Patients put a lot of trust and faith in their doctors to provide quality care. The damage that can result from negligence can be disastrous.
Medical Malpractice — Headline Victory #1
Greg Kafoury, Joan Thomas, Greg and Mark McDougal
In the case that became a cover story for Willamette Week, Joan Thomas sued her former psychiatrist, William L. Newton, M.D. She had sought out Dr. Newton for his help in treating her for long-standing drug addiction, which had arisen out of her treatment for chronic pain from a severe auto accident. Although she had been drug-free for a considerable time, Dr. Newton immediately put her back on drugs, and over the next several years, he fed her addiction to the point where the drugs became the only thing that mattered in her life. Then, Dr. Newton began taking some of the drugs he was prescribing for her and consuming them himself. Eventually, he had her securing street drugs to feed his own appetite. She finally broke free of him, tape recorded an incriminating phone conversation, and forced him to explain his conduct to a civil jury. The verdict was $600,000.
Medical Malpractice — Headline Victory #2
Mark McDougal, Client Larry Benson and Greg Kafoury
Larry Benson: Verdict: $900,000. Larry Benson’s urologist began treating him at age 18 for headaches. The doctor turned Benson into a drug addict, and a virtual slave. Over the next 20 years, Benson provided the doctor with a vast array of goods and services in return for undocumented drugs, until Benson finally broke free, and ended his addiction and sued the doctor.