A bill is currently working its way through the Wisconsin Legislature that would limit the admissibility of certain types of evidence in medical malpractice cases. Medical malpractice attorneys believe that this bill, which is part of a larger tort reform plan, may be over reaching. The new law would not allow courts to consider an apology, expression of condolence, or expression of responsibility by nurses, doctors, or other healthcare providers as evidence of malpractice.
The Two Debating Sides
Sandy Pasch originally wrote the bill in an attempt to disallow courts to consider healthcare provider’s apologies, but since the bill became more expanded, she elected to vote against the bill. Pasch, a nurse, was quoted as saying,
“It would negate whistleblowers who call up and say to a family member I’m so sorry your husband died, we’ve been having problems with that equipment and I had to come forward, we cant take another death.”
A vocal leader on the other side of the debate is Mark Grapentine, who is the spokesman for Wisconsin Medical Society, and is in favor of the new bill. Grapenstine said,
“oftentimes a physician will accept responsibility even if he or she has no idea if something was the result of negligence or not. It’s kind of the human part of making someone feel better. We don’t want to have physicians worrying about what words they say and whether they’re being interpreted as an admission of fault or not.”
Medical malpractice attorneys believe that, in some circumstances, the dialogue between healthcare providers and patients could be pertinent and it would be a mistake to broadly outlaw all comments, as this bill attempts to do.
Medical Malpractice Attorneys in New Jersey and Philadelphia
If you or a family member have recently been the victim of medical negligence, it is possible that you would like to speak with our medical malpractice attorneys. Please contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation, or call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
A 69-year-old nursing home resident died on Tuesday, June 7th after care workers neglected to bring him inside for over three hours. Martin Belkin, who lived at Sunrise Care Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, had a history of medical problems. He asked care workers early Tuesday afternoon to be taken outside in his wheelchair. He was left in the heat for over three hours, from 2:45 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. He was found unresponsive. Tuesday was a record high for Milwaukee, reaching 97 degrees at 3:47 p.m. A staffer at the medical examiner’s office asked for a reading of Belkin’s body temperature just before 8 p.m. That reading relayed that Belkin’s body temp was 101.4 degrees. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office will be conducting an autopsy this week to determine if Tuesday’s heat was the official cause of Belkin’s death. 
The business community is thrilled by the bill the Senate passed this week. Of course they are; the new measures make it harder to get sued! Patient advocates, however, view the bill as a shield for medical providers who injure or abuse in nursing homes, or who practice careless, dangerous, and sub-standard medicine.