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Medical Errors Drive Up the Cost of Medical Care

Over 1.5 million Americans are injured each year due to preventable medical errors. These errors result in $17 billion in medical treatment which drives up the cost of medical care for everyone.

Has your doctor been disciplined by the Virginia Board of Medicine?

The Virginia Board of Medicine provides free information about every doctor licensed in Virginia including whether he or she has ever been disciplined or paid a medical malpractice claim within the past ten years.

Illinois Supreme Court Rules Medical Malpractice Cap Unconstitutional

Just yesterday, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned that state's medical malpractice "cap" because it limited compensation to injured persons.

Specifically, the Court ruled that the law violated the state Constitution's "separation of powers" clause, because it took away power that should rest solely with judges.

Eleven states now have abolished their medical malpractice caps. Patients in those states are now entitled to receive the full compensation that a judge or jury of their peers awards to them. In other states, including Virginia, the amount that a jury decides is fair compensation to an injured person is often automatically reduced by statute.

If you think Virginia should join states like Illinois in ending its restriction on a victim's right to recover, contact your delegate or state senator today.

If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of medical malpractice, contact an attorney at Williamson & Lavecchia to preserve your right to justice. 

Senate Challenges Collusion by Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies

In the last several days there have been encouraging stories in the media reporting that the U.S. Senate, as it mulls over the health care reform bill, is pushing hard to prevent health and medical malpractice insurance companies from fixing prices.

In 1945 Congress allowed insurers to become exempt from anti-trust regulations that guard against price-fixing. In a letter to President Obama, Senate leaders urged him to support the repeal of these exemptions, pointing out “These acts hurt consumers, drive up health care costs, and should be prohibited in the health insurance industry, as they are in virtually every other industry.”

As I've stated in previous blog posts, limiting injured persons' right to recover, otherwise known as "tort reform", bears little to no relation to a decrease in health costs through lowering medical malpractice premiums. Preventing insurance companies from making back-room deals to fix prices and keep premiums artificially high, however, is bound to have an appreciable, positive effect on the affordability of health care.

If you agree, contact your senator in short order and say so.

If you or a loved one has been injured by the negligence of another, contact click here to email an experienced lawyer at Williamson and Lavecchia or call us at (804) 288-1661 to protect your rights.

Estate of Georgia Woman Wins $6M Verdict in DVT Case

Jury awards woman $6,000,000 for medical malpractice.

Medication Error Settlement

Despite advanced technologies to prevent deadly mistakes, medication errors are still commonplace.  A recent Virginia settlement for over $1 million dollars makes this point.  A patient was prescribed the blood thinner Coumadin.  The prescription was for 2 mg, yet the pharmacy filled it with 5 mg tablets.  After 10 days of being overdosed, the patient suffered severe bleeding and is now permanently paralyzed.  Exercising reasonable care would have prevented this man's tragic injuries that will require lifelong care.

I wish this were a rare exception, but both the government statistics and my personal experience prove otherwise.  We have handled numerous medical malpractice lawsuits stemming from medication errors.  Examples included overdosing on Coumadin and Methotrexate, pharmacies filling prescriptions with the wrong medication, and nurses giving medications to the wrong patient. 

If you have had a personal experience with medication errors, please consider putting a comment on our website to help other people understand the dangers.  If you would like to discuss your situation with an attorney we are available.  You may call us at 804-288-1661 or click here to email us.

Joshua Silverman, Esq.

Treating the Medical Hit and Run

I just read an insightful article in the Huffington Post about medical malpractice titled "Treating the Medical Hit and Run."  A medical hit and run is when a doctor or hospital causes a preventable injury or death and then denies that anything happened.  Medical hit and runs occur all the time.  Hospital investigations are performed behind closed doors and rarely are the results shared with the patient.  In fact there is a Virginia law that allows hospitals to keep their investigations secretive. 

For many families the only avenue to the truth is through a medical malpractice lawsuit.  In some cases we are able to obtain the results of these closed door investigations.  In almost all cases we take the depositions of the health care providers.  Does the truth always come out? Unfortunately no.  However, more often than not we learn important facts that were not shared with the family.  Perhaps the most important result of a medical malpractice case is that when these facts are shown in full day light the hospital or doctor will be more inclined to take steps to protect other patients.  In one case involving a serious pressure ulcer, I was told by a representative of the hospital that they made changes to protect other patients from developing life threatening pressure ulcers.

I encourage you to read the article and share your thoughts on our blog.  If you have particular questions, please click here to contact us.

Regards,

Joshua Silverman

States Weigh the Merits of Medical Malpractice Caps

The 7th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees your right to trial by jury.  You would think that means that if you are injured due to medical malpractice, your damages will be determined by a jury of your peers.  Well that is not always true in Virginia and a number of other states.  Virginia has a cap on damages currently at $2,000,000 for medical malpractice cases.  Other states like Colorado and Nevada limit the amount that you can recover for pain and suffering to $300,000 and $350,000 respectively.  In other words no matter how badly injured you are you can not recover more than a set amount. 

Fortunately states are starting to rethink the merits of medical malpractice caps.  Nevada and Colorado are considering raising their caps.  Virginia's General Assembly is likely to consider raising the cap in the next session. 

At Williamson & Lavecchia, L.C. we believe our clients should be fully compensated for their injuries without the constraints of a medical malpractice cap.  For more information please click here to visit our Medical Malpractice section of our website.

Regards,

Joshua Silverman

Medical Malpractice Myths

President Obama has made reforming our healthcare system part of his agenda.  We certainly need reforms as far too many Americans can not afford healthcare and too many patients are injured due to medical malpractice.  I am certain that lobbyist for doctors, hospitals and insurance companies will push for tort reform as part of any changes in our healthcare system.  Tort reform is a misnomer as it suggests an improvement.  It does nothing of the sort.  What tort reform typically means is that a victim of malpractice is denied access to our courts and can only recover a relatively small amount no matter how egregious the malpractice or how severe the injuries.

I just read an article in a legal publication that challenges the myths supporting tort reform:

Myth #1: Medical malpractice costs are driving up healthcare costs.  Wrong.  The author explains that studies show that medical malpractice costs the healthcare profession very little, even though the victims may suffer tremendously.

Myth #2: The tort system does a poor job of determining when malpractice occurs.  The truth is that juries do an effective job of sorting out frivolous malpractice claims. 

Myth #3: Medical malpractice can be "fixed" through reform.  The reality is that the reforms proposed will do nothing to reduce the incidence of medical malpractice.

Speaking from personal experience, the problem with medical malpractice is not frivolous claims, it is frivolous defenses.  We have seen hospitals defending leaving sponges inside of patients, administering the wrong medications, and even operating on the wrong part of the body.  Medical malpractice costs would decrease significantly if hospitals, doctors, and nursing homes would spend less money making frivolous defenses and spend more on improving the care at the bedside.

Regards,

Josh Silverman

Medical Malpractice Cap on Damages

Virginia has had a medical malpractice cap for approximately 30 years.  What that means is there is an arbitrary limit to the amount a victim of medical malpractice may recover regardless of how badly the victim was injured or the amount of medical bills or lost wages.  Currently the cap is $2,000,000. 

$2,000,000 is sufficient in most cases, but there are no exceptions to the cap.  In many cases the cap creates an incredible injustice.  Take the hypothetical example of a doctor or nurse who negligently overdoses a 40 year old patient on medications which cause a brain injury.  The patient remains hospitalized for 1-2 months and incurs medical expenses over $500,000.  He can no longer work at his job paying $50,000/year.  He will require in home care or permanent placement in a nursing home at a cost of over $50,000/year.  Therefore even without compensating him for his tremendous pain and loss of enjoyment of life, his medical bills and lost income exceed the maximum recovery under the Virginia:

$500,000 past medical expenses + $1,250,000 in lost income until age 65 + $1,750,000 in future medical bills (based on average life expectancy)

Total medical bills and lost income = $3.5 million

The victim under Virginia law can only collect $2,000,000 leaving him with $1.5 million in uncompensated medical bills and lost income.  Again we are not even taking into account his tremendous loss of enjoyment of life, dignity, pain, and suffering.

We believe that every person and every company should take responsibility for the consequences of their negligence including  doctors, nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities, pharmacists, lawyers, truck drivers, contractosr, etc.

If you believe that you or a loved one is a victim of medical malpractice, you are welcome to contact us by phone at (804) 288-1661 or click here to contact us by email to discuss your legal rights.  We represent victims of malpractice and other types of wrongful conduct throughout Virginia including Richmond, Petersburg, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Hampton Roads, and northern Virginia.

Regards,

Josh Silverman

 

Medication Errors Lead to 18 Million Emergency Room Visits

"A recent study estimated that in one year, incorrect use of medications resulted in more than 9 million hospital admissions and more than 18 million emergency room visits." 

That quote is not coming from a lawyer, but from the non-profit Institute for Safe Medication Practices.  The Institute for Safe Medication Practices seeks to assist doctors, nurses, and pharmacists in reducing medication errors.  Even if you are not a health care provider, its information can help you protect yourself from the serious and potentially deadly consequences of medication errors.  The website contains a very valuable brochure to assist patients in being proactive to prevent medication errors.

Their website lays out the seriousness of the problem.  For example, doctors and nurses often use abbreviations to save time.  Too often the abbreviations are confusing and can lead to dangerous medication errors: "HS" means half-strength which can easily be confused with "hs" meaning at bedtime.  Likewise, "q1d" means daily, while "q.i.d." means four times per day.    The simple solution: write out the word "daily" instead of q1d.  That only requires 2 more characters, but it could save a life.

If you or a loved one has been injured as a consequence of a medication error by a pharmacist, doctor, or nurse, please contact us to discuss your legal rights.

Regards,

Josh Silverman

Serious Injuries from Retained Surgical Objects

We represent patients who suffer serious injuries when hospitals leave foreign objects in the body during surgery. Those patients are at risk for deadly infections, require unnecessary surgery, and they incur excessive medical bills.

Do lawsuits make us safer?

Lawsuits not only compensate victims for serious injuries, but they serve as an important incentive for manufacturers to design safer products, healthcare providers to provide better healthcare, and drivers to drive safer.

Williamson & Lavecchia Included in Largest Verdicts of 2009

This week's issue of Virginia Lawyers Weekly contained a feature on the largest Virginia verdicts of 2009. At Number 11 was a medical malpractice case successfully handled by two Williamson & Lavecchia lawyers, Jonathan M. Petty and Timothy Litzenburg. 

Williamson & Lavecchia won a $3.7 million dollar verdict on behalf of a victim of medical malpractice. Here's a link to the article.

If you've been injured as a result of medical malpractice, contact an experienced lawyer at Williamson & Lavecchia today to protect your interests.