Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Caesarean sections: ooooops…

A whole field of malpractice litigation has been based on contentions that babies could have been spared injury if doctors used Caesarean sections more often, and doctors, in part responding to the incentives sent by the legal system, now order the procedure at high rates even when it is not clearly indicated. But what if […]

A whole field of malpractice litigation has been based on contentions that babies could have been spared injury if doctors used Caesarean sections more often, and doctors, in part responding to the incentives sent by the legal system, now order the procedure at high rates even when it is not clearly indicated. But what if C-sections themselves turn out to be much more dangerous to babies than we had realized? (Nigel Hawkes, “Babies ‘are more likely to die’ after an elective Caesarean”, The Times (U.K.), Sept. 7)(via the returned MedPundit).

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3 Comments

  • Are you kidding? It’s the best possible scenario for the plaintiffs’ bar: half can be the “you’re not doing enough C-sections” attorneys, and the other half can sue on the “you’re doing too many C-sections” theory.

    A colleague of mine who does class action work for mortgage companies was telling me how, in the wake of Katrina, his clients are facing suits for not doing enough to ensure that home-buyers held flood insurance. Just a few years earlier, those same clients were facing class actions alleging that they were forcing flood insurance down the mouths of borrowers to line their own pockets.

    • By Ted

  • If an OB has to choose here, the option for the C-section is still the favorite.

    Dead babies are worth far less than damaged babies because there are no long term medical expenses and all the other causes for damages dreamt up by plaintiffs. Also the statute of limitations for dead babies begins to run immediatly, whereas allegedly damaged babies don’t have the statute clock begin to run until age 18 or even 21 (as it is in Missouri). The dead are a bargain all around.

    • By nevins

  • Td bat me to the punch – that’s EXACTLY what will happen.

    Ain’t the American legal system great?!?

    • By Deoxy