Law Week Colorado published a story about a jury verdict that awarded Jason Walters $15 million in his medical malpractice lawsuit against Memorial Health System and a local physician. The lawsuit was filed after Mr. Walters was paralyzed from the chest down after being discharged from the hospital.
Walters is only receiving $300,000 of the $15 million because of the Colorado’s law limiting damages for which health care providers are responsible.
Written by Lulaine Compere.
Metro newspaper published a story about New York City spending $735 million on settlements and lawsuit awards for a variety of cases that include negligence, police abuse, and property damage. According to the story, the reason for this large dollar amount is because New York doesn’t have any caps on award damages like other states do.
The reasoning is because of this, people view suing the city as one big piggybank. What these critics fail to realize is people in states like Colorado don’t get what they deserve because of those caps. For example, in a recent case in Colorado, a person who was paralyzed due to medical malpractice was awarded $15 million but will only receive $300,000 for his injury. That’s just one story. There are others where states are more restrictive and the horror stories regarding medical caps are worse.
Written by Lulaine Compere.
The New York Post reported the story of Staten Island teenager Stephanie Debes, who because of a lack of attention to her mother’s symptoms by hospital nurses, was born premature and had cerebral palsy.
A jury awarded her family $100 million against St. Vincent’s, which went bankrupt in 2010. According to the news report, the hospital staff failed to act on Stephanie’s mother contractions to prevent a premature birth resulting in Stephanie and her sister being born early.
Stephanie’s sister was born without complications but Stephanie has cerebral palsy and as a result has not been able to live a full life. Read the article in its entirety at NYPost.com.
Written by Lulaine Compere.
An article by the New York Times describes hospitals not having enough malpractice insurance. This is a scary position for both hospitals and patients and there is no good outcome that can come from this.
The article describes a scenario where hospitals would cut back on care if they end up losing a lawsuit, which helps no one in the end. Lawsuits are the plaintiffs’ way of fighting back against irresponsible doctors and nurses at a hospital.
If a patient sues and there is no money to pay them, the hospital can close and society loses on all fronts. In the report, some people say that insurance is a lawsuit magnet. Not having insurance shouldn’t be a slap against people pursuing their rights to justice.
Written by Lulaine Compere.
