A Virginia man inadvertently left his phone recording while he was under anesthesia for a colonoscopy, which captured audio of the doctors: mocking him, instructing a medical assistant to lie to him, and discussing giving him a false diagnosis of hemorrhoids. In 2015, a jury awarded him $500,000.

[u/tyrion2024]

[u/tyrion2024]

A Virginia man whose doctors’ discussion during his colonoscopy was recorded on his smartphone was shocked to discover that they had insulted him throughout his examination. The vicious words led to a lawsuit, and last week it resulted in a $500,000 verdict for medical malpractice and defamation against his anesthesiologist, Tiffany Ingham (photo in post).
Ingham joked with an assistant about avoiding the patient after the procedure was done. “After five minutes of talking to you in pre-op, I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit,” she told him after he went under anesthesia. She also said she would place a diagnosis of hemorrhoids on the patient’s chart, even though he didn’t have the condition. That false diagnosis was not contradicted by the gastroenterologist who was performing the colonoscopy, Soloman Shah.
...
The verdict came after a three-day jury trial. Shah was dismissed from the case on the first day of the trial, so the verdict stands against Ingham and the medical practice she worked out of, called Aisthesis.
When an assistant told Ingham that D.B. said he got queasy watching a needle go into her arm, Ingham said: “Well, why are you looking then, retard?”
Ingham mocked the amount of anesthetic required to sedate the patient, and Shah followed that up with a comment that another doctor they knew “would eat him for lunch.”
She also called him a “big wimp,” saying, “People are into their medical problems. They need to have medical problems.”
“I call it the Northern Virginia syndrome,” said Shah. “Here it’s holier than thou, too much Internet use, a little too much information.”
The jury awarded $100,000 for the defamation, which was specified as $50,000 each for the comments about the man having syphilis and tuberculosis. They also awarded $200,000 for medical malpractice, and $200,000 in punitive damages.

• Source 1
• Source 2
• Source 3 (partial transcript of audio recording)

[u/S0whaddayakn0w → u/tyrion2024]

As someone whose husband recently had to undergo two colonoscopies, one gastroscopy, several scans and blood tests and two surgeries, this is absolutely horrifying and those awful people using open hostility towards sick people is utterly soul-crushing.

It's hard enough to be there in the first place without such abuse.

[u/Injured-Ginger → u/tyrion2024]

A juror interviewed by the newspaper said the man’s attorneys asked for $1.75 million, and the $500,000 was a compromise between a juror who thought the plaintiff deserved nothing and others who thought he deserved more.

What absurd juror thought he deserved nothing? I get not awarding defamation in this context. I could even understand thinking the amount being awarded was high. I don't understand thinking that lying to a patient about medical conditions shouldn't result in malpractice suit that awards compensation to the patient.

[u/Rastapopoulos000 → u/Injured-Ginger]

Someone most likely sharing the same type of belief as the doctors involved. That the man was a "wimp" worrying too much about his possible life threaning medical condition because apparently people read too much stuff on Internet and it's not that bad.

[u/Any-Worldliness-679 → u/Injured-Ginger]

Some person with no empathy, who doesn't really believe in the suffering of others until it happens to them? What kind of person would that be? Hmmm

[u/Ryuko_the_red → u/Injured-Ginger]

This is the type of thing I think of when people say"noone will convict l--igi" yes. Yes there are tons of evil people out there who hate him that love the boots of the rich.

[u/bjos144 → u/Injured-Ginger]

That juror sucks, but I think a part of it comes from the fact that no actual damage was done. If you think about it, had he not recorded the surgery, he'd never have heard them running their mouth. He'd have woken up to twofaced doctors acting professional. Assuming the hemorrhoids thing was a joke, from a purely medical standpoint he was unharmed.

I can see why some grouchy asshole who cant imagine giving anyone this kind of money would latch onto this logic to justify giving him nothing. It's not like they amputated something that wasnt supposed to be amputated. They just had a very rude culture around unconscious people. Lots of people who are involved in medicine, law enforcement etc. develop dark senses of humor.

I think these people need to get their asses put in check like this to prevent a few jokes from turning into a culture that actually doesnt care for patients. I think it's worth reminding them that they're not gods but professional service providers in a position of trust. But I can also see this person's perspective.

It's like that surgeon who wrote his initials inside of at least two patients on their livers with an argon laser. It didnt actually hurt the guy. He would have never known if a second surgery with another doctor hadnt discovered it. It's the mentality that's the real issue. The intent and entitlement to a person's body and the willingness to fuck with someone under anesthesia that needs to be punished. But in both cases the patient wasnt actually harmed by a botched medical procedure resulting in a lifetime of loss of use. It made them 'feel bad' which some hardnosed people think is no big deal.

[u/Injured-Ginger → u/bjos144]

I disagree that there are no damages. The medical work that patient paid for is completely invalid. If the patient can't trust the work done, then it is valueless. I think beyond that, his trust in the medical system is erroded and that has an effect on him, though admittedly very hard to quantify.

I think it's also important to say that the assumption that the patient will not find out is not a reasonable defense. Even if he hadn't accidentally recorded this, there are patients who have woken up from or not been fully out under by anesthesia and maintained memories afterwards. And in the example you gave, the patients found out when they needed future surgeries.

I don't think he experienced half a million dollars in damages. And I referred to it above, but I don't think defamation quite applies (not a lawyer) as it was said in a private context to somebody not involved in his life. I assume she did particularly poorly because of how disgusted the jury was with her behavior and they decided against on her on anything remotely interpretable.

I also think our systems fail a bit and rely on civil courts punishing behavior. Another example is the McDonalds case where the injured person sued for medical bills, but the court added to the cost because one person's medical bills were insignificant to McDonald's and wouldn't change their behavior to prevent future incidents (especially not since their smear campaign was so effective).

I think the patient (from the post) does deserve some compensation, but half a million is a lot. I do think the actual damages of the patient wouldn't be enough to properly hold the doctor accountable (especially since they're just going to experience it as an increase in insurance costs), but I don't know enough about how doctors are held accountable through medical systems to say how much the courts should have trusted the medical system instead.

[u/bjos144 → u/Injured-Ginger]

The 'no damage' was meant specifically to apply to physical injury to the body. I hope that was clear. No arteries were severed, on toes cut off on accident, no clips left in the body to fester. The comment was only to isolate a specific type of damage some juror may think is the only kind that matters.

I hope it's clear that I do not support this position, only seek to explain where it may come from.

[u/Injured-Ginger → u/bjos144]

Glad you clarified. I read the first statement as the legal definition of damages. I was a bit confused since the rest of your comment seemed to suggest you thought the doctor was out of line and something needed to be done.

[u/bjos144 → u/Injured-Ginger]

No, my point was that there are cases where the behavior is obviously messed up and deserves the consequences malpractice etc. but there are people who only see physical damage as valid. There are also people who just cant or wont award millions of dollars in damages to anyone ever. They even ask jurors about this during selection sometimes. Some people just think "No way no how, I'm never ever awarding millions." They think lawsuits are inherently wrong or overdone. But my point was about the limited definition of damage some people subscribe to.

[u/shustrik → u/Injured-Ginger]

I don’t think they actually lied to him about any medical conditions? One person was just entertaining the idea of it and the others didn’t say anything.

[u/LandMooseReject → u/shustrik]

They put an actual haemorrhoid diagnosis on his chart when he didn't have them

[u/shustrik → u/LandMooseReject]

Source? Every source I’ve read just says she was saying she would do that, not that she did it.

[u/Injured-Ginger → u/shustrik]

That's actually a decent point. I didn't find a source specifying if she just said she would or if she actually did.

I still think that if we assume it doesn't make it to a chart, she's fully at fault of malpractice though given that simply overhearing her claim she would give a false diagnosis and that she joked about punching him in the face would:

1. Make him question the validity of the medical work he paid for. A patient overhearing a doctor claiming they would lie about a diagnosis makes that doctor's work untrustworthy.

2. It would make the patient afraid to seek medical care for fear of being lied to or harassed by doctors while receiving medical care.

Keep in mind, this a professional doing this, in a professional context, and influencing the patient's trust in a system that exists to keep them alive and healthy. Doctors work in an essential field. They should not be intentionally doing things in a professional context that erodes public trust in the medical system. This situation does not require an accidental recording as people in the past have been able to hear and recall things that happened while they are under anesthesia.

[u/shustrik → u/Injured-Ginger]

Oh of course it’s absolutely unprofessional, unethical, and probably put the patient at risk. I just think there’s a huge gap between talking about giving a false diagnosis and actually doing it.

[u/Injured-Ginger → u/shustrik]

Absolutely, that's a very fair way to read the scenario. Like I said, I think you're right that it didn't specify, and it does change the context. There is a difference in how the patient is impacted and how they should be recompensed even if it doesn't absolve all guilt from the doctor.

[u/Injured-Ginger → u/shustrik]

As the person you responded to, I don't think you should be downvoted for this. I missed that it only says she claimed she would, but doesn't verify if she did or not put this on a chart. I couldn't find anything elsewhere claiming she actually put it on a chart either. I'm guessing it's on documents somewhere, but I'm not an expert at parsing legal information to find it quickly.

You also didn't claim it fully excuses her behavior.

This is just a question about clarifying facts and nothing more.

[u/Logical_Adagio_7100 → u/tyrion2024]

As a doctor

Then mean conversation sucks, ppl should be professional. 

But the straight up malpractice is absolutely wild. If you jeed to redo the colonoscopy, redo the colonoscopy. Putting people's lives on the line like this is crazy. Shah should have also faced significant penalties.

[u/fifrein → u/Logical_Adagio_7100]

I’ve been searching, and nowhere have I found a reliable source that says the hemorrhoids were actually added to the chart, only that the anesthesiologist “joked” about doing so. Was that inappropriate? Absolutely yes. But I think there should be a very clear distinction between rude words and actual action. As far as I can tell, no actual action was taken. And, unfortunate as it is, ruder words are said in ORs all the time- it’s kind of OR culture, as wrong as it may be. I think all something like this case does is push OR staff to further ensure a “closed door” policy, which will make catching infractions with actual harm all the more difficult.

[u/shustrik → u/Logical_Adagio_7100]

Not saying the patient shouldn’t have been paid for this, or that the medical staff were in the right, but what is the “straight up malpractice” here?

[u/Logical_Adagio_7100 → u/shustrik]

Diagnosing the pt with hemorrhoids that weren't visualized. 

Otherwise i specifically dont think they did anything worth a lawsuit - being an asshole isnt against the law.

[u/Logical_Adagio_7100 → u/[deleted]]

Reported sure. Report them to their respective medical boards for professionalism. Get local media on it. 

However they did not harm the pt, just talked shit about him. You don't get monetary damages from a business just bc the staff there were rude to you

To me the key is they did infact perform substandard care and intentional malpractice by submitting a diagnosis they didnt actually confirm - that should probably cost the surgeon their license

[u/WTFisThatSMell → u/tyrion2024]

Thx

[u/david1610 → u/tyrion2024]

"too much Internet use, a little too much information"

• the doctor

Wow that's bad, I literally think often that doctors are lucky their industry is so tightly regulated, because if scientists got access to data you'd think medicine would improve drastically. But no, because they want their own little monopolies on their customers records.

Honestly in many ways the medical profession hold back medicine now more than improve it.

Yes there are huge issues with people self diagnosing, however that's usually because access to healthcare is so expensive and getting services take ages.

[u/Logical_Adagio_7100 → u/david1610]

Hospitals arent holding back your records. The system is. Hospitals are working extremely hard to share fata tonimprove efficiency - especially when it cuts their costs

For example the now largest EMR system, EPIC, has rolled out new data sharing so that you can research from any system using their services.

Meanwhile HIPAA laws are so outdated I have to fax medical records between hospitals. I promise, that isn't fun for anyone

And yes, self diagnosis is annoying, and has little to do with medical costs - ppl self diagnosing themselves who are generally healthy utilize the ER like 10x more than the avg person, and demand extremely expensive and damaging workups. Its not me who's going to get cancer from their 20th CT scan, but i really wish they'd listen to me when i say its not needed

[u/porkminer → u/Logical_Adagio_7100]

I'm an engineer and data analyst for an EMR. We are constantly hamstrung by regulation. That is not to say that regulation isn't important. It's is absolutely necessary. But it is dire need of modernization.

[u/Gorf_the_Magnificent → u/tyrion2024]

“I call it the Northern Virginia syndrome.”

They’re not wrong.