Dr. Michael Kelly of Michigan has been finding asbestos related diseases on x-rays for the past 15 years. In fact, he has such a keen eye for it that he has found 7,323 cases. Coincidentally enough, Michigan accounts for nearly 14% of all asbestos lawsuits. They are number one for new filings in 2007. Also what may seem like a coincidence is that Dr. Kelly has been getting paid $500 for every person he has screened for the disease. That's over $3.5 million in just the ones he found positive. He probably made a lot more than that. He must be a great radiologist? Turns out he is not.
Dr. Kelly is an occupational physician and an internist. In the cases where the x-rays were sent to a hospital to be read by the radiologist, 88% of them were read as normal. Whoops. A blind study of 68 cases sent to Dr. Kelly was also read using independent radiologists and they only found one case of an abnormality. Dr. Kelly found 88% of those 68 to be abnormal. Call me a nut but something seems odd here.
Either Dr. Michael Kelly is just stupid or crooked. I am not sure which is the better answer to pick. The evidence finally overwhelmed the judge who has been seeing asbestos cases in Michigan since the early 1990s. He decided to have a hearing on good old Dr. Kelly but the plantiffs' attorneys pulled out from all but one of the lawsuits. That's weird?
Here are some questions to ponder:
- What about the thousands of patients Dr. Kelly has diagnosed in the past? Are those court cases to be reopened?
- Does Dr. Kelly at least get investigated by the state board of medicine? It sure seems that this one is actually appropriate versus their typical cases of punishing a doctor for dropping an F bomb in public, etc?
- Can or should Dr. Kelly be sued by all the defendants he screwed in the past?
- Will Dr. Kelly go to jail for perjury or fraud?
- If no to all of the above, can I get a job like Dr. Kelly's?
For more answers, tune in next time to As The Malpractice Cases Churn.
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