If you’re planning on filing a lawsuit, you probably have what you believe to be evidence that you were wronged in some regard. Understanding evidence, however, does take some real legal knowledge. In fact, you may find that, upon meeting with your attorney, they don’t really believe that the things you consider to be evidence […]
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Police Sued Over Privacy Violations
CNN reported that a police department in Washington is facing a lawsuit over violating the rights of inmates. The reporting details that 11 women and 1 man are suing a police department over alleged instances where the inmates—who were all arrested on suspicion of drunk driving—were recorded while they were undressing and using the toilet. […]
Frivolous Lawsuits Get too Much Publicity
The idea behind a lawsuit is to give a person who was wronged because of another person’s negligence away to get compensated. This can include suing manufacturers for putting dangerous products out on the market when they should’ve known better, suing motorists who are prone to driving dangerously and end up hurting or killing someone […]
Dog Bites and Liability
Unfortunately, many dog owners are not responsible with their animals. In fact, it’s quite reasonable to argue that the biggest cause of dog bites has nothing to do with dogs, but with the people who are in charge of taking care of those dogs. There are differences on a state-by-state basis as to how much […]
Daycare Worker Arrested for Raping Children
For parents with children in daycare, a nightmare scenario seems to be unfolding in Ohio. According to NewsOK, a daycare worker has been arrested on two counts of rape. The woman, according to the article, had engaged in sexual conduct with an infant and made a video of herself doing it. Police claim that they […]
Class Action Against LinkedIn Reveals Importance of TOS
If you’ve gotten emails that appear to be from a friend of yours but that were actually from LinkedIn giving a pitch for the website, you’re not alone. In fact, a lawsuit has been filed against the business social networking website alleging that the company breaks into email accounts, uses the contact list to send […]
Can You Sue a Company for Mishandling Your Information?
Today, it’s not uncommon for companies with whom people do very casual business – cellular phone companies, Internet service providers, etc. – to have some very sensitive information about their clients. For example, Social Security numbers are routinely used as forms of identification and many companies require that information in order to open an account. […]
Why Do Personal Injury Attorneys Turn Down Cases?
There are instances when a personal injury attorney may turn down your claim. This may leave you wondering if there is any hope for justice but, keep in mind the fact that civil lawsuits are not really about justice; they’re about compensation. If you’ve been turned down as a client by an attorney, some or […]
How Do You Sue on Behalf of a Child
Some of the largest jury awards are actually handed out to children. These occur in cases involving medical malpractice during birth, car accidents that permanently damage a child and in other cases. Obviously, a child cannot enter into a contract or take any other legal action of their own accord. Parents are the ones who […]
Texas Medical Malpractice Reforms May Have Done Nothing
Political rhetoric surrounding healthcare costs has oftentimes cast medical malpractice lawyers as the real reasons that costs remain high. According to the Associated Press and several other sources, however, Governor Rick Perry’s medical malpractice reforms may have done nothing to bring more doctors to the state, to improve access to care or to provide any of the other benefits the Governor has claimed.
Underserved and Rural
In Texas’s rural areas, there are still pockets where physician availability is abysmal. Some rural counties have no doctors who can perform emergency care, deliver babies or perform other necessary services. While the Governor has claimed that his tort reform resulted in many more doctors coming to the state, numbers reported by the American Association for Justice show that the number of physicians in the state was increasing prior to 2003 already and that the rate of increase did not go up following the tort reform.
The increase in doctor numbers, according to the Associated Press, was most noticeable in the cities, where there were already plenty of providers available. The growth in doctors was also tied directly to the growth in population on the whole.
The Tort Reform
The tort reform itself limited the non-economic damages that can be sought from individual physicians to $250,000. This is the same damage cap that some national politicians have been advocating be implemented on a federal level. Lawyers and patient advocates point to the fact that there is little evidence that demonstrates that the cost of healthcare is increasing because of malpractice lawsuits and the fact that the patients who are affected by malpractice sometimes sue for very convincing reasons.
Understanding Medical Malpractice
A doctor or healthcare provider that takes on a person as a patient also takes on certain responsibilities to that patient when they do so. When these duties are breached, the consequences for the patients can be devastating. They sometimes include:
- The loss of the ability to work
The loss of mobility
Conditions that worsen because of not having been detected
Expensive medical bills
Complications with other conditions
Death
With no way to even cover the costs that resulted from the malpractice they suffered, some individuals seek out compensation by filing a lawsuit. This is sometimes the best way for patients to go and, with a good medical malpractice lawyer, there’s a chance that they can get enough money to cover the costs of losing work, medical care and more.
Efforts to reform medical malpractice law have oftentimes concentrated on how malpractice insurance and lawsuits scare doctors away from opening new practices. There is a good chance that any doctor, particularly one in a high-risk field, will be hit with a medical malpractice lawsuit at some point during their career. The relationship between this and physician availability and healthcare costs, however, is not as clear as politicians say and, most of the time, the so-called reforms only end up injuring patients and failing to deliver on providing more options, as many reports have now demonstrated.
If you believe you are a victim of medical malpractice, contact Blaine A. (Bat) Tucker at 713-771-5453 for a free case review
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