Los Angeles Injury Lawyer Blog

A Rhode Island Hospital has been fined for the 3rd instance this year of a doctor performing brain surgery in the wrong side of the patient's head. Last Friday, a chief resident started operating on the wrong side of an 82-year-old patient. In August, a similar error caused the patient's death.

These types of issues are not limited to Rhode Island as this issue is similar to battles we often face at Rice & Bloomfield. What is most frightening is that in Los Angeles, as in all of California, the most that could be recovered from litigation of this type of error is $250,000. From that amount must be paid litigation costs and attorneys fees. Because of that problem, many victims of medical malpractice often cannot find an attorney who will accept there case.

Although we are here to help people who have been injured, we must also make a living. We cannot continue to operate when faced with these type of limitations. This has become a common problem faced by injured patients throughout the state.

Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has frequently trumpeted Texas and California as models for providing access to health, citing an example of a doctor who moved from Maine to Texas and had his malpractice insurance premium reduced from $11,300 to $5,031. There is no evidence to tie the premium difference to the medical malpractice cap. Moreover, I find it hard to believe a doctor moved to Texas to save $5,000 per year. That amount would not even cover his moving costs.

Mitt Romney has joined in the insurance industry created hysteria about insurance premiums. He talks about the burden imposed by lottery-sized awards. However, he ignores the incredible burden put on a family who loses a loved one due to a doctor's neglect. Democratic hopeful John Edwards, a former trial lawyer, explains that the cap has little effect on premiums (less than 1%).

We feel that most doctors can certainly afford $11,000, instead of $5,000 to make sure that anyone they hurt is taken care of. I expect most doctors would prefer to make sure people hurt by medical errors are provided for. It is the insurance companies that do not want to take care of people.

Last Thursday, the state slapped Health Net, Inc. with a $1 Million fine. Ironically, Health Net is our neighbor here in Woodlands Hills although our only connection with them is in representing insureds with claims against them.

The insurance company set goals for cancellation on policies and paid bonuses to employees based on how many policies the dropped and how much money that saved the company. The penalties help shed light on the way insurance companies work. While they spend millions of dollars on commercials to make people think their goal is to help, these types of incidents show how insurance companies really work. Unfortunately, trusting your insurance company may be a mistake.

The fine came after the company mislead state investigators about bonuses paid to employees on more than one occasion. The fines resulted from the insurance company not be straight forward in response to the investigation. As we have found to be the case on many occasions with insurance companies, what they tell you they are going to do, does not always match what they actually do.

Basically, when a Health Net insurance employee found people who were sick, and made large claims and cancelled them, Health Net rewarded them. Health Net was able to find the people that needed protection the most, and hurt them. In one case, Health Net left an insured stuck with nearly $200,000 in medical bills.

As insurance companies always have an excuse for their conduct, Health Net claimed that the cancellations were necessary root out fraud and keep premiums down. It appears that it did so by committing fraud.

The fine is one of the largest in the history of the Department of Managed Care.

Last Sunday the Los Angeles Times printed an article indicating that a family was seeking $45 million from King Harbor hospital for medical malpractice causing death of a patient. The story was misleading, leaving readers with the impression that medical malpractice victims can get rich from lawsuits.

When doctor's negligence, when their mistakes hurt people, the 1975 MICRA law, prevents patients from obtaining justice. The law limits recovery for pain and suffering to $250,000. When first passed, it preventing patients from recovering full compensation for their injuries.

Now, 30 years later, as costs of litigation have gone up but the $250,000 has not changed. As a result, people injured by doctors errors are finding that they often cannot get a lawyer to take their case.

The article published last Sunday indicates that the family is suing for $45 million dollars, but does not mention that their recovery will be limited to $250,000. In response, Linda Rice sent a letter to the Los Angeles Times correcting the error. That letter was published on November 11, 2007.

As printed in the Times, Linda wrote: "A jury might think $45 million is fair and just compensation to the family of the woman who died while hospital personnel ignored her cries of pain for nearly an hour. But the judge will automatically reduce any possible verdict to $250,000 -- the most in noneconomic damages anyone can recover for any injury or death caused by a healthcare provider. The cap was passed at the behest of the insurance industry and medical establishment more than three decades ago. Because it has never been changed or adjusted -- even for inflation -- we may be reaching a point at which letting patients die is more cost-effective than treating them. The public needs to understand this. This article promotes the misconception that people who sue doctors end up rich. That isn't possible in California."