Caps on Medical Malpractice Compensation
Several jurisdictions in the United States have a cap on the amount of compensation that victims are entitled to receive in their medical malpractice claims. The amount of the cap, and what is capped, varies state by state.
No Malpractice Caps in Canada (sort of)
“What’s the difference between Misdiagnosis and Failure to Diagnose?”
The majority of medical malpractice claims that I am asked to review involve either a misdiagnosis of a medical condition (recognizing the symptoms but getting the diagnosis wrong) or the failure to diagnose a medical condition (not recognizing that there is a medical problem that requires treatment).
Making a mistake may not be malpractice
When I am asked to review a possible claim for a client wondering if they have been a victim of medical malpractice, it often takes months of investigation and requires reviewing hundreds of pages of medical records and reports. In many cases I have to get a medical expert to provide a medical-legal opinion on the issue of standard of care or causation.
However, there is a way for you to figure out for yourself if you have medical malpractice claim that is worth talking to a lawyer about to see if you may have a claim.
Two Simple Questions:
Oprah Investigates Medical Malpractice
My wife loves the Oprah show. She DVR’s the program and watches it (almost) every night. Tonight she asked me to watch todays show about Medical Errors.
100,000 Americans 24,000 Canadians Die Every Year
Can you believe this?!
There are doctors who are forcing patients to sign a contract promising not to criticize the doctor, “his expertise and/or treatment.”
No signature-No medical care
The New England Journal of Medicine has published a study showing that using a simple checklist helped decrease the number of surgery related deaths by more than 40%. The research showed that major complications after surgery fell by almost 1/3.
Using a Checklist
The checklist required the operating team to review a list of questions which included:
1. Were proper antibiotics given;
2. Was the correct patient on the operating table;
3. Was the correct surgical site identified;
4. Was sufficient anesthesia and blood supply available;
5. Did the patient have any allergies;
6. Counting needles/sponges to make sure nothing was left inside the patient.
Staggering Results
I get several calls a week from patients, of family members of patients, who are concerned about the care that they, or their family member, have received from their doctor or hospital.
In most cases, a careful investigation of the facts reveals that there are no grounds for a medical malpractice claim (in other words, the doctor or hospital wasn’t negligent) or that there may have been negligence in the patient’s care, but the cost of filing a lawsuit would be more than the potential recovery.
Explaining these facts to my clients is one of the more frustrating aspects of being a medical malpractice lawyer. I hate telling patients that I believe there was negligence in the care they received but that I don’t think they should pursue a compensation claim.
Dr. Rajgopal Menon, a pathologist responsible for potentially hundreds of faulty cancer test results should have been fired years ago according to Justice Paul Creaghan
5000 + Test Results Wrong or Incomplete!
Justice Creaghan is heading up an inquiry formed after an independent audit found that more than 5000 of Menon’s pathology tests for breast cancer and prostate cancer were incomplete or misdiagnosed. Let me repeat that: Menon’s test results were wrong in more than FIVE THOUSAND cases. More than 25% of all the test results he performed over 12 years contained errors!
As a result, cancer patients had their diagnosis delayed or, in some cases, patients were told they had cancer when they did not.
How often does medical malpractice happen in Canada?
The short answer is that the law suits that are filed in court are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to medical malpractice claims in Canada.
Medical malpractice claims in Canada tend to get a lot of attention in the media. Everyone is concerned about the quality of health care that they receive, and claims that raise concerns about problems with medical care naturally get reported in the newspapers or on television.
When someone dies or is seriously injured in a hospital, or after receiving medical care, it is human nature to feel that someone is responsible, that someone is to blame.
But from a legal standpoint, it may not actually be possible to prove that someone is liable (legally responsible) for the death or injury.
There are four things that you have to prove in order to win your medical malpractice case in Canada:
