Articles Posted in Medical Malpractice News

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Yes, there are still medical malpractice lawsuits in Texas. It just requires an incredibly serious case. A Dallas County jury last week decided such a case, awarding $17.5 million to a former maintenance man for a North Dallas apartment complex who lost his arms and legs from a staph infection. Obviously, this is just an awful case.

This case involved a staph infection called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a strain of staph that’s resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics that are used to treat infections. In this case, the doctor gave the patient eight antibiotics but failed to give the one drug that would have treated for MRSA. The Plaintiff went into septic shock, causing infection and gangrene, necessitating the removal of both arms below his elbows and both legs below his knees.

The post medical malpractice cap award is approximately $7.5 million.

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A 12-person jury in Vermont jury began deliberations Thursday in a case that accuses a Burlington eye doctor of pressuring a patient into unnecessary cataract surgery. In closing statements last night, the medical malpractice lawyer for the plaintiff made a not very common argument in a malpractice case: that the eye doctor intentionally misinterpreted test results in order to perform surgeries. Most malpractice cases are against good, well-intentioned doctors who made a mistake. In this case, there is some foundation for the allegations: the doctor’s license was suspended by in 2003 following reports that he had engaged in unprofessional conduct with scores of patients by performing – you guessed it – unnecessary cataract surgeries.. The state’s Medical Practice Board in 2008 concluded that he had engaged in unprofessional conduct with 10 patients.

In a Maryland malpractice case, only 6 jurors deliberate to determine the case. In Vermont and some other states, that number is 12. That makes a huge difference in the dynamics of the jury deciding a medical malpractice case.

PS from February 24, 2009: A Chittenden County jury found no negligence in this lawsuit against the eye doctor. The message, as always, there is no slam dunk medical malpractice case although I wonder if this case was not more about the lack of proof regarding the Plaintiff’s injuries.

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American Medical Association (AMA), several state medical associations, and individual doctors have filed a class-action lawsuit against Aetna Health, Inc. and CIGNA Corporation claiming the insurance companies used rigged data to under-reimburse doctors.

Doctors have to come up with a cogent theory on whether lawsuits are a good thing or a bad thing. Because they risk falling into the trap of opposing all lawsuits in which they are not a plaintiff.

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The Lansdale Reporter offered the following editorial this morning:

It’s indeed unfortunate that Lansdale Hospital became the 39th hospital to lose maternity services since the medical malpractice crisis began in 1999.

This closing will jeopardize the health of expectant mothers when there is an obstetrical emergency. Brandywine Hospital in Coatesville is the 40th hospital to discontinue maternity services. Reportedly the obstetricians could not afford the high malpractice insurance premiums and moved to other states.

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Hospital administrators screw up and only purchase limited medical malpractice coverage. The hospital gets hit with a huge medical malpractice verdict. Who is to blame? Certainly not the hospital administrators who decided to go cheap on the coverage. They blithely shift the blame to medical malpractice lawyers and the cost of malpractice insurance.

I’m accustomed to the doctors and hospitals bundling up every mistake they make a placing it on the doorstep of Maryland medical malpractice lawyers. It is a common occurrence in the Baltimore-Washington area. So I’m conditioned to be okay with that. But couldn’t the reporter in this Scranton Times article have at least interviewed one person who might question this obvious shifting of the blame?

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An Elkon lawyer representing the family of a Cecil County man who filed a pharmacy misfill lawsuit against Wal-Mart reports that the parties have reached settlement. The decedent allegedly received the wrong prescriptions intended for another patient from a Wal-Mart pharmacist and subsequently died.

The decedent (I hate naming names so I use the annoying term “decendent”) died in March 2007 at Union Hospital in Elkton, eight days after receiving the wrong prescription. His children brought a wrongful death and a survival action against Wal-Mart for the pharmacy misfill.

You can find the WJZ-13 article on the case here.

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In Allen v. United States, the government received summary judgment in North Dakota District Court in a medical malpractice case because they failed to retain an expert to offer opinions as to causation.

Plaintiff received transfusions at the Grand Forks Air Force Base Hospital in South Dakota over ten years ago. In 2005, while attempting to obtain life insurance, the plaintiff was diagnosed with Hepatitis C virus. Plaintiff claimed the government committed medical malpractice for failing to screen the blood she received and for failing to timely diagnose and treat her for the Hepatitis C virus.

Because expert testimony is required to support a prima facie case of medical malpractice in a case like this, the North Dakota court found that plaintiff’s failure to provide any expert evidence to prove her injuries and the cause of her injuries. The court called the cause of her Hepatitis C mere speculation.

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My insurance law class begins with a case called GAF Corp. v. County School Board, a Virginia case that addresses the question of what constitutes insurance. This is not exactly an issue that gets a lot of media attention, being mostly discussed, outside of this case, by geeky insurance law types.

The Maryland Daily Record has an article today about the Maryland Insurance Commissioner’s questions of whether some types of retainer agreements between doctors and patients should be regulated because they constitute insurance.

Doctors on retainer – also called concierge or boutique medicine – is the latest rage for Maryland doctors who are looking to increase profits by charging a retainer to those who can afford it. In return, the clients receive perks, such as house calls, no waiting for appointments, and other personalized attention you would expect to get in Mayberry, as opposed to 2009.

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I stumbled on this USA Today Editorial from last month arguing that the best way to reduce medical malpractice cases is to look to find ways to decrease medical errors.

This certainly appeared to be the view of President-elect Obama before the campaign. I’m not sure where the new “middle of the road” Obama is on this issue. But I really don’t think the medical malpractice tort reform issue will gain much currency with the 111th Congress.