for medicare as soon as possible unless you are covered under a spouse's health insurance policy. Check the rules as they change.
That's all my advice. I hope it can help some of you avoid unnecessary hardship. If you take nothing else from my advice, get a good disability policy as soon as possible.
1) Your malpractice lawyer is not picked by you (unlike the plaintiff's) so you really must be pro-active in your case, especially if you do not have a very aggressive attorney.
2) Your malpractice attorney may be sympathetic but he/she cares ultimately about the case, not your reputation. You may need to hire another attorney (with your own money) to defend attacks on your health records, investigations by the state, your finances/property, etc. Finding a lawyer to help is sometimes difficult when the only ones available happen to be golf buddies of the plaintiff's lawyer. Pray you are not sued by the President of the Trial Lawyers Association in your state - he/she has great media ties.
3) Coworkers get weird when you are sued. If your name winds up in the local news then expect to be treated differently. If you are falsely accused of unusual behaviour by the plaintiff in the media, expect to be treated as if you have avian flu.
4) You need someone to talk to when you are sued. On top of a bad outcome that you might need to talk about, you also may be hurt by the allegations of the case. Family, friends, therapists - you may need some or all of them.
5) There is no such thing as privacy. Anything you have done in your past life is discoverable and vulnerable to perversion in the retelling.
6) People lie. Some do it because they can. Some do it because they either can't face the truth or can't see the truth.
7) Treat your controlled substances like they're gold. Don't assume that someone has co-signed your waste - WATCH them sign. Don't sign over a case to someone else without reconciling your controlled substances. Your narcotic discrepancies are reportable in most (if not all) states and are discoverable. This is especially important for residents and students new to handling narcs and their paperwork/regulations.
8) Keep the times on your records straight. When you have a bad outcome especially, note that the time on the wall clock is different from the time on your monitor, which is different from the time on the defibrillator, which is different from the time in the blood gas lab (who haven't updated their machine to reflect daylight savings time).
9) If you are slandered in the media, you have little recourse unless the slander causes you financial hardship. Your reputation, by itself, is worth little in the courts. The person who slanders you will most likely have little financial worth themselves.
And now onto disability insurance. It's more important than life insurance and may be as important as retirement savings. I don't know why this isn't taught to every high-income earner during their training.
You have a higher chance of becoming permanently disabled than of dying an early death. Your disability would likely be a more of a financial burden to your family than your death.
Get your own, personal disability insurance - not the insurance offered by a group or hospital. It needs to be portable. It needs to be job specific. It needs to last until age 65, not a few years. It should have an automatic Cost Of Living Adjustment. You need to purchase additional coverage as your salary rises. DO NOT deduct the premiums from your taxes. What you save in a thousand or so dollars today would be worth tens of thousands of dollars in the future if you are disabled. You don't want your disability checks taxed - they are already less than what you were making.
Get your disability insurance as soon as possible. If you are anything less than a perfect specimen of health you will find it exceptionally difficult to get a good policy. Don't wait until you have high cholesterol, diabetes or hypertension. If you engage in extreme sports - stop. You may not be insurable.
If you become disabled then you may really need someone batting for you. Expect to be treated like a criminal or a liar. Expect to have your case reviewed by a "doctor" who has never examined you but is somehow able to make a diagnosis - which will be wrong. Expect to see lots of doctors and/or therapists and submit to many tests. You may need to hire a lawyer. Make sure you always have money in savings because you may not receive a check for many months. Expect to be accused of "malingering" - insurance companies love that word. A private investigator will follow you around. Policies differ, but most will only cover you for permanent disability if you have an untreatable disease with permanent loss of function. Psychiatric or mental illnesses such as addiction, alcoholism, depression, ect. are usually not covered or are only covered during treatment.
Your checks may stop at any time. Once the actuary figures out how long you are expected to live based on your diagnosis, you will receive a "one time offer" from the disability company for a large lump sum payout. Don't take it - chances are great that you will outlive the money. Keep all paperwork related to your disability. Be aware that there is no guarantee that the disability company won't go under and claim bankruptcy - save as much as you can. Some of the people who work for the Social Security disability department are the extras from the movie BeetleJuice. This may have changed by now. The Social Security department may come up with a whole new diagnosis for you - our lawyer said it would not be worth the time and money to get them to change the wrong diagnosis they listed for my husband (which is too hilarious and outrageous to even mention).
If you become disabled apply for social security disability as soon as possible. Apply for medicare as soon as possible unless you are covered under a spouse's health insurance policy. Check the rules as they change.
That's all my advice. I hope it can help some of you avoid unnecessary hardship. If you take nothing else from my advice, get a good disability policy as soon as possible.
