Years ago Judy, a co-worker in the hospital lab I worked in, had surgery for something and the surgeon dropped his scalpel, slicing and ruining her healthy spleen. As a result he had to remove her spleen. Afterwards he sincerely apologized to her for his mistake/accident. She accepted his apology and went on with her life. No litigation. Possibly there was a private arrangement whereby she wouldn't have to pay for tests and treatments necessary as a result of no longer having a spleen; if so, it would seem only right. Over the years I have often thought about this situation and how it was handled. I continue to be impressed by his honesty and her forgiveness.

Every few months Judy had bloo...

Years ago Judy, a co-worker in the hospital lab I worked in, had surgery for something and the surgeon dropped his scalpel, slicing and ruining her healthy spleen. As a result he had to remove her spleen. Afterwards he sincerely apologized to her for his mistake/accident. She accepted his apology and went on with her life. No litigation. Possibly there was a private arrangement whereby she wouldn't have to pay for tests and treatments necessary as a result of no longer having a spleen; if so, it would seem only right. Over the years I have often thought about this situation and how it was handled. I continue to be impressed by his honesty and her forgiveness.

Every few months Judy had bloodwork done that demonstrated the remarkable difference having no spleen makes. The spleen filters out old red blood cells, so without it a blood smear shows many odd-looking cells and fragments of cells. We always knew Judy's blood smears when they came in to be examined!

@ debbyski - When someone asks us how we are feeling we say "fine" even though we might not be fine at all

That's because we know that people don't really want to know the answer which renders the question empty and meaningless. I often wonder why we even ask. Outside of my close circle of friends who tell the truth when asked, which by extension relieves me of the social compact to lie, I've stopped asking.

A doctor whom I could have sued apologized to me for subscribing medication that she shouldn't have which sent me to the emergency room twice and could have killed me. She was advised not to prescribe anything, but she thought otherwise. I could see the fear-of-a-lawsuit ...

@ debbyski - When someone asks us how we are feeling we say "fine" even though we might not be fine at all

That's because we know that people don't really want to know the answer which renders the question empty and meaningless. I often wonder why we even ask. Outside of my close circle of friends who tell the truth when asked, which by extension relieves me of the social compact to lie, I've stopped asking.

A doctor whom I could have sued apologized to me for subscribing medication that she shouldn't have which sent me to the emergency room twice and could have killed me. She was advised not to prescribe anything, but she thought otherwise. I could see the fear-of-a-lawsuit in her eyes when she confessed/apologized (and she had been rude to me on occasion). But I could also tell that she didn't mean to harm me so I forgave her very human mistake (although not to her face, I wanted her to be afraid for a while to learn a lesson).

People love to hate lawyers - until they need one.