What is the Statute of Limitations in Medical Malpractice?
The statute of limitations is the part of the law that sets the maximum time in which a person or an entity can initiate legal proceedings from the date of the alleged offense. These times differ between states and between the different areas of law. This period usually depends on the nature of the offense, thus in the context of medical malpractice, the statute of limitations refers to how long you have from sustaining your injury (due to malpractice) to filing a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Did Astronaut Neil Armstrong Die a Wrongful Death?
While a nation mourned the loss of a national hero in 2012, Neil Armstrong’s family were querying incompetent post-surgical care at Mercy Health – Fairfield Hospital in Cincinnati that they believe lead to his untimely and wrongful death.
Even though Mercy Health – Fairfield Hospital defended their care, they paid the Armstrong family $6 million to privately settle the matter to avoid bad publicity via a medical malpractice lawsuit– a controversial yet common practice.
New Jersey Dentist Suspended After Causing Patient’s Wrongful Death
A New Jersey oral surgeon agreed to a five-year license suspension and approximately $300,000 in penalties after failing to adhere to correct infection control protocols that resulted in the wrongful death of one patient and injury to 14 others.
While medical malpractice lawsuits against dentists are rarer than that of doctors, they certainly do happen and can be just as debilitating when they do.
Hospital Negligence Killed a Baby at Seattle Children’s Hospital
The death of a child in hospital is something that is dreaded by all hospital staff, yet it is a tragedy that occurred at Seattle Children’s Hospital in February 2020.
A 5-month-old baby named Elizabeth Vera Hutt died after contracting a mold infection from the hospital. She was born in August 2019 with a congenital heart condition and had to undergo many surgeries. What her parents didn’t know was that the hospital had closed four operating rooms on 18 May 2019 and another ten on 24 May 2019 after Aspergillus – a type of mold – was found during a routine air check. While the mold is relatively harmless to the ordinary person, it can be deadly if the spores take root in people with fragile immune systems.
Has Delayed Diagnosis of Your Cancer in New York City Put You at Higher Risk?
According to estimates, 1,735,350 new cancer cases were diagnosed in 2018 in the US, and 609,640 people succumbed to the disease. Cancer has an average five-year survival rate of nearly 60 percent, but that differs significantly depending on the form of cancer. In general, the chances of survival are higher if the cancer is diagnosed and treated early.
Unreasonable delays in cancer diagnosis are grounds for a medical malpractice claim. But malpractice cases are complex, and there are various roadblocks that you need to identify and overcome to be able to create a solid case for damages.
Misdiagnosis is the Most Frequent Medical Error
According to researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, MD, diagnostic mistakes are the most frequent, and most serious, medical error that occurs, and the one which leads to the most medical malpractice lawsuits.
There aren’t exact values as to how many patients are affected, but it‘s estimated that between 40,000 and 80,000 deaths happen in United States hospitals each year. Because of these high values, the Johns Hopkins researchers studied over 11,000 cases from a U.S. medical malpractice claims database to understand which conditions doctors are most likely to misdiagnose.
Coronavirus 2019 aka COVID-19 – An Informative Guide
If you have been following the buzz around world news, then you are sure to have heard of the Coronavirus outbreak of 2020. In fact, discussions on this dreaded virus (aptly nicknamed by some as the “demon virus”) have taken the center-stage all across the globe.
While the danger of this highly contagious virus becoming a pandemic (a global epidemic) is real, the situation can improve with proper awareness and by taking the right precautions.
Drug Shortage is Causing Doctor Errors and Medical Malpractice
The U.S. is currently undergoing a drug shortage due to supply issues that affect how pharmacies are preparing and/or dispensing drug products for patients. This generally occurs when prescribers need to use an alternative drug of a similar agent.
Nursing Negligence is Increasing in Hospitals
In a recent article published on Nurse Journal, it was revealed that nursing negligence medical malpractice lawsuits and settlements are low in comparison to physicians, which many think is due to the positive and personal relationships that nurses have with their patients.
Certain areas of healthcare are more prone to medical malpractice lawsuits than others. This means that nurses that work within the anesthesia, obstetrics, pediatrics, and neonatology units are more at risk of getting sued than their colleagues who don’t work in these areas.
OB/GYNs Pay the Highest Medical Malpractice Premiums
Every year, Medscape conducts its Malpractice Premium Report in the United States of America. The results from 2019 are officially in, and more than 4,300 physicians responded to the survey to give insights regarding how much they pay to protect themselves in the event of a medical malpractice lawsuit and how they feel about those premiums.
According to the report, nearly all physicians (94%) have medical malpractice coverage, and specialists pay significantly more ($21K) than primary care physicians ($12K) in annual malpractice premiums. In terms of specialists, OB/GYN and Women’s Health specialists pay the highest premiums ($46K), and psychiatric specialists pay the lowest premiums ($5K).