Doctors cleared in death of actor John Ritter

[sinkingfeeling]

Source: CNN.com

GLENDALE, California (AP) -- A California jury has cleared a cardiologist and a radiologist of negligence in the diagnosis and treatment of actor John Ritter.

The jurors found that Ritter was advised by the radiologist to follow up with treatment by a physician, but Ritter didn't follow the order. The radiologist had completed a body scan on him two years earlier.

The case went to the jury Thursday morning and the panel spent a day and half behind closed doors before reaching a 9-3 verdict in the $67 million wrongful death suit brough by Ritter's widow, Amy Yasbeck, and his children. Verdicts do not have to be unanimous in civil cases.

Eight other medical personnel and the hospital have settled lawsuits. Ritter's widow and his four children received $14 million from those cases.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/14/ritter.trial.ap/index.html

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So, even with a lot of money and lawyers, you sometimes lose.

[UndertheOcean]

1. This case is silly .... shit happens

even if you do regular checkups , spoiled rich Americans

[melody]

3. John Ritter's father Tex Ritter died of a similar heart defect

Why the doctors DIDN'T know this is the problem. Even I knew that and I don't know anything about
John Ritter except that.

The doctors should have been found negligent. They, too, are "spoiled rich Americans", I guess.

[BigDaddy44]

5. This is ridiculous

They are doctors, not gods. If anyone should have known about Tex Ritter and what he died of, its his own son.

I think its disgusting that we immediately have to find someone to blame when someone dies unexpectedly. Yeah, lets ruin these guys careers because John Ritter had a heart condition.

The jury did the right thing.

[melody]

6. I've just read a lengthy article about the case

His son did know of it, obviously -- his father died of it when he was a child. Ritter was regularly tested for signs of it. He had been assured that his aorta looked fine, however there's no 100% foolproof method of diagnosis.

The moment he showed up with an obvious heart problem, why the hell wasn't this considered? I'm sorry but it's *ridiculous* that it
wasn't. Somebody with an immediate family member who died from something like that and the doctors decide it's just a heart
attack?

People do survive what happened to Ritter. One of my college professors did.

[slampoet]

8. I respectfully disagree. I'm no country music fan & I'm under 40 but I knew about Tex Ritter's heart

The doctors have no good reason NOT to know.


You are also exaggerating if you think cases like this ruin doctor's lives.

Divorce, Drug addiction, Suicide, and Alcoholism ruin many more doctors lives than litigation.


However seeing that the plaintiff in this case didn't really NEED the money, i would be inclined to suggest a pittance for a settlement. I would suggest no penalty is the AMA were better about policing itself but we all know how that goes..........


But what am I typing this for.......there are more important people than "celebrities"

[melody]

10. Well said n/t

[AP]

13. Agree with everything you say, except the implication that plaintiffs should get less money because

they're rich.

There's already a license to screw poor people in this country. If negligence damages were reduced because people had money, there'd also be a license to screw rich people.

Furthermore, Ritter's family did lose a lot money, even though they had money. John Ritter had a career that paid well. People, including negligent doctors, should be responsible for the reasonably foreseeable consequences of their negligent acts.

Furthermore, there's a punitive damages element -- if there were punitive damages, they have to be to a degree that makes the healthcare take notice. In a billion dollar industry, nobody is going to care enough to change their practices unless they have to pay damages of millions of dollars, and that has nothing to do with how wealthy plaintiffs are.

[wtmusic]

2. Lose? They are $14M up so far

the losers are the people who have to pay those costs -- you and me.

[underpants]

7. Oh bullshit-that is why it is called "underwriting"

every insurance company immediately and specifically underwrites every policy with some sort of investment and wealth building plan. They have been doing this for a long time. The only way they lose money on a particular policy is if there is catastrophic loss (Katrina-not that I am sure they actually lost money) and if they have to pay before a certain amount of time.

Medical malpractice is less than 1% of all medical costs and all the stupid proposed laws (you can download them and have them passed in your locality) don't mention the effect on malpractice insurance premiums. The purpose of the whole thing is simply to reduce the insurance company's liability.

http://www.insurance-reform.org/

[wtmusic]

12. There's actually quite a bit of competition in the insurance industry

and if you ask a doctor they'll tell you it's hospitals/HMOs jacking up prices.

Are you saying these shysters deserved $14M?

[jbfaus1964]

14. people just do not get it!

You are so right. Doctors just pass the cost of higher premium payments onto the patients. Same thing with corporations. I always laugh when people think its great to raise taxes on corporations. Do you really think there profit declines??? Noooo, they just raise the prices on the goods we purchase, their bottom line stays the same. We are the only losers!

[flashl]

4. Losers?

The losers are those who fall victim to our "deathCare' industry which produces multiple 9/11s every day of the year.

[newfie11]

9. He saw the radiologist 2 years earlier

and was told to follow up with his doctor. I don't see how the radiologist could be blamed.

Yes his doctor should have looked for a dissecting aorta but as has been said they are not gods.

[melody]

11. Doctors aren't gods, but they should be held to a certain level of competence

That's why they make the money they do.

The base problem was the hospital doctors and the diagnosis.