Malpractice Lawsuit

Re “Doctor Refuses to Settle Malpractice Suit for $1, Faces Trial,” March 15.

I became a patient of Dr. Edward M. Feldman 18 years ago. He is a competent, skillful physician / surgeon and a compassionate man, always taking the time to see how I was doing as a person, not only clinically as a patient.

I was fortunate enough to have him offer me employment as his office nurse in 1986. I enjoyed working with him in his highly successful and bustling practice for 6 1/2 years until the birth of my second child and my family’s relocation to Phoenix. I saw his balancing act, giving time to both his obstetrical and gynecological patients and to his personal life. He delivered almost 100 babies a year, and he would always try to plan his vacations when the fewest patients were due. I never saw him compromise a patient’s well-being for his convenience or self-gain.

Dr. Feldman has enjoyed a thriving practice in the Conejo Valley for more than 20 years. It is hard to believe that his practice will suffer from the inane issues brought forth by this lawsuit. There are too many satisfied patients, and Dr. Feldman’s true reputation will prevail.

BARBARA GASTON, Phoenix

*

I was surprised that The Times printed this article and provided the very coverage the Onstots are seeking. The facts printed in your article so clearly point to financial motivation on their part.

My wife and I recently had a child under Dr. Feldman’s care. It simply defies credulity that Dr. Feldman would behave in one manner to Steve and Amber Onstot and in a completely different manner to everyone else in his multi-decade practice.

I support Dr. Feldman’s unwillingness to settle for $1. Not even one cent. Mr. Onstot should remember that lawyers, too, derive their future business from their reputations and referrals. Mr. Onstot should also remember the old adage, “A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.”

DAVID GRANT, Newbury Park

*

Dr. Feldman and his staff have not only provided long-term preventive care for me for six years but have also gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide outstanding medical care and human compassion for me and my family over the past two years through a miscarriage and then the successful vaginal delivery of my daughter in January.

Doctors like Dr. Feldman are few and far between. He marries years of knowledge and experience with warmth, compassion and a sense of humor that has been all but lost in our society consumed with mistrust, unethical behavior and litigation.

SUZANNE M. BOYD-COLLINS, Agoura Hills