The 1690s were turbulent times in Salem, Massachusetts. It started as a grudge between Puritans and Anglicans in Salem Village. Most farmers were Puritans, and most business owners and merchants were Anglicans. Central to that grudge was the Reverend Samuel Parris, a strict Puritan. His sermons denounced the affluence and worldliness of those in Salem Village as the reward for being in league with the Devil.
Then in February 1692, a group of young girls, among whom was the Reverend Parris’s daughter, suffered seizures and hallucinations. A doctor, William Griggs, diagnosed witchcraft, and the girls pointed fingers at certain villagers, all of whom were Anglicans, and accused them of being witches. As the influence of Reverend Parris and his minions grew, supporters of the reverend forced their disdain for the affluence of some Salem villagers down the throat of everyone else. So began the Salem witch hunts.
Prominent families did not denounce these witch hunts because opposition attracted attention to their affluence. The governor actually convened a Court of Oyer and Terminer to oversee witch trials.
These same ideologues took over the Court of Oyer and Terminer and proposed a theory about witchcraft, which essentially was the presumption of guilt. However, it wasn’t just religious differences. There was a more onerous economic motive. Anyone accused of witchcraft had their property seized by the Court of Oyer and Terminer and redistributed to the families of those “bewitched.” Witch hunts resulted in a transfer of wealth.
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No one was immune. Even the governor’s own wife was accused of witchcraft. Until then, those in power could have stopped this syndicate. The fear of being accused caused everyone to go along with this madness. It ended when the rank-and-file of Salem simply decided that they “had enough.”
As it turns out, the behavior exhibited in 1692 fits the bill for ergotism, a condition known then as St. Anthony’s fire, which was caused by ingestion of bread baked from rye infected by a fungus. The Salem witch hunt story exemplifies mass hysteria.
The comparison between a witch hunt and a frivolous medical malpractice lawsuit is uncanny. Just as there was the fear of witches, there is the fear of complications. Just as there was mistrust between Puritans and Anglicans, there is mistrust between patients and doctors. Just as there was the presumption of guilt when accused of witchcraft, there is the presumption of negligence when accused of malpractice. Just as there was the redistribution of wealth from a witchcraft trial, there is a redistribution of wealth from a medical malpractice trial. Just as a witch hunt results from the inability to distinguish a naturally occurring phenomenon from witchcraft, a frivolous medical malpractice lawsuit results from the inability to distinguish an error-of-nature from a medical error. Ironically, the witch hunts of old began as a result of what today would be regarded as medical malpractice, notably, the misdiagnosis of ergot poisoning by Dr. Griggs. Just as better decision-making would have ended the witch hunts back then, better decision-making would end the medical malpractice frenzy today.
Today’s frenzy over medical malpractice is nothing less than a modern version of witch hunts. The damage it reaped is immeasurable.
This social trend of medical malpractice frenzy impacted not only every day of my career, but, more importantly, every encounter everyone had with the health care system. Like witch hunts, which dramatically collapsed in May 1693, this too will end, and I intend to be instrumental in bringing this about.
Frivolous malpractice lawsuits destabilize the health care system and will continue to do so until it collapses. The replacement is socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is a big enough deal about which any American should be worried.
Those with a vested interest in the health care system have the power to stop this witch hunt unless they have something to gain by remaining silent. Everyone else, however, has something to lose. Anything that destabilizes health care destabilizes the nation.
In 1692, mass hysteria was exploited by a cartel of puritanical zealots, who capitalized on the fear of witches, to further their own ends. In the end, their motives were ambition, power, and greed.
Anyone could fall victim to a random error-of-nature. However, there is now a tool that distinguishes an error-of-nature from a medical error with 95 percent confidence. I know because I developed it. Using the tool is up to us who simply “had enough.” This tool will completely derail the goals of the cartel who profits from these witch hunts.
Howard Smith is an obstetrics-gynecology physician.
