Mistakes made by health care providers can be deadly, or cause debilitating and permanent harm to the victim. Under the laws of Illinois and Indiana these victims (and their loved ones) can pursue legal claims for justice in a particular area of negligence, deemed “medical malpractice.”
We have discussed the epidemic of medical malpractice fatalities before. For more, see:
- Danger of Dying from Medical Error: Patient Safety and Preventable Malpractice Deaths; and
- Medical Error Cause of Patient Death: the Malpractice Epidemic.
Medical errors remain a serious problem in our part of the country. Studies show that “[w]hen it comes to preventing deaths from medical errors, out of 195 countries in the world, the U.S. ranks below the top 50.”
Mistakes made by doctors or nurses, as well as other medical professionals, and errors caused by hospitals, clinics, care facilities, and nursing homes are resulting in the preventable deaths of vulnerable patients. See:
- Nursing Home Lawsuits in Indiana and Illinois: Who Can Be Sued, and Why, for Elder Abuse or Neglect; and
- Medical Malpractice in Indiana 2016: When Doctors Make Mistakes and People Are Hurt or Killed.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the healthcare industry is the “one of the fastest growing industries” in the nation. There is a lot of money to be made in providing medical care and services, and profits are expected to continue to rise through 2022.
From Stephanie Drake, former executive director of the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration in Chicago, Illinois: “Without a doubt, there’s a lot of opportunity in healthcare.”
Doctors Fear Being Sued for Medical Malpractice
Malpractice claims hit those profit margins, of course. Physicians are said to be very concerned that they will be sued for making mistakes, and face liability for a medical malpractice claim. See, e.g., Bono, Michael J., and John E. Hipskind. “Medical malpractice.” StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing, Treasure Island (FL); [Updated January 19, 2019].
Health care providers are being given basic advice on how to avoid being sued for medical errors, which are often found within “several recurring themes” involving: (1) patient care/diagnosis, (2) referral, (3) communication, (4) documentation, (5) physician skills, and (6) protocols/guidelines. Id.
Shockingly Basic Advice to Doctors on How to Avoid Malpractice
Consider the following advice being given to physicians, and how self-evident these things really are.
It is shocking to realize that doctors must be REMINDED of basic things like the following (quoting directly from the above book synopsis published online by National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine) – and this is not the complete list:
- “Practice good medicine. Try to treat every patient as if it were your family member, even though this may be difficult with some patients. Make the patient feel that you care.”
- “See your patient. If a patient has a problem, see and touch the patient. If a surgeon operates on a patient, he needs to see and lays hands on the patient if there is a problem. If a hospitalist is caring for a patient on the floor, and the patient has a problem, do not only talk to the nurse about the patient, see and examine the patient. Many malpractice cases arise from the patient complaining of pain, fever, vomiting, dyspnea, diaphoresis, weakness, change in mental status, or bleeding, and the doctor does not see the patient for hours, if at all. Defending these physicians in court is difficult. It is easier to defend a physician who cares, empathizes, and interacts with their patients.”
- “Respond quickly to a medical emergency and document these times. This simple acts [sic], response time to the emergency, the time the clinician began to care for the patient, and recording vital signs often are not documented during an emergency.”
- “Know the community standards and follow them. Do not cut corners under any circumstance. If a test is required, get it. The cost of an expensive test is cheap compared to the financial and emotional costs of a lawsuit.”
- “If the patient fails to respond to therapy, look at the patient again and treat with another agent, or refer the patient to a specialist. This is one of the most common threads we see in malpractice cases; if the therapy does not work, change it, or get some help.”
- “If you order a test, make sure you see the results and interpret those results. Do not depend on nurses, midlevel providers, or medical assistants to interpret tests you order. Look at the results, including all imaging, even if the radiologist reads it. If there is a question, call the radiologist or consultant about the test. Never allow a test to be entered into a chart or electronic medical record without seeing it.”
- “Post-operative fever is almost never viral. Many lawsuits included a postoperative fever that was attributed to a virus until the patient died from abscess and sepsis caused by the operation. Always find the source of a fever.”
- “Always think about the worst-case scenario. What is the worst thing this patient could have? Anchoring bias, or focusing on one diagnosis can lead to the wrong diagnosis. Keep an open mind, and consider the worst possible thing the patient could have, and rule it out with exam, tests, or referral.”
- “Team treatment of the patient needs a captain or someone who will gather all the data and be in charge of treating the patient. Multiple malpractice cases stem from no one directing the care of a complicated patient, particularly hospitalized patients. This is particularly a problem when a patient has subspecialty surgery and develops a medical problem after surgery.”
- “Never skip monitoring vital signs during procedures, particularly if the procedure takes place in the emergency department or on the hospital floor.”
Doctors Enjoy Flat Malpractice Insurance Rates: They Aren’t Paying More for Coverage
Understanding their risk of error, doctors can purchase insurance policies to cover them should they make a serious mistake and commit medical malpractice. The doctor and his insurance company call this “medical liability insurance.”
While some arguments are made that rising insurance rates are burdensome to doctors in Indiana, Illinois, and elsewhere, the reality is that physician medical malpractice premiums have stayed pretty much the same for the past 10 years.
Medical malpractice coverage has had stable policy rates, without any significant increases, since 2008, according to Fitch Ratings.
For details, read “Why Doctor Malpractice Premiums Stopped Rising,” written by Bruce Japsen and published in Forbes Magazine on October 10, 2018.
“Going Bare”
It’s important to note that not all states require doctors to buy this malpractice coverage. There is no federal law that mandates physicians must be protected with medical liability insurance.
- Illinois does not have a law that requires doctors to pay for a medical malpractice insurance policy.
- Indiana law likewise does NOT require physicians to have medical malpractice insurance. However, to be protected by certain aspects of Indiana law, like capped liability, the doctor must have commercial malpractice coverage.
Doctors that practice medicine without a malpractice policy are so commonplace that there is an industry term to describe the situation: it’s called “going bare.” Going without insurance does not mean the doctor cannot be held legally responsible for his medical error or mistake. It only means that he will not have an insurance policy to cover that financial responsibility and he will not have an insurance company supporting him with defense professionals like an insurer’s claims adjuster and company defense attorney.
Reality is Medical Malpractice Causes Severe Harm
Medical errors and mistakes are causing the deaths of innocent victims in Indiana and Illinois, as well as permanently changing the lives of victims and their loved ones with life-altering bodily injuries. These can be heartbreaking situations, particularly when the extremely vulnerable are involved, like the very young (infants, children) or the very old (elders, nursing home residents).
Both Indiana and Illinois have time limits for filing medical malpractice claims. These “statutes of limitations” will bar the most righteous requests if the legal deadline is not met.
Both Indiana and Illinois have special laws that cover medical malpractice cases, and their provisions must be followed in order for the malpractice victim to prevail.
For anyone suffering the results of medical mistakes in Indiana or Illinois, it is vital that they act promptly to determine their legal rights and they pursue their legal remedies with an experienced and aggressive legal advocate.
Botched surgeries, misdiagnoses, and other medical mistakes are terrifying in the extreme harm they cause. Doctors are making simple mistakes that can have catastrophic consequences. Please be careful out there!
