Have You or Someone You Know In EMS Been Sued Over Pateint Care or Lack Thereof

[crotchitymedic1986]

I have noticed that the concern over lawsuits frequently creeps into many categories of questions; whether or not you will do a certain procedure, the problem with protocols or lack of protocols, when to use medical control, or how you document to protect yourself. Then I asked myself, "Crotchity, is this lawsuit fear a founded fear ?" I got to thinking about it, and I could not recall one person that I worked with who had ever been sued over patient care issues. I know some that were sued, but all of those were over vehicle accidents, not patient care issues. So how real is this boogey-man ? Do you know someone personally that has been sued ? If so, how many ?

[flight-lp]

Outside of sheer negligence or stupidity, it is rare for civil litigation to reach a courtroom. Texas got smart a few years ago and put a cap on medical litigation. Very few go directly for the EMT or his / her company as the lawyers realize that's not where the money is. Hospital systems and physician groups on the other hand...............

[akflightmedic]

Exactly. Many complaints you hear about but never the final resolution...why? It is because any wise company will settle out of court and put a gag order on it so to speak.

My county was self insured as most are, same with municipalities...we settled several times. Nothing to be proud of, some of the complaints were frivolous, but even those frivolous claims are cheaper just to pay, which we did.

Having said that, I have been named in a lawsuit and an old partner of mine was as well. I have written of these before but it was a few years back.

Both of our names were dropped out of the cases respectively due to the opposing side realizing we had nothing to give and garnishing our wages for the next 50 years would be ridiculous. They want the big fish, so they would name everyone initially and then as discovery develops, drop names as needed.

[P_Instructor]

Outside of sheer negligence or stupidity, it is rare for civil litigation to reach a courtroom. Hospital systems and physician groups on the other hand...............

Very true.....that's the (no pun intended)....ticket.

[Nate]

Lawsuits are never good, they can be devastating to the field medics (even going through the deposition process can be). People sue for some pretty stupid stuff, and for the most part they leave us alone in Texas. However I've to many runs to count that have been requested by lawyers for use in lawsuits (never had to go because of one). It is so bad that we have a specific day set aside for our assistant chief to handle all of the requests.

-Nate

[HERBIE1]

While researching for medical/legal issues classes, I came across very few such cases. Negligence is the most common problem, but as was noted, it is very rare. Think about the thousands of patient contacts every day- it just doesn't happen.

There is also a very high hurdle that must be proven in order to be charged with negligence: A provider's actions must be willful and wanton and several questions must be answered in order to prove such a claim. Did the provider have a duty to provide care? Did the provider breach that duty by failing to provide care according to an established standard? DId harm come to the patient as a result of that failure? Was that harm due to failing to provide care according to established standards? Additionally, the plaintiff must provide the burden of proof to answer all these questions.

In other words, a simple mistake will not automatically mean litigation- although you certainly will receive sanctions/discipline from your state and local systems. You must intentionally cause harm or deviate from acceptable standards.

[croaker260]

OK, I have been doing this for 19 years (soon to be 20).

There are only two sub-categories of litigation I have ever heard of actually being pushed at services where I have worked. .... Driving related accidents, and gurney drops.

As for medical care issues, its rare unless its something like " someone replaced my Valium with salt water" type of things. And thats pretty rare too.

it just doesnt happen very often.

In 19 years I gave been to court a LOT as a witness of one type or another, in civil and criminal proceedings, and deposed as well. but as the defendant..no.

I had one case many years ago, where I had a early 20's female who was hypotensive, 30-some weeks gravid, and bleeding after her (drunken and violent on scene- had to be arrested) boyfriend hit her in the belly. It took multiple IV attempts to get a line (like ...3). a month later my service got a letter threatening to sue from a a lawyer representing the both of them together (it was just a misunderstanding, after all) for "undue pain and suffering" from the multiple IV attempts. I sat down with the counties legal team. They explained that this letter was simply a fishign scheme to get a nibble at asettlement, and unless the couple had oooodles of money up front for the lawyer to waste..and they didnt...that this would go no where.

It went no where.

This event was interesting for many reasons. It explained what a volume buisness civil litigation can be. It also illustrates that unless its a "clear cut" case of neglignce that is ALSO against a party with deep (really deep) pockets, or the plaintiff has really deep pockets...most of these CIVIL cases die in utero.

Heaven help you if you ever piss of an irrational plaintiff who is a millionaire though, or end up on the wrong end of a CRIMINAL proceeding .

Edited November 9, 2009 by croaker260

[HERBIE1]

OK, I have been doing this for 19 years (soon to be 20).

There are only two sub-categories of litigation I have ever heard of actually being pushed at services where I have worked. .... Driving related accidents, and gurney drops.

As for medical care issues, its rare unless its something like " someone replaced my Valium with salt water" type of things. And thats pretty rare too.

it just doesnt happen very often.

In 19 years I gave been to court a LOT as a witness of one type or another, in civil and criminal proceedings, and deposed as well. but as the defendant..no.

I had one case many years ago, where I had a early 20's female who was hypotensive, 30-some weeks gravid, and bleeding after her (drunken and violent on scene- had to be arrested) boyfriend hit her in the belly. It took multiple IV attempts to get a line (like ...3). a month later my service got a letter threatening to sue from a a lawyer representing the both of them together (it was just a misunderstanding, after all) for "undue pain and suffering" from the multiple IV attempts. I sat down with the counties legal team. They explained that this letter was simply a fishign scheme to get a nibble at asettlement, and unless the couple had oooodles of money up front for the lawyer to waste..and they didnt...that this would go no where.

It went no where.

This event was interesting for many reasons. It explained what a volume buisness civil litigation can be. It also illustrates that unless its a "clear cut" case of neglignce that is ALSO against a party with deep (really deep) pockets, or the plaintiff has really deep pockets...most of these CIVIL cases die in utero.

Heaven help you if you ever piss of an irrational plaintiff who is a millionaire though, or end up on the wrong end of a CRIMINAL proceeding .

The original post was about lawsuits as a result of line of duty care.

I wouldn't worry too much about the criminal side. Very unlikely to be charged with a criminal complaint as a result of providing approrpiate care. CIVIL, on the other hand is a different story. You can sue someone for nearly any reason but like I said, at least malpractice or negligence is a very tough nut to crack.

I too have been to court and given depositions MANY times as a witness, and also never as a defendant. BS lawsuits will be directed at those with deep pockets- city, county, department, etc. Most slip and fall lawyers(my general term to describe these types of attorneys) know this and won't waste their time unless big money is involved. Most municipalities frequently deal with all types of nuisance lawsuits and they used to throw a couple grand at a complainant just to make it go away.

These days, because most larger departments and municipalities already have lawyers on staff that they realize that agreeing to go to trial on a BS case usually scares off the con artists and they are soon dropped. As you said, most of the time they are indeed fishing expeditions, looking to see if a settlement is possible.

Mass transit cases are perfect examples of this. A "horrific" bus accident like a broken side view mirror, and suddenly everyone on the bus(including the driver) has neck and back pain, requiring months of therapy and medication, lost wages, etc. The old story-only 3 people on the bus at the time of the accident, yet suddenly 40 people are on scene, complaining of injuries. Trains are the worst- too many doors to guard. LOL