Medical Malpractice Cases - Research Paper Example

? Medical Malpractice Medical Malpractice Medical malpractice is a very common issue faced by the medical practitioner in the United States. It has been assessed that a physician has a risk of facing a claim of medical malpractice at least once over a period of seven years. A research was conducted by the efforts of researchers from Harvard and USC in collaboration with The Doctors Company that is marked to be one of the best malpractice insurance companies in the United States. The results of the study revealed the fact that medical practice claims serve to provide stress for the physician as well as the patients and their families. The study further revealed that a physician has a susceptibility of spending four years out of an average of a forty year medical career combatting the medical malpractice lawsuits in the court. The greatest medical malpractice lawsuits are filed against neurosurgeons whereas psychiatrists are the luckiest physicians ranking the lowest in terms of facing malpractice lawsuits. Another important thing noted was that the petition against the doctor was mostly lodged two years following the incident and the average time for a malpractice lawsuit is approximately 43 months. Medical malpractice cases affect the medical career of physicians as they become more conscious and order more investigations before providing conclusions to the patients. This results in greater healthcare costs and difficulties for the patients as well (Glatter 2013). Many medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed against doctors and they yield different results. Malpractice cases have varying outcomes and the causes behind this act are also different in every case and this can be proved with the assistance of the examples of different medical malpractice court cases. The case of Dr. Conrad Murray is one of the most famous examples of a medical malpractice lawsuit based on clinician mistakes. Dr. Murray was a cardiologist and he was assigned to be the physician of the world famous superstar Michael Jackson on monthly wages of $150,000. Dr. Murray used to be with the singer for six nights in a week and his job was to assess the health of Jackson and help him in overcoming his most important issue of insomnia. Propofol which is an anesthetic drug used in surgeries was administered by the doctor to Jackson. The doctor claimed that Jackson always demanded of propofol administration as it was the only effective way to make him sleep. On the night of his death, he was also injected with propofol by Murray and this had been identified as the cause of his death in 2009. Murray was thus claimed guilty and not only was his medical license seized, he was also awarded with imprisonment for a period of 4 years. Murray was blamed for medical negligence as he had provided Jackson with propofol without any monitoring and he had also failed to deliver resuscitative measures to the singer immediately. Furthermore, he had also kept no records of his drug administrations. All of these errors had resulted in an overdose and eventually led to the death of Jackson. Dr. Murray could have opted for a different approach of treating Jackson. He consulted other doctors and kept proper records of the medications provided to Jackson. Also, he could have used other drugs which did not require strict monitoring. These measures could have saved him from conviction (Medina; Ryan & Kim). Dr. Mark Weinberger serves as another example and multiple malpractice medical law suits were filed against him. Weinberger claimed that he was “The Nose Doctor” and he carried out surgical procedures that were not required by the patients. These procedures did not provide relief to the patients but they rather worsened their condition (Lowes 2013). Not only this, he missed the correct diagnosis of patients including a patient named Phyllis Barnes who was suffering from advanced stage throat cancer that ultimately resulted in her death. Weinberger treated her for sinus pathologies that she was not actually suffering from. He had approximately three medical malpractice cases lodged against him but he went missing following the year 2004. He was arrested in the year 2009 on a mountain in Italy. His medical had already been cancelled in the year 2005. He was awarded seven years of imprisonment for his acts in 2012. Weinberg could have utilized his medical license in a better way by not neglecting his patients and by providing them with the correct treatment rather than operating them on an incorrect diagnosis only for the purpose of earning money (AP; Wilson). The case of Dr. Kermit Gosnell is another very significant malpractice case which received much publicity owing to its notoriety. Dr. Gosnell was involved in abortion activities in Philadelphia and carried out abortions even after the twenty fourth weeks. This is a crime in Philadelphia. Not only this if the baby was born alive, Gosnell cut the spinal cords of the neonates with scissors to kill them. Gosnell has multiple court cases lodged against him for the abortions of babies older than 24 weeks as well as for the killing of live babies. He was given the sentence of three life imprisonments for his acts of medical negligence. Gosnell who is 72 years right now may not be able to practice medicine after the life term. He could have acted differently and rather helped save lives rather than killing neonates (Hoye & Hostin; Warren & Mccormack). Medical malpractice cases are fairly common in the United States and they pose a burden on the healthcare system of the country. It has been estimated that every year 55.6 billion dollars from the healthcare budget are provided for the issue of medical malpractice. This includes the malpractice claims as well as the budgets paid for the extensive tests carried out by the physicians to avoid the issue of malpractice (U.S. News). Many famous cases relating to medical malpractice have been reported. This includes the case of Dr. Conrad Murray who has been convicted for his negligence which resulted in the death of Michael Jackson. The case of Dr. Kermit Gosnell is another significant example where the doctor was involved in carrying out abortions after the period of 24 weeks and he murdered the babies that were born alive. Dr. Mark Weinberg was another doctor who was involved in medical malpractice and was convicted for his acts. In all of these three cases, the doctors were deprived of their licenses to practice and their negligence resulted in the death of precious lives. Works Cited AP. Fugitive surgeon found living in a tent on a snowy mountain in Italy gets seven years for defrauding patients of $30million. Mail Online. 12 Oct. 2012. Web. 21 Sep. 2013. Glatter, Robert. Medical Malpractice: Broken Beyond Repair? Forbes. 2 Jun. 2013. Web. 21 Sep. 2013. Hoye, Sara and Hostin, Sunny. Doctor found guilty of first-degree murder in Philadelphia abortion case. CNN. 14 May 2013. Web. 21 Sep. 2013. Lowes, Robert. Huge Malpractice Settlements Made in Fugitive Surgeon Case. Medscape Medical News. 9 Jul. 2013. Web. 21 Sep. 2013. Medina, Jennifer. Doctor Is Guilty in Michael Jackson’s Death. The New York Times. 7 Nov. 2011. Web. 21 Sep. 2013. Ryan, Harriet and Kim, Victoria. Conrad Murray convicted in Michael Jackson's death. Los Angeles Times. 8 Nov. 2011. Web. 21 Sep. 2013. U.S. News Health. Cost of Medical Malpractice Tops $55 Billion a Year in U.S. U.S. News Health. 7 Sep. 2010. Web. 21 Sep. 2013. Warren, Lydia and Mccormack, David. 'We plunged the sink and a baby's arm came out': Cop reveals shocking discovery inside abortionist's 'House of Horrors' - and how killer doctor played Chopin as police searched his home. Mail Online. 17 May 2013. Web. 21 Sep. 2013. Wilson, Charles, D. Bitter patients' lawsuits await fugitive U.S. doctor arrested in Italy. The Seattle Times. 18 Dec. 2009. Web. 21 Sep. 2013. Read More