Articles Posted in Massachusetts Medical Malpractice

Massachusetts medical malpractice claims must pass through a tribunal if the case is ultimately going to be successful.  This is a prerequisite to any medical malpractice claim in Massachusetts.  I found the following on Stoneham, Massachusetts attorney Susan M. Mooney’s web site that does a great job of explaining the tribunal system in the context of Massachusetts medical malpractice:

After suit is filed, Massachusetts’s law requires that a malpractice case be heard by a malpractice tribunal (a panel of three (3) persons; typically a judge, a lawyer and a physician). At the tribunal we must present expert witness support, usually by submitting a written report from the expert, that the case has a reasonable likelihood of success. Thus, it is imperative that a written expert opinion is obtained before filing suit. If the tribunal decides that there may be negligence and therefore a likelihood of success, then your case is allowed to proceed through the Court system to trial without any bond requirement. However, the other option available to the tribunal is a decision that there may have been an "unfortunate medical incident" but that it does not rise to the level of negligence. If the tribunal determines that it is an "unfortunate medical incident" your case will be dismissed and if you wish to prevent a dismissal, a bond must be posted with the Court. (The current bond is $6,000.00 per party that you have named as a defendant in a malpractice case). For example, a case against a doctor and a hospital would require a $12,000.00 bond if the tribunal decision was not favorable to you and nevertheless you wished to proceed with the case in spite of the tribunal’s decision.

Tags: tribunals and Massachusetts medical malpractice

The May 11th edition of the New England Journal of Medicine featured a story that refutes the popular belief that many medical malpractice claims are frivolous and without merit.  This article perhaps vindicates many medical malpractice attorneys across the US and their efforts to advance meritorious claims on behalf of the victims of medical malpractice.  Here is a post from injuryboard.com about this recent article in the NEJM:

A new research study appearing in the May 11th New England Journal of Medicine, refutes the oft-mentioned claim by some that frivolous lawsuits, especially medical malpractice claims lack merit. For this study, which appears in the May 11 New England Journal of Medicine, a panel of trained physicians reviewed 1,452 closed malpractice claims from five liability insurers to determine if a medical injury really had occurred and, if so, whether or not it was due to medical error. The physicians focused on the areas of surgery, obstetrics, medication and missed or delayed diagnosis which, together, account for about 80 percent of all malpractice claims filed in the United States.

"These findings are absolutely no surprise to any of us in the policy community. They are consistent with everything we suspected and learned from research over last 20 years, which is that the major problem out there is medical errors that are not compensated, rather than frivolous claims that are compensated," added Dr. William Sage, a professor of law at Columbia University in New York City.

Medical malpractice happens everyday in Massachusetts.  The legal test of medical malpractice in Massachusetts is whether the the medical treatment, or lack thereof, deviated from the standard of care of the average qualified professional.  Medical malpractice is not limited to doctors; everyone from EMT’s all the way up to the most prolific surgeons face medical malpractice liability.

It is important to know that there is generally a three (3) year statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims in Massachusetts, although there are exceptions to this rule.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the various types of medical malpractice scenarios:

USA Today reports on a disturbing trend in the medical field.  Apparently – and this has been going on for a long time – surgeons are operating on parts of the body that are perfectly healthy, instead of operating on those parts of the body that are in need of surgery.  Example, removing a perfectly good arm or operating on the wrong lung.  Now that is bad.  But, surgeons are people just like you and I.  But, notwithstanding that, that is why we have medical malpractice law to see to it that doctors and medical personnel perform their job "reasonably."

Here is an excerpt from the article provided by USA Today:

"Last year, health care facilities reported 84 operations to the commission that involved the wrong body part or the wrong patient. While some states require hospitals to report such blunders, many hospitals across the nation are not obligated to account for them publicly.