From: kenneth ditkowsky
Sent: Sep 8, 2014 12:01 PM
To: “Dr. Sam Sugar” , Tim Lahrman
Subject: Re: Malpractice
There is no question that the doctors who prescribe for the nursing homes and the hospice facilities openly and notoriously commit medical malpractice on a daily basis. I find it very hard to justify an office visit wherein the physician never leaves his vehicle to be in the physical presence of the patient and his vehicle never slows below 20 mph. Even in Florida such activity is below the standard of medical care of the average doctor in the community. (Though considering the number of nursing homes and hospice facilities operating in South Florida it might be a close survey).
In all seriousness these people as so adept at lying that the prosecution of a Medical Mal case will be very difficult. Let me explain.
We had an explosion of medical mal cases after the Korean War. Health insurance became a common occurrence and doctors became the only individual professionals who collected more than fifty percent of their billings. The press reported doctors earning three hundred thousand dollars a year, driving Rolls Royces etc. Worse yet, many doctors had an attitude that suggested that medicine was not an ‘art’ but a science. They assured patients that if the patient did what he/she was told the cure was in the bag. It was not always in the bag! Sometimes the cure did not work.
The public reacted and came to the conclusion that if the doctor did not complete cure what ailed you he was incompetent and obvious negligent. He promised by taking two aspirin a day my left leg would grow so that it was the same length as my right leg!
The medical mal situation became absolutely intolerable and had to be arrested. It was and each state has some safeguards so that a honest doctor can make a living and not be a hostage to an insurance carrier.
Thus, we have step one. Will the commission second guess the treating physician? If it is accepted practice to treat patient x with drug y when he/she exhibits z symptoms who are you or who am I to say that is wrong. The fact that every patient of Dr (1)**** is prescribed the same medications may just be a coincidence. The fact that Dr. (2) has a different opinion means very little. Dr (3) and Dr. (4) who specialize in ‘elder medicine’ all share Dr. (1) position.
The case become moot when the patient suffers from an aspirated pneumonia and dies! Cremation occurs almost simultaneously with the last breath! You are of course aware that in South Florida *****. You just do not want to keep dead bodies around.
OK – how do I know this? I had a case here in Chicago involving a client by the name of Jaycox. He was placed in a nursing home and they needed a guardian to be appointed so that they could charge the United States of America for their services. I was hired by Mr. J’s paramour (significant other) and Mr. J (by letter to the Judge) to represent Mr. J’s interests. It appeared to me that J was in the nursing home because they were administering a drug to him that had the side effect of serious muscular pain. The nursing home would not let me see J’s medical records and the Court stated that under Hippa the guardian would have to consent. Until there was a guardian we had a catch 22.
When I requested that the hearings be transferred to the nursing home so that Mr. J could attend J suffered a series of injuries. On the day went ahead with a hearing at Swedish Covenant Hospital Mr. J literally went from the recovery room to the hearing room. His pain from hip surgery was unbearable!
The doctor who signed the certificate of incompetency was called to testify and his testimony was to the effect that Mr. J was so incompetent that a ‘stone’ had more cognitive acumen that Mr. J. (The judge did the examination) I was given the right to cross examine. I asked the physician who signed the consent for the operation. Of course it was Mr. J! That ended the hearing and it was continued to another date certain.
Mr. J then was reported to have an ‘aspirated pneumonia‘ He had ingested while in the loving care of the nursing home so solid material from some unknown source. He died shortly thereafter. The Court of course just before he died appointed a guardian for him so that the nursing home could be paid. Cremation occurred almost simultaneously with the notice of his death to me.
No attorney was interested in looking into a lawsuit. No doctor was willing to certify a malpractice occurred. In fact no one wanted to get involved.
Why, you ask? Take a quick look at the proceedings that Mr. Larkin brought against JoAnne Denison and myself! There is so much money sliding under the bridge in these elder cleansing cases that the grease flows everywhere. My profession has not covered itself with glory and the evidence is piling up that even the professional regulators have ‘sold out’ their professional responsibilities to be part of the ‘cover up.’
Ken Ditkowsky
MaryGSykes.com 