Clinical negligence in the high developed economies: the legal standpoint and numbers
Insurance companies work with the patients who suffered medical errors in the United States for more than one hundred years. Insurance payment is automatically included in the insurance program, and the amount of payment depends on the nature and consequences of medical errors and by court decisions. The relevant section of the law called the medical malpractice. It provides an analysis of what may be a medical error and what mistakes are punishable under criminal law. So, doctors are subjected to criminal liability have made errors which ‘led to dysfunction of the human body or death’. This is where we can recollect the case of Michael Jackson and his doctor allegedly prescribed the wrong dose of medication. This dose provoked Jackson’s death, and the doctor was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. Adopted in 2010, the amendments to the Medical Malpractice require all hospitals of the country to report medical errors committed by these institutions through the press. ‘Our people need to know exactly what happened. Each case is a disaster’, said Robert Galvin, the head of a law commission on medical mistakes of Connecticut Department of Public Health. According to statistics, every year the US courts receives 1,500+ complaints about medical errors, and three-quarters of these cases are satisfied by the courts. The average amount of compensation to the affected patients in recent years ranged between $313,000 and $521,000. Now doctors are lobbying for the introduction of new rules that would limit the size of such payments.
The German experience
Those who has suffered medical errors in Germany can receive compensation from the insurer. The share of proven medical malpractice in the country is very small - about 0.35% of the total number of medical assistance. The biggest share of errors is made by surgeons in their work (25% of the total number of complaints), followed by orthopedists, internists, gynecologists and dentists. At the same time a thousand medical errors account for a patient’s death. Under German law, any patient before surgery signs a paper saying that she is aware of the risk, which is, even in advance agrees that the worst case scenario is possible. However, if something bad happens, the patient, or at worst (fatal) case his family, is still entitled to claim for poor quality health services and the consequences that these services have resulted, financial compensation. The amount of the payment of the sum of the expenditures on additional treatment, non-pecuniary damage and assess the adverse health effects that could not be eliminated. Four years ago in Germany thundered story 18-year-old, who on the eve of signing the contract with the Bundesliga damaged meniscus and had surgery so badly that his athletic career was over. A former athlete demanded compensation and the court approved the case resulting in a EUR3ml. compensation.
In the UK you can also file a complaint and request a compensation if you have suffered a medical error. Proper legal assistance is paramount to make the most of your efforts - drop in at one of those platforms putting together hundreds of medical negligence solicitors along with reviews, user feedback score and a bunch of other vital info.