An Introduction To Ohio Medical Malpractice, Part Two
A study in The New England Journal of Medicine has found that frivolous lawsuits where a healthy patient successfully sues a doctor are very rare and are far outnumbered by the number of cases where someone that was truly injured by medical error went uncompensated. Further, Harvard researchers have found that 1% of patients treated in New York state hospitals are injured, and one-quarter of those die, because of medical negligence.
Nationwide, that would have translated to 234,000 injuries and 80,000 deaths from negligence in American hospitals for a year. However, according to a recent Healthgrades study, only 2% of all people injured actually file legal claims for compensation.
According to a 2006 article from the Harvard School of Public Health published in The New England Journal of Medicine, most medical malpractice claims that lack evidence of an error are denied any compensation. In the study, trained doctors reviewed a random sample of 1,452 closed medical malpractice cases to determine whether a medical injury had in fact occurred, and if so, whether the injury was due to a medical error. The researchers found that for only 3% of the claims there were no verifiable medical injuries. Most of the claims that were not associated with errors or injuries did not result in any compensation. However, most of the claims that involved injuries due to error did result in compensation.
These studies show that the country’s “tort law” based medical malpractice system is not biased in favor of patients.
In fact, the medical malpractice system allows many medical providers to escape liability after committing malpractice. Therefore, if you believe that you have a legitimate medical malpractice case, you should not be deterred by any type of “stigma” that the insurance industry has tried to associate with medical malpractice claims. You have rights in such a situation, and you should act quickly to protect them.
We hope that you find our book straightforward, easy to read, and informative. If you would like to have one of the Ohio medical malpractice lawyers at the Charles Boyk Law Offices, LLC provide a free evaluation of your case, call us today at 419-241-1395, or toll free at 1-800-637-8170. We are always here to help answer any questions that you may have.
