Add another nail in the coffin of paternalistic medicine, though paternalism may be a zombie or at least a Rasputin that refuses to die.
As the Washington Post reported Tuesday, a Virginia jury last week slapped an anesthesiologist with a $500,000 fine for defamation and medical malpractice for insulting a sedated patient during a colonoscopy, then falsifying the medical record. The patient recorded the surgical team on his cell phone, ostensibly to capture post-op instructions — always a smart move — but what he found was shockingly unprofessional.
From the Post, which included the audio recordings played in court:
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“After five minutes of talking to you in pre-op,” the anesthesiologist told the sedated patient, “I wanted to punch you in the face and man you up a little bit,” she was recorded saying.
When a medical assistant noted the man had a rash, the anesthesiologist warned her not to touch it, saying she might get “some syphilis on your arm or something,” then added, “It’s probably tuberculosis in the penis, so you’ll be all right.”
It got worse. The medical assistant called the patient a “retard.” The surgeon for the procedure, who was dismissed from the suit against him, reportedly told the anesthetized patient, “As long as it’s not Ebola, you’re okay.”
The anesthesiologist, Dr. Tiffany M. Ingham, formerly with a Bethesda, Md., practice but who was working in Reston, Va., that day — and now apparently a Florida resident — also wrote in the chart that the patient had hemorrhoids, which he did not, the Post reported.
For these actions, the jury awarded the patient $100,000 for defamation, $200,000 for medical malpractice and $200,000 in punitive damages. Ingham’s former practice was ordered to pay $50,000 of the punitive damages, according to the Post.
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In Virginia, the story said, only one party has to consent to an audio recording. Perhaps more physicians need to be recorded, though the real lesson here is that patients deserve respect.
Of course, we here at MedCity News couldn’t resist making a comparison to a “Seinfeld” episode, in which Jerry’s dentist, played by Bryan Cranston, later of “Breaking Bad” fame, and a hygienist may have been taking liberties with patients.
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