The website www.Oddee.com has listed some of the most egregious examples of medical malpractice that has occurred over the last few years. They are the 10 Unbelievable Medical Mistakes.
These Unbelievable Medical Mistakes include: (1) a woman who receives the wrong sperm at a fertility clinic, (2) a young girl who received the wrong lungs and heart in a transplant procedure and then died, (3) the removal of a health testicle that resulted in a $200,000 settlement, (4) leaving a 13-inch metal retractor in a patient’s abdomen following surgery, (5) open heart surgery on the wrong patient, (6) performing surgery on the wrong side of a patient’s brain, for the third time that year, (7) a surgeon who amputated the wrong leg, (8) the removal of the wrong and healthy kidney by mistake, (9) performing painful surgery on a patient who was wide awake and then he later committed suicide, and (10) a bypass surgery on the wrong heart artery – the patient was comedian Dana Carvey.
These mistakes are certainly unbelievable and egregious. But one study reported that 195,000 patients die each year in hospitals from medical mistakes. Can you believe that? 195,000 people every year, just because a doctor or some healthcare professional made a mistake. That is just plain scary.
In Washington, medical malpractice cases are complex, risky and expensive. Most jurors will give a doctor the benefit of the doubt when it comes time to declaring whether that physician acted negligently or below the standard of care. Usually a medical malpractice case has to involve pretty egregious conduct just because of the substantial risk and expense that these cases bring in the legal setting.
Washington state recently enacted a new law that requires a patient to give 90 days prior notice to the doctor or hospital about that person’s intention of filing a lawsuit. Another requirement is that a Certificate of Merit must be filed in addition to the Complaint. The Certificate of Merit must be signed by another doctor stating that the defendant doctor or hospital probably committed medical negligence or malpractice. Yet, the law does not require a defendant doctor to file a Certificate when it comes to filing a defense or counterclaim. Why not? Good question.
In any event, the economics of medical negligence cases require that the patient suffer very serious injuries or death to make the case worthwhile to pursue in court. A medical negligence lawyer can easily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just in costs to pursue the claim.
Although the tort reformers will want you to believe that there are thousands of frivolous lawsuits against doctors that are driving them away from the practice of medicine, this is just not true. Think about it. A frivolous lawsuit has no chance of winning, and no insurance company will pay money to settle a frivolous case. Most reputable lawyers will not agree to advance hundreds of thousands of dollars to pursue a case unless the damages are substantial and there is a good chance of proving negligence against the doctor.
That means lawyers who handle medical negligence cases will not accept one that is frivolous. Why would a lawyer throw away thousands of dollars away on a frivolous case when there is little chance that the case would win? It just doesn’t happen.
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