Confidentiality Agreements Are Bad For Medical Malpractice

Cases
experienced kingston medical malpractice lawyer

It is very common in medical malpractice cases for a defendant hospital, doctor, practice group, or other healthcare provider to ask for a confidentiality agreement. In fact, some actually DEMAND it. Some negligent providers will not settle unless there is a confidentiality agreement. They don’t want the details of the case every being disclosed or the settlement. Some even have the court cases sealed.

But they are horrible. And I don’t accept them.

Confidentiality agreements are horrible for all of us. While the medical malpractice hurts a victim and his or her family, confidentiality agreements hurt all of us. This is because a dangerous doctor could continue to practice. Hospitals that are making patterns of mistakes can be allowed to still make those mistakes and get away with it. This could allow them to wiggle away from liability from punitive damages for repeating constant mistakes.

These agreements also allow other lawyers and plaintiffs to not rely on the findings. You see, the judicial process and the law is based on precedence. This means following what prior courts did before the current case. It is to create a uniform expectation of how the law works. When there are confidentiality agreements which resolve entire cases up to the time of trial when a case is settled, this eliminates all of that precedence what happened.

This also allows doctors to hide from the professional conduct committee. This can also allow dangerous doctors to continue. This can also mean that more victims can be harmed by mistakes.

Confidentiality agreements are just wrong and horrible. Courts are supposed to be open to the public. These should not be a part of it.

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