Questionable Motives

Date: May 14, 2012

What prompted Johns Hopkins Medicine to give a photo and full page to the former doctor turned medical malpractice plaintiffs’ expert witness [“Legal Eagle,” Winter, p. 35]? You gave recognition to a man who can’t believe how many physicians “do bad things” as a result of  “greed and arrogance.” During my long career, I have reviewed dozens of cases for defense malpractice lawyers and have never seen greed and arrogance explain doctors’ missteps.

Rather it’s been because of misinterpretation of clinical or laboratory data, lack of knowledge of the actual problem, or insufficient time sorting out the facts of the patient’s illness.

The publication of [Dr. Genicoff’s] comments does a disservice to the medical profession.

William Schlott, MD ’62