Hanif...

If you don't know what Hanif is, let me start by saying I despise Hanif. Hanif is the reason I had a headache when I left work today, and part of the reason why I am glad I put in my notice already.

Hanif is a California case that basically says a plaintiff can only recover what was actually paid on their medical bills (as in, their insurance paid it, so the doctor wrote the bill down and accepted less from the insurance company). What this means for me is that our crazy plaintiff who has more than 30 medical providers forces me to spend 5 hours trying to figure out what has been billed, what has been paid, and what is and is not relevant to the incident at issue in the litigation. (This plaintiff, like many, sees lots and lots of doctors and has for years prior to this fender bender rear ender at five miles per hour that plaintiff claims has made it so she cannot work again, ever.) (I am not saying there are not deserving plaintiffs. There are many deserving plaintiffs, just not this one.)

And while I'm ranting about things I don't like, such as medical special calculations, let me spend just a moment on medical records. I despise medical records also. Usually they are handwritten and then photocopied several times, so a good portion is illegible. And, every medical provider seems to use different terminology in their billing notes, so for me, it is difficult, if not impossible, to figure out what has been written off as an insurance adjustment and what is still outstanding and what has actually been paid. Add to that the fact that sometimes there are different amounts in different areas of the records, and you have a real mess to sift through. While I respect that it's excellent billable activity, I'd be perfectly happy not ever doing another medical record summary in my entire career.

So, to make a long story short. I am glad that I have one more week before all I have to do is study, and not do both, even if I will be completely poor as a result.

Just sayin'.