Doctor Takes Own Life to Incite Change in Legal System
Thursday, May 5th, 2005 at 5:44 pm
All I can say is wow. I know the current medical malpractice system is a huge problem, but this is just unfathomable. My thoughts are with the physician and his family.
How an unjust legal system and dishonest expert witnesses drove Dr. Philip Ticktin to take his life. His last request was that this story be told.
(PRWEB) May 31, 2005 — On a spring morning of 2004, Philip Adam Ticktin, MD, age 44, quietly took his life in his suburban home ending an exasperating five-year lawsuit. When Dr. Ticktin’s story came to the attention of the National Medical Foundation for Asset Protection (NMFAP), we knew it had to be told. It is a tragedy to see a legal system prevent doctors from helping patients and doing what they love to do.
Dr. Ticktin spent five years defending himself in a baseless lawsuit. Serving patients was his life. When he began to see the legal system prevent him from doing what he loved and lived for, life was no longer worth living. Dr. Ticktin took his life hoping his death would incite change in the legal system. Dr. Ticktin is now watching his colleagues from the other side praying they will not suffer as he did – praying the injustices of the current system will be corrected so that the medical profession he dearly loved will not die as he did.
Dr. Ticktin made many attempts to change the unjust system. His attempts at change resulted in additional complaints against him. Dr. Ticktin filed a complaint with the state medical board against one of the expert witnesses because of the witness’s apparent lack of medical competency or objectivity.
In retaliation, the witness filed for sanctions against Dr. Ticktin. The plaintiff attorneys also filed a complaint against Dr. Ticktin claiming his actions constituted witness tampering. This compounded his stress and frustration to the point of taking his life as a statement of the injustice and with the hope that his death would bring change and relief to his colleagues. As he wrote in his suicide note, “Hopefully my death will shed light on the problem …”
Source: PRWeb
Hat Tip: Kevin, MD
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yikes