Medical Malpractice/Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

[tonybologna]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee

Hello everyone. I'm new to these forums. I've been wanting to post my questions about this thread topic for a couple months. However, due to the pain & suffering from losing a loved one I haven't been able to make myself visit the situation.

I just haven't handled losing my dad very well. There's been too much pain & heartache to really focus on a possible malpractice suit. However, I finally have gotten myself together recently along with my sister to focus on what we believe was the wrongful death of our dad.

I will be providing the story & time-line of our father's death in this post. I'll try to keep it as brief as possible but may need full details to show what has happened.

Our dads was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer back in November of last year(2008). He went through the standard treatment of chemo & radiation for a few weeks. He lost tons of weight & was really malnutrioned during this time. He had already lost enough weight just due to cancer.

He went through surgery for the cancer after finishing the initial treatment options of chemo & radiation. The surgery performed was a TTE(Transthoracic esophagectomy). Specifically an Ivor Lewis TTE was done. Once the surgery was done our dad seemed to be doing quite well. As a matter of fact, he was doing better than expected for a 66-year old man. The staff at the hospital was shocked to how well he was doing.

However, on the 8th day after surgery our dad took a sudden turn for the worse. We were in shock to get a phonecall telling us that our dad was suddenly very ill. This happened on a Saturday morning around 8:00 AM. The doctors that performed the surgery(thoracic surgeon & oncology surgeon) wasn't there & was not gonna be there for weekend. They told us this on the Friday before this happened.

When I got to the hospital our dad was having a hard time breathing & appeared to me in shock or at least some heart or breathing problem. I thought he was dying right before my eyes. This was in the CCU part of the hospital. I wasn't supposed to back there but I was sneaking to peep & see what was happening. There was numerous staff working on my dad.

Finally, after a couple hours, one doctor came to us & told us they didn't know what was happening to our dad. They thought it may be a blood clot had developed in his lungs or chest area. They ordered a CT Scan but had to delay getting it done they said due to our dad's instability.

They wanted him to be stable before going for the CT Scan. That was about 6-8 hours later though. After the test results of the scan we were basically told there wasn't any blood clots & they still didn't know what was wrong. Keep in mind that his two surgeons weren't available.

Another surgeon on the job was called to get his opinion. This was a relatively young doctor. He studied the CT Scan & other lab results. He consulted with the family & we could tell from his tone he didn't know what was going on. We asked him if our dad was critical & something needed to be done soon? He said that something needed to be done because he was getting more critical by the hour.

He asked if we accepted him going back into the stomach to take a look & explore the possibilities? Of course, we wanted something done because our dad was getting worse by the hour. He did his Exploratory Laporatomy & came back to tell us that he found our dad's feeding tube wrapped around his intestines. This told me that the feeding tube was never physically placed right t begin with before his treatments started.

He said that he wasn't experienced enough to physically go into the chest/thoracic region to explor what might be happening there. He hoped that the feeding tube was the cause but wasn't sure. This was done Saturday night on the day of our dad's sudden turn. The next day(Sunday) our dad was now starting to look worse.

His eyes were starting to get blood shot & he was fading out of consciousness. He was getting in like a coma state. You could still see his eyes but it was a gazing stare & something I'll never forget.

On Monday, the regular surgeons showed up & said they couldn't believe what had happened. Well, we still wasn't told what was going on with our dad that day. They were giving him antibiotics & keeping him pain free they said. It wasn't until Tuesday that one of his surgeons stated to us that possibly it was an "anastomotic leak".

However, we wasn't told what action was going to be taken for it. These type leaks are fatal & I had read a little about them when researching the complications of this type surgery. We were finally told on Wednesday by our dad's medical oncologist(yes oncologist & not his surgeons) that they can confirm it was one of these leaks. We asked what was to be done to get it corrected. We was told that our dad was to unstable to go back into the area to try & fix it. Our dad was developing sepsis by the day.

He eventually on Friday passed away due to multiple organ failure due to the sepsis. They did attempt to use Dialysis starting on Wednesday evening to see if they could get his kidneys working again but to no avail.

We feel that there was negligence on the part of the hospital & surgeons causing our dad's death. There was nothing done to intervene & physically go back to fix the leak. There was time but no qualified doctors around to make a decision or even to do anything. Those two days that his surgeons were gone was critical.

We basically watched him die & there was nothing being done to save our dad. We were later told by one of the surgeons that our dad wasn't physically strong enough to withstand any type surgery again with his condition. Well, he was gonna die anyhow with what was happening to him so why wouldn't that chance be taken?

We are now in the process of waiting for a local lawyer to get back with us on a possible malpractice suit. We have taken him the medical records to review & that has been about 2 weeks now. I post here to get some analysis or opinions on how things went because we feel that there was definitely negligence involved here & this would fall under the "wrongful death" category. BTW, the lymph nodes taken from my dad had not one single indication of cancer after the surgery. The cancer itself didn't kill him so we feel it was the hospital & surgeons. Thanks! BTW, our dad had stage-2 cancer & hadn't spread to any other part of the body nor any lymph nodes nearby.

 

[ecmst12]

What exactly do you believe was negligent? All surgeries have risks and it sounds like this problem is a known risk of the type of surgery he had. So the fact that it happened to him does not NECESSARILY indicate negligence.

 

[Proserpina]

Moreover from the rate of Dad's decline nobody can say whether or not any intervention at that point would have saved him. The two days to which you refer might have made no difference whatsoever. Though it is a tragic outcome, it's not necessarily because of negligence.

We were later told by one of the surgeons that our dad wasn't physically strong enough to withstand any type surgery again with his condition. Well, he was gonna die anyhow with what was happening to him so why wouldn't that chance be taken?

Ask it another way: Why would they want to risk surgery on an already-compromised patient?

You're grieving and it's natural to want someone to answer for your father's eventual death. Wait for the attorney to get back to you. Without the records it's impossible to predict whether or not you have a valid case for malpractice. It's quite possible that there isn't anyone to blame for what happened - a very unfortunate complication from an already life-threatening form of cancer and surgery.

Best wishes to you and your family.

 

[ecmst12]

No doctor is going to attempt a surgical procedure that has zero chance of saving the patient's life. Beyond the practical concerns of wasted resources, it will cause the patient additional unnecessary pain and suffering. Once it is known that the patient is terminal and death can't be avoided, medical intervention will be to keep the patient as comfortable as possible for the rest of the time he has. Why would you have wanted them to perform a surgery that would ONLY hasten the inevitable? Had they tried to operate, he never would have survived the surgery.

I found the abstract to a paper on this topic here IngentaConnect The management of esophagogastric anastomotic leak after esophage...

It's very technical and talks about an experimental treatment for this complication in patients with esophageal cancer. The important information I got from it though, is that the complication is not all that rare - 15% occurence when surgery is in the upper (cervical) portion of the esophagus. Traditional treatment is more likely to be successful in this region, but the mortality rate for this study was still almost 30%. In the thoracic region (which it sounds like where your dad's was), the problem is less common, but much harder to treat and had an even higher mortality rate. It seems like the only accepted treatment right now is another surgery, and if the patient isn't stable enough to have more surgery, then the outcome is very unlikely to be good.

Complications of surgery can occur even when everyone does everything they should be doing and the standard of care is upheld in every respect. It's unfortunate, but medicine has not yet progressed to the point where surgeries are ALWAYS successful; that's why they have informed consents and risks are explained to the patient before the procedure is performed. Sometimes a person will go into surgery relatively healthy, and not make it through the operation, or have serious complications later. But if there isn't some action (or lack of action) that another healthcare professional can point to and say definitively that THIS action was not up to the standard of care, and THIS action alone led to the death....there is no malpractice.

 

[tonybologna]

I disagree with you guys here. There was no real attempt to save our dad's life. The physicians that did the surgery wasn't even contacted over the weekend that they were gone. An un-necessary surgery was done to make things look good.

You just don't know this hospital's reputation around here either. I know you're saying why did we got with them then? Well, our dad didn't wanna burden his family on traveling out of the area.

We wasn't eve told what was happening to our dad until Tuesday which would be 4 days after his setback. Then, we were told by his medical oncologist & not either one of his surgeons? C'mone! They avoided us throughout this ordeal.

When a "major" anastomotic leak happens it requires immediate intervention. Not just throwing pain meds & antibioitics like with a "contained" or "minor" leak. The only way to correct a "major" anastomotic leak is to go back in & correct the leak physically. Usually done with a stint. He may have died on the operating table BUT nothing was done in an attempt to SAVE OUR DAD!

There was no doctor qualified over the weekend to make a proper determination of what was happening. Time is critical for a "major" anastomotic leak. You can't wait until his surgeons come back from the weekend off. Why wasn't they contacted? I've seen other wrongful death suits for this same problem.

The surgeons that performed the surgeries weren't contacted & deaths occurred. Therefore, this would be the claim of negligence. This isn't the only negligence on the part of the hospital & attending physicians in my dad's case.

We were kept in the dark about our dad's complication. We didn't know what was going on & we never got a definitive answer until Tuesday & that was from the wrong person IMO.

The surgeons didn't keep us updated on what was happening with out dad. That's negligence IMO right there. The CCU nurse staff done a great job of keeping our dad pain free & as comfortable as possible. However, the doctors couldn't tell us anything as to what was causing our dad's worsening condition.

Complications are a part of any surgery. That's common sense guys! That doesn't mean that negligence or wrongful death can't be claimed, right? Our dad didn't receive any attempt to save his life. It was all about keeping him comfortable & pain free. When in reality, something more could of been done.

They let him just die. We watched him die while being in the dark about it all. 4 days go by without any explanation as to what was going on. By then with a "major" leak it's way too late to do anything. These doctors & hospital made too much money from our dad for nothing more to be done to save his life.

Another thing, we met with one of the surgeons after his death. We got no real answers. We wasn't even given any assurance that they would find out what caused the leak to make sure to try & prevent this from happening to another patient.

He only would say that our dad's immune system was at fault. Well, cancer patients immune systems are weakened anyhow, right? I'm not saying the actual surgery physicians did anything wrong during the actual surgery itself. We would never know if that was the case. However, they didn't handle the informing of the family well at all.

Why couldn't one of them come to us & say your dad is in grave condition & things aren't looking good for survival? It takes 4 days later for his medical oncologist to tell us? That's not right period. That's negligence to me right there.

Once the leak was confirmed to us it was later that the surgeons said hopefully it would close itself off. There's no chance of a "major" anastomotic leak closing itself off period. It has to corrected physically. You can't wait for healing with that type leak. How do you explain that reaction & explanation by the doctors?

They knew he was dying but didn't wanna tell us that. That's natural by regular people to be in denial but for doctors to keep us in the dark isn't right. I don't see how this isn't negligence after what I've stated now. Like I said, it's under review from a local malpractice lawyer. I don't need money because I live a good life by the grace of God but our dad put his trust into the surgeons & hospital.

He would want use to find out what happened to him & us to have the money if there wasn't proper things done to try to save his life. I know he's in a better place but that doesn't keep us from seeing such a poor effort to keep our dad in this world. Comfort & pain free is OK for hospice & people expected to die but our dad was far from that less than a week before his death. And, there wasn't anything done to try to keep his life here on earth. Thanks!

 

[ecmst12]

There is nothing medically negligent about poorly informing the family members about the patient's condition.

It sounds like there was nothing they COULD do to save your dad. Performing a pointless surgery would not have saved him, and NOT performing the surgery is not what caused his death.

 

[commentator]

Given that you disagree with everyone who has answered you on this forum, the direction of most of the responses posted here may be a tip off to you about how a judge or jury might react to the particulars of this case if it were taken to court for malpractice.

Your dad may have put his faith in doctors and hospitals but doctors and hospitals cannot stop you from dying 100% of the time. Even if the doctors had saved his life with the dramatic surgery, he'd still be an elderly man with esophageal cancer, very ill and with a very limited life expectancy. It's hard to say they destroyed years and years of potential earnings and high quality of life, so why should a large amount of money be awarded to his heirs because he died--not at all clearly because of their mistreatment or malpractice? Tubes become displaced, organs rupture, surgery becomes more and more complicated and apt to go wrong, especially in fragile elderly people.

In his compromised condition, if they'd done the additional surgery and he'd died on the table, or in terrible pain several days later, then you'd have been saying they should not have done the surgery. The only mistakes I can see is that they may have been slow in contacting the surgeons that weekend, and you do not like the way the family was dealt with or informed or given the choices of how their father was treated--when, if the doctors were puzzled, how could you have had the wisdom to demand anything different? Families frequently will insist that the most extreme and devastating measures be used to prolong a loved one's life simply because they do not want him to die. Why should you be awarded damages for not getting the opportunity to do this?

 

[tonybologna]

What I'm saying is the only way for even a chance for survival of a "major" anastomotic leak is for immediate intervention. Look this up if you guys don't believe me. There's a big difference between "contained","minor",& "major" leaks of this type.

You can get by with less evasive measures with a contained & minor leak but not a major leak. The only way to correct it is to go in there. He was going to die anyhow with this type leak. You tell me why then there was no attempt to do anything?

I'm not trying to play lawyer or doctor here. I'm just making my points as to why we believe there was negligence involved. If the lawyer in review tells us differently then maybe we let it rest & not try any further pursuit. However, I have to make my points about what we think here. Thanks!

 

[commentator]

I understand. I'm really sorry about what happened to your dad. It sounds like he was a very nice person, and I hope it works out for the best. I know you are going through some real grieving, and maybe airing all this carefully will help.

 

[Proserpina]

What I'm saying is the only way for even a chance for survival of a "major" anastomotic leak is for immediate intervention. Look this up if you guys don't believe me. There's a big difference between "contained","minor",& "major" leaks of this type.

You can get by with less evasive measures with a contained & minor leak but not a major leak. The only way to correct it is to go in there. He was going to die anyhow with this type leak. You tell me why then there was no attempt to do anything?

You have just stated that he was going to die anyhow with this type of leak - therefore it just isn't feasible or logical to pursue another invasive ("less invasive" is still invasive) action with very little chance of changing the outcome. It would also be acceptable with such a very sick patient to not even try a completely non-invasive procedure if the outcome was going to be the same, or there was such a small chance of cure.

I'm not trying to play lawyer or doctor here. I'm just making my points as to why we believe there was negligence involved. If the lawyer in review tells us differently then maybe we let it rest & not try any further pursuit. However, I have to make my points about what we think here. Thanks!

The posters here have - as a general rule - more than a little experience in either the medical field, the legal field, a combination of both or other relevant experience. I'm not suggesting everybody knows better than you but if the majority of responders are basically agreeing to the same premise - in this case, there does not initially appear to be a case of negligence - it does seem to be somewhat unlikely that every responder would be wrong.

In particular when you said this:

The surgeons that performed the surgeries weren't contacted & deaths occurred. Therefore, this would be the claim of negligence. This isn't the only negligence on the part of the hospital & attending physicians in my dad's case.

With the facts that you've provided this does not meet the legal requirement for establishing negligence. The lack of surgical consult, availability and performance is not going to make your case.

Another problem with your situation might be the age and relative health of your father at the time. Are you able to prove that had it not been for the act of negligence or malpractice, the outcome would have been vastly different? And even if you are able to do this, will the relative damages be worth the very costly process of taking a malpractice suit to trial?

As has been said, we don't have the medical records. But we also have no agenda here - there's no reason for any of us to lie to you, or give you inaccurate information. None of us would stand to gain from either encouraging you when there is no case, or dissuading you if there is a legitimate cause of action. All we can do is give an opinion based upon the facts you've provided.

 

[Proserpina]

Given that you disagree with everyone who has answered you on this forum, the direction of most of the responses posted here may be a tip off to you about how a judge or jury might react to the particulars of this case if it were taken to court for malpractice.

Your dad may have put his faith in doctors and hospitals but doctors and hospitals cannot stop you from dying 100% of the time. Even if the doctors had saved his life with the dramatic surgery, he'd still be an elderly man with esophageal cancer, very ill and with a very limited life expectancy. It's hard to say they destroyed years and years of potential earnings and high quality of life, so why should a large amount of money be awarded to his heirs because he died--not at all clearly because of their mistreatment or malpractice? Tubes become displaced, organs rupture, surgery becomes more and more complicated and apt to go wrong, especially in fragile elderly people.

In his compromised condition, if they'd done the additional surgery and he'd died on the table, or in terrible pain several days later, then you'd have been saying they should not have done the surgery. The only mistakes I can see is that they may have been slow in contacting the surgeons that weekend, and you do not like the way the family was dealt with or informed or given the choices of how their father was treated--when, if the doctors were puzzled, how could you have had the wisdom to demand anything different? Families frequently will insist that the most extreme and devastating measures be used to prolong a loved one's life simply because they do not want him to die. Why should you be awarded damages for not getting the opportunity to do this?

I should have perhaps just said "cosign" to this post

 

[tonybologna]

@Dogmatiique:

You have just stated that he was going to die anyhow with this type of leak - therefore it just isn't feasible or logical to pursue another invasive ("less invasive" is still invasive) action with very little chance of changing the outcome. It would also be acceptable with such a very sick patient to not even try a completely non-invasive procedure if the outcome was going to be the same, or there was such a small chance of cure.

I didn't mean it that way. He was sure to die with that type leak if something wasn't immediately done. That's the way I meant for it to come off. When patients suffer from a "MAJOR" anastomotic leak all of them are
"very sick".

The only chance for survival is immediate invasive measure to correct the problem. Your statement here would say that nothing should be done for patients with a "major" anastomotic leak & there should be no corrective action due to their grave health & therefore they are left to die.

Look at the articles on the net about a "major" anastomotic leak & you will see that patients can survive them if corrective actions are taken soon enough. If you don't believe me then take a look at them for yourself. You don't have to believe my words here because there's proof available.

Now, patients may die upon trying the corrective measures but my point is that nothing was even attempted to fix our dad's leak. You can't treat that type leak as a "wait & see" approach with antibiotics & pain meds.

There is a lower chance of cure with a major leak but doesn't the actions of the hospital & surgeons show some type of negligence or whatever term you wanna use? I feel we have something of nature for a claim. Negligence is what I think fits the category but maybe it's another type of damages claim. Like you said I'm no legal attorney nor a professional in medical field but we feel some type claim fits the records.

The posters here have - as a general rule - more than a little experience in either the medical field, the legal field, a combination of both or other relevant experience. I'm not suggesting everybody knows better than you but if the majority of responders are basically agreeing to the same premise - in this case, there does not initially appear to be a case of negligence - it does seem to be somewhat unlikely that every responder would be wrong.

I'm no expert in any way or I wouldn't be here to show lay this down for others to view. I can't be exact in how things went through this whole ordeal. I know family's go through doctors not telling them what's happening to loved ones everyday. That's not my main point here.

We tried a couple other local lawyers for review. However, they had personal interest in that their family members have either one of both of the surgeons as their physicians. We found one that we have now that doesn't & he said he'd thoroughly review the medical records & then let us know what he thinks.

Responders might agree pretty much but I can't give full details of the case. It would just take too long but I did give a solid review of what transpired. People are entitled to their own opinions. If we don't have something then so be it.

What would the hospital/doctors had to have done for there to be a claim then? I mean nothing but comfort & pain management was done after the leak happened. Would they had to physically kill him or give him something that lead to cardiac arrest for a claim of some type?

Again, I'm not trying to be above anybody on here. It's just my point of view. Heck, even on of the other local lawyers that reviewed the case from a standpoint like I provided here(mouth-written) said we may have a case. He didn't look at it & say there's nothing to claim like most here have stated. He just had conflicts of interest due to personal knowledge of the surgeons.

We had to search around locally to find a lawyer that didn't have personal knowledge or relationship with either of the two surgeons.

With the facts that you've provided this does not meet the legal requirement for establishing negligence. The lack of surgical consult, availability and performance is not going to make your case.

Another problem with your situation might be the age and relative health of your father at the time. Are you able to prove that had it not been for the act of negligence or malpractice, the outcome would have been vastly different? And even if you are able to do this, will the relative damages be worth the very costly process of taking a malpractice suit to trial?

As has been said, we don't have the medical records. But we also have no agenda here - there's no reason for any of us to lie to you, or give you inaccurate information. None of us would stand to gain from either encouraging you when there is no case, or dissuading you if there is a legitimate cause of action. All we can do is give an opinion based upon the facts you've provided.

The standard action for a "major" anastomotic leak is immediate physical corrective measures. I keep saying major here because there's a big difference between this & the other 2 terms. The other 2 terms require no immediate action except providing antibiotics & comfort meds. Stay on top of labwork & allow the leak to close off.

This CAN'T be done with a major leak though. I mean maybe our dad's death wasn't the exact cause of nothing being done. However, by nothing being done then he had no chance in the end.

If our dad would have died on the operating table then we could say something was at least tried to save his life. You say that we would have complained this way if he died anyhow but that wouldn't have been the case.

We are a family of faith & religion. We believe God does things for a reason. Does that allow what happened to our dad to let it go? You still have to hold people accountable for their actions. Do people of faith forgive? You bet, but we never forget. There's a fine line you have to walk & we feel that line was crossed by the actions or should I say non-actions of the hospital & surgeons.

Age? 66 isn't exactly old. It['s not even up to the human life expectancy. I agree the older we are the more problems can arise. That's again common sense here.

Cost? We only pursue with lawyers that have the "you don't pay if we don't pay" agenda. There will be no upfront cost so we're not risking anything here but keeping some pain & heartache going from losing a loved one.

We as a family feel that the actions taken allowed our father to die instead of trying to save him. That's just how we feel. I'm sure many other have felt the same way. Yeah, he may have passed away anyhow once the leak happened. But, why wasn't there something done to attempt to save him?

Was there doctor error or improper procedure that lead to the leak? That will be hard to prove I would think. However, pursuing what happened could at least give us the comfort of knowing possibly nothing could've been done. We don't see that right now.

I read a couple articles that stated if an anastomotic leak happened after esophagectomy it was 100% doctor error. I'm not saying that's the case as far as the leak happening but something was done wrong. You can't believe all you read on the net, right?

We do feel strongly about the improper care & actions though from the hospital after the leak. Maybe it comes down to we have nothing but my story here should at least give some here an opinion that we COULD have a possible malpractice case instead of saying there's no chance of that happening. Thanks!

 

[Proserpina]

I didn't mean that it would cost you anything upfront; the vast majority of med-mal attorneys take cases on a contingency basis anyway. I meant that such a suit is very likely going to be expensive and unless there are sufficient tangible damages, an attorney is unlikely to take the case even if there is obvious malpractice.

There is another red flag here, since you added information:

We tried a couple other local lawyers for review. However, they had personal interest in that their family members have either one of both of the surgeons as their physicians. We found one that we have now that doesn't & he said he'd thoroughly review the medical records & then let us know what he thinks.

This does not necessarily indicate a conflict of interest, but it's not an uncommon thing for a med-mal attorney to say. Honestly, I think you're being given a gentle let-down.

Maybe it comes down to we have nothing but my story here should at least give some here an opinion that we COULD have a possible malpractice case instead of saying there's no chance of that happening. Thanks!

Unfortunately, I think what you want is for someone to agree that your story proves a possible malpractice case. I can't do that. Maybe someone else can or will. Obviously we don't have the records - but even with the additional information you've provided nothing has changed. What you think are negligent actions do not actually appear to be negligent actions.

You are free to believe that you have a case - and I wish you and your family well no matter what the legal end result will be.

Losing a loved one is never easy and it's even more difficult when there are elements of the passing that we just don't understand. Sometimes (more often than not actually) there isn't any one thing, or person, or action to blame. And even when there is a reason, it's not always logical to us. It can often make no sense whatsoever - but this does not mean that any negligence took place.

ETA:

I read a couple articles that stated if an anastomotic leak happened after esophagectomy it was 100% doctor error. I'm not saying that's the case as far as the leak happening but something was done wrong.

Please understand that physician error does NOT automatically mean there is a case for malpractice or negligence! (that, and I'd be interested in reading those articles - there are several important contributing factors to the likelihood of anastomotic leak after such surgery and not all of them involve the surgeon)

 

[tonybologna]

@Dogmatique:

This does not necessarily indicate a conflict of interest, but it's not an uncommon thing for a med-mal attorney to say. Honestly, I think you're being given a gentle let-down.

I've been told that lawyers that have a personal relationship or knowledge of the physicians is common to avoid lawsuits against them. This would make sense, right? It's not a let-down. It's a fact in most instances like this.

Unfortunately, I think what you want is for someone to agree that your story proves a possible malpractice case. I can't do that. Maybe someone else can or will. Obviously we don't have the records - but even with the additional information you've provided nothing has changed. What you think are negligent actions do not actually appear to be negligent actions.

I'm not begging for anyone to hop on my side with me here. I'm just saying that some on here would have to see this as a possible case against the hospital & physicians.

There are far too many families that let things go & don't pursue malpractice suits. When in reality, many have reasonable claims. I feel that we fall into one of these claims. Why let the very ones that make millions of dollars yearly off the hook so easily? I know we're not falling for letting it slide.

People don't even realize they have a very reasonable claim in most cases. I mean even the clear cut ones unlike we may have here are not pursued due to thinking nothing can be done due to signing a piece of paper.

Signing that piece of paper has nothing to do with keeping anyone from a malpractice suit & it's a shame the amount of people that don't realize that. There's too much money being made by these health professionals to allow them to get by with things. Besides, they have insurance to protect them.

Even if I bring the attention to others that they don't have to settle for the death of a loved one as being "OK". That would be good enough for me here. Attention needs to be brought to this matter.

We can't continue to let health care professionals get by with such actions without at least finding out about what happened to our loved ones & if measures could have been taken to prevent losing them.

Please understand that physician error does NOT automatically mean there is a case for malpractice or negligence! (that, and I'd be interested in reading those articles - there are several important contributing factors to the likelihood of anastomotic leak after such surgery and not all of them involve the surgeon)

I know that but most factors involve not the patient but the actual actions or performance of the surgeon. Some things with the patient comes into play including age but the significant factors are with the skill & performance of the performing surgeon(s). I can find those articles if you'd like BTW. Thanks!

 

[Proserpina]

There are far too many families that let things go & don't pursue malpractice suits. When in reality, many have reasonable claims. I feel that we fall into one of these claims. Why let the very ones that make millions of dollars yearly off the hook so easily? I know we're not falling for letting it slide.

Without having the perhaps necessary experience or expertise, how can you say this?

People don't even realize they have a very reasonable claim in most cases. I mean even the clear cut ones unlike we may have here are not pursued due to thinking nothing can be done due to signing a piece of paper.

Again, what is the basis of your claim here?

The reality is quite the opposite. The reality is that most people who think they have a claim actually don't. A bad outcome does not mean that there was negligence. A tragic complication does not mean there was negligence. What a family member thinks should happen or should have happened isn't necessarily what is medically correct or appropriate and again does not mean there was negligence. Even if an error is made, this does not automatically make it a malpractice or negligence case.

There is no grand conspiracy or coordinated effort to make families "go away" or forget the possibility of a suit. It's very simply that in most cases, there is no suit to be had.

Believe me, if there appears to be a genuine case for med-mal, attorneys will be chomping at the bit to have a piece of that pie.

I do wish you and your family peace.