Re: Could this become a lawsuit

April 16, 2004

Dball63 dball63@...> wrote :

Its been years since I've seen him but I

> remember one of the last times I saw him I had told him that I had just been

diagnosed with AVN and I was drinking heavily, on vicodin, prozac.....I was a

mess

,

AVN can also be caused by drinking, or sometimes there is no known causative

agent at all. So the burden of proof is likely on you to prove that it was the

cortizone and not the drinking that caused it. Chances are that you would spend

a whole lot of money and, well, will have spent a whole lot of money. Spend the

money on a new hip-much better odds of success and happiness in my opinion.

Cindy

C+ 5/25/01 and 6/28/01

___________________________________

NOCC, http://nocc.sourceforge.net

April 16, 2004

Jeff, no-one with legal experience could have explained it better than you

did.

First off, I know of an instance just last week where a healthy, gorgeous,

smart, energetic 18 year old woman with viral encephalitis died only three days

after diagnosis, so thank your lucky stars you're here.

Second, the facts in that e-mail are pregnant with all kinds of great legal

excuses that a defense attorney could have a field day with. The bottom line of

most claims is it comes down to credibility. If you're not squeaky clean, you

have a problem.

Third, I have a belief that the best a case ever gets is the day it walks in

your office. After that, it's downhill all the way. The way this one sounds

now, I would hate to see what else comes up the pike.

Fourth, I suspect there could be a statute of limitations problem.

I could go on but I need to bill some time. I certainly wouldn't take that

case, but maybe there are some lawyers out there who would.

Des Tuck, Esq.

In a message dated 4/16/2004 12:26:21 PM Pacific Standard Time,

jjg@... writes:

Good Luck, but don't count on much except a lot of expenses. Some years

back I got dreadfully sick and went to a doctor. For a few weeks he told me

it was the flu and to go home. That didn't do anything. Finally I got fed

up and went to another doctor, who gave me the proper diagnosis of viral

encephalitis (probably from a tick bite). Man, I didn't know you could be

that sick and live through it. I talked to my lawyer about suing the first

doctor and what he told me I'll pass on to you: The doctor will claim that

I did indeed have the condition he treated me for which masked the other

symptoms. The only way I could have shown that the first doctor was at

fault was to have had another diagnosis at the outset contradicting him.

In your case, drinking, vicodin and other factors could certainly

contribute to your AVN. You'd have to find some way of showing that there

no other factors and that the blame would fall squarely on this fellow.

Since it's been a while, that will be tough, since they can always ask you

to detail what you were doing and if you can't account for high-risk

factors (prove you weren't abusing steroids, for instance), it will be

hard, Compounding this is that the doctor will get legal help from his

insurance company, which keeps a bevy of attack lawyers on retainer. Not

good odds.

Still, feel free to pursue it, but don't be surprised if it falls flat. My

evil twin tells me that an out of court settlement after you file this

could certainly offset your resurfacing expenses. >

Of course, other folks on this list have more legal experience than I do,

so I'm sure they'll chime in, right folks?

April 16, 2004

You're welcome. Please give me your billing address. [NOT]

Des

In a message dated 4/16/2004 1:40:11 PM Pacific Standard Time, jjg@...

writes:

>Third, I have a belief that the best a case ever gets is the day it walks

in

>your office. After that, it's downhill all the way.

What a great piece of advice.. I think I'm gonna have to write that one

down.

Thanks Des!

April 16, 2004