<<It would be the insurance company that would be out the $250k, and doctors are rarely disciplined. We've had some egregious cases of serial butchery in the U.S. that go undetected for years.
You may be assuming too much about the rationality of the U.S. legal and medical systems.>>
Doug I seriously doubt the doctor was trying to hurt his/her patient. If anything, the medical field is over-worked, having to work through bureaucratic paperwork, et cetera.