Medical/legal disclaimers - -Mike. Reply to Cindy & back 2 all again

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In a message dated 4/3/2004 12:47:49 PM Eastern Standard Time, mike@...

writes:

Using that kind of disclaimer language at the bottom of a post in

theory SHOULD be all the legal protection any of us " in the field "

with licenses would need to protect ourselves, and our licenses.

That's in theory. Unfortunately, like in any field, book theory

does not always match the hard, cold " real " world.

Having started all of this, I must jump in here for a moment. First, the

above response of Mike's is exactly the point. There's always a way for the

A.M.A. (American Medical Association) to get their way, one way or the other.

They are a very long standing, force filled, large & powerful organization in

this country, with lots & lots of bucks behind them, pretty much giving them

liberty to " push through the channels " , just about anything they desire.

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And as for myself, being an R.N. & having worked in a general law practice,

which but pretty much did Personal Injury, which includes things like car

accidents, slip & falls & lots of things that come under that category, such as

asbestos injuries, breast implant problems, the old Dalkon Shield problems, (for

whomever remembers all of that), some Worker's Comp., a bit of criminal, but

lots & lots of big ticket medical malpractice. That is what I was specifically

hired to do & did so @ 95% of the time, except when there were medical issues

that I was consulted on, in all of the other areas. And there was always

this little " niche " , which is at the heart of all of this & Mike spoke of it in

a

prior email. And here, the legal terminology, was technically spoken of, by

the courts as ______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

" Practicing outside the scope of your expertise. "

______________________________________________________

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As well as a particular procedure, being performed,

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

" Within the scope of usual and customary practice. "

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(Gosh, do I wish I had a nickel for every time I wrote those 2 phrases!)

And believe me, it is used & I must say I as well, used them against people.

One could fit just about anything into that " category " . The reason I

personally would have " used it " is because, I strictly represented the plaintiff

& at

times, injuries were indeed caused by, for instance; A family practice MD,

when they should have referred a patient, for example, to an opthamologist.

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Let's just say, if someone came in saying they thought they " had something in

their eye " . And, the Dr. looked with his or her naked eye and thought they

saw " something " & went poking around, without the proper instruments, nor the

magnifiers use by an opthamologist & then say, broke through the outer lining

of the eye or damaged the cornea (you wouldn't believe some of the things I saw

in almost 7 years of doing this!) and by so doing this, they caused severe

damage to the person's eye. And then the person needed major corrective surgery

& suffered a permanent loss of vision. That would be a simple, clear cut

case of " practicing outside the scope........ " .

But believe me (and Mike) that this terminology could be stretched so far, it

could be stretched literally as long & as far as some of our ligaments do

&./or skin does!!

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And yes, it would be nice to have something like what has been suggested.

However, I would take an educated guess that this would never happen. As, the

foundation has always made a practice of urging anyone & everyone, not to give

any kind of medical advice, referral, etc. But in theory, that's pretty much

what many of us do on a daily basis. However, it's really only the people with

licenses, certain degrees & specialties, that truly have " something serious

at stake, to lose " . Finally, I would sincerely doubt that any of the

foundations or organizations would suggest, support or certainly approve of any

such

wording, to be put into any type of correspondence by any of us in an official

manner.

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We could surely do it on our own, but I would hazard a guess that, if need

be, any good attorney could break through it with ease. I could surely tell you

that if a situation like that had ever crossed my desk, I'd have it blasted

to bits in a heartbeat! No. I wasn't, nor am I, an attorney. But after almost

7 years, many of the things I did where things that an attorney would & did

do & I can't begin to tell you how many times I researched things, typed them

up & handed them to my boss to sign & perhaps at times, may have

" accidentally " even written a name, other than my own on a piece of paper.

After a time, I

had earned a certain amount of trust there, though I certainly am not saying

I did anything......

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What we all do on the lists (I speak only for myself here), we do because we

care about people & want to always do whatever we can to help anyone in anyway

we can & that goes for people with & without something " at stake " . And to

me, that's what makes us & these lists so special & wonderful. We give &

receive without hesitation, regularly. And honestly, personally, it's also why I

began, a long time ago, signing my emails with things like, Luv Ya, OR Be

well, , OR anything like that, instead of,

C. Schoenberg, RN

Central, NJ EDNF

Time to get off my soap box. Have a great day everyone........