In 2017, army veteran Richard Hopkins, aged 65, of Davenport died after developing a post-surgery infection at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Iowa City. His family filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in June 2019 against the hospital. His family says that the infection that killed him was caused by medical negligence and that at least 3 other patients in the same hospital suffered similar complications.
The hospital negligence lawsuit centers around the fact that Veterans Affairs hospital in Iowa City illegally hired a neurosurgeon, John Henry Schneider, who has a history of medical malpractice allegations and whose medical license had been revoked in Wyoming in 2014 due to allegations of poor patient care. The hospital hired Schneider in 2017 at an annual salary of $385,000 despite knowing his past and that there is a federal law stipulating that doctors whose state licenses have been revoked cannot work for the Veterans Affairs hospitals no matter the state that it is in.
Because Richard developed an infection after his first surgery for a non-cancerous brain tumor, he had to undergo 3 more surgeries in an attempt to combat this infection, but unfortunately died a few weeks later.
Schneider was jailed in 2018 and will serve 2 years in federal prison after he plead guilty to fraudulently hiding assets in a bankruptcy case in Montana. This bankruptcy filing occurred while Schneider was facing medical malpractice judgments for earlier cases.
Iowa City Veterans Affairs hospital has declined to comment on the medical malpractice lawsuit, and online records show that Schneider’s medical license has now been revoked from Montana as well.
Legal Matters
If you are wanting to file a hospital negligence lawsuit then it is crucial that you get representation from a credible medical malpractice lawyer. This will enable you to discern whether your hospital negligence lawsuit is a valid one and, if so, what the best procedure to follow is so that you and/or your family can receive compensation.
Proving Hospital Negligence
In order to prove that hospital negligence has occurred, you will need to prove that the level of care provided to you was below a reasonable standard and that this poor standard of care is the cause of your resulting injury. Ultimately, you must show that improper conduct on the behalf of the offending hospital’s administration and/or employees resulted in physical injury to you or your family member.
Hospital negligence lawsuits can become complicated, and you will need the guidance of a knowledgeable medical malpractice attorney to explain the process of the lawsuit to you as well as guide you through that process. Some aspects of the law differ between states, so a qualified NYC medical malpractice attorney should be consulted if you are filing a lawsuit in NYC.
Contact
If you believe that you or a family member may have experienced hospital negligence, please contact the medical malpractice lawyers of Rosenburg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff LLP in NYC today and speak to one of our medical malpractice attorneys.
When you are ready to talk, we are ready to listen. Call 212-344-1000 for a free, confidential consultation.
