PERMANENT DISABILITY - THE LEGACY OF TORT LITIGATION

The therapeutic alliance essential during the long process between the injury and the final appeal in the resulting tort is discussed, The c ore thesis is that once the patient with orthopaedic problems initiate s litigation, he or she starts to become invested in permanent disabil ity, and the slide down the slippery slope of a lifetime of disability has begun. This is not a lament about the role of lawyers, courts, an d litigation. They are facts, part of the working conditions of the or thopaedic physician. What happens after acknowledging these facts is t he topic of discussion, How can one do the best job of damage control in the face of a totally toxic situation? How can the physician become a stabilizing force in the spin toward permanence in disability?