Indiana Personal Injury Lawyers » Medical Malpractice http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog Useful information for Indiana residents who have been injured in accidents Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:45:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Medical Malpractice and Health Care Costs http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/medical-malpractice/medical-malpractice-and-health-care-costs/ http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/medical-malpractice/medical-malpractice-and-health-care-costs/#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:03:12 +0000 John Young http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/?p=1929 Medical Protective President and CEO, Timothy Kenesey acknowledges that the perceived threat of law suits or litigation on health care costs is relatively small.  Why is this important? It is important because as the CEO of one of, if not the, biggest medical malpractice insures in the world, Mr. Kenesey would know.  It is important because it confirms what Trial Lawyers have said for years, lawsuits, which are filed to hold doctors responsible for their mistakes, are not the cause of rising health care costs.  So, the next time you hear a politician use the threat of Litigation to justify your right to go to Court and ask for fair compensation, know that the politician is wrong.  Know that allowing those who are hurt by another’s negligence is simply the right thing to do.

]]> http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/medical-malpractice/medical-malpractice-and-health-care-costs/feed/ 0 Indiana Serious Injury Attorney Provides Medical Malpractice Information http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/indiana-serious-injury-attorney-provides-medical-malpractice-information/ http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/indiana-serious-injury-attorney-provides-medical-malpractice-information/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:17:43 +0000 John Young http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/?p=1884 There are many , many wonderful, competent and caring doctors in Indiana, and we are lucky to have them to care for us.   However, we all know that there are some doctors who may not be up to the task.  One way to check on your doctor is to go to the Indiana Department of Insurance databank on claims against doctor.  The site can be found at: http://www.indianapcf.com/public/index.aspx.  When you reach the site, select “Search for Providers”.  This will take you to a screen that will contain a list of options.  You want to select “individual”.  This will produce a screen that allows you to type in the doctors name.  I recommend typing in only the first name and then hitting search.  This may give you many doctors with the last name, but if you have the first name or the address or the specialty of the doctor, you should be able to find the doctor.  Once you have the right doctor, hit the “select” button to the left of the name and you will be allowed to search for claims made against the doctor.

The claims page will present all the claims that have been made against the doctor.  Do not stop here.  Some of these claims were dismissed, some were found not to be malpractice, but some are found to be malpractice. Some of the more important information on these pages is the “panel Opinion”  which is the decision of the three panel of doctors who reviewed the case.  Also look to see if there was a payment or a settlement, as that is an indication that malpractice took place.

As an example, a Dr. Svabek has 17 claims made against him.  A review of all these claims show that some were dismissed, some were found to be malpractice and some are pending. Good luck in your research.  If you need any help give us a call.

]]> http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/indiana-serious-injury-attorney-provides-medical-malpractice-information/feed/ 0 Serious Personal Injury and the Truth http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/serious-personal-injury-and-the-truth/ http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/serious-personal-injury-and-the-truth/#comments Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:37:41 +0000 John Young http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/?p=1855 In my continuing effort to educate the general public about the truth regarding the Civil Justice System, I want to discuss a part of the medical malpractice law in Indiana.  If you are seriously injured in a drunk driving accident, a construction accident, a slip and fall on privately owned property and you are 1% at fault for the injuries, you are still entitled to collect 99% of your damages.  This is only fair, in that each person should be personally responsible for the harm they cause, and not just a part of the harm they cause, all the harm they cause. 

This is not true in a medical malpractice case.  If the health care provider commits malpractice, but the injured patient is 1% at fault for his/her injuries, because they forgot to take a medication on one occasion, then that 1% fault means that the health care provider does not have to compensate the patient they injured even though the health care provider’s fault caused 99% of the harm.  Now remember, medical malpractice does not mean the health care provider meant to do anything to cause the harm.  Medical malpractice simply means that the health care provider failed to treat the patient the same way a reasonably careful doctor would treat the patient.  You can liken this to a driver who fails to stop at a stop sign and causes an auto accident.  The driver did not mean to ram the other car, they simply did not drive as a reasonably careful driver would drive, i.e. stopping at the stop sign.

It is not fair that health care providers are not responsible for making up for the harm they cause, if the person they injure is minimally at fault for the injuries.  If you are a juror, you are not told this truth about medical malpractice, and there is no sound reason why you are not told this truth. I propose one of two changes.  Either change the system so that each party to the lawsuit is responsible for exactly the amount of harm they cause, or tell jurors the truth about how the system now works.

]]> http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/serious-personal-injury-and-the-truth/feed/ 0 Suing for Medical Malpractice – Final http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/suing-for-medical-malpractice-final/ http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/suing-for-medical-malpractice-final/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:12:30 +0000 Jim Young http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/?p=430 Let’s wrap up our current discussion of medical malpractice lawsuits in Indiana.

In addition to the factors that we’ve already discussed, the stress suffered by loved ones can also be an element of "non-economic" damages in a personal injury case. Indiana allows claims for negligent infliction of emotional distress for people that either witness a serious accident or come on the scene immediately afterwards and are a close family member. These are persons expected to have significant emotional problems as a result of the occurrence. Assuming this applies to the facts of a particular medical malpractice action, there are specific rules that need to be met for a valid bystander claim; however, if family member meets those requirements, the jury can award damages for emotional distress.

Note that in all civil cases (including medical malpractice), the burden of proving the case is on the plaintiff (i.e., the injured person) because the plaintiff gets the ball rolling by filing the lawsuit. In a civil case, the burden of proof is a "preponderance of the evidence" which means that the jury must be convinced that the claim is more probably true than not true. Most legal observers describe this as merely tipping the scales held by "Lady Justice" ever so slightly (even as little as 51 percent to 49 percent) for a finding of liability. In contrast, a criminal conviction requires guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, a much higher legal standard.

Another interesting fact is that Indiana has enacted a "collateral source statute" which essentially rewards individuals for protecting themselves through insurance coverage. This law says that a jury should not be advised nor take into consideration payments made by collateral sources such as health or disability insurance if the injured person or the person’s family paid for those collateral sources. The statute also considers Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security or Social Security Disability, or other government payments, as collateral sources that the jury can’t use as a reason to cut down an injured party’s damages.

As we have outlined in this series of blog postings, medical malpractice cases in Indiana require compliance with technical legal rules. Competent and careful personal injury attorneys know the rules about how and when to bring a claim against a healthcare provider or providers who made a mistake involving medical treatment. If you would like to discuss your concerns about a serious injury case involving medical care, please contact Young and Young in Indianapolis. With 55 years of experience, we have the qualifications to help you evaluate and pursue your claim.

]]> http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/suing-for-medical-malpractice-final/feed/ 0 Suing for Medical Malpractice http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/suing-for-medical-malpractice/ http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/suing-for-medical-malpractice/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:15:04 +0000 Jim Young http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/?p=417 As discussed in prior blog entries, even doctors who have developed a great deal of expertise and who might be using advanced technologies unintentionally make mistakes. That’s where a lawsuit for medical practice comes in. Case in point: A patient went in for surgery due to pain in the legs.  The surgery was to reroute the blood supply to the legs. During surgery, the surgeon failed to keep the patient’s blood thinned appropriately and clots formed which cut off blood supply to the patient’s organs. This led to overwhelming sepsis and organ failure as well as amputation of the patient’s legs. The patient sued for medical malpractice, by alleging among other things that the surgeon failed to live up to recognized and accepted standards of medical care or that the surgeon’s action or non-actions was a departure from those standards.

Under the law, medical malpractice (or medical negligence) can include misdiagnosis, improper treatment, or unreasonably delays in treatment–or in general, substandard care or lack of care.

A medical malpractice claim can include elements such as past and future medical bills, past and future lost income, physical impairments, pain, emotional suffering, and for family, the loss of the affection and companionship of a deceased loved one.

Medical malpractice cases in Indiana require compliance with specific, technical procedures. For example, all cases must be presented to a Medical Review Panel before a lawsuit can be filed in court. The Medical Review Panel is made up of a lawyer who functions as a non-voting chairman and who guides the three doctors named as the actual members of the panel. The patient selects one doctor for the panel, the defendant selects a second doctor, and those two physicians select the third doctor. Both parties are allowed to submit evidence to the Medical Review Panel in written form which can include: depositions, statements, medical records, medical literature, x-rays, and any arguments they would like to make as to whether they think there was or was not malpractice.  Neither party can contact the Panel members before they issue their opinion. After the materials are submitted, the Panel members meet to discuss the case and then render their written opinion. After the Medical Review Panel completes its work, the patient can then file in state court and proceed to a jury trial. The Medical Review Panel opinion is admissible in court but it is not binding on either party.

We will continue this discussion in the next blog entry.

]]> http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/suing-for-medical-malpractice/feed/ 0 Lessons Learned from an Improper Diagnosis http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/lessons-learned-from-an-improper-diagnosis/ http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/lessons-learned-from-an-improper-diagnosis/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:50:15 +0000 Jim Young http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/?p=381  When we last left off, I was describing a situation in which a client presented with nosebleeds and flu-like symptoms and was misdiagnosed with the flu by a nurse practitioner. It turned out that the client had promyelocytic leukemia and later suffered serious brain injuries. 

Going forward, we can derive some lessons from this incident, including:  

Most Hoosiers are unaware that immediate care centers are staffed with nurse practitioners as opposed to physicians. The law allows nurse practitioners to examine, diagnose, treat and prescribe medications to patients as any family physician would do. The supervision for these nurse practitioners is chart review by a supervising physician at a later time. It seems a patient would prefer to be examined and treated by a doctor rather than a nurse practitioner who may lack the same degree of education or training experience of a physician; 

It is important to note that a nose bleed can indicate a more serious issue. The healthcare provider should perform a full examination and work-up if there are other symptoms in addition to the nosebleeds; and 

Lay persons sometimes throw around the term “flu” in an all-purpose way. But the flu has very specific symptoms (ranging from mild to severe) and can even be over-diagnosed by physicians. And a flu diagnosis in and of itself doesn’t necessarily mean that the patient is out of woods. So be careful when you are diagnosed with the flu; flu-like symptoms plus other symptoms or problems could be a signal of a more serious condition. 

Medical malpractice cases in Indiana require compliance with specific, technical procedures. Competent and careful personal injury attorneys know the rules about how and when to bring a claim against the healthcare provider or providers who made a medical mistake. Young and Young, as injury lawyers for more than 55 years, are qualified to help you pursue your claim. 

]]> http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/lessons-learned-from-an-improper-diagnosis/feed/ 0 What if I am Hurt in an Accident and My Doctor Commits Malpractice While Treating Me? http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/what-if-i-am-hurt-in-an-accident-and-my-doctor-commits-malpractice-while-treating-me/ http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/what-if-i-am-hurt-in-an-accident-and-my-doctor-commits-malpractice-while-treating-me/#comments Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:45:29 +0000 John Young http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/?p=229 You are in an accident.  It does not matter how the accident happened.  It could be that you were in a car wreck with a drunk driver.  It could be you fell in a construction accident.  You might have had a highway accident with a semi tractor trailer. You might have been in a road accident while riding your motorcycle.  It does not matter if it was a traffic accident or a slip and fall, or you were electrocuted with burns, you are injured.  Your injury might include a brain injury, or a back injury with spinal cord injury, which causes you to become paralyzed as either a paraplegic or a quadriplegic.  If you are hurt and it is someone else’s fault, you are going to need medical care and treatment.

Most doctors do excellent work. As a result the injured person recovers as best they can and gets back to life as best they can.  Every so often, however, the doctor treating the patient makes a medical error, also called malpractice.  Remember, malpractice does not mean the doctor meant to cause the harm.  It simply means the doctor was negligent in providing medical care.  Doctors are human, and they make medical mistakes.  If they do make a medical mistake, they must do what your mother taught you and what their mothers taught them, they must make up for the harm they caused.  They do this by having insurance.  Don’t worry about their rates going up.  Indiana passed medical malpractice tort reform back in the seventies.  The doctors are protected by the malpractice act which caps recoveries for the people they injure at 1.25 million dollars.  This might seem like a lot, but a child who suffers permanent injury is going spend 5 or 6 times that amount in medical care over their life time.  Instead of the person who caused the problem making up for the harm they cause, we as tax payers have to make up for the harm they cause through Medicare and Medicaid.

If your doctor makes a medical mistake while treating you for injuries caused by another person in an accident, the person who caused the original injuries is responsible for making up for the additional harm caused by the doctor.  The other driver does this through their insurance.  The injured person can also bring a claim against the doctor as well, asking the doctor to make up for the additional harm he caused.  The reason for the first rule I discussed (the person who caused the accident is responsible for all the harm that is caused by the accident) is to make sure that the injured person receives full and fair compensation.  The reason the injured person can also bring a claim against the doctor is because the driver that originally caused the harm may not have enough insurance to pay for the harm the doctor caused.  Do not worry about the injured person obtaining a double recovery.  This is not allowed under Indiana law.

Competent and careful accident lawyers and accident attorneys know the rules about how and when to bring a claim against the person who caused the accident and the doctor who made a medical mistake.  Young and Young, as injury lawyers for more than 55 years, are qualified to help you with your claim.  Call us today.

]]> http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/what-if-i-am-hurt-in-an-accident-and-my-doctor-commits-malpractice-while-treating-me/feed/ 0 What Do I Do If I Think My Doctor Made a Mistake? http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/what-do-i-do-if-i-think-my-doctor-made-a-mistake/ http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/index.php/indiana-personal-injury/what-do-i-do-if-i-think-my-doctor-made-a-mistake/#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:22:27 +0000 John Young http://www.youngandyoungin.com/blog/?p=86 In Indiana, most doctors try their best and do fine work.  However, the Medical Malpractice Act, passed in 1976 to help doctors, had an unintended effect.  Doctors who made mistakes in other states came here because of the protections of the medical malpractice act.  So what do you do if you think your doctor made a mistake.  The answer has several parts.  It would be nice if you could go to your doctor and have a frank discussion about what happened.   Some doctors, the good ones, will have this discussion with you.  They will tell you what happened and what you can do about it.  Doctors who have these discussions are much less likely to be sued than someone who is perceived as trying to hide something.  A frank discussion with your doctor may convince you that they really did not make a mistake.  You see, sometimes medical care does not result in recovery.  Sometimes the result of a surgery is not what you expected, or hoped for, however, a bad result alone is not evidence of malpractice.  (As we discussed before, Malpractice means a failure to do what a reasonable doctor would have done.  It does not mean the doctor meant to do you harm).

If your doctor is unwilling to speak with you, or you are too shy to speak with the doctor, you still have options.  One option is to meet with a qualified accident and injury lawyer.  A qualified attorney is more like than not certified as a civil trial lawyer by the national Board of trial advocacy.  A competent accident or injury lawyer has experience with all types of injuries, including brain injury, spinal cord injuries, back injuries, paralysis, amputation, and wrongful death.  A qualified accident or injury attorney knows that whether your doctor committed malpractice is a question only another doctor can answer.  Therefore it is essential to have contacts with all types of doctors who can review the facts of your case and let you know whether your doctor committed malpractice.  Knowing this information up front can give you peace of mind, that no malpractice occurred, or give you a strong basis for bringing your claim for compensation.

A second option is to file a complaint with the Indiana Medical Licensing Board.  Your complaint alone probably will not have any real effect.  However, if your doctor is consistently making mistakes, and his patients are consistently reporting his actions to the Board, eventually the board will take action to investigate  the doctor and if he/she is making many mistakes, take action to prohibit him or her from further practice.

A  third option is to report your concerns to the Indiana Attorney General’s Office (317 232-6531).  The attorney General has the ability to investigate doctors and make sure they are removed from practice.

If you would like to discuss your concerns about a serious injury case involving medical treatment, please call Young and Young.  With more than fifty five years of experience, we know we can help.

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