Thursday, June 19, 2025
ISSN 2765-8767
  • Survey
  • Podcast
  • Write for Us
  • My Account
  • Log In
Daily Remedy
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Podcasts
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    The Fight Against Healthcare Fraud: Dr. Rafai’s Story

    April 8, 2025
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    April 4, 2025
    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    February 3, 2025
    Telehealth in Turmoil

    The Importance of NIH Grants

    January 31, 2025
    The New Era of Patient Empowerment

    The New Era of Patient Empowerment

    January 29, 2025
    Physicians: Write Thy Briefs

    Physicians: Write thy amicus briefs!

    January 26, 2025
  • Surveys

    Surveys

    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    June 4, 2025
    Understanding Public Perception and Awareness of Medicare Advantage and Payment Change

    Understanding Public Perception and Awareness of Medicare Advantage and Payment Change

    April 4, 2025

    Survey Results

    Do you believe national polls on health issues are accurate

    National health polls: trust in healthcare system accuracy?

    May 8, 2024
    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    May 14, 2024
    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    May 7, 2024
  • Courses
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Support Us
  • Official Learner
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Podcasts
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    The Fight Against Healthcare Fraud: Dr. Rafai’s Story

    April 8, 2025
    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    Navigating the Medical Licensing Maze

    April 4, 2025
    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    The Alarming Truth About Health Insurance Denials

    February 3, 2025
    Telehealth in Turmoil

    The Importance of NIH Grants

    January 31, 2025
    The New Era of Patient Empowerment

    The New Era of Patient Empowerment

    January 29, 2025
    Physicians: Write Thy Briefs

    Physicians: Write thy amicus briefs!

    January 26, 2025
  • Surveys

    Surveys

    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    Perception vs. Comprehension: Public Understanding of the 2025 MAHA Report

    June 4, 2025
    Understanding Public Perception and Awareness of Medicare Advantage and Payment Change

    Understanding Public Perception and Awareness of Medicare Advantage and Payment Change

    April 4, 2025

    Survey Results

    Do you believe national polls on health issues are accurate

    National health polls: trust in healthcare system accuracy?

    May 8, 2024
    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    Which health policy issues matter the most to Republican voters in the primaries?

    May 14, 2024
    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    How strongly do you believe that you can tell when your provider does not trust you?

    May 7, 2024
  • Courses
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Support Us
  • Official Learner
No Result
View All Result
Daily Remedy
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics & Law

A Doctor Takes the Stand

Daily Remedy by Daily Remedy
August 8, 2021
in Politics & Law
1

His image had a distinct haze of halo through the Plexiglas panel, but his words were anything but hazy, creating an indelible, riveting impression upon the minds of all who were in attendance.

His name is Dr. Martin J Tobin and he is a professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Loyola University Medical Center, located just on the outskirts of Chicago, IL. His testimony dissected into exquisite detail the physiology and mechanics of breathing – a subject matter most of us never imagined we would be immersed in.

Dr. Tobin comes from an institution with a long line of physicians who specialize in this very niche subject. And it showed. For every question asked, he provided nuanced details on breathing rates, heart rates, and chest motions, correlating three very distinct disciplines into simplified answers that we all could understand. For his efforts, he deserves all the praise heaped upon him – and then some.

But lost in the attention given to the testimony is a much-needed focus on the exchange of questions – between Dr. Tobin and the prosecutor, and Dr. Tobin and the defense attorney. An exchange that highlights fundamental differences in how physicians think and how lawyers think – how thoughts form and coalesce into what we understand clinically and legally.

In the clinical world, you think associatively and prospectively, aggregating clinical data in real time to identify the most likely clinical scenario. In the legal world, you think linearly and retroactively, piecing together evidence after the fact to construct an argument. Information that is available after the fact is usually not available in real-time. But more importantly, what is considered important in real-time can be retroactively re-contextualized to be more or less important afterwards.

A disparity highlighted in the legal arguments produced by the defense. They argued that since George Floyd had illicit substances in his system which contributed to his hypoxia, we cannot know for sure whether the asphyxiation contributed to the fatal hypoxia or whether the illicit substances predisposed Floyd to hypoxia.

The defense is attempting to create uncertainty by stating that the cause of hypoxia is indeterminate – we will never know with absolute certainty what caused the hypoxia, so we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that asphyxiation caused the fatal hypoxia instead of the illicit drugs.

First conceived by English jurist William Blackstone, the concept of reasonable doubt dominates our understanding of legal uncertainty to this day. We often simplify legal uncertainty into a decision of guilt or innocence. But legal uncertainty is far more complex.

It is a series of decisions that determine how specific actions come to define the whole of a behavior. How much each of action influences the overall behavior, and what factors can be attributed directly to the behavior, which becomes particularly difficult to do so when addressing individual actions within the complexity of medicine.

We tend not think about law in this way, but the fundamental decision of guilt or innocence, of liability or responsibility is a effectively a matter of relative uncertainty that we consciously simplify into either guilt or innocence.

But in simplifying, we often misunderstand, particularly since uncertainty in the legal world is different from uncertainty in the medical world.

Uncertainty is the essence of medicine and analyzing uncertainty is the art of medicine, which is why medicine has always been considered more of an art than a science until recent decades. Art is an expression of imagination, which can only be appreciated when viewed in its entirety. Whether that is treating the whole patient or analyzing a physician’s decision through the full context of patient care.

But to distill medical uncertainty into granular actions in order to address legal uncertainty, reasonable doubt, remains a particularly difficult challenge. Any clinical event, be it a traditional patient encounter or a life threatening asphyxiation, is more than a series of discrete actions, it is a complex array of different physiologic mechanisms that interact in unique, often unpredictable ways – which then manifest as a set of symptoms. There will always be uncertainty within this complexity.

Uncertainty which then appears differently depending on the perspective of the person and why the famed physician Maimonides believed physicians should study uncertainty like a skill to be mastered. Study what is unknown relative to what is known – and continue the analysis not by focusing on what is known, but by incrementally refining upon what is unknown.

And this is exactly what Dr. Tobin did when he took the stand. He masterfully combined the inherently different forms of uncertainty and drew out a line of logic that removed any semblance of uncertainty – legal or medical. He did so by appropriately allocating the relevant clinical context into a discrete set of actions that defined the moments between the asphyxiation event and the loss of life.

The defense’s argument presumed that it would be impossible to overcome medical uncertainty and subsequently legal uncertainty – that it is impossible to attribute causality precisely because of all the clinical unknowns transpiring simultaneously in the waning moments of George Floyd’s life.

Yet the medical context underlying the sequence of events became the very basis for the legal argument that Dr. Tobin elucidated. He properly contextualized every legal question with the appropriate clinical background and drew the appropriate legal argument out of the relevant medical facts.

In his testimony, he transformed clinical medicine and data into legal logic and rhetoric. He provided a contextualized understanding of pulmonary physiology and chest motion mechanics when describing the last moments of George Floyd’s life. He combined legal uncertainty and medical uncertainty to address any lingering doubts in the mind of the public.

Dr. Tobin exemplified masterfully the art of medical jurisprudence.

ShareTweet
Daily Remedy

Daily Remedy

Dr. Jay K Joshi serves as the editor-in-chief of Daily Remedy. He is a serial entrepreneur and sought after thought-leader for matters related to healthcare innovation and medical jurisprudence. He has published articles on a variety of healthcare topics in both peer-reviewed journals and trade publications. His legal writings include amicus curiae briefs prepared for prominent federal healthcare cases.

Comments 1

  1. Dr Krishna Venkateswaran says:
    4 years ago

    Great summary–real-time medical challenges vs retro-active legal distortion. My bias is showing.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Videos

Summary

In this episode of the Daily Remedy Podcast, Dr. Joshi discusses the rapidly changing landscape of healthcare laws and trends, emphasizing the importance of understanding the distinction between statutory and case law. The conversation highlights the role of case law in shaping healthcare practices and encourages physicians to engage in legal advocacy by writing legal briefs to influence case law outcomes. The episode underscores the need for physicians to actively participate in the legal processes that govern their practice.

Takeaways

Healthcare trends are rapidly changing and confusing.
Understanding statutory and case law is crucial for physicians.
Case law can overturn existing statutory laws.
Physicians can influence healthcare law through legal briefs.
Writing legal briefs doesn't require extensive legal knowledge.
Narrative formats can be effective in legal briefs.
Physicians should express their perspectives in legal matters.
Engagement in legal advocacy is essential for physicians.
The interpretation of case law affects medical practice.
Physicians need to be part of the legal conversation.
Physicians: Write thy amicus briefs!
YouTube Video FFRYHFXhT4k
Subscribe

MD Angels Investor Pitch

Visuals

Official MAHA Report

Official MAHA Report

by Daily Remedy
May 31, 2025
0

Explore the official MAHA Report released by the White House in May 2025.

Read more

Twitter Updates

Tweets by DailyRemedy1

Newsletter

Start your Daily Remedy journey

Cultivate your knowledge of current healthcare events and ensure you receive the most accurate, insightful healthcare news and editorials.

*we hate spam as much as you do

Popular

  • The Double-Edged Hype: Rethinking the Weight-Loss Drug Boom

    The Double-Edged Hype: Rethinking the Weight-Loss Drug Boom

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Feathers and Forecasts: Why the Bird Flu Surge Demands America’s Attention Now

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Anxious Generation: Why Gen Z Is Leading the Mental Health Revolution

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The Grey Market of Weight Loss: How Compounded GLP-1 Medications Continue Despite FDA Crackdowns

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The First FBI Agent I Met

    3 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 628 Followers

Daily Remedy

Daily Remedy offers the best in healthcare information and healthcare editorial content. We take pride in consistently delivering only the highest quality of insight and analysis to ensure our audience is well-informed about current healthcare topics - beyond the traditional headlines.

Daily Remedy website services, content, and products are for informational purposes only. We do not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. All rights reserved.

Important Links

  • Support Us
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions

Newsletter

Start your Daily Remedy journey

Cultivate your knowledge of current healthcare events and ensure you receive the most accurate, insightful healthcare news and editorials.

*we hate spam as much as you do

  • Survey
  • Podcast
  • About Us
  • Contact us

© 2025 Daily Remedy

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Podcasts
  • Surveys
  • Courses
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Support Us
  • Official Learner

© 2025 Daily Remedy

Start your Daily Remedy journey

Cultivate your knowledge of current healthcare events and ensure you receive the most accurate, insightful healthcare news and editorials.

*we hate spam as much as you do