Hidden Malpractice Settlements

An investigative news piece completed by WJLA’s I-Team discovered that you might not have access to all the information you may like when you investigate a physician that you’re thinking of using for your healthcare. A family’s loss back in 1995 resulted in a wrongful death lawsuit and a civil case was settled, but the doctor in question appears to have a spotless record on the state website. There was no mention of this wrongful death lawsuit or six other lawsuits that had been filed in the past.

Another patient came forward in 2007 against this physician and sued him for not having proper treatment for a complication of her surgery. In the past, he’d won one case out of five of the civil suits with the rest being settled. The question in this patient’s mind is why was he still allowed to continue practicing and why wasn’t she able to be informed about his past. 

The National Practitioner Data Bank collects malpractice payments information that goes back about 25 years, but these settlements are only disclosed publicly for the last five years and if the physician has three or more cases that equal payments of 150,000 dollars or more. This leaves many patients in the dark about potentially problematic physicians. When researching your next physician, it can be helpful to not only look at the medical board’s public profile on the physician, but look for any court filings against the physician as well. 

Medical malpractice is a scary situation. Our doctors are the ones we trust to keep not only keep ourselves healthy, but also keep our loved ones and family members healthy. If you believe that you or a loved one has been a victim of medical malpractice, contact the medical malpractice lawyers at Berger Lagnese & Paul, LLC today to go over your case.