Category Archives: Medical Malpractice

A three-month-old baby girl suffered a horrific injury in a Florida hospital. The child was admitted to the hospital for a fever and bronchitis and received an IV drip. After three days in the hospital, the nurse was cutting off a bandage from her IV when she cut off the small child’s pinky finger. The baby was taken to a surgical hospital, but they were unable to reattach the tiny finger. Besides the fact that this medical malpractice disfigured the young girl, the mother was in the room and was witness to the tragedy. Even more egregious, after the incident, the mother claimed to have attempted to contact the hospital herself but no one from the hospital would speak to her. Only after a few months when the parents were forced to hire legal counsel did the hospital respond. Hospital errors such as this are more common than people would…
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The American Association of Retired Persons, or AARP, has recently published an alarming article about the state of our health care system and preventable errors. Citing the 1999 study by the Institute of Medicine, “To Error is Human,” AARP claims little has changed since that report claimed 100,000 Americans die in hospitals every year from preventable medical errors. Bolstering the claim that little has changed, a recent Health and Human Services Department report stated one in seven people suffer serious personal injury due to medical malpractice, and that hospital staff fails to report about 86 percent of hospital errors. The number of patients who die every year from hospital errors is the equivalent of four jumbo jets crashing each week. Imagine the public uproar if the airlines were faced with such a problem; hospitals typically face no consequences. Some patient advocacy groups, including AARP, are trying to increase awareness and…
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“The next step in tort reform is a loser pays system, so that there is a real cost to suits that waste the time and money of our businesses and our courts, and that our companies understand that South Carolina won’t stand for trial lawyers playing games with their bottom line.” South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, State of the State Address, 1/18/2012. The Governor recently called for a “loser pays” system in our courts for personal injury and medical malpractice cases. This is misguided, as it not only demonstrates a lack of understanding of our current state judicial system, but a misinformed understanding of “loser pays” systems of law. Firstly, our state already has passed the “South Carolina Frivolous Proceedings Sanction Act,” which allows judges to punish plaintiffs who file frivolous lawsuits by ordering them to pay for the defendant’s costs and attorney fees. Secondly, the “loser pays” rule is…
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