San Francisco Personal Injury Attorney On Medical Malpractice Caps

Maureen Dowd writes today in the New York Times about Rory Staunton in The Boy Who Wanted To Fly. She tells the story about a smart, bright, curious 12yr old who was filled with life, and about a fragmented medical system that let him die from what started out as a simple cut and infection.

The story takes place in New York but had it taken place here in San Francisco because of the damage caps that California and other states like it have adopted, any negligence action brought against the hospital or medical professionals who misdiagnosed and let Rory die would be limited to $250,000 in non-economic damages.

And because Rory was a child, and despite a bright future, he would have virtually no economic damages. Thus, his case could potentially be worth no more than $250,ooo, which ? believe it or not ? would cause many personal injury attorneys to turn his case down.

On March 28 Rory fell playing and cut his elbow. On April 1 he died from septic shock from a strep infection. What happened in between is every parents worst nightmare ? wrong assumptions, misdiagnosis, inadequate care, and a complete lack of management and communication between health care providers and physicians. Rory could have been saved with a dose of antibiotics administered at the right time. He wasn?t. So he died.

And what his parents are forced to suffer is so traumatic it does not even have a name. Dowd quotes Rory?s father Ciaran Staunton as saying to a New York Irish radio network, ?For anyone that has carried their son?s or daughter?s coffin, it?s unnatural . . . . A child who loses a parent becomes an orphan. If a man and wife lose each other, they become widow or widower. It?s so unnatural, there isn?t even a word for families who lose a child.?

But according to our legislature and others across the country it does have a cost. And that cost is limited to $250,000 in damages. Essentially, this is what we have said Rory?s life was worth.

Medical malpractice damage caps limit the value of a parent?s loss and leave the most vulnerable in our society without recourse or protection from negligence and harm.

Source: http://www.burlisonlaw.com/blog/?p=5438

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