Massachusetts: Even More Bonkers Than Previously Thought

Here's an old news story that didn't get near as much coverage as it should have. Apparently, about a month ago, the Massachusetts Supreme Court handed down a medical malpractice ruling that makes Massachusetts Doctors responsible not only for their actions, but for the actions of their patients as well. You see, David Sacca, a 70-something-year-old man who underwent cancer treatment, fell asleep while driving and hit and killed a young boy; and, while driving, Sacca was taking a drug which listed drowsiness among its side-effects. Moreover, his Physician, Dr. Roland Florio, apparently forgot to warn Sacca of this possible side-effect - and so the family of the dead boy is suing Dr. Florio for negligence.

That's right, this family is suing, not the guy who killed their son, but the Doctor of the guy who killed their son. And, according to the Massachusetts Supreme Judiciary Court, that kind of lawsuit is perfectly alright - meaning that, soon, Dr Florio will be defending himself from a charge of negligence, despite the fact that he might never have met, seen, or even heard of the plaintiffs (much less treated them).

So yes, now, apparently, every Doctor in Massachusetts now has to worry about not just how they treat patients, but who they treat at all; because, now, if your patient does something stupid while on a treatment or medication that you prescribed, you, good Doctor, could get sued.

Because clearly patients cannot be expected to be responsible for themselves.

Besides, if we can't blame Doctors for everything, where the hell are all these damn lawyers going to make their millions?