by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Given today’s political climate, sitting two attorneys and a doctor at the same table might sound like a recipe for disaster.
But that’s what happens every time the Soud family sits down to a meal. Oldest brother Jeff and youngest brother Adrian have their own law practice while middle brother John is an emergency room physician. Throw a circuit court judge and a former City Council member into the mix — that’s dad A.C. Soud and mom Ginger — and there seems to be the potential for every family get together to turn into an episode of Crossfire.
The debate over medical malpractice liability has divided the medical and legal professions. Doctors blame lawyers for malpractice suits that drive up the cost of insurance while lawyers say doctors are trying to escape accountability for doling out bad medicine. But when the Soud family gets together, the topics of conversation are more likely to be Florida Gators football or the family’s foundation in Christian faith than any political debate.
“When I’m not at work, I don’t want to talk about work. And I certainly don’t want to talk about politics,” said John, seated at a conference table in his brothers’ Bay Street firm. Jeff and Adrian chuckled their agreement.
The debate became heated on both sides in last year’s run up to the November election where a trio of ballot initiatives passed, altering Florida’s malpractice landscape. One limited lawyers’ fees on malpractice cases while the other two increased doctors’ exposure to malpractice penalties. Both sides spent millions in a lobbying and public relations fight in an attempt to sway voters.
But the heated rhetoric flying back and forth in the headlines didn’t come close to straining the Soud family ties.
“Clearly the debate has put lawyers on one side and doctors on the other, but it never gets to the point with us that there’s going to be acrimony or bad feelings toward each other,” said Adrian.
“What we do doesn’t make us who we are. We have more meaningful things to talk about, to discuss as a family.”
When the brothers’ conversations do tread into politics, Jeff said the talks are much more likely to be searches for common ground rather than the divisive debate that has split Florida’s legal and medical communities.
“Because I have a brother who’s a doctor, I have a real interest in seeing the other side,” said Jeff. “I can empathize a little bit with what they’re experiencing, which is a good point of view to have as a lawyer anyway.”
Jeff also taps John’s medical knowledge when he needs help reading lab reports or decoding other medical information.
John said that “a culture of litigiousness,” has made Florida a difficult and expensive place to practice medicine for some, but he doesn’t place all of the blame on the lawyers. Exploding demand for health care in fast-growing Florida has made medical practice a fast-paced, high-risk field, he said.
“Emergency rooms are like Las Vegas now,” said John. “We’re just as crowded at 3 a.m. as we are during the day. We’re treating more people with less resources.”
It was the frenetic pace of the emergency room as depicted on the television shows of the late 1970s that first attracted John to a career in medicine. Watching the doctors scramble on shows like Emergency had John headed toward medical school since age nine.
Adrian and Jeff were inspired — but never prodded — by their dad’s legal career to follow his footsteps into law. John still wonders how his brothers plowed through hundreds of thousands of pages of law school reading filled with “hithertos and whereupons.”
“At least in med school, you have pictures on the page,” said John.
Raising two lawyers and a doctor seems like pretty good work in the parenting department. But the Soud brothers agree that when Judge Soud and Ginger express their pride, it has nothing to do with the job descriptions on their business cards.
“The most important thing our parents provided us with is a solid footing based on Christian faith,” said Adrian. “They took us to church and what we heard preached was what we saw in action.”
The brothers are aware that their last name is among Jacksonville’s most recognizable. John said he never works a shift without someone asking after mom or dad. Carrying on the name is a responsibility but never a burden, the brothers agree.
“There’s no pressure, other than to work hard and not disrespect the family name,” said John.
Weekly get togethers for dinner or for church are still the rule. And all three expect daily phone calls from mom and dad.
“He’s (Judge Soud) always asking questions,” said Jeff. “He’s interested in how his boys are doing.”