The statue of justice is a blindfolded woman holding the scales of justice. Justice is supposed to be blind so that everyone is treated the same - the scales must be equal, not tilted to favor any side. No special breaks for anyone.
Lawmakers should consider this as doctors ask for special breaks for errors they make that harm their patients.
I have represented many doctors on other matters. Most doctors do not make critical errors that cause a patient to die or become crippled for life. But some doctors, like some lawyers, engineers, accountants and others, can and do make errors. And with physicians, those errors can be life altering or life ending.
Most doctors I know want to be responsible for making good any harm they create. I have seen doctors tell their malpractice insurer to pay claims when they had made mistakes. These doctors deserve your respect. But we cannot respect those, in whatever profession they are engaged, who try to hide from their errors, bury their dead and evade responsibility when they negligently cause serious physical or economic harm to others in our community.
The fact is medical malpractice impacts a small group of people who are killed and seriously maimed or disfigured by inadequate medical care. This group could be anyone - a neighbor, a co-worker, a family member or you.
They ought to have the same rights for injury suffered from a doctor's neglect as would someone who was rear-ended by another driver's neglect for the same injury. A baby is just as dead when suffocated by a cord wrapped around its neck which had been ignored by the obstetrician as the baby who dies after eating tainted baby food from a company who knew it was unsafe but still sold it.
There is no moral or legal justification to treat people poorly just because they were injured or killed by a doctor. The good judgment of a judge or jury in accordance with standard legal principles should apply to all of us.
We all must be held accountable. The Legislature should not give special breaks to one group to avoid responsibility for the harm it creates while others in the community remain fully responsible. No person is above the law. There must be equal justice for all as symbolized by lady justice. The Legislature should make sure those concepts remain true.
* James Krueger is a Maui attorney.
