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/bjos144]

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.