General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMan Dies During Threesome, Family Wins $3M for Medical Malpractice
The reason: The doctor failed to warn the man, who complained of chest pains, not to engage in physical activity prior to a medical test scheduled for the next day, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
William Martinez, 31, a married father of two from Lawrenceville, Ga., died in 2009 during a threesome with a friend and a woman who was not his wife, according to the paper. Though jurors found Martinez's doctor was liable for his death, they also partly blamed Martinez himself.
In a medical malpractice case alleging negligence, jurors can often reduce an award based on a party's comparative negligence.
In William Martinez's death during a threesome, jurors found he was 40% responsible for his own death -- perhaps because Martinez had a history of high blood pressure and was at high risk of having clogged arteries. That reduced the jury's initial $5 million award by 40%, to $3 million.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/01/tagblogsfindlawcom2012-legallyweird-idUS387936911220120601
msongs
(67,509 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,327 posts)Hopefully, you are not and never will be a Medical Doctor.
Gold Metal Flake
(13,805 posts)Nothing in your post makes sense.
Can't wait to see you defend this award and then show why you think the award supports medical doctors.
Or are you speaking like a freeper?
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,370 posts)... to jump to ANY conclusion whether it is a good award or not.
I'll lean toward good award for a couple reasons:
1.) The judge and jury sat through the ENTIRE case and heard the evidence.
2.) I don't believe in "frivolous" awards. Frivolous cases, yes, but not frivolous awards. Frivolous cases usually get tossed in pre-trial and/or get adjudicated properly (in the vast majority of cases).
3.) I can easily see where evidence could exist, at trial, where it was shown the doctor SHOULD HAVE ordered NO physical activity. NONE. But failed to do so. Physical activity could have been mowing the lawn - but died mowing the lawn wouldn't be a flashy headline, would it.
4.) I know the insurance lobby likes to push theses so called "frivolous" cases in the media. See: McDonald's coffee case.
5.) I have personal experience with my father's heart condition. His RESPONSIBLE doctor sent him directly to the HOSPITAL when he mentioned intermittent chest pains over a period of time while performing physical activity. He even forbid him from taking a stress test as he believed it would CAUSE a heart attack. He was sent directly to the CATH Lab for an angiogram.
6.) I know doctors and hospitals fuck up and kill a lot of people through negligence. My father being ultimately one of them - sent to convalesce with pneumonia and no breathing treatment or anti-biotics. Shipped out of the hospital on a Sunday night by himself with no contact of the family. Then LIED through their teeth when called on it - they claimed they talked to my sister's daughter (she has no daughter).
I wouldn't call the other poster a freeper. But that sure is a freeper lizard-brained response to someone "getting over" on the system.
Kali
(55,032 posts)People are easily misled by stories like this. That and avoiding real life jury duty leads to real misunderstanding of both medical info and legal procedures.
No help when they watch CSI type tee vee either.
Gold Metal Flake
(13,805 posts)Because I want GeorgeGist to come back and explain his/her personal attack on msongs. I'm was not soliciting outside opinions on the story in this subthread although your post on that matter is appreciated.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,370 posts)Liberal In Texas
(13,625 posts)Malpractice insurance is so high because of insurance company practices which include obscenely large executive salaries and market speculation.
And damage awards need to be high enough to 1) compensate the victim for the damage done and 2) be large enough to create an incentive for corporations to do everything in their power to correct defective products and practices which harm consumers.
Occulus
(20,599 posts)Them damn trial lawyers and gold-grabbin juries! Dag nabbit 'n gawds cuss it!
RandySF
(59,904 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)It should be "approx. 33%."
MrScorpio
(73,631 posts)micraphone
(334 posts)A reply! Nearly lost my keyboard....
bulloney
(4,113 posts)proud2BlibKansan
(96,793 posts)ProdigalJunkMail
(12,017 posts)that is an oldie but a goodie!!!
sP
I nearly fell out of my chair - DUzy material!
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)And I'm too tall to be Napoleon.
kag
(4,079 posts)This story could have said that the man dressed up like a duck and did jumping jacks on his neighbor's roof all night to trigger the heart attack, and it wouldn't have made the papers. But some editor gets the chance to put the word "threesome" into the headline, and it's suddenly big news.
Seriously, a guy has a heart attack during sex and then wins a medical malpractice suit...and it makes the papers? Only because of the number of people in the room (or I guess--in the bed) when it happened.
Hell, I bet most guys who read this probably couldn't even tell you what the story was about..."Uh...some...something...happened to some guy...uh...when he was having sex with TWO chicks!" "Really?! Right on!"
rfranklin
(13,200 posts)I can't see where it says the "friend" was a woman. That leaves only one option I can think of.
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/18680466/widow-awarded-5m-in-malpractice-suit-after-m
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Which is what you accused everyone else of doing.
Fail.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,370 posts)If he had died mowing the lawn, would DUers be so quick to jump on the "frivolous lawsuit" bandwagon?
My father presented to our doctor with similar complaints. He was sent directly to the hospital for the procedure. Do not pass go. They called me at home to pick him up as they didn't want him driving. In fact, they called me again when I took to long to get there because I jumped in the shower. I was like, is this an emergency, should we call an ambulance? Their response was it isn't an emergency but we don't want him driving.
That seems like the responsible course of action when someone mentions chest pains. Who knows, the fact he wasn't sent directly to the hospital could be the reason for the award. I know for a fact the insurance lobby likes to spin these awards.
My coworker was on a jury for a guy who was sent HOME from the ER after complaints of chest pains. When the cardiologist finally reviewed the cardiogram, he asked where the patient was located. He ordered the nurses to get him back in the ER. They called his sister to pick him up rather than dispatch an ambulance. His sister found him dead on the front lawn waiting for her ride. It think the award was for like $600k. I suppose if he died fucking his girlfriend it would be a frivolous award.
3waygeek
(2,034 posts)although I don't see the cardiologist named in the suit. I've never had any problems getting appointments or tests there -- I've had several chronic issues over the last 4 years, most of which will be resolved by surgery scheduled for next week.
rug
(82,333 posts)Good luck on your surgery.
3waygeek
(2,034 posts)I think I can handle another week.
Good luck on the surgery.
Number23
(24,544 posts)SemperEadem
(8,053 posts)it's ludicrous to punish the doctor for the man effin' 2 women when he was already having chest pains. Common sense would have said not to exert oneself if they're already having chest pains.
The man was 100% responsible for his own death. Stupid gets your killed in the wild and everywhere else.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Although the article said "a friend and a woman", but point remains - he had no business doing this while preparing for a heart test in the morning.
At 31, probably thought himself invincible right down to the gymnastics that killed him.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,370 posts)Common sense would say follow your doctors orders.
Common sense would say a person having chest pains should be admitted to a hospital. Not scheduled for an appointment. Anything less is rolling the dice with the patient's life and the doctor's mal-practice policy. I guess they both lost.
Common sense would say, at the very least, ordered strict bed-rest (no pun intended).
Common sense says sometimes doctors prefer to schedule procedures at THEIR convenience and availability for profit motive rather than admit to the ER on an emergency basis.
Common sense says perhaps the jury agreed.
Common sense says perhaps the appellate authority will view the same evidence and agree.
Common sense says making declarative statements on the merits of the case based on a hyped "news" article is asinine.
SemperEadem
(8,053 posts)your opinions mean squat to me.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,370 posts)originalpckelly
(24,382 posts)There could be another lawsuit if he was.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Don't know about the Viagra.
Iggo
(47,603 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)joeybee12
(56,177 posts)If he'd been at an orgy.
ManyShadesOf
(639 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)She has to live with the final humiliation that her husband was cheating on her (with two people, none-the-less) when he died.
I realize some DU men will say I'm being "prudish," but I'm not. People who are cheated upon DO feel humiliation - like they weren't good enough or something, even though the fault lie totally in the character of the person who did the cheating.
irisblue
(33,067 posts)some committed couples will play outside the house. the wife though, is really really pissed at that doctor.. and the family attorney is smiling all the way to the bank...
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)Monk06
(7,675 posts)that was bad, but hilarious.
irisblue
(33,067 posts)while the evening started well, the post sex paperwork had to be a downer.
ManyShadesOf
(639 posts)not to smoke
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)ManyShadesOf
(639 posts)during "physical activity" with his wife. can't anticipate every durn thing.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)Either he's doing it very differently than most people or he really needed to lay off the cheeseburgers.
/utterly ridiculous lawsuit. Bad Jury! Don't do that!
PotatoChip
(3,186 posts)as I don't have the same info the jury had which brought them to the conclusion they did.
However, I don't see how you can just assume the 31 yr old guy is responsible for his own heart attack.
Sometimes heart conditions are caused by genetics alone. Have you never heard of young athletes dropping dead from undiagnosed heart problems? There was just such a case about 10 years ago involving an Olympic level ice skater in his early 20's.
In fact, I recall a cardiologist being interviewed on one of the morning news shows right after the ice skater's death. He (the name escapes me at the moment) had died of a specific heart abnormality, which is not as rare as you might think. The cardiologist went on to explain that these types of heart abnormalities often go undiagnosed precisely because the patients are so young, healthy, and asymptomatic. Not due to poor lifestyle choices, which is what you seem to implying.
I've heard of several other such cases since then involving seemingly healthy adults (often athletes, since theirs are the stories that tend to make the news). A recent one in fact, in my local news profiled an 18 year old Varsity HS Basketball player- same thing. The kid didn't drink, smoke, overeat and had been accepted into a good University on an athletic scholarship.
This sort of incident, where many people are often quick to assume fault on the part of the victim is not exclusive to heart conditions btw. A relative of mine passed away 3 years ago of Mesothelioma (lung cancer). It was caused by long term asbestos exposure from his place of employment. Never smoked a day in his life, nor lived with anyone who did. But say the word 'Lung Cancer' and people immediately just assume...
I have no idea if a heart condition unrelated to lifestyle choice was the case w/the OP's 31 year old heart attack victim, but it certainly is possible. It's too bad some people are so quick to judge.
Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)frogmarch
(12,162 posts)have said, "Oh, and by the way, William, in case you're thinking of having 3-way sex, better hold off till after your test."
Jurors found Martinez only 40% responsible for his own death, and the doctor 60%. Stupid jurors. Knuckledraggers for sure.