LNCtips.com: Defendants Who Lie

Medical malpractice cases can become unraveled when it's discovered that defendants have lied to their attorneys.  It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it can have serious consequences for the defendants.  Unlike plaintiffs, defendants lie for entirely different reasons.

In my experience, defendants have several different motives for lying.  Some have the very real fear of loss of reputation, loss of job, or loss of their professional credentials (RN, MD, RRT, etc.).  Other defendants are arrogant and unable to admit that they made a mistake.  Still other defendants treat all lawsuits as having no merit; these defendants lie because they think the case will "go away" on its own.

When defendants lie, they may do so by manipulating their medical records.  One way to manipulate handwritten records occurs when the defendant adds medical records or removes some of the medical records.  For example, I had a case involving a lying internist who allegedly failed to refer a patient to an infectious disease specialist for a persistent low white blood cell count and other symptoms.  The patient later became gravely ill and was admitted to the hospital where he was diagnosed with AIDS.  The internist removed the hematology lab reports from his office chart.  We discovered the discrepancy when we cross referenced the medical records that the defendant provided to us with the medical records he provided to the patient before the lawsuit was initiated.

Another way that defendants manipulate the medical records is to document after the fact.  As you know, health care professionals should document contemporaneously at the time or shortly after care is rendered.  With both handwritten and electronic medical records, documentation after the fact is fairly easy to discern because the health care professionals try to explain their actions or point the fingers at others.  For example, I had a case involving several physicians, a lying nurse, and a patient who coded and died.  The nurse documented nothing contemporaneously; she charted everything after her shift ended, which was evident from the electronic time stamps on her documentation. She documented that she called two different physicians when the patient's condition deteriorated several hours before he coded.  However, phone records from the physicians showed that she called one physician 15 minutes before the patient coded and the other physician two minutes before the code.

Of course, another way that defendants lie is to provide verbal testimony refuting plaintiff testimony.  With verbal testimony, it's often a "he said, she said" situation.  That's why the medical records are so important in medical malpractice cases.

...Katy Jones