A legislative proposal made in Florida last week suggests a cap on payments made to patients who are insured by medicare and injured by medical malpractice. The cap would be $100,000 and has been referred to by many as “immunity” for negligent doctors.
Medical Malpractice Attorneys Protect Medicare Patients
The proposed legislation would deem doctors treating medicare patients “agents of the state,” awarding the same damage capping immunity that all Florida state employees get. But a cap that only affects the recoveries of Medicare insured patients is unconstitutional, as it makes them lesser persons, unworthy of the same compensation as those that can afford healthcare. Medical malpractice attorneys have long been against limiting liability, as it allows doctors to only answer for a portion of their negligence. And if a cap on medicare insured patients is approved, who is to say what kind of an effect that will have on the care they receive throughout the state. It certainly opens up a potential for medicare patients to begin receiving subpar care due to the limited liablity doctors will face.
Medical Malpractice Attorneys in New Jersey and Philadelphia
Medical malpractice is a real threat to anyone being treated by medical professionals. As patients, we trust our doctors and nurses to provide us with the best, most professional and safe care that they can. Unfortunately, that is not always the case, and patients pay for doctors’ mistakes. Caps on this liability will only further injure patients who have suffered from the effects of medical malpractice, be it temporarily or permanently. Those who have lost loved ones to medical malpractice, especially children who lose parents, will need full and fair compensation to continue on with their lives.
If you or a loved one have suffered due to medical malpractice, you will need the assistance of a medical malpractice attorney. Contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation, or call for a
Let the team at the Mininno Law Office earn you the compensation you need and deserve.
Haley Cobb was diagnosed with cerebral palsy shortly after her vaginal birth. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the doctor, Dr. Tara Shipman, should have performed a c-section. Failure to do so caused oxygen deprivation to Haley’s brain, and led to cerebral palsy. A 15 day trial in October won Haley’s parents, Okey and Debra Cobb, $13.9 million dollars. Also enforced was a $6.5 million dollar settlement the Cobb’s reached with other parties pre-suit. All in all, the Cobbs will receive $20.4 million for the lifetime of care and special medical necessities for their daughter, Haley.
Dr. Richard Glunk recently lost his appeal of a $20.5 million dollar 
Medicare and Medicaid paid $3.8 million out of the $6.6 million dollars charged for 585 stent procedures performed by Dr. Midei that may not have been medically necessary. Hospitals like St. Joseph’s stand to make up to $10,000 per procedure. Abbott Laboratories, the pharmaceutical distributor of the stents that Dr. Midei used, stood to make even more money. Perhaps thats why part of their 2008 business plan included supplying the doctor with research money and VIP trips! Doctors are offered kickbacks to prescribe medications or provide referrals on an unfortunately regular basis, but to earn those kickbacks at the expense of patient safety is surely corrupt.
Researchers examined 6 years worth of medical records from 10 different North Carolina hospitals. Over 2,300 admissions records were examined from 2002 thru 2007. Records were chosen at random and reviewed by teams of nurse reviewers. The study found 588 patient harms, including surgical errors, medicinal errors, and nosocomial (hospital-aquired) infections. Of those 588 medical errors, 84.4% were reported as “short-lived” and “not serious.” Fifty, however, were classifed as life threatening, with 14 resulting in death, and 17 resulting in permanent injury. Of the errors, 63.1% of them were abolsutely avoidable. 
Jessie Mae Ned was 51 when she decided to undergo a knee replacement at Parkland Memorial Hospital. She had been working at Parkland for 28 years as part of the cleaning staff. Most of her time was spent scrubbing floors and toilets before she attained supervisor status. At 51, arthritis had rendered her left knee useless. Ned’s primary care physician, a doctor at the Parkland employee clinic, referred her to Dr. Frank Gottschalk, a University of Texas Southwestern Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, and Parkland specialist in joint reconstruction and amputation. The doctor scheduled the procedure for the last Friday of August in 2008. 
Parkland Memorial Hospital is the primary teaching hospital for the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. It allows residents to perform entire procedures with or without the supervision of attending physicians. According to their own patient safety officer, Dr. Angelique Ramirez, “[they] harm two patients a day in a significant way.”
According to a recent study, almost 80% of all serious medical malpractice events stem from poor communication during “patient hand-offs”. These errors are usually caused by the inadequate transfer of crucial patient information from one medical provider to another. Without the correct information about a patient’s current and past medical treatment, a doctor can make terrible mistakes that could lead to misdiagnosis, serious injury, or wrongful death.