D.C. Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Gabriel Assaad : Assaad Law, PLLC: D.C. Injury Law Journal

 Everyone expects their doctor to be an expert in their field and to solve the medical problems they bring for treatment.  At least, that was common several decades ago.   Times have changed, and patients are quicker to blame a doctor when they don’t get the result they expect from a health care provider.  The truth is, while most physicians are experts who do provide a high quality of care, there are times when they make mistakes, and those mistakes can be painful and even deadly.

Medical Malpractice Law

Anyone who is injured by the mistake of a health care provider has the right to file suit to obtain compensation for his or her additional medical costs as well as pain and suffering.  The problem is, these cases are often difficult to prove.  In addition, legislators in some states have put limits, or caps on the compensation victims can be awarded in lawsuits.  Experienced personal injury lawyers can help a victim learn if their doctor is negligent in their injuries based on several parameters.

Proving a Doctors Liability for a Medical Injury

A doctor can be proved guilty of medical malpractice if they perform a negligent act or fail to perform a necessary act that results in damage or harm to a patient.  These negligent acts can occur in such areas as

·         A mistake in a diagnosis

·         An error in treatment

·         Failure to provide timely treatment

·         Failure to provide appropriate follow-up to a patient

·         Inappropriate prescriptions ordered to treat a patient

The victim must be able to prove that their physician’s treatment deviated from the generally accepted standards of treatment in that field or for that illness.  One of the requirements that most states have added to medical malpractice lawsuits is that the lawyer obtain a certificate of merit from an established expert in the medical field in question before proceeding with the lawsuit.  And in fact, medical experts are often used throughout a medical malpractice suit to prove that the defendant acted negligently in their treatment of the plaintiff.

In some cases, a victim may be unable to prove exactly how a health care provider acted negligently, causing the injury.  However, if the injury is obviously one that would not have occurred without someone’s negligence, a principle called "res ipsa loquitur," it becomes the defendant’s responsibility to prove that they were not negligent, rather than the plaintiff’s responsibility to prove that they were.

Who Is Responsible?

There are a number of possible defendants to be considered in a case of medical malpractice, especially if it is in relationship to a serious illness or injury.  When multiple doctors and nurses are involved, plus hospital care, tests, and prescriptions, it can be much more difficult to determine who is negligent in a medical malpractice lawsuit.  Some of those who can be found negligent include, among others,

·         Physicians

·         Hospitals

·         Anesthesiologists

·         Nurses

·         Pharmaceutical companies

It takes expert investigators to sift through the evidence and determine whom has liability for the injuries sustained by the victim. 

Malpractice Cases and Compensation

Medical malpractice cases are difficult to prove.  In addition, while the pain and costs involved in such injuries are extensive, the emotional toll is high, as well.  That makes it that much more important to have a skilled medical malpractice attorney who can look at a case with legal eyes rather than emotional eyes.  They can tell the victim if they have a case, and how that case should be pursued in order to obtain the compensation they deserve.

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 All health care professionals owe a duty to their patients to provide medical treatment that meets a recognized standard of care.  A medical malpractice case can be brought when this...

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Doctors and hospitals are entrusted with the care of patients. The expectation is to improve health or facilitate a cure. However, instances occur that result in further injury or death. A health care provider, usually a doctor, fails to provide the necessary care or makes a conscious choice to deviate from the standard treatment acceptable to the medical community. As a result, the courts have the obligation of determining negligence in a medical malpractice case.

Defining Malpractice

In order to judge fairly whether a medical professional did not perform the duties or treatments of the profession, it is important to define what constitute malpractice. Patients experience further injury or death, despite the best medical care available to man. Thus, the judge or jury must decide whether the patient simply took a turn for the worst, or the fault lies with the care provided. Malpractice may have occurred, if:

• The health care provider fails to provide the expected standard of treatment as determined by the medical community
• Treatment is delayed for an unreasonable period of time, resulting in further injury or death
• The health care provider fails to properly diagnose the patient
• Unsanitary conditions existed in the healthcare facility

Again, this all may constitute some form of medical negligence; however, in order to prove medical malpractice, certain elements must exist in every case. First, malpractice in some form or fashion must have occurred during the treatment of a patient. Second, the doctors negligence must have been directly related to injuries or damages incurred by a patient. Third, these damages must actually exists and be indisputably the product of the negligent actions taken by healthcare professionals.

A Malpractice Case

Although some people sue for malpractice in order to get ‘even’, the process is generally initiated for more practical and altruist reasons. Further injury generally requires addition treatment-sometimes for the balance of a lifetime. The ensuing medical expenses are astronomical. A successful lawsuit ensures the patient receives the necessary treatment and care. In the event of injury or sudden death, the courts also provide compensation for lost earning potential and anticipated wages for the years remaining before likely retirement, so the family can still pay the bills and stay in the home. Of course, a successful malpractice case against a negligent health care provider often results in revocation of licensure, so no other patient will have to endure a similar fate.

Getting Legal Help

If a health care provider is negligent, resulting in further injury or death, seek the services of a medical malpractice attorney. Discuss the merits of the case, and the potential for a successful outcome. With the help of a legal professional, learn what documentation is required, including expert witnesses to call, in order to provide the court with the necessary information, to determine the award deserved for compensation. Get the monetary amount needed to provide for current and future related medical treatment and take care of the future.

About the author:

Gabriel Assaad has successfully litigated multiple cases on behalf of injured victims in the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland.  Mr. Assaad graduated from a top 20 law school and is a member of national and local organizations dedicated to protecting the rights of the injured.  In addition, Mr. Assaad also volunteers as General Counsel to Mission Life Center which provided services (medical and social services) to people in need and Care in Action, an international organization providing AIDS care in Africa.

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That is just ridiculous.  In a CNN article by Stephanie Smith posted October 13, 2009, Ms. Smith quotes a study from the American Journal of Medicine that found that 62% of bankruptcies in 2007 were a result of medical debt compared to 8% in 1981.  If that is not reason enough for health care reform, I do not know what is.

To live in one of the greatest countries and to have that statistic is embarrassing.  I am sure that the 62% of bankruptcies were hard working individuals that could not afford their insurance premiums due to the continuous rise of said premiums.  As insurance companies are making record profits, the injured, sick, unprotected individual is suffering and taking on a debt that he can't refuse.  What is his/her choice, not to treat the cancer? not to remove the appendix? just die.

I pray that our government can come together in this time to find a solution so that we as a country can brag to the rest of the world that we do have the best health care system and not have statistics such as the one above.  And for all those out there that that believe that we need medical malpractice reform, show me the hard data that directly correlates medical malpractice to insurance premiums.  Oh yeah, and I would like that data from a source that is not the insurance companies or the many organizations insurance companies retain come up with such false data.

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Dr. Deane Waldman, in an article in the Huffington Post, equates medical malpractice to winning the lottery.  In fact, in the beginning of his article, he posts the following tacky picture:

Has this guy ever sat down and even talkd to a victim of medical malpractice?  I bet not.  All he does is try to convine the reader of all these facts about medical malpractice and states that there is data to back it up.  However, he provides no data and the fact are all wrong.

The one area I want to address is the following comment:

Human-ness
If you accept that we are all human and that humans are by nature imperfect, what about nurses and doctors? Are they allowed to be human? No, society demands that they produce perfect results every single time time.

Yes, doctors are human, but so are the engineers that design cars, airplaines, bridges, etc. and so re air traffic controllers, and so are people like you and me that drive cars on a daily basis.  We are all held accountable for our mistakes, but doctors such as Dr. Waldman believe that they should not be.  People do not expect perfection, butpeople do expect accountability, even for doctors.

Dr. Waldman rather portray the injured as Lottery players. 

I am sure if asked whether these victims of medical malpractice would rather wn the lotter or be whole again, I believe we know what the answer would be.

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The West Virginia Record wrote on January 9, 2009 a wonderful article about former Justice Larry Starcher overviewing his last days of his term and his fight to the end to protect the rights of individuals, including the areas of medical malpractice.

CHARLESTON - To the end, the old West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals worked hard at making decisions. And former Justice Larry Starcher worked hard at disagreeing.

Starcher filed seven dissents on Dec. 30, the last day of his 12-year term, all celebrating his conviction that judges should keep rewriting laws."

 One such dissent was a medical malpractice case which The Record summarized as follows:

 Forshey v. Jackson

Left-handed locksmith Paul Forshey developed carpal tunnel syndrome, a wrist injury. Physician Theodore Jackson performed surgery in 1995.

Forshey's pain continued and a knot formed under his thumb. Jackson set exploratory surgery but cancelled it four days ahead of time.

Jackson rescheduled it, but Forshey cancelled it four days ahead of time.

In 2005, Forshey injured his left index finger. An X-ray revealed a piece of knife blade.

In 2006, Forshey sued Jackson in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Jackson moved to dismiss, relying on state law that sets an absolute limit of ten years on a medical malpractice claim.

Forshey argued that the statute didn't start running in 1995. He argued that it started running in 1997, when Jackson cancelled the exploratory surgery.

Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey Walker dismissed the suit, and on Nov. 25 the Justices affirmed her.

Justice Robin Davis wrote that in order to beat the statute of limitations, Forshey had to show repetitious wrongful conduct.

"Merely establishing the continuation of the ill effects of an original wrongful act will not suffice," Davis wrote.

In dissent Starcher wrote, "The injury in this case wasn't just the scalpel blade left in the plaintiff's hand."

He wrote, "It was that the defendant doctor screwed up and committed malpractice by failing to properly diagnose the error in two years of trying."

He wrote that Walker should have let Forshey pursue the action, "which most likely would have resulted in a speedy settlement."

He wrote that "this Court will do whatever it takes to protect doctors and lawyers from malpractice claims -- no matter how meritorious those claims might be."
 

I believe the last line says it all!!!!

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