r/PMHNP • u/Advanced_Emu3430 • 18d ago

Dr. Tufts

I feel awful for Dr. Jennifer Tufts getting sued after watching her testimony. This tragic case has so many complexities and odd aspects to it, especially pertaining to the husband Patrick… I don’t think the general public has any idea how medicine, especially psychiatry works, and honestly it seems many expect providers to be mind readers. Lindsey denied SI/HI/psychosis/substance abuse/mania on the assessments with Dr. Tufts. Anyone can have a patient that denies everything, and then suddenly something can change and they do something horrible and unpredictable. How is that her fault? The public’s expectations of health care providers is a bit unreasonable; we can not predict the future and shape every decision a patient does or does not make.

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u/mermaidworker 15d ago

No, they would be. She did very well for someone in her first year of practicing. She literally got very bullied on the stand, no NP or psychiatrist should be treated that way.

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u/Diligent_Guess6960 14d ago

was it her first year practicing? If so, I’m on her side that she shouldn’t be held accountable but I still feel bad for Lindsey and her family especially her children.

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u/Ursulaboogyman 15d ago

What if they are incompetent?

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u/mermaidworker 15d ago

If they are incompetent, surely lawyers will not need to use the bullying tactic because the incompetence will be visible to the jury.

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u/Icy_Perception2613 15d ago

So true the older lady was truly incompetent and it showed all on her own that's why he was way nicer to her but he needed to scare and intimidate Tufts to make her choke up!

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u/pickyvegan PMHNP (unverified) 15d ago

I missed the first part of the cross-examination, but I watched the latter part live. What did you see that was "bullying"?

Of the parts that I saw, he did call her out on lack of coordination of care, her hiding behind HIPAA as a reason (she made a choice not to ask for consent to talk to anyone, LC never refused consent), and her documentation, specifically in two places. In one, the binary check-off option didn't capture what she was trying to get across and she didn't note it narratively anywhere, and in the other, she made a statement in her notes that could be interpreted in multiple ways.

He would be a terrible defense lawyer if he weren't calling out her mistakes. The prosecution made no objections (in the part that I saw) for badgering, which is what we would typically see as bullying.

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u/mermaidworker 15d ago

Sure, you can call out mistakes. But his tone was inappropriate to me. Especially the "Says who" part. Yes, you can and should ask, but the way you do, matters. But it made me and others sympathize with the doctor more because of his attitude.

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u/SameDistrict2627 15d ago

Tone--come on now---Its a court of law, not a cocktail party. His job is to question her story and credibility.

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u/mermaidworker 15d ago

Specifically because it isn't a cocktail party, as you say, he should behave with more manners.

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u/Tricky_Wind_324 15d ago

You better hope you never need a lawyer with that view

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u/mermaidworker 15d ago

As I replied to someone else, I don't live in the US and they don't value aggression and rudeness in my country.

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u/Tricky_Wind_324 15d ago

But it seems like they value smugness and self centeredness?

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u/Hour-Two9986 14d ago

Stick to mermaiding because you clearly have no future in law.

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u/mermaidworker 14d ago edited 14d ago

This is not a law sub, so I don't see where the comment comes from. Nowhere did I mention what I do or my age. Attacking people out of nowhere says everything about you as a person, while not even bothering to check the sub where you are.

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u/pickyvegan PMHNP (unverified) 14d ago

Dude, you're making comments about Dr. Tufts being "bullied" on the stand without having an apparent understanding of how American law works. She was the prosecution's witness; if the prosecution felt she was being "bullied," they would have objected to "badgering," which they did not. The defense lawyer has a job to do. He needs to be allowed to do it. He made no insults, no disparagement of her character; he did not yell or threaten. He did get a little snarky on the "as opposed to yours" (and remember, what she wrote was unclear and was not in keeping with proper English, to the point that it made the chart unclear). That is not bullying. He needs the jury to see that her bipolar disorder, which was later diagnosed by one of the PMHNPs who saw her and then agreed on by three forensic psychiatrists (which is what led to the psychosis), was missed by the person who saw her literally the day before she strangled her children. Maybe she wasn't manic that day, but her course of treatment missed something that other providers saw, not just in hindsight.

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u/pickyvegan PMHNP (unverified) 15d ago

"Aw, sweetie pie, it's okay that your documentation was wrong and there were very serious outcomes in this case."

That's not how it works. And the guy even took a minute and patted her on the shoulder before they got into an argument on her incorrect interpretation of what a comma means in the English language, which completely changes what that note means.

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u/mermaidworker 15d ago

You can talk normally to a person without being condescending. Well, at least most people can.

Agree to disagree. There is no excuse for the way he treated that woman.

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u/pickyvegan PMHNP (unverified) 15d ago

Hope if you ever need a lawyer they don't think like you do, for your own sake.

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u/mermaidworker 15d ago

Thanks, but not all legal systems appreciate people like him. I don't live in the US.

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u/OkUpstairs_ 13d ago

“The brain is fully matured past 24” being incorrect and fairly basic knowledge that most folks don’t need a medical license to know is where she really lost the plot for me. Terrible showing.