Would Suing a Doctor for Malpractice Affect Chances of Getting into Med School?

[RichardHurtingOW]

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Question is in the title.

 

[907914]

Question is in the title.

Don’t apply to any medical schools where it is affiliated with that hospital, don’t tell anyone that you are suing for malpractice outside of your lawyer and the health system/physician you are suing, carry on.

 

[RichardHurtingOW]

Don’t apply to any medical schools where it is affiliated with that hospital, don’t tell anyone that you are suing for malpractice outside of your lawyer and the health system/physician you are suing, carry on.

Is that all there is to worry about? Isn't medicine an awfully small world?

 

[907914]

Is that all there is to worry about? Isn't medicine an awfully small world?

6200 hospitals and 1.1 million doctors in the US, so not that small

 

[907914]

I am just a premed, however I see no reason for you to even need to talk about this. Let me bring in some physicians for you:

@Tenk @gyngyn @Moko

 

[gyngyn]

Question is in the title.

Is it a part of your application?

 

[RichardHurtingOW]

Is it a part of your application?

No, I'm probably just being paranoid, but I'd rather indulge that fear a little and be wrong instead of not indulging it and being terribly right.

 

[Kirby Smart]

How would anywhere know this unless you brought it up? Also, your sdn username isn't your real name is it? If so I suggest changing it for anonymity.

 

[RichardHurtingOW]

How would anywhere know this unless you brought it up? Also, your sdn username isn't your real name is it? If so I suggest changing it for anonymity.

Username is not my real name, and I can't recall what influenced it. Maybe rum

 

[Moko]

I'm not sure how we would know about this apart from your telling us. I would not mention your lawsuit on your application -- it's not relevant to why you want to pursue medicine. I personally have not heard of anyone digging up a lawsuit on an applicant in the past year 😉 .

 

[Tenk]

Google your name. If the case comes up someone may read it. If the case does not come up nobody will know unless you tell them or you are being interviewed by the doctor you sued, in which case, let us know how that goes.

 

[993444]

Is it a part of your application?

I'm not sure how we would know about this apart from your telling us. I would not mention your lawsuit on your application -- it's not relevant to why you want to pursue medicine. I personally have not heard of anyone digging up a lawsuit on an applicant in the past year 😉 .

Google your name. If the case comes up someone may read it. If the case does not come up nobody will know unless you tell them or you are being interviewed by the doctor you sued, in which case, let us know how that goes.

Related question: What if a doctor who treated you is on the ADCOM and knows aspects of your medical history that may be concerning (e.g. history of STDs).

Of course they can’t explicitly disclose something due to HIPAA. But that doesn’t stop them from being biased.

P.S. No I don’t have an STD nor have I ever had one.

 

[907914]

Related question: What if a doctor who treated you is on the ADCOM and knows aspects of your medical history that may be concerning (e.g. history of STDs).

Of course they can’t explicitly disclose something due to HIPAA. But that doesn’t stop them from being biased.

P.S. No I don’t have an STD nor have I ever had one.

This shouldn’t matter in the slightest. Your medical history has absolutely no reflection of your ability to be a doctor or your willingness to go to their school.

 

[993444]

This shouldn’t matter in the slightest. Your medical history has absolutely no reflection of your ability to be a doctor or your willingness to go to their school.

Have to disagree with you man.

History of suicide, certain psychiatric disorders, drug abuse, certain neurological disorders, STD’s, injuries from reckless accidents etc all have the potential to severely affect success in medical school.

 

[Moko]

P.S. No I don’t have an STD nor have I ever had one.

This is a safe space, no worries. 😉

In all seriousness though, folks should be recusing themselves in cases where there may be a conflict of interest (whether positive or negative).

 

[907914]

Have to disagree with you man.

History of suicide, certain psychiatric disorders, drug abuse, certain neurological disorders, STD’s, injuries from reckless accidents etc all have the potential to severely affect success in medical school.

Indeed they do, but ADCOMS have no right to that information and if they do have it, as @Moko says, they should recuse themselves from it.

 

[OchemOficionado]

Related question: What if a doctor who treated you is on the ADCOM and knows aspects of your medical history that may be concerning (e.g. history of STDs).

Of course they can’t explicitly disclose something due to HIPAA. But that doesn’t stop them from being biased.

P.S. No I don’t have an STD nor have I ever had one.

Since your example is STDs, I just want to say that they aren’t shameful. The stigma surrounding them is reducing, thankfully, but anyhow I don’t see how an applicant having a history of HPV is relevant or enough to quietly hold against them. Probably very normal to a physician now that I think about it.

 

[honeybee87]

Court cases can come up under your name. There’s no “hippa” for law, so pray that this isn’t gonna be your case

 

[Angus Avagadro]

This is an interesting topic and a non issue. If you are that concerned, then dont apply to med school in the system you were treated in. Dont count on people to always do the right thing. A malpractice suit is very time consuming, they last for years. Your professional integrity and competence will come into question. Only a small percentage of med mal suits are successful, and the majority are dismissed or settled for nuisance amounts which I will define as less than the cost of going to trial. HOWEVER, the stress and anxiety of a med mal suit might cause a physician to take it out on you if the opportunity occurred. The chance of such a coincidence occurring is minuscule. There are too many variables and "What ifs" in your question to provide any concrete advice. Take the one med school off your list and dont mention it.

 

[Peter Pan.]

How much you banking in?