How it affected four people: a physician, a plaintiff’s lawyer, a grieving family, and a grateful patient. Here is the physician’s perspective:

Dr. Altstatt ““ who’s 38, a native of Tennessee, a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and a father of two ““ considered job offers from Pennsylvania to Mississippi after finishing his residency.

The fact that Brownwood, population 19,000, is small was a plus, he said. The doctor grew up in a town of 500.

But as a businessman, he also didn’t ignore the bottom line.

For one thing, the Brownwood job offered a salary 13 percent higher than the one in Mississippi.

Second, Dr. Altstatt said, he would have paid $60,000 in yearly malpractice insurance in Mississippi, which has a $500,000 cap on noneconomic damages. In Texas, he expects to pay less than $2,000 this year.