what?!?! doctors have to be responsible for their actions?!?

mwahdelia · 11-16-2006, 01:41 AM

BERLIN (Reuters) - A court ruling which ordered a gynecologist to pay child support for up to 18 years as compensation for botching a contraceptive implant was condemned by the German media as scandalous on Wednesday.

The Karlsruhe-based federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the doctor must pay his former patient, now a mother of a three-year-old boy, 600 euros ($769) a month because she became pregnant after he implanted her with a contraceptive device. "A child as a case for damages -- this perverse idea has now been confirmed by one of Germany's highest courts," conservative Die Welt daily newspaper wrote in an editorial on Wednesday.

The device is meant to protect against pregnancy for up to three years, but half a year after the operation, the implant could no longer be found in the woman's body, the court said.

While it should be welcomed that a doctor can now be held to account in the same way as a shoddy plumber, the newspaper said, how could a child whose parents had sought damages for its birth ever come to terms with the situation?

"In addition to the highly private inkling that he was not wanted by his parents, he now has official confirmation that he was born by mistake," Die Welt also said.

The award covers the first years of the child's life and also subsequent costs to the age of 18.

The parents, who had known each other six months at the time of the conception, were no longer together, the court said, ruling that the father should also be compensated for the maintenance he was paying toward the child.

The ruling could spark a flood of similar claims against gynecologists, Stern magazine wrote on its Web site.

ford prefect · 11-16-2006, 06:35 AM

IF it was just one of those things and the womans body rejected the device then i see this as being a very tricky sloppe to navigate.

HOWEVER!

If it was proven that the doctor was irresponsible (drunk, just didnt know what he was doing) than I believe the ruling is just.
Gynecology is the highest (aside from cosmetic) form of medicine out there. There ave been a lot of instances of doctors with no appropriate training claiming to be gynocologists to make more money.

Mathsorcerer · 11-16-2006, 09:32 AM

I agree. No medical procedure is 100% foolproof or effective, so the question is "was this a case of normal clinical failure or incompetence on the doctor's part?"

There should have been some legal form she had to sign before the procedure saying "I understand that the implant might not work and I absolve the doctor of responsibility for this". He obviously needed a better lawyer.

The_Heroic_Loser · 11-16-2006, 07:07 PM

This world just gets weirder and weirder.

Ikin · 11-16-2006, 09:22 PM

I agree with Heroic_Loser

Tadgie · 11-16-2006, 10:19 PM

Personally, I think they should just let us doctors do whatever we want to whoever we want. I mean, we went to school for friggin how many years? 8? plus all the training afterwards, like another 4. I mean, we know all the answers to everything by that point? Right? So.... yeah, whatever we want.

Like take over the world, or remove peoples brains after freezing them. MUWAHAHAHA!

Seriously though, malpractice suits sucks something fierce.

ford prefect · 11-16-2006, 10:42 PM

sometimes doctors really screw up though

I am sterile because of a doctors mistake. I didnt sue though, i am not the type. I suppose if i wanted more kids i would have, but i am happy with one

Leah · 11-17-2006, 07:42 AM

And people wonder why OB/GYNs are no longer practicing. There are some states where women have to drive over two hours just to see an OB/GYN.

And I am an attorney, and I know that money hungry attorneys have not helped the situation, but we also have a society that immediately asks "can I sue?"

tobnameless · 11-17-2006, 12:02 PM

Perhaps if they stopped practicing and started doing the job they wouldn't have problems???

Leah please don't be offended, but I hate lawyers. The only professional interaction with one cost me 5k for letting me do all the work. I hate that guy and therefore all lawyers. The only ones that I know that I like are a former good friend and a guy that I met at work. I will add you to the list until you sue me for something and then I will be forced to hate you too.

Hey don't lawyers practice too??? I see a pattern here.

Mathsorcerer · 11-17-2006, 12:21 PM

Ob/Gyns don't practice? ??? Down here, I can throw a rock in any direction and hit the office of one. How weird.

Bad doctors are like bad lawyers--they can really screw up your life. However, good doctors are like good lawyers--they can save your life. Unfortunately, you can't tell which is which by looking at them.....