Medical Malpractice At The VA–A Scary Combination

Every year, thousands of military veterans in the United States are faced with having to sue a negligent VA doctor for injuries caused during medical care.  What’s more astonishing is that each year, settled claims for VA medical malpractice nearly reach one hundred million dollars!

Experienced Kingston, New York VA medical malpractice attorneys know that many of these cases include the wrongful death of the military veteran.  In fact, hundreds of millions of dollars were paid to the families of these deceased veterans during the first decade of the 21^stcentury alone.

Less than two hundred VA hospitals serve over five and a half million veterans every year.  Many of these veterans have injuries – both mental and physical – that are more severe than what other patients endure.  At the same time, VA facilities have been criticized as being mismanaged and as a nexus of disease outbreaks and preventable deaths.

Suing a negligent doctor involves numerous rules and procedures.  This is especially the case if the negligent doctor is under the employ of the federal government.  Any time the government is named as a defendant, special rules will apply to the suit.

Experienced Kingston VA medical malpractice attorneys would file the victim’s claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which applies to all employees of the federal government including doctors, dentists, and the like.  But note that there is a unique statute of limitations within which the claim must be filed; two years from the date of the malpractice or from the date on which the victim should have known that malpractice occurred.

As mentioned above too many veterans have wrongfully died from their negligent medical care.  But quite often the patient’s injury falls short of death.  Mistakes that lead to non-lethal injury include medication errors, such as prescribing the wrong medication and or the wrong dosage.  VA doctors have diagnosed patients as having an ailment that was not present.  Other times, the doctor failed to diagnose something that which should have been diagnosed.

The key to whether or not the injured veteran can recover will hinge upon several primary issues.  There must have been an injury and that injury must have given rise to damages.  But perhaps the hardest feat for the experience attorney is proving that the negligent doctor’s actions actually caused the injury.  Additionally, proving that the doctor deviated from the required standard of care is also necessary.

Proving a deviation involves a very important comparison.  The negligent doctor is compared to other doctor’s in the area.  If another doctor in the area who is faced with a similar situation would not have made the mistake that was made, medical malpractice is at hand.

But what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com.  You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.