Post 21 Legal problems after vasectomy - and a late reprieve!


Don's heart sank when he saw the letter sitting on his desk.  The envelope was of high quality, it bore a first class stamp and had a London postmark.   In his experience such letters rarely brought good news.  With great reluctance he opened the envelope.   The note paper was thick and expensive, certainly not the sort used in the health service!   He read the address on the top of the page. It caused a shiver to pass down his back.

                          Williams, Cummings and Lane.  solicitors

                                     25 Chancery Lane

                                               London

Along the bottom of the page was a tag line in smaller type

                                                            Specialists in medical negligence

 With an increasing sense of foreboding Don read the letter         
Dear Mr Fraser
Re Frederick Makin
We write to inform you that we act on behalf of the above named client upon whom you undertook a vasectomy operation. This operation was undertaken in a negligent fashion as a result of which Mr Makin has fathered a child. Further details will be forwarded to you in due course. It is expected that the damages will be in the region of £90,000. 
Yours etc
Harvey Lane

Don’s first reaction was one of anger.   He had been a consultant for twenty years during which time he had devoted himself to his patients and to the health service.   How dare they accuse him of negligence?    He worked long hours; he was ‘on call’ for emergencies every third night and every third weekend; and he was regularly reprimanded by his wife for putting his patients before his  home life.

And how on earth did they arrive at the figure of £90,000?   To repeat the vasectomy operation, if indeed it had failed, couldn’t possibly justify such a sum in compensation.    And if Mr Makin - whoever he was - had the joy of a baby in the house, he damn well ought to be grateful.   Don and his wife had always wanted a family but had not been so fortunate.

Even as these thoughts raced through his head, he already had an idea as to the likely cause of the problem.   He was probably being sued not because the operation had failed, but because the patient hadn’t been warned that failure was a possibility. These were the early days of male sterilisation and a standard ‘consent for sterilisation’ form had yet to be produced.

Within a couple of days, a review of Frederick Makin’s medical records confirmed that there was indeed no written record that he had been warned the operation might fail and that he might father a child. 
Then, three weeks later a further letter from Williams Cummings and Lane arrived detailing their justification for the £90,000 claim. The inventory included everything from a pram when the child was a baby, to a bike as he grew up, and driving lessons when he reached the age of 17!!   Their reasoning was that had Mr and Mrs Makin known that the operation might fail, they wouldn’t have had it performed; they would have practised an alternative form of contraception.   But now they had another child, he was entitled to have the same benefits in his life as his older siblings.

Now considerably alarmed, Don rang his medical insurance company.   He was relieved to learn that not only would they support him with legal advice, they would also cover the damages should the case be lost.   Strangely however, though he was reassured that his own money was not at risk, he remained deeply hurt and angry by the accusation of negligence.   He regarded this as an unjustifiable stain on his reputation.

The question that particularly troubled him was the legal test upon which the court would make its judgement.   This was whether  giving a warning that the operation might fail was the accepted medical practice at the time the vasectomy was performed.    If it was, the case was lost!   Don thought that it was not usual to give such a warning but the medical insurance company were less sure.    A meeting was arranged for the matter to be discussed.

“The problem ,” the legal advisor began, “is that we are reasonably certain that an ‘out of court’ settlement could be reached at a figure of about £30,000.   The danger of course, is that if the matter is contested in court and we lose, then the damages will be the full £90,000, with costs to pay on top of that.”

Don argued that settling out of court too readily, simply encouraged others to follow suit and that in the long run, it was cheaper to contest the matter.   He said that if a few claimants lost their cases, received no compensation and had to pay costs, then there would be fewer spurious claims in the future.   The truth was that although he wouldn’t admit it, his pride was at stake; the accusation of his alleged ‘negligence’ still rankled.    Eventually, albeit with some reluctance, the insurance company backed down and a date for the court case was fixed.


As the day of the trial approached, Don became increasingly anxious and moody.   At home he was irritable and found difficulty sleeping.   At work he began to lose his concentration and his confidence.   He wondered how he would cope when cross examined by some silver tongued barrister under oath.   He spent long hours in the medical library researching the subject.   Certainly he found a number of instances where surgeons had reported vasectomy failures but at the time of Mr Makin's operation, no recognised professional body had formally recommended warning patients of this  complication.   It seemed to him that in the absence of such a recommendation, the outcome of the court case would be a matter of opinion.   It could go either way.    He realised that an out of court settlement now looked a better option and thought that perhaps he shouldn't have argued his point of view with the insurance company quite so forcibly.    He rang the insurers to tell them so.

“Too late now, I’m afraid,” came the reply.   “A date for the trial has been set, a judge has been appointed and briefed, and in any case, if we were to make an offer to the claimant now, it would certainly be refused.   They would recognise that we were conceding defeat.”

A couple of days later, as Don got more and more concerned, one of his pals, a surgeon in a neighbouring hospital, rang him.    He sounded cheerful.

“I’ve got some interesting news for you,” he said.   “I operated today on an old patient of yours, a chap called Makin.    He told me that he was making a claim against you.   Obviously I pricked up my ears and probed for more details.    I thought you would be interested to know that the operation I was doing was a repeat vasectomy.”

“So.....?” Don enquired, not understanding the significance of this news.

“Well, don’t you see?   His legal argument is that had he known his first vasectomy operation might fail, he would never have had it done. Well, from his own experience, he does now know the operation can fail, yet despite that, he’s had it repeated.    He’s undermined his own argument.    His case completely collapses.”

There was silence for a moment while Don considered this new information.

“Why so it does,” Don said as a huge smile of relief light up his face.  “I’ll phone the medical insurance company at once.   Thank you so much.”

Then he rang his wife and told her the good news.

“Well that’s a great relief,” she said.   “Now perhaps you’ll go back to being your old self again.”

Thought for the day    

If it it’s not written down, it didn’t happen.

To receive future stories in your email inbox, simply SIGN IN on the home page.

 Extract from doctor’s letter: Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.

Comments

  1. Have you ever thought about publishing an e-book or guest authoring on other sites? I have a blog centered on the same information you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know my visitors would value your work. If you're even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail. social media marketing courses

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it's really informative. I am gonna watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this {in future}. Lots of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers! physics tuition singapore

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello there! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a team of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us useful information to work on. You have done a wonderful job! A maths tuition

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you, I've just been looking for info about this subject for a while and yours is the greatest I've came upon till now. But, what in regards to the bottom line? Are you certain about the supply?sales and marketing training

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz respond as I'm looking to design my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. thanks reliable money lenders in singapore

    ReplyDelete
  6. Howdy very cool web site!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I'll bookmark your site and take the feeds additionally…I'm glad to find a lot of helpful information right here in the submit, we need work out more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . . top keynote speaker

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for taking the trouble to comment. I’m pleased if you enjoyed reading the blog. To be sure to receive future posts, simply SIGN IN on the front page. All the best. Peter

    ReplyDelete
  8. Today, while I was at work, my sister stole my iphone and tested to see if it can survive a 30 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My iPad is now destroyed and she has 83 views. I know this is totally off topic but I had to share it with someone! MediaOne social media marketing services

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hey there! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers? I'm kinda paranoid about losing everything I've worked hard on. Any tips?
    seo services in singapore

    ReplyDelete
  10. Another web-based resource would be the Kompass business directories - but this in general would require a registered account to access (read require payment in general). Again their coverage is not neccessarily comprehensive.

    domain register

    ReplyDelete
  11. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?
    leather briefcase singapore

    ReplyDelete
  12. As the demand is on the rise and supply of skilled personnel is low, a digital marketer can demand a much higher pay while compared to other industries.

    best digital agencies

    ReplyDelete
  13. But when she asked a japanese exchange student what they meant, the angel one meant air and the devil one meant fire. Close, but no cigar.

    guys like to shop at Sixth Empire

    ReplyDelete
  14. It is the best time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you some interesting things or suggestions. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read more things about it!
    how to divorce in singapore

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wonderful blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I've been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thank you printing service in Singapore

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hello, i think that i saw you visited my blog thus i came to “return the favor”.I am trying to find things to enhance my website!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!
    travel insurance singapore

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wonderful post but I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this topic? I'd be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Appreciate it! Event Photography in Singapore

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am only commenting to make you be aware of of the excellent encounter my wife's girl found visiting your site. She noticed plenty of issues, including what it is like to have a marvelous coaching mindset to let the others with ease have an understanding of chosen tortuous subject areas. You truly exceeded readers' expected results. Thank you for supplying the good, safe, edifying as well as cool tips about the topic to Sandra.
    low budget for marketing

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have been exploring for a little bit for any high-quality articles or blog posts on this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this site. Reading this info So i am happy to convey that I've a very good uncanny feeling I discovered just what I needed. I most certainly will make certain to don’t forget this web site and give it a look on a constant basis.choosing the SEO optimized image on your website

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write on my site something like that. Can I implement a fragment of your post to my blog? marketing consultant singapore

    ReplyDelete
  21. I precisely had to thank you very much all over again. I'm not certain the things that I might have sorted out in the absence of the recommendations shared by you on that topic. It was before a real hard issue in my view, however , witnessing a expert form you solved that took me to leap over delight. I am grateful for your guidance as well as expect you realize what a great job you have been doing educating the others thru a blog. Most likely you've never got to know all of us.
    drag-and-drop web building platforms

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks , I've just been looking for info about this topic for ages and yours is the best I've discovered so far. But, what about the conclusion? Are you sure about the source?
    media agency singapore

    ReplyDelete
  23. It uses machine learning algorithms and approaches to understand the requirements of yours and helps you by being one step ahead of you. data science course in hyderabad

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hello, i feel that i saw you visited my website so i got here to “go back the prefer”.I am attempting to find things to improve my web site!I guess its good enough to use some of your concepts!! how to get rid of bed bugs

    ReplyDelete
  25. It’s hard to find knowledgeable individuals on this topic, however you sound like you already know what you’re talking about! Thanks cheek fillers singapore

    ReplyDelete
  26. Good day! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a team of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done a wonderful job! shorting

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment