You could investigate anyone - your doctor, your boss, your potential marriage partner - right from the comfort of your home computer!
Doctor Malpractice Facts
Medical malpractice occurs when a negligent act or omission by a doctor or other medical professional results in damage or harm to a patient. When a patient sues a doctor for malpractice, the patient may recover monetary damages for lost wages, medical bills, and pain & suffering. In some cases, punitive damages can also be collected. Medical malpractice is the failure of a medical professional to meet the standard of good medical practice in the area in which the medical professional practices.
Medical malpractice negligence encompasses virtually every kind of mistake that could be made by a doctor or a nurse, most commonly failure to diagnose properly a patient's disease or injury resulting in improper or late treatment.
Other actions which may constitute medical malpractice include:
- improperly prescribing a drug
- failing to inform the patient of available treatments
- pursuing treatment that has been turning out ineffective, and some others
According to some estimates medical malpractice errors result in nearly 80,000 deaths each year. More people die from medical mistakes each year than from breast cancer or highway accidents.
Prom the patient's perspective the first step to make when doctor malpractice is likely to have taken place is to obtain the medical records as soon as possible so that your attorney can have them analyzed to support your claim. In case of victim's death, a probate representative needs to be appointed to obtain the hospital records at the earliest possible stage and have them secured.
Doctor Malpractice in the News Feeds
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal appeals court has ruled that the government cannot keep secret the results of its investigations into Medicare patients' complaints about the quality of their medical care. Under the policy at issue in the case, the government would keep secret the results of investigations, even when it found that the doctor in question made a medical error, if the doctor refused to consent to disclosure. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that this policy violated the Peer Review Improvement Act, affirming a July 2001 ruling by a district court. Public Citizen filed suit in 2000 against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The complaint stemmed from the agency's refusal to disclose investigation results to Kentucky resident David Shipp, who filed a complaint related to his wife's care in 1998 and 1999 at Baptist East Hospital in Louisville. HHS's Peer Review Organization (PRO) launched an investigation into three doctors, but refused to tell Shipp the results of the investigations into two of the
doctors who did not consent to the disclosure.
Information about doctor discipline, including state sanctions, hospital disciplinary actions and medical malpractice awards is now contained in the National Practitioner Data Bank. HMOs, hospitals and medical boards can look at the National Practitioner Data Bank but consumers cannot, because the names of physicians in the database are kept secret from the public. Congress should lift the veil of secrecy and allow the people who have the most to lose from questionable doctors to get the information they need to protect themselves and their families.
Malpractice Negligence
Nursery Surgeon
Physician Chiropractor
Dentist License
Professional Misconduct
