During a medical negligence case, the first phase is known as the written discovery phase of the litigation. It is during this phase that written documentation is requested, usually the initial set of interrogatories, and the request to produce documents including medical records and test slides or films taken. Risk managers must have a knowledge of the standard interrogatories and the types of required information in order to formulate an efficient, prompt and economical strategic discovery response. Although jurisdiction dictates the number and scope of each request, the risk manager should be familiar with the required information, allowing to respond to each written discovery request with the same consistency and efficiency. Usual
requested information from the healthcare provider includes the liability insurance coverage, any prior litigation history, and results of peer review or QI hearings pertaining to the issue. Additional requests connected to the patient’s medical history prior to the care in question, and medical records of the patient are document staples. However, the request for hospital policies relevant to care and treatment in question, proof of accreditation and the scope of practice of medical staff bylaws, policies and procedures usually follow. Risk management along with legal counsel, must be cautious with the information requested. All required responses are to include new or additional information identified during the discovery phase and if not fully or accurately disclosed, can lead to monetary sanctions, exclusion of evidence or the possibility of resolution by dismissal or summary judgement. Additionally, all medical records may not be necessarily duplicated. Only the medical records that are deemed relevant to the allegations should be included in the discovery. This would include only the record pertaining to the care and treatment in question, as well as prior or subsequent care that may have been needed, in addition to the patient’s medical history. The risk management and legal team must know their states jurisdiction as well as the corporate language related to their definition of medical records, and work closely with the medical records personnel to gather the information timely and in a consistent manner to avoid the risk of additional requests. Some states define medical records as all encompassing including x-rays, lab tests, imagings, cardiograms, and any other test that is conducted with the hospital. If an abnormal considered amount of time is taken to produce this information, additional relevant requests may be made which exposure may be detrimental, such as nursing staff schedules, change of shift reports, surgical count sheets, and patient satisfactory questionnaires.
Medical malpractice cases are difficult for the families who have lost their loved one or have suffered from severe injuries. No one truly wins in complicated court hearings that consist of a team of litigation attorneys for both the defendant and plaintiff(s). During the trial, evidence supporting malpractice allegations have to be presented so that the court can make a decision if the physician was negligent resulting in malpractice, or if the injury was unavoidable due to the circumstances. In these types of tort cases, the physician is usually a defendant on trial trying to prove that he or she is innocent of the medical error, delay of treatment or procedure that caused the injury. The perfect example of being at fault for medical malpractice as a result of delaying a procedure is the case of Waverly family versus John Hopkins Health System Corporation. The victims were not compensated enough for the loss of their child’s normal life. Pozgar (2012) explained….
On Thursday, 11/12/2015, at 17:01 hours, I, Deputy Stacy Stark #1815 was dispatched to a domestic disturbance in progress located at 66 Paper Lane, Murphysboro, IL 62966. It was reported that a 15 year old female juvenile was busting out windows on her mother’s vehicle. Deputy Sergeant Ken Lindsey #2406 and Deputy John Huffman #2903 responded as well.
There are defenses against negligence lawsuits for sports medicine professionals. The first of which is assumption of risk, where the athlete voluntarily and knowingly assumes the risk of an activity through an expressed or implied agreement. This can be done by having a form signed during pre-season paperwork. This does not forgive a clinician of reckless conduct, however. Assumption of risk is for the usual risks, and the athlete by singing assumes responsibility for injury that occurs as a result of the inherent dangers of sport. It is crucial that athletes be informed that risk for injury exists and understand the nature of that risk. Another defense is an act of God, which are events that are outside of human control. This includes natural disasters, weather, and other environmental concerns in which no one can be held responsible. If the incident was not foreseeable, this is another defense a clinician could use against a negligence lawsuit. Foreseeability is based upon whether the clinician at fault could have realistically anticipated the consequences that would result because of their conduct. In order for the clinician to be held liable, the harm must foreseeably arise from the negligent act. Good Samaritan laws provide limited security against legal liability should an accident arise while providing care during an emergency, in good faith, without expected compensation, and without misconduct or gross negligence. This usually does not apply to someone providing care during regular employment. It was created for situations in which a volunteer comes to the aid of an injured person during an emergency in order to reduce bystanders ' hesitation to assist because of the fear of a lawsuit. The individual providing care must ...
- The filing will also document billing irregularities, e.g., billing NP’s appointments to random unseen SSMC doctors and how the South Shore Medical network of physicians profited by your mistreatment. The claim will also expose a system that allows you to practice with impunity, void of standards, oversight, and
In the medical billing and coding process there are several steps. In the medical billing process physicians prepare and sign documentation of the patients visit. The next step is to post the medical codes and transactions of the patients visit in the practice management program and to prepare claims. The process used to generate claims must comply with the rules imposed by federal and state laws as well as with payer requirements. Claims that are correct help to reduce the chance of an investigation of the practice for fraud and also the risk of liability if an investigation does occur (Valerius, Bayes, Newby & Seggern, 2008). Most physicians depend on their personnel to process their medical bills without looking at the bills before they’re submitted for payment. Some physicians who don’t review the medical billing procedures may not receive the payment they deserve (Adams, Norman, & Burroughs, 2002).
Medical error occurs more than most people realize and when a doctor is found negligent the patient has the right to sue for compensation of their losses. Debates and issues arise when malpractice lawsuits are claimed. If a patient is filing for a medical malpractice case, the l...
The statute of limitation refers to the length of time in which a plaintiff can file a claim. The principle behind statute of limitation is that lawsuits cannot be improved as time passes by. For one, clear details of the facts can be blurred as memories can fade and witnesses may die, go away, or lose interest of the case. Ideally, court prefers to settle the case as soon as disputes develop (Warner, 2010). However, for professional and product liabilities, with injuries may take time to manifest, many courts adapted different rules such as postponing the running of the statute until the injury has been reasonably discovered. The length of time differs among states and branches of law (Danzon, 1985). The long and deferred statutes of limitations lead to long tail of claims and contributed majority of medical malpractice and product liability (Danzon, 1985). In this section, statutes of limitations for medical malpractice in two states are compared.
This data is not from the defendant in question, but rather from other parties who will help give the court an insight into him or her. They include reports from psychiatrists and other doctors, and the defending attorney.... ... middle of paper ... ...
...'t show that it was of the victims. The court ruled that extensive discovery requirements for future proceedings, including copies of lab results and reports; explanation of statistical calculations; explanations of any observed contaminants; and chain of custody documents (PBS, 1996) . These recommendations where soon expanded in the Minnesota Supreme Court case Schwartz v. State.
did owe a duty of care to Mrs. Donoghue, in that it was up to them to...
Negligence, as defined in Pearson’s Business Law in Canada, is an unintentional careless act or omission that causes injury to another. Negligence consists of four parts, of which the plaintiff has to prove to be able to have a successful lawsuit and potentially obtain compensation. First there is a duty of care: Who is one responsible for? Secondly there is breach of standard of care: What did the defendant do that was careless? Thirdly there is causation: Did the alleged careless act actually cause the harm? Fourthly there is damage: Did the plaintiff suffer a compensable type of harm as a result of the alleged negligent act? Therefore, the cause of action for Helen Happy’s lawsuit will be negligence, and she will be suing the warden of the Peace River Correctional Centre, attributable to vicarious liability. As well as, there will be a partial defense (shared blame) between the warden and the two employees, Ike Inkster and Melvin Melrose; whom where driving the standard Correction’s van.
Review the scenario below. Consider the legal principles influencing the likelihood of any successful action against Steve in negligence.
There are several disagreements over the meaning of negligence, but it can be said to occur when the defendant has behaved in the way in which a reasonable person would not . There exists numerous crimes for which the mens rea is negligence, although some argue negligence should not be classified as a mens rea, where most of these are minor crimes of a regulatory nature . The concept of negligence is undoubtedly complex due to the fact that it is not certain whether it deserves criminal punishment. Whether culpability lies in choosing to act wrongly when having the capacity to do otherwise, or manifests itself in other forms such as carrying out a serious criminal offence regardless of lack of intention, recklessness or knowledge, continues to provoke debate. The arguments for and against the notion that serious criminal offences
allow a remedy in a particular case as it would open the doors to many
Law Of Tort This is a fairly unique case in the respect that there was one victim named Imogen who was first hit by a car and secondly run over by a van and was left with a concussion and a lame leg due to somewhat negligent riving skills of two drivers. Secondly there was a pedestrian and a witness to all of this, Gabriel who suffered psychiatric illness after he has rescued the injured child. Since the accident took place in England law of tort would be applicable, which is prevalent in England, Wales and Scotland and the parties who would be able to file the claim are Imogen and Gabriel. The guilty parties are Horace, the driver of the car and Joseph who was driving the van. To begin with if we look at the case more closely, Imogen was walking on the zebra crossing and that was her right and any passerby in a car should have halted which Horace did not. It was Gabriel who took a lot of risk and rescued the kid but to what avail. Once he had dragged her out the van ran over the kid damaging her leg almost permanently. The driver Joseph was speeding notably fast just because he was late on duty to his own negligence and that makes him guilty on two counts. First he dishonored his employer and secondly ran over a kid who was lying on the road because of his speeding. Not only by the rules of driving but also in the light of humanitarian laws that is simply unacceptable and it does get any more reckless than this. The law would definitely come into play and it depends on how these two present their cases. This is the case of proposition underpinning the deduction options. It has to be argued whether the parties agree or disagree with that proposition. It is particularly interesting to hear views on discussion of the policy argum...