…and then wins a settlement against the hospital for letting him do so [ER Stories, Feb. 2]. (For sharp-eyed readers: this post replaces one linking to a story on the same blog that — my lapse — Ted had already covered).
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The doctors should generally hire a personal lawyer, asking about:
1) potentially enjoining the hospital from settling, suing it for bad faith and a failure to fulfill any fiduciary duty to the doctor found by the lawyer;
2) keeping the patient in the hospital against his will could have constituted a crime of false imprisonment, battery, and a host of civil rights violations. No standard of care may break the law;
3) settlement implies wrongful care. That can only be determined by a licensed physician. In some states, the expert must match the defendant’s Board certificates. If no such doctor had the opinion of a deviation from professional standards, the decision may represent the unauthorized practice of medicine.
This case illustrates the point that doctors should make some effort to read their contracts. They should resist or negotiate clauses they either do not understand, or with which they are uncomfortable.
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