America’s Medical Malpractice Crisis – What You Need To Know
In 2016 the prestigious Journal of Patient Safety published a study that as many as 440,000 patients die each year from preventable medical errors. That would make medical errors the third-leading cause of death in America, behind heart disease, which is the first, and cancer, which is second.
These people are not dying from the illnesses that caused them to seek hospital care in the first place. They are dying from mistakes that hospitals could have prevented. What are these fatal errors ?
WHAT ARE THESE SHOCKING MEDICAL ERRORS?
- Air bubbles
- Operation on the wrong body part
- Deadly infections
- Switching feeding tubes and chest tubes
- Over- or under-anesthesia
- Misidentification of patient
- Forgetting surgical equipment inside patients
- Lost patients especially those with dementia or brain injury
WHO ARE THESE INCOMPETENT & NEGLIGENT DOCS?
A New England Journal of Medicine January 28, 2016 study reported that 1% of physicians accounted for 32% of paid malpractice claims over the last 10 years. The ugly truth is that little is being done to hold these dangerous doctors accountable.
Researchers found the “bad” doctors showed “distinctive characteristics,” including having paid previous malpractice claims.
So it stands to reason that health-care providers could eliminate 1/3 of medical malpractice—along with patients’ pain and suffering, as well as the added costs of corrective surgeries, long-term care and indemnity payments—by removing the worst 1% of doctors.
WHY AREN’T BAD DOCS STOPPED FROM PRACTICING ?
The answer lies at least partially in the National Practitioner Data Bank, a clearinghouse for information on medical malpractice that Congress established in 1986 to help state licensing boards police the health-care industry.
The national database was supposed to help states identify dangerous doctors and prevent them from harming more patients…..And is used by hospitals, insurers, and licensing boards to track doctors’ records, check prospective hires, and make other decisions
But it is virtually useless in holding doctors accountable because, by federal law, none are listed by name. They are assigned a random number to protect their identities.
Even if doctors were identified in the data, as they should be, the public would still be barred by law from accessing the records. So vulnerable, sick patients sit in the waiting rooms of bad physicians without a clue about their poor record of performance.
And In most cases… a negligent doctor’s insurance company pays the victim of malpractice, and the doctor goes back to work. If the doctor develops a bad enough reputation in one town, he can move to a new state and continue practicing. This is unbelievable!
BUT today the public does not have access to the database to identify doctors’ names and addresses to identify doctors with uniquely long histories of being sued or disciplined for medical malpractice.
Because, on September 01, 2011, the government cut off public access — What was behind that decision? Apparently, one Kansas doctor with a trail of malpractice suits. Dr Robert Tenny.
The Kansas based doctor complained to the government, Health Resources and Services Administration that the Kansas City Star newspaper was publishing the story of one of his patients, Marybeth Chase, who died in 2007 after undergoing a brain surgery with Dr. Tenny. It also noted that Tenny had been sued at least 16 times for medical malpractice but had never been disciplined by the state’s licensing boards.
The Insider Exclusive produced a TV story on this case, with the lawyers who represented Marybeth’s family, “When Doctors Go Bad: Maribeth Chase v Dr Robert T. Tenny”.`
Tenny finally settled the Chase family’s wrongful death suit for $1,010,000. The settlement brought total malpractice payments paid on Tenny’s behalf since the early 1990s to roughly $3.7 million. federal records indicate.
In some states, including California, Colorado, Georgia and New York, patients can go to medical boards’ websites to find out about doctors’ malpractice histories. But not in Kansas and Missouri.
WHY DON’T DOCTORS REPORT ON BAD DOCS?
Physicians often see the mistakes made by their peers, which puts them in a sticky ethical situation: Should they tell the patient about a mistake made by a different doctor? Too often they don’t. WHY NOT?
One reason is that doctors depend on each other for business. So, a physician who breaks the code of silence may become known as an “informer” or “snitch”, and lose referrals, a financial penalty. Doctors also may be wary of becoming entangled in a medical malpractice case, or causing a colleague to face legal consequences.
The bottom line: Too often doctors aren’t learning from errors. Nor are patients getting the information they need to receive proper treatment or compensation when the outcome is harmful.
In this INSIDER EXCLUSIVE NETWORK TV SPECIAL, “AMERICA’S MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CRISIS – What You Need to Know” , we visit with Lloyd Bell @ The Bell Law firm
As we take you inside today’s legal system, examining lawyers’ strategies, and client’s thoughts, and in vivid detail…. showing you the often-heartbreaking stories of these clients, dramatically demonstrating what motivates Lloyd John to fight for his clients causes.
These victims could be you or me one day, and if you are so unlucky… you will quickly find out that Justice in America is a hard-won battle, where very few Insurance Companies, Doctors, Nurses and Hospitals ever…. “Do the Right Thing” …and you need experienced and passionate trial lawyers who wage a battle with their own financial resources to get their clients justice.
And this is why we all need to protect a legal system that is designed to protect us…and not one that protects Incompetent and Negligent Doctors, Nurses, Hospitals, and their Insurance companies over the common everyday American.
Lloyd Bell, our featured lawyer, has earned the highest respect from citizens and lawyers alike…. as one of the best trial lawyers in Atlanta and in Georgia. He has seen many innocent & hard-working people injured and killed by negligent and incompetent doctors, hospitals, and nurses…
Lloyd’s passion is Problem Solving. He approaches each case as a scientist trying to solve a puzzle. He’s seen many patients suffer needless injury. And because of that, he is driven to help people who had been harmed by incompetent and negligent doctors. Lloyd’s goals….. to “get justice and fairness for injured people… safeguard victims’ rights… and to help guide the hands of justice.
Lloyd Bell can be contacted at The Bell Law Firm, https://www.belllawfirm.com/ and 404 249 6768