New TV series for JimHow -- "In Defense Of"

[marcs]

extolling the difficult road of criminal defense lawyers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... to38xOg6Qw

However it lacks the necessary Bordeaux component!

[JimHow]

Ooh, looks good!
Man, I have some tough cases going right now.
I’ve been working on my second novel, the story if Billy Cole a decade later, and the physical ravages that his practice has exacted upon him.
The stress is unbelievable... But I can’t imagine doing anything else!

[JimHow]

So I'm representing this guy named Willie Minor, he's a great guy but he's been wrongfully accused of gross sexual assault (rape) and sex trafficking (pimping), no matter how much French wine I drink I haven't been able to get The Sweet's 1972 pop classic "Little Willy" out of my head since I've been representing him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM6I-pmV0RA

[dstgolf]

Jim,

It's an interesting comment that you make about the stress being unbelievable. I can relate 100+% entirely. Work for me is survival. The stresses of a busy medical practice with govt cutbacks and young partners not wanting to see declining incomes forces us in our partnership to work longer and harder. Docs today do not have the clinical skill sets of before and rely too heavily in testing hoping that someone else will give them an answer. Garbage in Garbage out it seems more often than not and we as radiologists are slammed in the middle with increasingly crazy requests and volumes of work that often seem insurmountable. Call has has become unbearably crewel but you know what.... I still love what I do at 61 and feel pretty good that I'm above the pack when it comes to competency but in order to survive the stresses of the job I'm forced to keep reducing my percentage as a partner and take more frequent vacations to avoid burnout which is always knocking at my door. Sad thing is as we grow older we love what we do but the stresses of the day to day grind seems to be forcing my hand to retire sooner than I'd like because I too still love what I do and couldn't think of anything else that I'd rather have done in life even in hindsight. Life is pretty good but a little less stress would make life a whole lot better but I'm not holding my breath.

[JimHow]

Indeed, Danny, it is amazing the parallels to my law practice that you have described.
A small handful of us actually end up trying cases.
There are "defense lawyers" in southern Maine who have tried zero, or maybe one or two, jury trials in their entire careers.
I've now tried 112 jury trials over the past 33 years, an unheard of amount.
I've gained acquittals or hung juries (only twice) in 89 of them.
A Portland lawyer named Dan Lilly died last year (he was on 60 Minutes a while back), now that he is gone they figure I have tried more criminal cases in Maine than any other current practicing lawyer.
We deal daily with the unfairnesses of the system, the underfunding, the arrogant district attorneys whose asses I kick over and over, and yet they keep coming back for more.
I could go on for hours about the unfairnesses, the breakdowns in our criminal "justice" system.
In the end, all we can do is keep fighting. And trying to take time to keep perspective.
Often I have found myself on a Friday morning in Lewiston District Court defending someone who doesn't know where her next meal is coming from, but by night fall I'm having dinner in Greenwich Village or sipping champagne at the Metropolitan Opera.

The fight goes on. Because if we don't do it, nobody will....

[DavidG]

Danny, I saw the writing on the wall and threw in the towel, selling my private practice to Hopkins and cashing out over 2 years ago. The hassles and busy work created by payers and the govt were stealing too much time from the important and enjoyable stuff: taking care of patients. When Peggy stepped back from running the practice, I was no longer insulated from the accumulating red tape.

The timing was perfect to sell. I was able to focus on patient care alone, seeing more patients and doing more surgery while spending less time in the office. My take-home pay after the buyout was a little less than when we owned it, but my happiness quotient was WAY higher. And thank god I was an employee when I went out with surgery to correct the spinal cord compression.

I worry about who’s going to take care of our generation's medical problems over the next 20+ years. We’re getting old and retiring or getting fed up, and we’re not staying in it as long as the generation before us. There’s a real healthcare manpower shortage staring us in the face. Physician extenders like NPs and PAs will play an increasing role. MDs will be stretched even thinner.