No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

[Exile]

After we retired and relocated to the Philippines a few years ago, DW opened a free clinic for special needs children. There was no charge for her services and she paid for operating expenses out of her own pocket (utilities, office supplies, toys, etc, except for rent as office space was furnished by a benefactor). Nevertheless the City Treasurer assessed a business tax on the clinic, which DW paid faithfully.

However, the assessment was increased this year such that it became prohibitive for her to continue operations, and she had to close the clinic--in effect it was taxed out of existence, notwithstanding the service that she was performing to the community. She appealed the decision but to no avail.

Has anybody else here performed a good deed, such as going out of their way to help others, only to have it backfire or otherwise go awry?

[disneysteve]

Doctors run into that a lot, actually. I have a friend who retired from practice last year. He would love to do some volunteer work, provide medical care at a homeless clinic or shelter or something like that. But it is financially impossible because in order to do so, he has to carry full malpractice insurance. He doesn't mind giving away his time, but he can't afford to spend $10,000 or more per year for insurance to allow him to volunteer.

[Broken Arrow]

Tragic.

[m3racer]

Has anybody else here performed a good deed, such as going out of their way to help others, only to have it backfire or otherwise go awry?

That's why I don't. Especially in our litigious society. An unappreciative patient with unrealistic expectations + a sense of entitlement can quickly lead to a frivolous law suit against the clinician.

[cschin4]

Doctors run into that a lot, actually. I have a friend who retired from practice last year. He would love to do some volunteer work, provide medical care at a homeless clinic or shelter or something like that. But it is financially impossible because in order to do so, he has to carry full malpractice insurance. He doesn't mind giving away his time, but he can't afford to spend $10,000 or more per year for insurance to allow him to volunteer.

Disney - Has he thought about overseas medical missions? Not sure what the requirements are on that. Also, if he wanted to volunteer, why couldn't he offer his services to a free clinic which could employ him and pay his malpractice insurance? It can be done if he desires to do this.
But, unfortunately, more and more regulation, rules and govt oversight prevent exactly this sort of thing.

[rob62521]

The sue happy public has gotten out of control.

[cschin4]

Good deeds are sometimes "punished" though greedy selfish people, the "system", and so forth. However, we all need to realize that our reward for doing good deeds is often unrecognized. In the end, all the money, things, travel, etc will be washed away and the legacy of our lives will be the good we did or didn't do. It can be very disheartening but hopefully you will not let that deter you. And, the real good was done in the lives of those children that she touched who cannot say thank you or job well done. And, in order to do good, sometimes you have to work around the greed and corruption. In fact, in times like these, all the more reason to keep on striving as you now know that there are many who will no longer receive services. So, if she can still find ways to use her skills to touch one child or person, then let that is the true reward.

[rob62521]

Well said, CSChin!

[disneysteve]

Disney - Has he thought about overseas medical missions? Not sure what the requirements are on that. Also, if he wanted to volunteer, why couldn't he offer his services to a free clinic which could employ him and pay his malpractice insurance?

He is 70 or so years old. Flying off to some 3rd world country isn't really something he's up for.

As for the free clinics, that's exactly what he wants to do, but those places have minimal funding. They can't afford to pay the doctors' malpractice insurance. He would need to carry his own coverage.

[cschin4]

He is 70 or so years old. Flying off to some 3rd world country isn't really something he's up for.

As for the free clinics, that's exactly what he wants to do, but those places have minimal funding. They can't afford to pay the doctors' malpractice insurance. He would need to carry his own coverage.

Yes, this may be. However, nothing is preventing him from volunteering at the local food bank either. We can all serve and volunteer if we really want to.

[cschin4]

He is 70 or so years old. Flying off to some 3rd world country isn't really something he's up for.

Why not? What better time than now?

[disneysteve]

nothing is preventing him from volunteering at the local food bank either. We can all serve and volunteer if we really want to.

True, of course. There are plenty of ways for a person to volunteer. He was just looking for something that would use his medical skills. He actually didn't want to retire but was forced out by rising costs and decreasing reimbursement. It is a shame that an experienced, well-trained, motivated physician can't go out and help people at a time when so many are uninsured or have limited access to quality care in this country. Between insurance and litigation risk, his hands are tied.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Exile your wife's situation is such a shame, such a loss, I'm sure.

Back here in the USA, I wonder if states would have any motivation to pass legislation protecting volunteer healthcare workers from lawsuit. It really is just wrong for them not to be able to freely give of their knowlege and talent.

[m3racer]

The case of Dr Pou is a perfect example of what's wrong with our society. A surgeon gets wrongfully accused of 2nd degree murder while helping patients in the hospital during Katrina. She certainly didn't need to do what she did and could have just left. Here's a small excerpt that can be found on yahoo. It just makes me sick.

"Pou was one of the last to leave Memorial. She returned to New Orleans — her house had not been flooded — from Baton Rouge a few months later at Thanksgiving. In January 2006, she started working at a Baton Rouge hospital, trying to put Katrina behind her.

Then, in July 2007, she was greeted by four police officers on her arrival home from a 13-hour day of surgery. They handcuffed her, still in her scrubs, and drove her to jail. She was booked on four counts of second-degree murder.

Attorney General Charles Foti accused Pou and two nurses of using a "lethal cocktail" of medication to kill four elderly patients. Pou has always maintained she killed no one during those desperate days, though she acknowledges patients were sedated.

She was forced to give up private practice and started teaching at the LSU medical school in Baton Rouge.

Months of pain and frustration set in.

A year after their arrest, the New Orleans district attorney dropped charges against the nurses, and a grand jury refused to indict Pou. Two civil lawsuits in the deaths are pending.

"I felt very alone," Pou said of her year of fighting the criminal accusations. "Even if people were around me I felt an intense loneliness. It was as if no one knew what I was going through."

Pou's supporters believed she and the nurses acted heroically. A group of doctors and nurses held a rally on the anniversary of her arrest, and hundreds turned in support."

[cschin4]

I think trying doctors for murder and criminally is ridiculous. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals are in the profession to help people. And, yes, these professionals will make mistakes at times but do we really want to create an environment where we prosecute and criminalize the very people that are trying to help us? Is your lawyer going to be on call 24/7 and there for you when your appendix burst? I think it is frightening to think we would even consider this. Yes, there are rare cases where doctors/nurses have attempted murder and those should indeed be prosecuted. But, when the Katrina story first broke, I knew it was absurd and totally unbelievable. Perhaps BigFoot was simultaneously stepping out of the UFO as this was happening. SHeesh.
Anyway, allegations and this type of thing destroy a career. Yet, there is no payback for that. When are we going to start putting negligent lawyers in jail? I would welcome that.