12/13/2013    Vincent Gramuglia, DPM

A Podiatric Fairytale About Malpractice

Once upon a time there was a young lad who wanted
to be liked by all the other kids. The children in
the neighborhood would play but never included him
in any of their games. Sam complained to his
mother who said why don't you get really good
grades and become a podiatrist?...that'll show
those mean boys and girls!

Sam said that a lot of the other kids had already
decided to be foot doctors and that they were
talking about all the cool surgical procedures
they would be doing when they graduated. His mom
said "why don't you do surgery also?" Sam
confessed that he would never do surgery because
he was too afraid. His envy got the best of him
and he began to avoid his colleagues and associate
with attorneys with whom he felt more comfortable.

The attorneys persuaded the impressionable lad to
criticize his classmates work even though he had
never performed or even seen some of the
procedures that they were doing. He took this road
and made a fortune at the expense of his fellow
podiatrists. One day, while debriding an HD five
Sam slipped with his beaver blade and caused a
laceration in his patient. To Sam's surprise, he
found himself in the courtroom with his patient
who claimed that he committed malpractice.

Sam and his defense team searched far and wide but
could find no one in the land to come to his
defense. The final arguments were being made when
the courtroom door swung open and there stood all
of Sam's colleagues who each approached the
witness stand and testified in favor of their
fellow podiatrist in his time of need. The jury
was touched by this display of podiatric
solidarity and without deliberation issued a
defense verdict.

Sam was overcome with emotion and fervently vowed
to never testify for the plaintiff again,
regardless of the money offered to him by his
lawyer friends. The medical community accepted him
into their ranks with open arms and he soon became
a trusted and respected member of their
organization. The End.

"........It could happen, couldn't it?" or "did
Sam wake up from this dream in a cold sweat?"

Vincent Gramuglia, DPM, Bronx, NY,
a2onpar3@optonline.net

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