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vehicle collisions - Insurance claims and
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Your Case
Medical Negligence, Drug and Medical Products
The Law: Drugs and Medical Products
Few Claims Ever Filed
Falling Below the Medical Standard of Care
Strict Time Limitations
Helping Others
Spinal cord injury
Types of Representative Medical Negligence, Drug, and Medical Product Cases:
- Wrongful death
- Surgical negligence
- Pathology negligence
- ER and Trauma system negligence
- Failure to diagnose
- Improper radiation treatment
- Negligent prescription of dangerous medications
- Silicone Breast Implant Litigation against Bristol-Myers Squibb, Baxter International and Baxter Healthcare, 3M, Dow Corning
The vast majority of physicians, nurses and other health care professionals are dedicated and capable men and women. Unfortunately, injuries and death due to medical mishaps and negligence happen too frequently. A major national study from the Institute of Medicine concluded that there are up to 98,000 hospital deaths in our country each year from medical errors. That does not count injuries. Or deaths or injuries from medical errors outside hospitals. Other sources estimate that there are up to 100,000 deaths annually in our nation just from prescription errors.
We review hundreds of possible medical claims, working closely with nurses, doctors and other professionals to determine the validity of a claim.
Drugs and Medical Products
The United States is considered the most technically advanced nation in the world when it comes to drugs and medical products. Billions of dollars are poured into research and development of these products. There can be significant delays in the approval of the products through the United States Food and Drug Administration (http://www.fda.gov/) Yet, in recent years, it seems that there has been a significant increase in defective medical devices and pharmaceutical products. Sometimes it is because of human, manufacturing, and/or quality control errors. Sometimes corporations even know there is a problem.
A defective drug or product may carry significant health risks, and may even be fatal. The failure of a medical device can also cause injury or death, and the implant of a defective medical device (such as a heart valve, knee joint or pacemaker) may require another major surgery to replace the defective device— sometimes at a greater risk to the patient or with a lower chance of success than the original surgery.
As long as profits are to be made, there will always be companies which will put profits over safety advances. When that happens, civil actions are brought against the manufacture, and sometimes others in the chain of commerce, to make them accept responsibility for their actions—or inactions.
Few Claims Are Ever Filed
Most medical negligence is never subjected to review by litigation. Here in Oregon, typically fewer than two hundred successful medical cases are made each year for the entire state. However, you do have the right to have a review of your claim to determine if there was a breach of the standard of care that was supposed to have been employed by medical professionals.
Falling Below the Medical Standard of Care
There is a myth that physicians and other medical health care professionals are liable simply because of a bad result. This is not true. In order for a doctor, nurse, or other health care professional to be liable that medical health care professional must have acted in a way that is below the accepted standard of care required for professionals in his or her field. The standard of care - what the professional should or should not do - is almost always set by other professionals working in the same field or specialty.
Strict Time Limitations
Claims for medical negligence come with strict time limitations both to discover claims and also to file any actions concerning those claims. If you suspect medical negligence, do not delay in having your matter reviewed at the first impression that a medical professional's conduct may have been improper.
Helping Others
The civil justice system is the only system for public accountability for health care professionals in Oregon. The truth about medical negligence is almost always cloaked by a "peer review" statute that allows doctors, nurses, and hospital personnel to talk about what really happened, without the public ever being informed. Professional licensing boards do not do an adequate job of protecting the public. Studies indicate for example, that roughly 5% of physicians are responsible for over 50% of medical negligence claims. Prosecuting a legitimate medical negligence claim may help others by exposing sloppy procedures, inadequate credentialing, outdated policies, and other problems within the health care industry.
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