The doctor came right out and said it.
I'd never heard a doctor say anything like this during a pretrial deposition.
This was sworn testimony.

This was an answer to a question I asked him.
The doctor seemed almost ashamed he was saying this.
But when he said it, it was if he just had a burden lifted off his shoulders.

He looked glad that he said it.
I think the shock registered on my face.
I mean who goes around calling someone a WIMP?

Especially your doctor.
As he said it, I was wondering how this would look in front of a jury.
If I was shocked, I could imagine a jury being shocked as well.

The problem for me was that the doctor explained WHY he felt my client was a wimp.
He explained that he came to him months after he suffered his injury.
The damage had already occurred. 

There was little the doctor could do to fix the problem.
But he was going to try.
He gave the patient two options.

Surgery or no surgery.
That was it.
Either live with the problem or try to fix it.

He explained the patient was wishy-washy.
He kept going back and forth about what to do.
He wasn't sure.

Finally, the patient made a decision...
To have the surgery.
Ok, that was somewhat decisive.

But then, after the surgery, the patient wasn't complying with the doctors' post-operative instructions.
The doctor told him specifically what he wanted the patient to do.
Follow up with therapy.

Have them do the following exercises and here's why.
Follow up with these other physicians and here's why.
At first the patient did what he was told to do.

Months into it, he slacked off.
No explanation was given.
The doctor told him why it was so important to follow through with his instructions.

The patient didn't listen.

Didn't give the doctor a reason either.
That was bad.
Now the patient complained of more problems than he went in with.

The doctor reminded him he needed to follow his instructions.
That's why he has more problems now.
"Your client was a wimp!" the doctor exclaimed.

"He couldn't make a decision."
"He didn't do what I told him to do."
"I feel bad saying this but he really was a WIMP!"

I almost wanted to tell the doctor "It's Ok, I understand."
But I didn't.
The more I listened to the physician's explanation about WHY he was calling my client a wimp, the more I understood that this doctor did nothing wrong.

A few weeks later when I received the transcript back from the court reporter who was recording all of my questions and all of the doctors' answers, I sent it on to my expert to read.

I knew what my expert was going to say.
I knew this case never should have been started.
But I wasn't the one who started this case.

I inherited this case from another attorney.
I suspected that I'd soon be withdrawing from this case.
All because the doctor called my client a wimp...sort of.

The reality is that the doctor had no liability here.
Because we could not show that the doctor violated the basic standards of medical care, I could not proceed forward with his case.
I had no choice but to withdraw as his attorney.

The fact that the doctor called my client a wimp simply confirmed that this case had no merit.

To learn how an attorney in NY evaluates a medical malpractice case, I invite you to click below...

Gerry Oginski
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NY Medical Malpractice & Personal Injury Trial Lawyer
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