IdahoAspie wrote:
My rave is against lawyers.
My personal experience is that lawyers are snakes. They lie, cheat, rip you off, and bill you for it at the end of the day.
Who the hell thinks so highly of themselves as to charge $120+ an hour. They don't build anything. They don't produce anything. They create nothing.
It is like the only thing they do is leach off the progress and work of others. They complicate things far more than they need. They have devolved society greatly.
I think all lawyers should be government workers and work for what government workers make. They are not worth $120 a hour, even if they always won.
Excuse me, but I'm a paralegal and my Aspie husband is a lawyer and I call BS on this. Most of the attorneys I've worked for don't make any money and I've never made much money. If you're talking about corporate and collection and insurance defense attorneys, then ys, by all means you're absolutely correct. But if you're talking about solo, or small firm attorneys or those who work in public servicea agencies and legal aid services, then hell no. ESPECIALLY those in legal services and public interest agencies. They could be making so much more, but most make hardly anything but feel it important to help desperate people in desperate need. And make no mistake, there's a very desperate need for legal services. My husband is in private practice on an Indian reservation. He makes almost no money, but is helping to fill a very desperate need.
And if it weren't for those awful attorneys, our lives would be a lot harder, anyone whose not in the "mainstream" their lives would be a lot harder. Attorneys have fought for and won the ADA, and enforced its compliance, they were instrumental in getting special education laws passed and enforced as well as nondiscrimination laws. Corporations, schools, businesses, government agencies and private companies would run amok in general, and especially against those of us who are "different" if it weren't for attorneys. And most attorneys are far better than doctors when it comes to charging and collecting.
Now, if you wanna rant against doctors, then I'm all ears. Charging $250 for spending two minutes taking out stitches. Not even accepting patients who don't have insurance or who don't have the money upfront, regardless of how desperately they need treatment (don't even try to deny this, BTDT). Demanding exorbitant sums for minimal time, then sending the bills to collection agencies and thinking nothing of ruining a credit rating when they don't get it immediately. Thinking they know everything and refusing to do any tests or being dismissive against a patient, then refusing responsibility when the patient dies or is seriously injured due to such arrogant negligence. Refusing to use their influence to do anything about the desperate health care crisis in this country, but going ballistic over the phantom medical malpractice BS. You'd think they'd be all over wanting to do something about health care, since it means they'd actually get more money.
Most attorneys I've known and worked with try to work with people regarding money and will try to help them with payment plans or even pro bono, meaning without payment. And they don't have bloodsucking shark collection agencies, either. Just try that with most doctors. One attorney I worked for spent, literally, months in trial preparation and a couple weeks in trial for a desperate woman who could have lost her house; she had a good case but couldn't afford representation. So we helped her and we won, after hundreds of hours of work. She paid $75 a month, which was all she could afford. The boss still had to pay me and pay his overhead and expenses and still had to put food on his table and a roof over his family's head, but he still helped her and many others like her as my husband is doing. Just try that with most doctors.
And most state bar associations require their members to work a certain number of pro bono, or free, hours a year to maintain their license and eligibility. I don't recall the AMA requiring any such thing and most doctors I know would laugh at the very thought. And doctors have done FAR more damage than almost anyone else to autistics and AS and learning disabled, like me and my son and my husband.
My experience has been that most lawyers are bottom feeders who are not interesting in actually fighting a good case or even sticking up for a good cause. They charge way too much for the little that they do. I was taken to the cleaners by some lawyer over a custody case that never should have happened. He sued me for money that I paid him already and more. Finally all the stress put me in the hospital and I ended up with having to have an emergency surgery, guess who was there waiting with his hand out? He acts as if he has no other clients and my little $1000 is the lawyer lotto of some kind. It's disgusting. He's a prick. My ex's lawyer is just as bad and would sell her own children into slavery if it meant kicking someone's teeth in when they were already down. Please, tell me where there is an actual real life compassionate lawyer somewhere near me, and I'll hire his ass. But otherwise, I haven't met a lawyer who is worth the skin he's printed on, yet. Sorry. No slight to you or your husband, but my experience glaringly defies what you say.
23 Mar 2008, 5:55 pm
I pushed the right button and they were forced to delete the material.
