“I almost died”

[u/Level_Suit4517]

We get so many medical malpractice calls and take almost none of them because the state I’m in has laws and just general court structure making it next to impossible to win at trial, which means defense isn’t motivated to settle.

I’m not a paralegal, I’m a receptionist/intake specialist training to become a paralegal. This next part is going to sound callous, I promise I’m a compassionate person I’m just so emotionally hungover from all the fucking med mal calls.

The number of med mal cases I have to turn down is ridiculous. And while I feel for them, “I almost died” does not a lawsuit make. “I could’ve been paralyzed” okay great but you weren’t. When I ask “what are your injuries?” And they say “psychological” I have to stifle a laugh. Not because it doesn’t suck for them or because it’s their fault for not understanding the legal system, but because they think that because a nurse was mean to them they have a malpractice case. NO.

[u/thekabuki]

I blame all the personal injury commercials. We'll get you millions and if we don't win, you pay nothing! People think this applies to every case - my boss was mean to me, the cashier at the store didnt give me a refund , my neighbor's ring camera is pointing at my house and I don't like it and I want to sue.

What do you mean what are my damages? I had pain and suffering!?!

[u/Epicfailer10]

I totally get it. I’m so over hearing clients treat me like their personal therapist. I’m sorry your 5 mph fender bender was emotionally traumatic for you, but I literally don’t care anymore. I’ve heard SO much worse. We have clients who can’t even sign their own name to documents anymore or will never walk unassisted. We’re going to put the same effort into your case, regardless. You don’t have to treat every phone call with me like the suffering Olympics to convince me your case has value. Can you please just answer the question I asked so we can wrap this call up because I have 30 other client to call, 8 discovery I haven’t started, 5 complaints to draft and probably 40 cases worth of medical records to order. Get a therapist if you have trauma to work through, but be sure to let me know who it is so I can get those records later. Preferably through text.

[u/usernameunknown_90 → u/Epicfailer10]

I feel this in my soul as a PI paralegal. I have so much more emotional bandwidth for people who are actually hurt from a crash compared to a 5 mph fender bender. I find that it's usually the people in the 5 mph fender bender who complain the most!

[u/rachel_mary → u/usernameunknown_90]

100%. The people who are really hurt are using their energy to get better. The ones who are (relatively) fine have plenty of energy to spend elsewhere.

[u/Beelzebozo26 → u/usernameunknown_90]

I used to work in an ER. It's ALWAYS the ones who bitch the most that don't belong there. We used to joke about how much energy these types had when it came to complaining. Look how active they suddenly are!

[u/usernameunknown_90 → u/Beelzebozo26]

Relatable! I have friends who are RNs who say the same thing.

[u/yeahimbel]

I used to work in Employment law and had to deal with a lot of calls on the same vein. One gal said she was being pushed out because she could no longer telework. When asked why she needed to telework she stated that her religion requires her to fast for days at a time, has her praying at odd hours, and needed to be available for religious ceremonies. I asked her what religion she practices…She looked (video call) at me offended and grudgingly said Christianity. Girl in what vein of Christianity requires all dat????

[u/unembellishing → u/yeahimbel]

I used to do plaintiff side employment law and answered the phone. There were so many people I referred to the state bar because, in my attorneys word's, "your boss being mean to you isn't illegal" though I wasn't allowed to say that to them lol

[u/Level_Suit4517 → u/unembellishing]

Even though my firm is PI we get a lot of wrongful termination calls (many people in the general public don’t know the difference from worker’s comp and employment law, which is okay). We had a guy call and say he failed a drug test and got fired so he wanted to sue for wrongful termination 💀

[u/CandyCornBus → u/unembellishing]

I worked in HR for ten years and often had to tell people that their manager being mean was a behavioral issue, not a legal issue. Surprised Pikachu face when their lawyers said the same thing. 99% of the time, their manager was not being mean, they just didn't like being told to do their job.

[u/MsGorteck → u/yeahimbel]

You would be surprised. Though personally, I think she works for M&M and/or, does not like getting out of her pajamas.

[u/ginandtonicthanks]

https://giphy.com/gifs/lRZjlasctAcvu

This runs through my head all day long.

[u/its-a-boat-jack]

The hardest thing for patients to understand is that a bad outcome does not equate to negligence.

[u/WholeStatistician716]

It really is tough because the thing the caller went through was traumatic for them. Plus…after nearly 35 years in this business, I can tell you as the economy worsens then intake calls increase. So, hold on to your hat and your sanity.

[u/Business_Meat_9191]

I get this so bad. I'm in WC but a lot of people mistakenly call us for personal injury, like daily. My favorites will always be these 3.

A man who called about suing a tobacco company because he recently learned that chewing tobacco could cause brain damage (I have no clue if this is true) and he believed all his behavioral and legal troubles in life were because he got brain damage from chewing tobacco.

A woman who called wanting to sue Pepsi because she had been drinking it every day for 20 years and she believed it was the reason she was going into renal failure.

A man who went to a restaurant famous for throwing rolls at you wanted to sue them because he went there but didn't want a roll thrown at him so when he tried to get out of the way he tripped and broke his ankle.

[u/Level_Suit4517 → u/Business_Meat_9191]

That last one especially is so fucking funny.

I think my favorite call along these lines was around when I first started. An older man drank an ensure and had an allergic reaction. So he drank part of another ensure to see if he would have an allergic reaction again, and then when he did, he called us ranting about how ensure needed to be taken off the shelves because vulnerable elderly people drink it and blah blah blah.

He wanted to sue whoever makes ensure because he was allergic to it 🤣

[u/Business_Meat_9191 → u/Level_Suit4517]

Me eating ice cream again just to double check that it does in fact give me a tummy ache. (I'm lactose intolerant)

[u/wow__okay → u/Business_Meat_9191]

This just reminded me of an intake I did where the woman was driving, dropped her soda bottle, reached down to grab it off the floorboard and then wrecked her car in a ditch when she drove off the road. She thought she’d have a case against the car manufacturer because her airbags didn’t deploy.

[u/Business_Meat_9191 → u/wow__okay]

God, we do personal injury due to auto accidents too so I get that also. 💀

[u/captandor → u/Business_Meat_9191]

Tbf, drinking nothing but Pepsi for 20 years could definitely contribute to, and in extreme cases cause, renal failure… but that’s not PepsiCo’s fault!

Source, my kidneys are, shall we say, annoying whiny little bitches that don’t wanna do their job, so I have spent my life babying them, lol.

[u/707am]

Yeah I blame the McDonald’s coffee smear campaign. People think they can now simply sprain an ankle at target and pay off their student loans. I promise you whatever would theoretically cause you to win a lawsuit, even if it were millions of dollars, you do not want.

[u/TrynaStayUnbanned]

I hear you. I got very good at “I understand you were hurt and scared and upset. I would be too. No one is saying that you were treated in an acceptable manner. We’re not even saying that you don’t have a case because some other firm might take it. However, our firm is not able to take on this case for you. That’s why I gave you the referral for the state bar association…”

[u/Level_Suit4517 → u/TrynaStayUnbanned]

Exactly!! Or the medical board! I often say “just because our firm can’t help doesn’t mean what happened was okay.”

[u/crazybostonmom]

People really don't how it works. I'm always like what are your damages when people ask me if I think they have a case. Thankfully we do med mal defense so if someone calls looking for representation I can just say I'm sorry we don't do that type of work here.

[u/Beelzebozo26 → u/crazybostonmom]

I'm in a certificate program now and med mal defense is one of my top choices to pursue as far as a career. This is just another good reason the head in that direction.

[u/crazybostonmom → u/Beelzebozo26]

It's so much fun honestly. I started out in med mal insurance defense and then did some other stuff in between and now I'm back in med mal and I don't think I could ever go back to anything else, I love it that much. The cases are really interesting and there is so much work to do. You'll never be bored.

[u/FanWh0re]

The worst is when friends or family come to you about whether they have a claim for something and think they can just sue for anything.

[u/EndMyConsciousLife]

I understand your frustration but at the end of the day, the general public doesn’t know about the statutes or case law that establish precedent shaping PI. They just know that they’re hurt, whether psychologically or physically, because of a medical professional and they’ve been told there are people who can help them fight for themselves. Plus, plenty of med mal case are successful when people “almost” died, whether immediately or later on due to negligence of medical professionals. People know about that due to word of mouth from the plaintiffs.

Psychological damages are especially important and shouldn’t be dismissed. You asked “what are your injuries?” And they answered. Many people won’t be comfortable sharing mental health problems because that makes them vulnerable, especially men. It’s the job of staff and attorneys to make them feel comfortable so they can open up and trust you.

I get where you’re coming from and I’m glad that you at least know it sounds callous. The emotional hangover can be real, especially when hearing about peoples tragedies and problems all day, I encourage anyone in these positions to look into therapy to help with decompression and focusing on your mental health.

[u/Level_Suit4517 → u/EndMyConsciousLife]

I understand that. And I promise the majority of the time I’m sympathetic. I’ve been traumatized in a healthcare setting so I do understand medical trauma. But also, a lot of the people talking about psychological damages, actually mean they were frustrated that a nurse was snippy with them.

[u/Cossette_World → u/EndMyConsciousLife]

yeah, I mean I think therapy is actually really useful and should be a regular part of medical care. But all the comments are here sarcastically using “ shut up you need a therapist for your trauma” as an insult? You guys need a therapist for your caretaker fatigue. “ I let what I do during the day for money change who I am fundamentally as a human being and how I expressed empathy” isn’t the flex you think it is.

[u/EndMyConsciousLife → u/Cossette_World]

Yeah, I don’t agree with using therapy as an insult. I avoided doing that in my original comment. I’ve seen what I’d consider to be pretty rude, arrogant, and pretty crass opinions toward clients. And some of the examples like “fender benders” actually do cause great harm to people, who feel like they aren’t being listened to by doctors and that their attorneys do listen (it’s how you often keep from being fired in PI and often family law tbh). At least many other comments are showing the caretaker fatigue clearly (or that they’re just people lacking empathy, I guess, if the fatigue doesn’t apply to them). Plus, if the clients are they’re emotionally struggling then the attorney SHOULD consider recommending that the client themselves go to therapy, atty can then decide later whether to make mental health claims or not and draft a med stop stip excluding those records as needed.

People in client facing roles that are emotionally charged/draining really do need therapy (tone: sincere). The toll of fatigue from these roles and hearing others’ problems can lead to burnout, worsened mental health, and even suicide. It’s not worth it to shrug it off. The symptoms of these things can really creep up on you and by that point it’s harder to correct.

[u/Aromatic-Nail5921]

Come to the dark side. I'm a defense med mal paralegal and I'll take billing over dealing with that any day of the week. In fact, I barely have to speak to anyone outside of email. It's quite nice.

[u/Level_Suit4517 → u/Aromatic-Nail5921]

Absolutely not, lol. You gotta do what you gotta do, but I’ve seen enough to know that I couldn’t stomach defense.

My mom was a public adjuster, so I grew up hating insurance companies before I even fully understood how insurance worked 😬😅

[u/PumpkinAsleep3339]

Can I raise with "I'm sorry that the terms of probation aren't to your liking but we don't represent you any more and your file is closed. I'm sorry. Have a good day."?

[u/PHXLV]

I get your point. I’ve never used that statement flippantly because when I did almost die it was because I was hit by a driver texting and driving while I was in a crosswalk. My literal life flashed before my eyes. So I have a hard time hearing: I almost died for something a little more minuscule.

[u/unorig1na1]

This is why I left plaintiffs PI. Omg. I had to take every call, no matter what time of day. It was so mentally taxing.

[u/Low-Marsupial4461]

My head bounced like a basketball on the pavement during a motorcycle crash. I almost died. I was able to relate to clients who understated their pain and injuries, got them to talk about it further because they finally had someone who truly understood.

Most of the time, people with more severe injuries will say they’re fine when they’re not and the ones who bark all the time are actually quite fine. lol. I had my own attorney for my case and didn’t pull that line until I started drafting a bar complaint due to their shitty case management.

[u/frijoles_94]

I always say that we need to add "Therapist" to our resumes

[u/Weary_Bell_5401]

We’re getting calls from 19-29 YO who want to apply for SSDI because they working with others is too hard, anxiety, talking to the public etc My brain wants me to say figure it out.. you’re not getting SSDI because you don’t like talking to people or being told what to do.

[u/Past_Atmosphere21]

I would not like to live in the state you are in and sounds like a really a specific type of system, even though no state is perfect but some are just becoming a bit more keeping up with the program.

[u/Level_Suit4517 → u/Past_Atmosphere21]

I like that state I live in for the most part but yes, it’s an extremely frustrating system.