BITTER MEDICINE: What I've Learned and Teach about Malpractice Lawsuits (And How to Avoid Them)
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BITTER MEDICINE: What I've Learned and Teach about Malpractice Lawsuits (And How to Avoid Them)
A SURGEON-PROFESSOR dramatizes tragic case histories to teach his medical students how to "Do No Harm" and avoid being sued for malpractice when they become doctors. Part memoir, part expose, BITTER MEDICINE (175 pages, 92,800 words) lets the reader "learn from the dead" in an anatomy laboratory, respond to "a sudden cry for help" in a hospital emergency room, and follow students as they discover how easy it is to maim and kill patients in an operating room.
"THANKS TO LAWYERS who consulted me," writes Dr. Kessler, "I've amassed a large file of the medical records. They proved to be effective teaching tools. I found that students retain more from studying medical disasters than perfectly executed procedures. Why? Happy outcomes can be boring. Catastrophes are unforgettable. I hope the cases I've discussed with my students will help readers make up their own minds about medical malpractice, health care reform, socialized medicine and other political footballs that are being tossed around today.
"SOME AMERICANS have been persuaded by politicians and pundits that most medical malpractice lawsuits are 'frivolous'–that they are without merit. If that were true, I'd have had a hard time finding the cases I’ve presented in my classes and seminars. I did not. No deep research was required. I didn’t have to go looking for horror stories. They came looking for me."
RICHARD KESSLER, M.D., F.A.C.S., retired from the practice of medicine after more than 30 years as a surgeon at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Manhattan and a full professor at the NYU Medical School where he taught surgery and still teaches anatomy. In BITTER MEDICINE, he tells what he's learned first-hand as a medical student, intern, resident, practicing physician, general surgeon, U.S. Army doctor, teacher, researcher and expert witness.
PATRICK TRESE was an original member of the "Huntley-Brinkley Report." In his 30 years with NBC News, his awards included a Peabody and several Emmys. Holt, Rinehart & Winston published his book about his assignments in Antarctica covering DEEPFREEZE II & III, Penguins Have Square Eyes, in 1962. He will soon e-publish his novel, AMDG: An Ignatian Thriller.