Posted by Doug Showalter on September 05, 1998 at 11:30:46:
In Reply to: Re: medical malpractice posted by Doug Showalter on September 05, 1998 at 08:14:05:
Dear kw,
To continue my response: I think there are some "fine lines" for the Christian to discern in any malpractice situation. In my view, the spirit of revenge and acts motivated by revenge are not appropriate.
I believe it is acceptable to seek fair compensation for damages due to neglience. However, that does not also include trying to "gouge" the person considered responsible for those damages. A jury can determine what is "fair" in a given situation--realizing that for some types of mistakes, no amount of money could ever really be adequate [i.e. what dollar figure can one put on a human life?]. Nonetheless, juries do the best they can.
Also, I don't think one should enter a malpractice suit trying at all costs to damage the reputation of the person whose negligence was responsible for the injury. Medical people are human. They can make mistakes. They should be responsible to compensate in some way for a mistake they make. Also, they should learn from the experience, and not make the same mistake twice.
If there is a pattern of negligent mistakes in a medical person's practice, then their overall competence to practice medicine should be questioned. But I think that judgment is primarily within the domain of the board which has licensed them.
As I said, these are "fine line" issues which need some careful discernment, to know what the Christian should do in any given situation. What I am positive about is that Jesus taught his followers not to practice any form of revenge. To me that teaching is clear-cut. However, what is not so clear-cut is how we modern Christians should apply that teaching to particular real life situations, especially those in which the pursuit of justice is also a concern which needs to be satisfied--as in malpractice suits.
Best wishes,
Doug Showalter