"When many cures are offered for a disease, it means the disease is not curable" -Anton Chekhov
''Once you tell people there's a cure for something, the more likely they are to pressure doctors to prescribe it.'' -Robert Ehrlich, drug advertising executive.
"Opinions are like sphincters, everyone has one." - Chris Rangel
Dramatis Personae:The New York Times Magazine had a case presentation of a case of Munchausen's syndrome, a disorder in which a person loves playing the role of patient so much they make themselves sick on purpose. I had a case like this when I was in residency training. My patient injected the feces under skin, though, to create an abscess. Yuk. Munchhausen’s in medicine is well-documented, but what I want to know is, does the legal profession have anything analogous to it? Are there people so addicted to the drama of the courtroom that they sue at the slightest provocation? I wondered about this when I was sued after a fender bender in which no fenders were bent. My opponent appeared absolutely delighted to be in the courtroom. She even came with a yellow legal pad and took more notes than her lawyer. He was young (his older partners probably knew her well and stuck him with the case) and she kept offering him words of encouragement during the breaks, as if she were the lawyer and he were the client. She also had a long history of suing people, according to my attorney. I’m convinced her primary motive in suing me wasn’t so much to profit from it financially, but to bask in the limelight of a trial. (She lost by the way, thereby restoring my confidence in our legal system.) posted by Sydney on
9/09/2002 06:19:00 AM
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