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Thursday, January 13, 2005Jamie Chavez knew her Richland obstetrician felt strongly about limiting medical-malpractice awards. He bent her ear and offered pamphlets every time Chavez, pregnant with her first baby, visited him for prenatal care. But she couldn't believe Dr. Mark Mulholland's reaction in November when she refused to sign a petition at the doctor's office for an initiative to limit jury awards in malpractice cases. "I was kind of fired as a patient," she said. It has become common for doctors to put out petitions for tort reform in their offices for patients to sign. Usually, they just leave it in the waiting room or at the check-out/check-in desk for people to sign if interested. Discussing it in the exam room is a little much. Patients pay us to focus on them, not to be lobbied for political causes. And firing a patient for having an opposing opinion, well, that's just too extreme for words. But then, we doctors do have a strong totalitarian streak. CORRECTION: The doctor above isn't anymore "Seattle-area" than Cincinnati is Cleveland: Actually, he's a Richland doctor, on the other side of the "Cascade Curtain" from Seattle. (And me) We think the folks from "east of mountains" are really different. They grow wheat and apples, we grow trees. They irrigate their fields, we pump out our basements. They generally vote Republican, we generally don't. ;^) Jim Miller adds more detail: Richland, Washington is not near Seattle. It is one of the "Tri Cities", the other two being Pasco and Kennewick. All three are on the Columbia in south-eastern Washington state. The biggest employer in the area is Hanford, which explains the interesting symbol Richland High School uses for its teams. posted by Sydney on 1/13/2005 11:56:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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