Tag: Medical Malpractice

Mississippi Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

In one of the recent Mississippi medical malpractice lawsuits, a jury awarded $5 million claim to a plaintiff in Coahoma County after finding the defendant guilty of medical negligence. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant was negligent, careless, and reckless in performing his duty, as he discharged her at a time when she should have been moved to Memphis for an MRI to remove her herniated disc. According to the plaintiff, negligence on the part of the doctor caused her extreme pain, and she suffered from quadriplegia three days later. The plaintiff had to be airlifted to Memphis later, and she had to bear all the cost, which caused her immense financial strain.

Health care providers have a moral and legal responsibility to provide requisite standard of care and treatment for improvement of health of their patients. However, if the doctors fail to fulfill their duty of providing utmost care for their patients, causing them physical injury or emotional pain, they can be held liable for physical, economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.

Under Mississippi Code section 11-1-60, Mississippi caps non-economic damages up to $500,000, limiting the amount that a plaintiff can receive after the jury finds the defendant liable for medical negligence. Non-economic damages are meant to compensate the plaintiff for the stress, anxiety, pain and suffering and other negative effects of the negligence, including loss of enjoyment in life, disfigurement, scarring, on the part of the defendant.  There is no such cap on economic damages, which include reimbursement of lost income, lost wages, payment of past medical bills, compensation for the plaintiff’s inability to earn a living due to any injury or suffering from the malpractice, and payment for future medical care. This may also include any other verifiable losses that can be associated with the malpractice in Mississippi.

Statutes of Limitations in Mississippi

In Mississippi, there is a time frame on taking action in a medical malpractice case, which must be filed within two years of the act or alleged omission. This may also include death claims. The Mississippi laws have special provisions for cases that involve foreign objects or fraudulent concealment. The law allows minors or mentally disabled extra time for action depending on their status on the date of the cause of the negligence discovery.

The state of Mississippi follows the doctrine of pure comparative negligence, which means that the plaintiff’s contributory negligence proportionally reduces recovery. However, this does not apply to any such acts where the defendant is blamed for wrongful intent.

Vicarious Liability

In Mississippi, hospitals are not held liable for the negligence on the part of independent contractor doctors. Vicarious liability applies in cases where a medical facility is found to be holding itself as providing the service that the plaintiff seeks, without bothering about the physician’s identity. If a medical facility is held vicariously liable, it is legally entitled to receiving compensation from the negligent doctor.

In Mississippi, expert medical testimony is crucial to proving negligence or malpractice, excluding cases in which even a layman is able to understand the negligence as a matter of practical experience.

The state of Mississippi does not require arbitration agreements for resolving medical malpractice claims. However, it is increasingly becoming a growing trend in the state, with the Mississippi Supreme Court enforcing arbitration agreements with regard to the services provided by health care providers in two cases.

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Arkansas Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

On May 16, 2013, an Arkansas medical malpractice jury found a nursing home in Faulkner County negligent in the treatment and care of a woman resident. The jury returned a unanimous verdict against the nursing home after it found that the nursing home’s staff violated the resident’s rights by not transferring her to a hospital emergency room when she was in extreme abdominal pain. The resident died April 7, 2008. The jury set damages for physical and mental pain and suffering of the resident at $5.2 million.

In another Arkansas medical malpractice lawsuit, the jury, holding Greenbriar Nursing and Rehabilitation Center guilty of failing to provide timely emergency care to a patient, ordered it to pay $5.2 million in June 2013.

These are just a few examples of the increasing number of medical malpractice and negligence cases in Arkansas, where either the hospital facility or the doctor and his staff are found to be negligent in fulfilling their duties toward their patients.

Medical Malpractice Lawsuit: How to Claim Damages

Medical malpractice occurs when a health care provider falls below the governing standard of care, causing physical, emotional loss to the patient. In Arkansas, a plaintiff can claim compensation for physical, economic, and non-economic damages.

• Physical losses include compensation for any injury, disease, disability, or suffering caused due to medical negligence.
• Economic damages include any financial losses borne by the plaintiff due to medical negligence, such as loss of wages and medical expenses.
• Non-economic damages include mental anguish and emotional suffering, which may impact the plaintiff’s family life.
• Punitive damages may be sought to hold the defendant guilty and punish them and prevent any such incidents of medical malpractice.

As a plaintiff, the most common types of compensations you may claim include:

• Punitive damages
• Compensation for disability, physical injury or loss
• Reimbursement of medical expenses
• Compensation for emotional trauma or anguish
• Compensation for loss of employment

The jury takes many factors into consideration to determine the amount of compensation for the plaintiff, including extent of error and injury.

In Arkansas, the injured patient or their relatives can sue a licensed health care provider, including medical facility, doctors, psychotherapists or counselors, for:

• Avoidable delay in the treatment for a diagnosed medical condition
• Failure to provide standard treatment
• Failure to diagnose a medical condition
• Misdiagnosis of a disease or medical condition

In Arkansas, a plaintiff can claim punitive damages for up to $250,000, or three times the actual damages. Awards may be reduced by payments from collateral sources for medical malpractice lawsuits in the state of Arkansas. In the event of death of the plaintiff, unpaid installments can be reduced for future pain and suffering.

In medical malpractice cases, where there is more than one defendant, each defendant is liable to pay damages to the plaintiff in proportion to their own fault, excluding injury from intentional acts. Under Arkansas law, there is a limited time frame to file a claim. The medical malpractice lawsuits must be initiated within 2 years from the date the plaintiff suffered injury.  Arbitration and dispute resolution are encouraged as a viable method of resolving Arkansas medical malpractice lawsuits.

A medical malpractice attorney can help you determine if a certain action amounts to a medical negligence claim.

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Arkansas Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

A birth defect is a form of trauma or injury received by a newborn during the time of birth. Under Arkansas law, birth injuries resulting from negligence on the part of the hospital staff at the time of delivery or labor and that could have been preventable are appropriate cases for filing an Arkansas medical malpractice lawsuit. The law provides for compensation for economic and non-economic loss suffered by the child and their family due to birth injury. A lawsuit cannot reverse the damage done, but it can surely assist in the grieving process. Moreover, medical providers must be held accountable for negligence or failure to perform their duty to ensure refinement of medical safety.

Arkansas Medical Malpractice Lawsuit: Birth Injury Defects

A medical malpractice lawsuit can help you seek damages for the pain and suffering if you or a loved one has been injured as a result of:

• Nursing home abuse
• Misdiagnosis
• Failure to diagnose
• Anesthesia errors
• Surgical errors
• Emergency room errors
• Wrongful prescription
• Vacuum extraction negligence
• Failure to properly monitor mother and/or infant
• Forceps damage
• Oxygen deprivation
• Failure of the medical staff to treat fetal distress
• Improper use of medical equipment
• Performing an unnecessary C-section
• Delay in C-section
• Miscalculation of the size of the fetus
• Trauma during delivery

Inadequate oxygen supply during labor or delivery may cause hypoxia or cerebral palsy. The child may suffer from nerve injuries or permanent disability due to extended traction.

If your child is suffering from a birth injury, it is an extremely distressing and upsetting scenario for you as a parent. Thus if you feel the condition of the child is due to an act of negligence on the part of the hospital or medical staff, it is your right to sue those responsible for your child’s pain and suffering and claim compensation you deserve for medical errors. In order to determine if you have a valid medical malpractice claim, contact a specialist birth injury lawyer in Arkansas, who will try to find out if you have valid grounds to file a claim. Such a medical expert will try to find answers to important questions to establish a connection between the birth defect and negligence or medical malpractice. They will find out if:

• you received proper prenatal care during pregnancy
• there was proper monitoring by the medical staff during labor and delivery
• the child should have been delivered by C-section
• there was delay in carrying out the surgical procedure

A birth defect or injury can lead to a lifetime of increased needs, making your child disabled or dependent on another person. The birth injury may cause other medical problems that can be extremely expensive to treat. Certainly, as parents, this can be an emotionally trying time for you. In such a situation, compensation received from an Arkansas medical malpractice lawsuit settlement can be of great help. It is your right to sue the guilty to recover damages to care for your child’s needs.

Types of Birth Injury

Parents may be entitled for compensation for birth injuries caused to their child by miscalculations, delays, mistakes, errors, or even negligence of the medical staff. Some of the birth injuries include:

• Cerebral palsy
• Skin problems
• Brachial plexus palsy
• Brain damage
• Fractured bones
• Erb’s palsy

Since there are statutes of limitation in Arkansas State, you must file your Arkansas medical malpractice lawsuit claim against the hospital or doctor for negligence or incompetence in performing their duties within a certain time period to retain eligibility.

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