<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant !
Review: "Damages" by Barry Werth is a compelling and incisive study of the anatomy of a medical malpractice case, as seen from all sides. A real page turner. Most impressive is the exhaustive and comprehensive work done by the plaintiff's legal firm, and the in depth and understandable explanations by the author of the medical facts, the legal strategies, the context of the times, the world of medical experts, the role of insurance companies, and the lives of those injured. Beautifully written. "An education" is the only phrase that keeps coming to my mind after completing this gem of a book. Read it ! You'll learn a lot and it will help you.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent !!!!!!
Review: "Damages" by Barry Werth is a compelling and incisive study of the anatomy of a medical malpractice case, as seen from all sides. A real page turner. Most impressive is the exhaustive and comprehensive work done by the plaintiff's legal firm, and the in depth and understandable explanations by the author of the medical facts, the legal strategies, the context of the times, the world of medical experts, the role of insurance companies, and the lives of those injured. Beautifully written. "An education" is the only phrase that keeps coming to my mind after completing this gem of a book. Read it ! You'll learn a lot and it will help you.
Rating:
Summary: I am recomending this to my associates. And my mom
Review: I spend a great deal of time as a defense lawyer explaining how the system works-- to the associates in my office, to clients, to lawyers from outside the US. "Damages" is going to find its way into a lot of these discussions, and everyone who works for me is going to read it. I am also going to send a copy to my mom.Barry Wirth's book is impressive for the way it gets the law stuff (and the medicine too, I think) mostly dead on, but beyond that, this is also a great read, with interesting, well drawn characters that one ends up caring about. In many ways, "Damages" is a better book than "A Civil Action", which it resembles. The legal tactics are explained, rather than merely used to illustrate the flamboyance of the attorneys. More importantly, the case itself, a so-called "bad baby" case concerning the catastrophic injuries sustained as a result of claimed medical malpractice, is something anyone who reads a daily newsp! aper will be able to relate to. The book gives the best picture I have ever seen of how patients become clients, how prospective clients are screened by law firms, how discovery strategies are developed, how cases are evaluated (by both sides) and how settlements are negotiated. I could teach a course around this, and, in fact, I just might. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered how the damage awards they read about in news reports were arrived at, or thought about what the human consequences of a serious injury might be.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling real life account of the justice system
Review: I'm a medical doctor embroiled in a battle to expose a corrupt insurance company engaged in racketeering. I think (and have been told) that this is a story that needs telling. There are lots of twists and turns, corporate and government cover-ups, some drama, many sympathetic characters in the form of other victims of the abuses of this company, and lots of anguish. Thousands are suffering and some committing suicide because of the actions of this company. It will take me years to get to court, if that is even possible. Except for the Internet contacts I've made and a few friends, I am working practically alone. The legal profession has all but abandoned the public and their actions in covering these crimes up with confidentiality agreements, for those who can even afford lawyers, is allowing it to continue and worsen and spread, like a cancer.
Rating: 
Summary: Meticulous if monotonous look at medical malpractice
Review: This "You are there" look at a major medical malpractice case brought on by the birth of a severely brain damaged child is true to the Jonathan Harr "A Civil Action" format. The reader enters the psyche of the major players -- the heroically struggling working class parents, the true believer personal injury lawyer, the unjustly sacrificed physicians, the mercenary hospital staff, and the bottom line insurance company. One senses the absurdity and inefficiency of our current system of compensating families of bad outcome babies, yet a better book might have explored some solutions or considered a more rational, saner way to go about remedying these dire situations. Lacking the passion and rage of Harr's A Civil Action, the book sometimes collapses under the weight of all the details and changes in strategies. That being said, Damages still offers a thorough and informative look at a protracted legal battle in which no one, except perhaps the Sabia family, comes out looking very good.
Rating:
Summary: Instructive page turner...
Review: This is a wonderful book for anyone involved in the litigation process or anyone involved in the health care field. I am a structured settlement consultant who works with personal injury attorneys and some insurance companies. This is the best book I have ever seen about the process. I have purchased over 200 copies of the book to give to trial attorneys, claims professionals and other structured settlement professionals. All love the book. It reads like a novel. Don McNay...
Rating:
Summary: Instructive page turner...
Review: Well written, a gripping story and balanced. I am teaching a course on medical malpractice at the local law school. This book is the text. It provides a frame work to discuss numerous issues and the potential impact - or more accurately non-impact - of many tort reform proposals.
<< 1 >>
|
