Medical Error is the Third Biggest Killer in America

At Lafferty, Gallagher & Scott, we care about each and every one of our clients, and our attorneys use their 40+ years of experience to get the best results for them. We love what we do, but we never hope that anyone is injured due the carelessness of a medical professional.

Unfortunately, medical errors do occur every day, and a recent study published in the Journal of Patient Safetysuggests that 210,000 to 440,000 people each year suffer preventable harm in the hospital that contributes to their death!!! This would make preventable harm in the hospital the third-leading cause of death in America behind heart disease and cancer!!!

Despite these stunning and outrageous statistics, your Ohio General Assembly and your Ohio Supreme Court has seen fit to limit you and your family’s ability to get compensated, even when the medical error causes permanent paralysis, loss of a limb, loss of an organ, and even death.

This is done through various so-called “tort reform” measures, such as caps on damages, the shortest statute of limitations in the country (the amount of time you have to file your claim), and immunity for certain medical professionals. In addition, the General Assembly, with the support of the Ohio Supreme Court, have made pursuing medical malpractice claims so expensive for the injured patient and his/her family, that it often times costs in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to pursue. Because of this, most lawyers will not take a malpractice case unless the injured party has suffered a serious permanent injury or died as a result of the malpractice, leaving those with less-serious, but no less harmful, injuries with no recourse for the harm they have suffered at the hand of a person they entrusted with their life and well-being.

The purpose behind all of these “tort reform” measures was to reduce the cost of malpractice insurance for doctors, which would also reduce the overall health care costs for every day Ohioans, so they say. But this hasn’t happened in the 10 years these “tort reform” measures have been in place. In fact, malpractice insurance rates have continued to climb, and we all know that health care costs are not any cheaper than they were 10 years ago. The only people benefiting from “tort reform” are the insurance companies, who continue to reap profits in the billions of dollars every year, and the legislators who get the kickbacks from the insurance lobbyists for doing their dirty work.

For a more in depth discussion on this issue, please read out article titled “Why Medical Malpractice Cases Are Difficult to Win and What You Can Do to Avoid Being a Victim of Malpractice” which can be found on our website, www.lgslaw.net.

The information contained in this blog post is general information, and should not be treated as legal advice. No attorney/client relationship exists between the reader and Lafferty, Gallagher & Scott, LLC without a signed Attorney Contract Agreement of Representation. Each case is unique and past results should not be treated as a guarantee of the results in your case.