Posted on 08/03/2006 9:44:12 AM PDT by mom4kittys
Judge says doctor has the right to insult patients
09:27 AM CDT on Thursday, August 3, 2006
Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. -- The state Board of Medicine voted to dismiss its disciplinary case against a doctor accused of telling a patient she was so obese she might only be attractive to black men and advising another to shoot herself following brain surgery.
The board's decision Wednesday essentially lets stand a judge's decision that Dr. Terry Bennett was within his rights to say things that might be offensive.
"That's wonderful," said Bennett's lawyer, Benjamin King. "I look forward to receiving the order."
The complaints included charges that Bennett humiliated a white woman by telling her she was so obese she might only be attractive to black men. A 2001 complaint accused Bennett of telling a woman recovering from brain surgery to buy a pistol and shoot herself to end her suffering.
In June, Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Edward Fitzgerald ruled that doctors have a right to free speech even when their comments insult or offend patients.
The decision may not mean the end of the controversy. Bennett has said he hopes to sue everyone involved.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Dr. Howard Stern.
He reminds me of "House" on the Fox channel.
Sounds like Dr. House. I thought he was fictional!
susie
Somehow this will become a Federal Case. ( hate speech, disabilities act etc...)
Judge got it right. Good for him
What happened to that old do no harm line? And what do you think the doc would do if a nurse told him what she thought of him and his mouth? They are the people who have to deal with the patient after the doc runs his mouth.
LOL!
That is funny! But the other complaint about buying the pistol is a little bit too far for me.
Yeah, it sure is but it looks like it gets their attention.
I don't think there is such a thing as bedside manner any more.They rush in and rush out..Although I do have some very good kind doctors..I have told one of them before that I think he should stop with the attitude because he works for me and he should leave his home problems at home and not to bring them to work with him..I am not a nasty person but I won't sit by and let anyone that works for me make me feel like I am stupid..I still go to him and he is very nice to me now..
Baby's got back?!
doc: you're fat
patient: I want a 2nd opinion
doc:ok, you're ugly to.
The best outcome is that the doctor suffers no legal sanctions but loses most of his patients. He may not have committed a crime, but he clearly is an ***hole.
And the moral of this story is we need to keep medicine in the private sector so we can personally fire a-holes like this. If this doctor worked for the government we'd have to have a lengthy investigation so he could be referred to the "sensitivity" unit to make amends and keep the sensitivity unit employed at taxpayer expense.
The first amendment protects your right to be an A-hole.... I know I have fallen under that protection many times.... too many Im afraid.
I've been a lurker for a while, but I had to come out of hiding for this one. I think a doctor should be able to talk to his/her patients like this. It's better than saying "You're beatiful how you are. You could lose weight, but I can't tell you that it would be better than how you are now because that means there's something wrong with. Which there isn't." So he wasn't PC - who cares? Maybe the sense of humor is a little rough, but sometimes that's the only way to get through to a person.
You're correct. A few years ago, a psychiatrist employed this very technique to humiliate his patients. While their initial reaction was that they had been insulted, the Dr. was probably the first one to speak the truth to them.
The truth hurts but don't blame the one who delivers it...
True enough. His ability to speak freely is his absolute right as is the right of his patients to leave his care if they are offended. One does wonder if the reaction of the judge would have been the same if he had told a patient of his with HIV that it was his own fault for promiscuity and that if the doctor discovered he was continuing his sexual promiscuity he would be obliged to inform the local DA. Somehow, I think the judge would have been less enamored of his free speech rights!
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