According to Gary Wais, a Baltimore malpractice lawyer with Wais Law, a Baltimore malpractice law firm, Medical malpractice is a type of professional mistake that cause suffering to a patient. The mistake may result from an act of commission, (inappropriate action taken by the practitioner or omission (failure to take appropriate action). According to Gary Wais of Wais Law, a Baltimore medical malpractice attorney, the purpose of medical malpractice law is to is to provide patients with a form of recovery for the injuries that were negligently inflicted upon them by their physicians.
To win a malpractice claim you have to prove the 4 elements of a medical malpractice tort.
I Duty: You must prove that you had a ongoing patient physician relationship with your Doctor and therefore he had the responsibility to diagnosis illness and provide treatment, with a "reasonable level of skill."
II Breached: You need to prove that your physician failed to meet the normal standard of care. This finding is usually made by an expert witness, who is brought into the case by the malpractice lawyer.The expert will prove that your physician acted carelessly or negligently and did not do what a reasonable physician would have done. For example if a Doctor fails to note the rising blood level of a medication, which subsequently harms the patient, that might be considered failure to meet the normal standard of care. If your Doctor acted maliciously and deliberately sought to harm you, he may face criminal charges. More often physicians just acted very negligently and carelessly, without malicious intent.
III Injury: You must show that some type of injury incurred as a direct result of your Doctor's negligence. For example if your Doctor failed to order an EKG after you appeared in the ER with chest pain, and then after discharge you suffered severe heart damage, you could argue that your Doctor's failure to properly diagnose the heart attack caused the damage. Put in another way, you must show that if the physician had rendered treatment in another way, the injury wouldn't have occurred.
IV Damage: You must prove that damages resulted from the injury. In legal parlance, there are two types of damages.Damage is described asdirect, i.e. loss of wages, the cost of unnecessary medical treatment, the cost of additional treatment needed to correct the injury or indirect, i.e. emotional distress, physical pain or other type of suffering.
If you are considering a malpractice action, keep in mind that you are not disqualified merely because you signed a waiver before a medical procedure. You agreed to a medical procedure involving reasonable care, not one involving careless substandard treatment.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Limits on Medical Malpractice Claims
According to Gary Wais, a Baltimore malpractice lawyer with Wais Law, a Baltimore malpractice law firm, Maryland malpractice settlements are rising slightly as the cap is lifted by 15,000 dollars each year. The cap which attorney Wais is referring to is the statutory cap on non-economic damagesthat can be assessed in medical malpractice case.
Traditionally, juries have frequently been swayed emotionally to award large sums of money for the non-economic damage incurred as a result of physician negligence. More recently, Physician Organizations claimed thatthese large settlements were were responsible for a rise in medical costs. Insurance companies charged that the large pay-outs in medical malpractice cases, for pain and suffering and other non-economic damages, made them to sharply increase the cost of medical malpractice insurance.These complaints led legislators to put caps on the level of non-economic damages that could be assessed. The legal caps are different in every state, and some states have no caps, some states have caps on physician fees and or punitive damages, and seven states have recently repealed the caps, in rulings that declared them to be unconstitutional.
According to accurate studies, malpractice claims have been responsible for only a fraction of rising medical care costs. Many of the larger insurers are saying that while the medical malpractice caps do help to control the spending, they only see a 1% overall savings. Such a small increase in cost can hardly be held responsible for the overall rise in medical costs, which far exceeds 1%.
More recently, there has been a move in some states to repeal the payment caps. The caps have been attacked as being unconstitutional in that they put unnatural controls on the thinking of juries and judges during the trial process. As one lawmaker put it, "damage caps (which are essentially artificial and arbitrary limits placed on the amount of financial compensation that a victim of medical malpractice can receive) completely negate the judgment and intelligence of juries, who are trusted enough to vote in officials and put people to death. The caps also tie the hands of the trial judge, who might feel that a particular plaintiff deserves far more than the sum allowed by the caps. While seven states, as noted above, have alredy repealed the caps, this past November of 2010, the Maryland Appellate court turned down a similar effort to repeal the caps in Maryland.
The current limit for non-economic damage in Maryland is just under $700,000, nevertheless, courts can still deliver monster settlements to claimants. Monster settlements can occur when the injury inflicted on a client by a negligent physician, results in large loss of earning and large medical care bills. The recent case in Maryland concerned a child who was born with cerebral palsy after the physician failed to properly inform the family of all their treatment options during the last 40 days of the pregnancy. The child was severely injured and will have massive medical bills to pay his entire life. Juries have been known to increase the amount of money awarded for economic claims as compensation for the cap on the non-economic damages.
While large penalty damages against a malicious physician might also lead to large malpractice settlements in practice this rarely occurs. In Maryland, for example, claimants must show that the Doctor acted with malice against the victim, and this is rarely the case. Most negligent physicians have erred in the treatment rendered to the patient; however, they have no particular grudge against the victims of their sub-standard care.
Traditionally, juries have frequently been swayed emotionally to award large sums of money for the non-economic damage incurred as a result of physician negligence. More recently, Physician Organizations claimed thatthese large settlements were were responsible for a rise in medical costs. Insurance companies charged that the large pay-outs in medical malpractice cases, for pain and suffering and other non-economic damages, made them to sharply increase the cost of medical malpractice insurance.These complaints led legislators to put caps on the level of non-economic damages that could be assessed. The legal caps are different in every state, and some states have no caps, some states have caps on physician fees and or punitive damages, and seven states have recently repealed the caps, in rulings that declared them to be unconstitutional.
According to accurate studies, malpractice claims have been responsible for only a fraction of rising medical care costs. Many of the larger insurers are saying that while the medical malpractice caps do help to control the spending, they only see a 1% overall savings. Such a small increase in cost can hardly be held responsible for the overall rise in medical costs, which far exceeds 1%.
More recently, there has been a move in some states to repeal the payment caps. The caps have been attacked as being unconstitutional in that they put unnatural controls on the thinking of juries and judges during the trial process. As one lawmaker put it, "damage caps (which are essentially artificial and arbitrary limits placed on the amount of financial compensation that a victim of medical malpractice can receive) completely negate the judgment and intelligence of juries, who are trusted enough to vote in officials and put people to death. The caps also tie the hands of the trial judge, who might feel that a particular plaintiff deserves far more than the sum allowed by the caps. While seven states, as noted above, have alredy repealed the caps, this past November of 2010, the Maryland Appellate court turned down a similar effort to repeal the caps in Maryland.
The current limit for non-economic damage in Maryland is just under $700,000, nevertheless, courts can still deliver monster settlements to claimants. Monster settlements can occur when the injury inflicted on a client by a negligent physician, results in large loss of earning and large medical care bills. The recent case in Maryland concerned a child who was born with cerebral palsy after the physician failed to properly inform the family of all their treatment options during the last 40 days of the pregnancy. The child was severely injured and will have massive medical bills to pay his entire life. Juries have been known to increase the amount of money awarded for economic claims as compensation for the cap on the non-economic damages.
While large penalty damages against a malicious physician might also lead to large malpractice settlements in practice this rarely occurs. In Maryland, for example, claimants must show that the Doctor acted with malice against the victim, and this is rarely the case. Most negligent physicians have erred in the treatment rendered to the patient; however, they have no particular grudge against the victims of their sub-standard care.
Common Physician Errors Causing Cerebral Palsy
Hi:
These are medical errors that can occur after delivery:
I'm Boruch Fishman and welcome to another edition of Close Up. TodayI am going to be talking about common medical mistakes that can cause Cerebral Palsy
Shockingly, Cerebral Palsy advocacy groups believe that most cases of Cerebral Palsy are avoidable. The disease is cruel because a few seconds of neglect at or around the time of childbirth can lead to a lifetime of crippling misery for the child.
When the condition is caused by medical negligence, the family has the right to claim damages from the hospital and or medical personnel involved in the treatment. A number of lawyers specialize in Cerebral Palsy malpractice and provide free consultations to victims and their families.
While all medical malpractice related suits have a statute of limitations, which limits the amount of time during which the victim can to go to court, because Cerebral Palsy affects infants who are too young to represent themselves, the time constraints are different. In Maryland, for example, while every child has the right to bring a medical malpractice suit to court until the age of 21, if the child suffers from a form of cerebral palsy that affects the brain or has caused developmental problems then the child has an unlimited amount of time to bring his case before the court.
If you or your child is suffering from Cerebral Palsy, and you would like to know the condition was the result of medical {mistake|negligence|error, compare this list of the most common medical mistakes that cause Cerebral Palsy to the story of your birth or your child's birth.
These are some of the medical mistakes that occur before childbirth:
- Failure to properly treat high blood pressure or toxemia in the mother.
- Failure to order a C-section if the baby is high birth weight or if there are other medical contraindications to a vaginal birth.
- Failure to recognize fetal compromise and respond appropriately
- Failure to terminate the pregnancy if so indicated
- Failure to diagnose a the presence of a prolapsed umbilical cord. In this condition, the cord wraps around the baby subsequent pressure on the cord causes lack of necessary oxygen delivery to the fetal brain,
- Failure to recognize and properly treat fetal compromise during delivery,
- Leaving the child in the birth canal too long, resulting in lack of oxygen delivery to the brain,
- Inappropriate use of the vacuum extractor
- Improper use of forceps,
These are medical errors that can occur after delivery:
- Failure to recognize seizures and properly treat seizures after delivery,
- Failure to diagnose and treat jaundice in a timely manner,
- Failure to diagnose and appropriately treat meningitis in a newborn
- Failure of the doctor or staff to properly monitor the newborn's vital signs.
If you believe any of these errors may have occurred during your child's birth or during your own birth, you should contact a medical malpractice lawyer who specializes in Cerebral Palsy malpractice. He will listen to your story and make a determination if, in his opinion, you have a valid medical malpractice claim
Well that wraps it up for another episode of Close Up. I'm Boruch Fishman, have a great day!
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