Real World Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Medical malpractice claims have risen dramatically over the past 40 years alongside the financial claim awards (Kessler, 2011). Currently, America’s medical tort system is regulated and enforced primarily by the states (“Medical Tort System,” 2016). The main focus of tort law is to preserve the peace between two parties, to determine fault and discourage wrong doing (Pozgar, 2016). Most physicians today carry medical malpractice insurance to protect themselves from the high defense costs of claims and potential financial awards (Kessler, 2011). As the number of medical claims increase and jury awarded punitive damage skyrocket, medical malpractice insurance premiums have also risen dramatically (Kessler, 2011). Malpractice insurance

Through the history of health care, the standard of care changed from protecting our patient from injury and illness to a systemic entity to make money for insurance companies. Access to services and clinical outcomes are dependent on what health insurance providers will “pay” for in a clinical or community setting; as a result, patient safety, care and satisfaction has been negatively impacted.

Defensive medical decisions, better known as defensive medicine, is the practice of recommending additional diagnostic tests or treatments that may not be necessary. The primary function of this practice is for physicians to reduce the chances of litigation. These practices are inefficient and wasteful due to the medical legal system, which causes physicians to order further imaging examinations and diagnostic measures for assurance purposes. Defensive medicine cannot be measured and therefore the impact on the cost of healthcare has been underestimated and minimized (Sopher, 2015). 75% of doctors said that additional tests and procedures are necessary to avoid litigation according to the physician survey (Sopher, 2015).

The direct costs of malpractice, such as settlements and insurance premiums, have tended, however, to remain relatively constant (about 0.5%) with respect to overall medical spending during the last 20 years. Malpractice has led to significantly higher rates for malpractice insurance and, some studies indicate, a

Across the country, there are calls for medical malpractice tort reform based on the perception of frivolous lawsuits by patients with patients without valid claims and less-than-scrupulous lawyers are willing to prosecute them. On the one hand, the fact that some plaintiffs have received enormous settlements as a result of their medical malpractice lawsuits further fuels the debate that tort reform is needed to avoid these types of settlements that are incongruent with the facts. On the other hand, though, few observers would likely argue that some type of medical malpractice protections are required in order to protect patients from truly substandard and dangerous medical care practices and to compensate them for their injuries when these eventualities occur. One state that has implemented reasonable malpractice statutes and procedures that avoid these two extremes is Ohio where legislators passed tort reform laws in 2002. By contrast, many of the State of Michigan's laws on medical malpractice date back 40 years. This paper provides a description of the provisions of the medical malpractice statutes and procedures from these two states, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

The primary ethical issue related to cost containment in health care is distributive justice. The reality of limited resources necessitates their allocation to yield the greatest good for the greatest number of participants. Finding the balance between provision of value in health care and cost containment remains a fundamental ethical challenge for health care reform. Ultimately, there should be effective ways to contain the already high and steadily increasing costs of health care, it will become more and more difficult to provide care in the current or in a reformed health care system (American College of Emergency Physicians ,

One approach to minimize large amounts of tort claims for medical malpractice is to put a cap on non-economical awards. Tort reform is the response; a tort is a civil lawsuit for damages over private wrongs other than breach of contract. According to Lau and Johnson (2014), a tort can be categorized into three categories: intentional tort, when tortfeasor acted with intent, negligence, if the tortfeasor did not act intentionally, but failed to act as a reasonable person, and lastly, strict liability, if the tortfeasor is engaged in certain activities, which caused injury or death due to it. The massive medical malpractice cases across the nation have made defending frivolous lawsuits is a national problem; ultimately, the general public

When considering the legalities of this scenario, negligence, vicarious liability, and physician- patient relationship are a few components that affect the outcome of a lawsuit. The amount of legal torts that were violated in this case was enough to cause disputes between patients and healthcare staff. Negligence is a familiar tort that occurs much more than it needs too. Unfortunately in this case, vicarious liability and patient-physician relationship are two considerations that influence this case as well.

From a personal standpoint I believe that the excessiveness of litigation is hurting the field of healthcare due to the affects in many different areas. It reduces access that patients need. Due to the misuse and disloyal antics of people making false accusations to self gain we will continue to see a rise in healthcare. I do not feel that all accusations are false, but I do believe that litigation has become successful due to dishonesty. In order for there to be financial distress for us all as a country we must flow diligently with each other. From a malpractice standpoint they need to ensure that their patients are taken care of to the best of their ability and that they are taking the precautions needed to ensure no

Lawsuits of medical malpractice may be the greatest threat to justice in the legal system. Tort cases are constantly filed against medical practices which cause health care prices to dramatically increase in states lacking caps. Medical practitioners are forced to undergo an unnecessary amount of costly tests and procedures in order to defend themselves from frivolous lawsuits. The expenses of these precautions cause hospitals and other medical facilities to charge more for the care given to the patients,

As you know the reason that for CMS and other health care agencies to come up with quality incentive payments (QIP) to enforce compliance and improve quality patient care because of the rising medical costs, staggering patient safety concerns, rampant malpractice. The increasing burden of chronic disease, health insurance fraud and inappropriate pay become a heavy burden that the health care unable to bear financially and it was the impetus for incentive payments. However, some argue that incentive payments are dangerous pernicious because providers may avoid accepting patients with complicated problems and who are simply incompliant of care. Bonis, (2005) stated, ” A potentially even more pernicious outcome of QIPS would occur if providers,

Rising health care costs have caused a national crisis, and all agree we must embrace reform. President Obama has initiated his national health care plan in the hopes of decreasing some of the inflated costs. When attempting to resolve this issue, one must always address the root of the problem. A large portion of these inflationary costs stem from malpractice lawsuits, and so begins the debate for tort reform: legislation which would cut the costs of health care by reducing the risk of civil litigation and exposure to fraudulent claims (“What”). However, the real factor at hand and the real cause of the industry’s high costs does not come solely from the cost incurred from these lawsuits, but from over-expenditures on the part of

Most of us have little medical knowledge, and when we are sick we are dependent on doctors and other medical staff to do their job properly. But in those situations where they don't and it leads to injury, it is not always obvious that it was a situation of malpractice. The following are a few circumstances where you may have been a victim of malpractice.

“Medical malpractice occurs when a hospital, doctor or other health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, causes an injury to a patient. The negligence might be the result of errors in diagnosis, treatment, aftercare or health management.” (Admin) One of the most common type of claims that pharmacies face are negligence claims. Negligence is one of the categories that falls under the area of law called Torts. In the Hundley v Rite Aid case, a tort was filed for injuries that were sustained by Gabrielle Hundley after she took medication from an incorrectly filed prescription. The case involved a jury trial verdict involving Gabrielle Hundley, a minor child, against Howard Jones, the pharmacist, and the Rite

Medical malpractice lawsuits are an extremely serious topic and have affected numerous patients, doctors, and hospitals across the country. Medical malpractice is defined as “improper, unskilled or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional” (Medical malpractice, n.d.). If a doctor acts negligent and causes harm to a patient, malpractice lawsuits arise. Negligence is the concept of the liability concerning claims of medical malpractice, making this type of litigation part of tort law. Tort law provides that one person may litigate negligence to recover damages for personal injury. Negligence laws are designed to deter careless behavior and also to