A month ago I had a robotic laparoscopic kidney surgery to remove a mass. There was a problem that was never explained to me but I suffered a deep 2 CM burn on my left side, where the probe was inserted. I have to visit the wound clinic weekly since and for another six weeks or so. It is painful and life-altering. The hospital is pickling up the tab for the wound care. Should I seek advice from an attorney?

quote:

my left side, where the probe was inserted. I have to visit the wound clinic weekly since and for another six weeks or so. It is painful and life-altering. The hospital is pickling up the tab for the wound care. Should I seek advice from an attorney?

YUP YUP AND YUP.

Yes

You should contact a Personal Injury attorney, preferably one that has deep pockets, and experience in medical cases at least to consult about what your options are, what the potential outcomes entail such as time, what medical tests you might need, etc.

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Originally posted by HRK:
You should contact a Personal Injury attorney, preferably one that has deep pockets, and experience in medical cases at least to consult about what your options are, what the potential outcomes entail such as time, what medical tests you might need, etc.

And be careful not to sign anything or say anything.
Something that may seem harmless to you may not be to a case.

Do NOT consult a "personal injury" attorney. Seek a medical malpractice attorney. They are VERY different things in lawyer-speak. (You can consult a PI guy if you want to, but I certainly wouldn't retain one for a MedMal case.)

MedMal is extremely complicated, extremely expensive to prosecute, and takes a long, long time. The guy who does car accidents is not a MedMal specialist. MedMal guys generally only do MedMal and there's a reason for it.

Generally speaking, the standard of review is whether your provider(s) were negligent. Medical negligence is different than regular civil negligence and depends entirely on the relevant medical standard of care.

By all means consult a MedMal attorney, but know going in that just because you were injured, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a MedMal claim.

-Rob

As usual, Rob is on point.

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
Do NOT consult a "personal injury" attorney. Seek a medical malpractice attorney. They are VERY different things in lawyer-speak. (You can consult a PI guy if you want to, but I certainly wouldn't retain one for a MedMal case.)

MedMal is extremely complicated, extremely expensive to prosecute, and takes a long, long time. The guy who does car accidents is not a MedMal specialist. MedMal guys generally only do MedMal and there's a reason for it.

Generally speaking, the standard of review is whether your provider(s) were negligent. Medical negligence is different than regular civil negligence and depends entirely on the relevant medical standard of care.

By all means consult a MedMal attorney, but know going in that just because you were injured, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a MedMal claim.

-Rob

Sorry to hear you are hurting, Trooperdan. Rob is giving you the right advice ^^^^

Medical negligence claims is a highly specialized area. They are often difficult to prove and you should not expect quick money.

It can be tricky to determine how the burn happened, and who if anyone is at fault. Could it have been caused by a malfunction of medical equipment in the OR, or maybe someone who prepared or operated the equipment?

That being said, many hospitals have early resolution programs for situations like this. You mentioned the hospital is paying for your wound care. You might want to ask the hospital representative what they would be willing to do for you, aside from covering the treatment.

If you are seeking a large settlement, then by all means you should seek competent counsel and be guided by their advice. Not the guy with the ad on the side of a bus.

There's a guy who advertises on Orlando area TV, I forget his name, but he is "The MDJD." Medical doctor, and Juris Doctor. He specializes in medical malpractice suits.

I don't know whether his practice is strictly local, or if he's licensed in your state, as well as Florida.

Im assuming the site is one of the incisions. Is it in a spot where you would be comfortable sharing a photo? I'm quite the opposite of a Med mal attorney but I do perform robotic surgery. The trocars used in robotics are stainless steel and will obviously conduct electrical energy and heat. For the wound to require 12 weeks of wound care it must be awfully impressive.
I believe Rob gave an excellent description of medical malpractice. Unfortunately physicians can do things exactly as they should and bad outcomes still occur. I'm sorry you're having to go through the pain and the wound care. Hopefully everything else went well with the kidney resection.

I am in Palm Beach county, I contacted a leading medical malpractice law group here but it is too minor for them to deal with. No permanent or debilitating injury. Odd thing is, I also had a 3d degree burn in another PBC hospital last year from a MRI exam! FL hospitals are rough on me!

Was it done using an Intuitive Surgical System robot? I know that a year back or more, there was a huge kerfuffle about ISRG robotic system burning patient with its arms due to some sort of electrical issue. ISRG stock took a huge dive and has since recovered.

There are many articles written about this in recent past. Something you might want to take a closer look.

Request a "complete" copy of your medical records before some go missing.

quote:

Originally posted by Trooperdan:
I am in Palm Beach county, I contacted a leading medical malpractice law group here but it is too minor for them to deal with. No permanent or debilitating injury. Odd thing is, I also had a 3d degree burn in another PBC hospital last year from a MRI exam! FL hospitals are rough on me!

^^^^ ArmedMD is a Doc and he offered assistance. I love this forum.

Hope you feel better soon.

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
Do NOT consult a "personal injury" attorney. Seek a medical malpractice attorney. They are VERY different things in lawyer-speak. (You can consult a PI guy if you want to, but I certainly wouldn't retain one for a MedMal case.)

MedMal is extremely complicated, extremely expensive to prosecute, and takes a long, long time. The guy who does car accidents is not a MedMal specialist. MedMal guys generally only do MedMal and there's a reason for it.

Generally speaking, the standard of review is whether your provider(s) were negligent. Medical negligence is different than regular civil negligence and depends entirely on the relevant medical standard of care.

By all means consult a MedMal attorney, but know going in that just because you were injured, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a MedMal claim.

-Rob

This is good advice. It is hard to know if you have a claim. It is very fact dependent.

And, a lot of the tort reform that many were so gung-ho to pass has made med-mal cases exceedingly difficult to bring. You may be about to learn about where that burden falls.

armedmd, I send a personal email.

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
Do NOT consult a "personal injury" attorney. Seek a medical malpractice attorney. They are VERY different things in lawyer-speak. (You can consult a PI guy if you want to, but I certainly wouldn't retain one for a MedMal case.)

MedMal is extremely complicated, extremely expensive to prosecute, and takes a long, long time. The guy who does car accidents is not a MedMal specialist. MedMal guys generally only do MedMal and there's a reason for it.

Generally speaking, the standard of review is whether your provider(s) were negligent. Medical negligence is different than regular civil negligence and depends entirely on the relevant medical standard of care.

By all means consult a MedMal attorney, but know going in that just because you were injured, it doesn't necessarily mean you have a MedMal claim.

-Rob

This is exactly correct. An adverse outcome doesn't always mean negligence. It will depend if your provider deviated from the standard of care applicable to that type of doctor doing that type of procedure.

I have experience with this. My wife was seriously injured in a surgical operation in 1996. I will spare you the details, but will try to share in the lessons learned. To summarize, we sued the doctor, and went to trial. We won. The jury awarded an amount that still stands as a record amount in the mid-atlantic region of states. As a result of the trial victory, the defendant's law firm was fired by the doctor's insurance company, and went out of business. The doctor's insurance company hired another law firm, and they appealed the verdict. It went to the state Supreme Court, and the verdict was overturned. The case made case law, which has been referenced in many other trials. We re-filed the case. Then the other side settled out of court.

To prevail in a medical malpractice suit, you have to prove two things: 1) That the standard of care was violated, and 2) That you did not have informed consent of the risk that resulted in your injury. This is very difficult to do.

We had three attorneys from two different firms representing us. They told us right up front, that we had an 80% chance of losing any med-mal suit. The reason is that typical citizens that might appear on a jury thinks all med-mal suits are frivolous. So, this is one thing you must decide - the odds are against you winning, right off the bat. If you DO win, it would only be because you have major permanent, debilitating, lifelong injury. My wife definitely falls into this category, as she has been on total Social Security disability since 2000, and is still on very serious pain medications to this day. She cannot function without them.

Now, on to costs. It cost us about $80,000.00 to sue this doctor, NOT INCLUDING legal expenses. Why? Because in order to prove your case, you will have to hire expert witnesses - in the case of med-mal, you have to hire other doctors to review all the records, and testify in court. They don't do this for free! At the very least, doctors will have to take a minimum of half a day away from their practice. They won't do this for the cost of an office visit! They are losing a half-day's worth of patients. So they will charge you many thousands of dollars. The attorneys will NOT pay this cost themselves! Depending on the type of surgery and the injuries, you may need several doctors to testify. If you become disabled, you may have to also hire an economist and an occupational specialist to explain whether you are capable of working in your occupation, and if not, whether you could work in a different occupation with your limitations. These people are not as expensive as doctors, but still over $1,000. If they have to travel to support your trial, you must pay for their travel, lodging and food expenses too.

One other thing: It's going to be HARD to find doctors willing to testify. There is an old-boy's network that doctors should not testify against each other. Most doctors are very reluctant to get involved in these legal cases.

Now, for the time component: She was injured in 1996. We finally settled out of court in 2001. During those five years, our family went through a slow motion, agonizing series of emotional ups and downs. One day, you'll hear some news that suggests you might win. A few weeks later, something else will happen suggesting you might lose. Repeat many times over several years. If you're married, you better have a strong marriage, and handle stress well. You're going to need coping skills. Med Mal cases do not resolve quickly.

So, you might ask, if we had such a strong case, why didn't the insurance company settle out of court, without the expense of a trial? Simple. Insurance companies know patients, even with a strong case, do not want to go to trial because of the expense. Furthermore, they are reluctant to settle out of court because it creates a "history". The more you settle out of court, the more likely the doctor may be to get sued - since a plaintiff can look up this history and know they could have a good chance of recovery without going to court. By forcing cases to go to trial, even strong cases, any subsequent cases that are brought to them will be met with the realization that even if they do have a strong case, they still will have to go to court to get a settlement, assuming they win. So forcing all cases to trial acts as a deterrent to future suits.

I'm not suggesting you NOT pursue this. But think this through carefully before you do. This is a very long term, multi-year, expensive project, with no guarantee you will prevail. If you can live with that, go ahead.

It can't hurt to at least talk to an attorney, who will probably warn you about some if not all of the above facts.

BURTONRW: Do my explanations above sound about right?

Your claim may be based on the failure of the device, and it's manufacturer. As mentioned above, Intuitive has gotten in hot water both with mechanical issues and overstating the efficacy of its approach vs traditional techniques.