Arlene Lewis, M.D. said:

on February 18, 2009 - 6:08 pm

I just watched Philip Howard’s interview about “Life Without Lawyers” on CSPAN2 and felt compelled to write.  I’ve been following his activities and Common Good for
several years now and I must say, Philip Howard and Common Good are my
heros.

I’m a gynecologist who is about 2.5 months away from closing my
practice.  I’m getting my MPH in Health Policy at GWU and will work in
their OB/GYN department until my degree is complete, but after that
there’s a good chance I’m out of clinical medicine.

I feel completely beat down by this system to the point where I’m no
longer interested in practicing medicine.  The first practice I worked
for 8 years ago closed due to the loss of malpractice insurance by the
owner.  I had to pay $31,000 in tail insurance at the time out of my
own pocket because I went from doing OB/GYN to just GYN (it was the
only job available in the area and I had to stay due to a hospital
contract).  And, I’m by no means rich.  The only reason I had the
$31,000 was because of an inheritance of only $42,000 shortly prior.

I continued in GYN even though I wanted to quit partly because I
couldn’t afford another malpractice insurance tail and because I
didn’t know what to do next.  Fortunately, I’ve now discovered health
policy and I love it and I’ve reached the point where I’m so fed up
I’m going to quit even though I can’t pay the $66,000.00 tail the
malpractice insurance company is asking.  I’ll just have to hope and
pray that none of my patients sue.

I can completely relate to what Mr. Howard was referring to when he
talked about the sense that every single small decision you make every
day could result in a lawsuit.  This system has taken me from a pretty
laid back person to someone who’s on edge all the time.  My lawyer
asked me regarding the no-tail decision if I had any cases that I
thought may be lawsuits.  I couldn’t tell him because the ones I’d
been involved in were not ones I could have predicted.  It’s all about
someone being mad at you and you don’t always know they’re mad until
the lawsuit happens.

I was involved in 3 lawsuits as a resident, two as an intern and one
as a second year.  Before that I didn’t even know that residents could
be sued and I was naive enough to believe that if I just didn’t do
anything wrong I wouldn’t be sued.  I was dropped from 2 cases and
settled the other for $10,000.00 but that experience has forever
changed my perception of the public and lawsuits.  As an intern, I had
NO decision-making authority, but since I had seen the patient once
and signed the chart I was included in the suit.  Yes, I was dropped,
but only after 2 years of stress.  It’s just not worth it.

Sorry this is so long, but I just wanted to tell a little of my story
and thank you all for what you’re doing.  Because of you all’s work,
maybe one day we’ll have a legal system that makes since.

Arlene D. Lewis, M.D.