Victim of Medical Wrongdoing?

How many hoops should you have to jump through to get justice? It's a fair question that many people struggle with. The CEO of a Georgia medical services company suggests - in an opinion piece submitted to a Georgia newspaper - that to be sure that Georgians who have been harmed by negligent medical care are worthy of justice we should subject them to one more hoop. Not coincidentally, it's a hoop that benefits only medical professionals and insurance companies - the only two interest groups that profit when injured patients are prevented from securing justice.

What the author of the opinion has proposed is that, instead of allowing victims of medical malpractice the same Constitutional Right to Trial by Jury enjoyed by all other Georgians, people harmed by medical wrongdoing/malpractice would have to get permission to have a jury trial from a "screening panel" comprised of members of the medical and insurance industries, the same industries that want to avoid compensating injured patients. This approach is wrong and adds an unnecessary, ineffective layer to our civil justice system

The fact is all medical malpractice cases brought in Georgia have already been through multiple screening hoops. The first hoop is that you have to have had something very bad happen as a result of malpractice. Your next hoop is that you have to find a lawyer willing and able to take your case. That lawyer will tell you that there is another, special hoop that protects only professionals charged with negligence. In order to pass through that hoop, the patient must find a medical professional willing to publicly criticize their colleague and sign a document swearing that malpractice happened. So far your case has been screened three times: Something bad happens. You find a lawyer who will invest in helping you find justice. And, you find another doctor who agrees that there was malpractice and is willing to say so. Then there's a fourth screening before you can have a jury hear your case: the judge must screen the case, too.

Our Founding Fathers created the world's best independent screening panels when they imbedded the right to a trial by jury in our Constitution. You are entitled to a jury of your peers, not a two step process, the first of which is a trial by jury of the defendant's colleagues. We trust the people of our communities to fairly resolve our disputes when we are unable to resolve them ourselves.

The CEO cites an approach tried in Maine as being the right fit for us here in Georgia. He fails to mention that this approach is regularly criticized by the Supreme Court of Maine as being inadequate and harmful to the people of Maine. He cites, as a reason for needing "screening panels," a Georgia case involving a plastic surgeon who carelessly destroyed the blood supply to a woman's face and left her horribly disfigured. He suggests that this woman - who was horribly injured through no fault of her own and who successfully navigated all of the legal hurdles to hold the wrongdoer accountable for herself and other patients - has not done enough. He says she needs to clear yet another hurdle to prove herself worthy of a jury trial. The suggestion is outrageous and it serves no purpose but to deny those who have been harmed their fair measure of justice.

Why should patients who have been harmed by medical malpractice have to go through two trials when everyone else only has to go through one? Why should medical professionals get special treatment? It's a question with an obvious answer: They shouldn't.

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Medical Malpractice Part II

Medical malpractice cases can be tragic because the patient is placing their complete trust in their healthcare provider, but nevertheless, these cases do occur at astonishingly high rates.

Since there are so many variables in a medical malpractice case, it is important for the plaintiff-the patient who was injured-to understand the process of the trial.

Similar to other tort cases, the plaintiff along with their attorney will file the lawsuit where proper jurisdiction exists in a court. From the point the case is filed and during the entirety of the trial, both the defendant and the plaintiff must share information they acquire during the time. This information includes the depositions, interrogatories and requests for documents.

Based on negotiated terms from both the defendant and plaintiff, the case can be settled on a pre-trial. However, if no settlement can be reached, then the case must continue in trial.

The plaintiff must have sufficient evidence, or the burden of proof, which proves the preponderance of the evidence provided. Both the plaintiff and the defendant will present experts to testify during the trial to attest to the standards of care and other technical issues required.

Either the judge or jury must then evaluate all of the provided evidence. From there, they must determine which side has a more credible case.

A verdict will then be rendered for whichever party prevails during the trial. If the plaintiff wins the trial, the jury or judge will then decide what damages will be compensated. The losing party is free to ask for a re-trial.

If for whatever reason a plaintiff who is dissatisfied with the results of a trial motions for additional re-trials and still is unhappy, they may move to additur.

If a defendant is unhappy with a judgement, they may move for a remittitur. Either the plaintiff or the defendant may take an appeal from the judgement.

Expert testimony is a vital aspect of a successful medical malpractice case which goes to trial. The witnesses must be court-qualified, based on legal precedence, which includes expert qualifications and standards.

An expert witness must be a specialist in the area to be considered. Simply having a degree on a topic is not sufficient enough. Criteria must be met for the sake of reliability.

There are two important cases which act as models for determining whether a witness is qualified.

If proper evidence is collected, then a person who is victimized certainly should seek out a well-qualified attorney to represent them.

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What Does It Take to Win a Medical Malpractice Case? "The Big Picture"

Ask any experienced plaintiff's personal injury trial attorney which cases are the hardest to win and the universal answer will be medical malpractice. These cases include:

Medical Malpractice Birth Injury Nursing Home Malpractice Brain Injury Spinal Cord Injury Wrongful Death

From the moment the case begins, the attorney knows that he or she is in for a battle. When sued, medical doctors immediately fall into a state of denial if not righteous indignation. How could they possibly be responsible for a patient's injury or death? Medical malpractice insurance companies further empower physicians by granting them the absolute right to have their case tried to verdict before a jury, no matter how egregious their conduct.

The plaintiffs' attorney is also faced with the mandatory requirement of retaining a physician in the same specialty to testify against the defendant doctor. At one time this task was extremely difficult, especially on a local level, as the testifying doctor feared retribution from the medical community and the malpractice insurance companies. In fact, for a period of time one major insurance company sent notices to its insured's "encouraging" (sic) them to not testify for plaintiffs' in malpractice cases. However, as doctors incomes have continued to decline due to lower PPO and Medicare reimbursements, many have welcomed the opportunity to increase their incomes by testifying against their colleagues as expert witnesses. These physicians charge plaintiffs' attorneys from $5,000-$10,000 to review records sit for a deposition and testify at trial.

The typical defense in malpractice cases is that any and all mistakes have resulted from "a known complication". Taken to its extreme just about anything can be labeled "a know complication". Defense attorneys refer to medicine as an "art" which is not perfect. Using this logic the same can be said for the negligent operation of a motor vehicle which is never excused by the law.

My many years as a Chicago personal injury attorney has taught me that juries will give a doctor every benefit of the doubt before finding their conduct negligent and awarding a patient money damages. During the selection process prospective jurors are asked if both the plaintiff and defendant start out on equal footing before the case begins. No matter what a juror may say the doctor has a clear edge over the plaintiff. The physician is typically placed on a pedestal representing the pinnacle of all professions. This attitude is exacerbated by the medical lobby and their insurance companies flooding the media with the "cry" that, "there are too many lawsuits brought against doctors", that "doctors are being chased out of their state" and "there will be no one available to deliver babies". Jurors are therefore brainwashed to believe these untruths.

Given the foregoing prevailing attitudes, I submit that unless a plaintiff's personal injury attorney can get a jury "mad" or upset at the doctor over their conduct in the case on trial the plaintiff will lose. This is true no matter how technically correct the plaintiff's position may be. Young, inexperienced plaintiffs' medical malpractice attorneys forget who they are trying their case in front of and fall into the trap of asserting a technical position in an effort to win the case. If they use this tactic their case is doomed. Jurors' already brainwashed, lack the knowledge, patience and desire to absorb technical medical jargon. Defense attorneys' spoon feed as much of this information as they can to confuse jurors into a verdict for the defendant doctor.

The "Big Picture" is the only solution. Each side presents expert witnesses as required by applicable law. The witnesses offset each other's testimony, so who is the jury to believe? The plaintiff's attorney must shift the argument away from both witnesses labeling them a legal necessity and win the case upon common sense, lay facts that can always be found in the medical records or non medical testimony. Jurors can easily absorb this type of evidence, forget (as they will anyway) the technical medical testimony and side with the plaintiff. Examples of this technique include showing the jury that the doctor was too lazy or pompous to make a telephone call to the patient, hospital resident or even a nurse; that the doctor did not visit the patient in the hospital or went off on vacation; that the patient was left in the hands of an inexperienced intern or resident physician or the physician may have left the operating room prior to the completion of a surgical procedure.

Physicians often know that they have committed malpractice at a moment in time. Their typical reflex reaction is to write a detailed "cover your ass" entry in the patients chart in an effort to absolve themselves of the mistake. This may be followed with yet another writing called a "post entry" note. The trial attorney must use these physicians "progress notes" to show the jury that the physician knew that he or she made the mistake and went to painstaking lengths to cover it up. What the physician actually wrote in the chart is of little import since they have shown a guilty state of mind. Discrediting their conduct is the goal. Get the jury mad at the doctor!

Inexperienced attorneys having watched too many television legal dramas will do everything possible to catch the doctor in an outright lie. Although this is certainly a desirable goal, a failed effort will inflame the jury against the plaintiff. A better technique is to let the physician or their expert witness make incredible claims which are preposterous even to a lay person. Said another way, the doctors testimony on many critical issues may make perfect sense to a jury causing the plaintiffs' case to suffer. If left alone at this stage the plaintiffs case may be lost. Yet, my 35 years of medical malpractice experience has shown me that physicians do not know when to stop. After effectively hurting the plaintiffs' case they come forward with a single self serving statement or opinion that is "over the top". Once made, the physician has taken away all of the good will established with the jury and brought all of their testimony into question. The plaintiffs' attorney must then argue this fact to the jury during closing argument, effectively taking that witness out of the case. Even though the doctor did not admit fault he might as well have done so.

Once the plaintiffs' medical practice attorney abandons the "he said / she said" technique and masters the art of selling the "Big Picture," they will be on their way to successfully winning medical malpractice cases.

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Aphasia and Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is a serious concern in cases of brain damage. Although the original cause for a problem such as a stroke may be due to an individual's deteriorating health or another external factor, a physician's mistaken intervention or lack of care can worsen damage that should be manageable by health care professionals. In particular, disorders such as aphasia may actually be the fault of an attending physician, as a medical mistake can increase the amount of damage to the brain.

Aphasia is caused by the death of brain cells and tissue within certain areas. If the brain is either injured through physical trauma or a lack of oxygen, the specific areas necessary to maintain language use can become damaged. While it is not necessarily true that all brain injuries will result in such localized damage, it is common for issues such as brain hemorrhaging or stroke to cause damage leading to aphasia.

In the case of a stroke, a physician can worsen a situation if they do not attend to a patient's needs quickly and effectively. Obviously, undiagnosed strokes can go on to damage the brain substantially. Without quick treatment, rehabilitation and cognitive therapy is significantly more difficult and tends to yield much less successful results. If a physician misdiagnoses a stroke, they may mistake a stroke caused by a hemorrhage for a stroke caused by a blood clot. Considering that treatments for blood clot-caused strokes can actually worsen brain hemorrhaging, this can be an extremely dangerous problem.

Other issues can also contribute to the development of aphasia. If a brain hemorrhage is left untreated, the results can be significant brain damage. Additionally, a poorly performed brain surgery may leave certain areas of the brain without necessary blood or oxygen for a significant amount of time or may cause physical injury to the brain.

To learn more about how malpractice can influence the development of aphasia, contact a medical malpractice lawyer.

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Medical Malpractice Claims: Failure to Diagnose a Heart Attack

Every year hundreds of thousands of Americans suffer from a heart attack—one every 34 seconds, according to the American Heart Association. While modern medicine has raised the survival rate of a heart attack considerably, many of the further injuries and complications can be prevented with early diagnosis.

If you suffered a heart attack and the damage may have been prevented or reduced, but was not the result of your doctor's failure to diagnose the signs of the attack, you may have a medical malpractice case to file.

Failure to Diagnose a Heart Attack

Many Americans are rushed to the emergency room each day complaining of chest pains, shortness of breath and numbness in their upper body. These are common signs that they are suffering or about to suffer a heart attack and should not be ignored. Unfortunately, many doctors and hospital staff are overworked and burdened with other patients, causing them to improperly discharge these patients.

When there is a failure to diagnose a heart attack, the patient often returns within hours, even minutes, suffering from much worse symptoms. When a heart attack is not detected and handled early, it can cause permanent damage or can be fatal. These are injuries and consequences you wouldn't have experienced had there not been a failure to diagnose your condition.

Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim for Failure to Diagnose

In instances of failure to diagnose a condition, a medical malpractice case may be filed to recover the unnecessary damages you suffered from the doctor's negligence. If the doctor had properly diagnosed and began treatment for your heart attack, the damage may have been limited or a life may have been saved. A medical malpractice case allows for injured patients or families who have lost a loved one to recover compensation to deal with the medical bills and losses.

You will need to provide evidence that you sought medical treatment for your condition and that the doctor failed to properly diagnose your condition until further, unnecessary damage was suffered. Early detection of a heart attack can dramatically decrease the damage and recovery time a patient experiences. If your doctor was negligent and a failure to diagnose caused additional injury and recovery time and expenses, you are entitled to file a medical malpractice claim.

Copyright (c) 2011 Benjamin Glass

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Online Claim for Clinical Negligence: A Hassle-Free Advice Seeking Solution for Medical Negligence

Negligence by a medical practitioner could lead to hazardous effects on patients and also their family and friends. The error caused by the doctor due to incorrect diagnosis could be jeopardizing. The negligence could lead to a physical injury and hence one may suffer losses at work due to prolonged inactivity. This could affect the patient's family, leading to an emotional and financial setback. However, one can seek advice and claim for compensation of the losses incurred. This could further help with continuing a proper treatment and also support the patient's family.

A commoner may not know when he/she could be compensated for the error caused by the doctor or the hospital staff. This can be taken care of by Clinal negligence advice centre. It gets you well versed with all your rights and the situations in which you could claim for a compensation. This has been made easier with Online Claim for Clinical Negligence as one will not have to wander around or go places, while in the UK.

All one needs to do is fill an online form that requires your contact details, the negligence you suspect, appropriate time of calling and so on. There are several negligence issues that could be caused by medical professionals and likewise.

Misdiagnosis or incorrect diagnosis is one such issue caused by detecting a disease that you may not be suffering from. It could lead to wrong medicines and further lead to an physical injury causing you huge losses, emotionally, physically and financially. Delay in a particular treatment is also an error by doctors as such delays could further worsen your medical condition.

Expecting moms can also claim for their due compensation caused by irresponsibility of doctors or hospital staff during pregnancy or giving birth to the child. It could lead to serious issues like Cerebral Palsy. Intake of wrong drugs due to an incorrect prescription is also one of the problems that could elevate the pain and evidently the fault of the person issuing the prescription.

You may also face problems like failure to identify problems at A&E and a wrong operation. In such cases, one may be perplexed to think of right measures. Hence, the online advice related to the medical negligence issue concerning you may be dealt with effectively. It could be any kind of clinical negligence and the right advice would be offered.

Online Claim for Clinical Negligence advice centre reaches the person at a convenient time mentioned in the form and the process is considerably swift. Moreover, seeking the online advice will not cost you a hefty sum, in fact it comes for free.

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Finding A Reputable Medical Negligence Solicitor

Medical negligence claims can be traumatic processes that require extensive and specialised research, cases such as these need a specifically trained lawyer to assess them. Finding a good medical negligence solicitor will make the often stressful process a little easier for you and knowing a fully-trained professional is looking after your case should give you some peace of mind.

Luckily, the majority of medical negligence cases do not reach court proceedings and are settled before any trial date but you'll still need a qualified medical negligence solicitor to make sure your case runs smoothly. Taking legal action towards medical negligence is not a decision that should be taken lightly, you will need to be prepared to repeat your story to numerous people, which can be distressing. There are guidance charities on hand to help you, and you should consider contacting one of these charities if your experience was particularly traumatic. You have up to three years after the medical mistake to make your claim so if you'd rather wait and speak to people who can help you that is an option. However, when the case is fresh in your mind you will remember more, and you will probably have a stronger case.

If you aren't happy with the medical treatment you've received in hospital or in any other medical institution then the first step you should take is to make a formal written complaint to the local authority. The health authority should deal with your case promptly and it will more than likely go through the Patient Liaison Advisory Service (PALS). Your solicitor will be able to help you with all of the above procedures and will help you get your complaint dealt with efficiently and effectively. Clinical negligence cases are notoriously hard to win, more so than any other personal injury litigation claim; there are a lot of legal procedures that need to be followed, especially when dealing with medical records and what can often be life-altering cases.

Before hiring, you should take some time to research your legal professionals. Finding a reputable medical negligence solicitor shouldn't be too difficult, it's important you find a solicitor who specialising in cases similar to yours and more importantly, that they win the cases similar to yours. A reputable solicitor will be part of a law firm or a registered medical negligence solicitor. Make sure you check their credentials and testimonials - if they have been successful in the past and have lots of good testimonials, it will be worth getting in touch with them. Not taking the time to a research a legal specialist beforehand will only result in you not being represented as well as you should be, so take the time to find a lawyer who is fully qualified and specialises in cases like yours.

You should be able to find a medical negligence solicitor who will offer you a free phone call or consultation to find out whether your case is worth pursuing. Most solicitors will work on a no-win no-fee basis so if they don't think you have a case, they won't take you on. This means you won't be forking out money unless you have a strong case.

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What Falls Under The Category Of Medical Negligence?

Medical negligence is a legal term. It is a professional negligence, which occurs due to carelessness or incompetency of a health care provider. Health care providers can be doctors, nurses, therapists or anyone who is a professional in this field. There have been many incidents in which patients and their families had to suffer due to medical negligence.

In terms of law, medical negligence is an important aspect. Medical negligence is also termed as medical malpractice. People who have been victims of medical malpractice can hold the health provider accountable for his actions by suing the individual or the hospital, in order to get compensation for the damage done. Although the damage may be irreversible, it is reassuring for the patients to get compensation out of it and to bring the matter to justice.

Medical negligence can be of many types. The first main category is misdiagnosis. In this case, the doctor fails to properly diagnose the patient's condition and so prescribes the wrong medication or procedures to treat it. This can then have negative effects on the health of the patient and cause his condition to further deteriorate. It can also occur due to a prescription error in which the doctor mistakenly gives wrong prescription, which has a bad effect on the patient.

Surgical error is also another category of medical negligence. Sometimes, due to a number of factors, there can be unnecessary complications in surgery which can put the patient at risk. In some cases, insufficient safety measures or improper calculations can lead to surgical complications. In other cases, the doctor takes on too much risk and puts the patient's life in danger. In some instances, mere carelessness is to blame.

Delivery room errors are also a major part of medical overlook. Improper delivery measures can put the mother and the baby both at risk. Many times, due to complications in delivery, there are irreversible damages to the baby's health, and this is devastating for the parents. In worst cases, medical negligence can be fatal for the baby or the mother. Especially in complicated deliveries, the hospital can sometimes be understaffed or ill-equipped to handle the situation, and this can be detrimental for both the baby and the mother.

Medical negligence cases are taken up by lawyers who are specialists in this area of law. It is important to understand that it is a sensitive area of law, and medical negligence cases are usually difficult to win. This is because it is not easy to prove that a patient was put at risk due to medical malpractice, or if it was something unpreventable.

Sometimes, doctors try their best but still the patient gets worse; this does not make them liable under the law. Therefore, if you think that you have a case of medical negligence, make sure that you have enough proof, or it can be a very lengthy process. However, if you really do feel like you are a victim, find a good lawyer and take the matter to the court as soon as possible.

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A Definitive Guide on Medical Malpractice

It is alarming that about 98,000 people die every year due to medical malpractice. Doctors are not the only ones involved in these cases. They also involve nurses, dentists, therapists, and other medical practitioners. These kind of malpractice like legal malpractice involves negligence. The former specifically refers to improper and negligent performance of the doctor or any other medical professional in the diagnosis, care, and treatment. This takes on various forms including surgical errors, prescription mistakes, late or wrong diagnosis, failure to diagnose a certain disease, injuries during childbirth, errors in the administration of anesthesia and many more. Almost 100,000 people could have been saved if these errors were prevented. But death isn't the only result; injuries, disabilities, and trauma can also arise from mistakes committed in the medical facility.

Filing Medical Malpractice Complaint

The legal remedy for such event is to file a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor, hospital or medical practitioner involved. Since these are known for being difficult and expensive, it's a must to have a reliable and competent medical malpractice lawyer at your side. Most attorneys give free initial consultation and advice regarding what to do about the matter. Since there is what you call a statute of limitation for these complaints to be filed, it's necessary to file it as soon as possible. The statute of limitation means that there's only a specified duration of time that the complaint can be filed. If filed after this, the complaint will not be accepted by the court and the plaintiff will not receive any monetary compensation even if the complaint is valid and has strong evidence.

Legal Requirements for the Medical Malpractice Complaint

In order for a medical malpractice complaint to be valid, it should have these three elements: negligence, damages (injury) and causation. Having all these elements are necessary to build a strong case. Negligence refers to the error of the doctor or deviation from the standard medical procedures. For every given medical treatment, a standard procedure of care is provided for the diagnosis and treatment of the patient. If the doctor fails to follow that whether intentionally or unintentionally, negligence is present. For example, if a 60-year-old woman goes to a hospital due to chest pains, the doctor must have her undergo standard tests to check for heart diseases and other possible health problems. If not, this can be considered as negligence in the part of the doctor and hospital.

In medical malpractice, damages include medical expenses, lost income, lost future earnings, future medical bills, pain and suffering and other personal damages. Finally, there should be a causation or a link between the two elements mentioned above. The negligence must have caused damages that are enumerated above for the claim to be considered valid as a medical malpractice complaint. This is the element that is the hardest to prove in cases like this. But with a good lawyer to help you prove that the medical professional's negligence did indeed cause you damages then you would be able to make a claim for monetary compensation.

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