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Lawsuits Against the VA for Medical Malpractice

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CNN has reported that the Veterans Affairs Department has fallen short in reporting potentially dangerous doctors. Lawsuits against the VA may be the appropriate methods to stopping future malpractice.

Law Firm to Sue VA for Dangerous Doctors

VA Medical Center“The safety of patients should be the top priority at any medical facility, including military facilities that treat military members and veterans,” says Andrew Cherkasky, a Partner at Golden Law, Inc., a law firm that focuses its practice on holding the military and VA accountable for medical malpractice. “Lawsuits against the VA are often the only way to stop medical malpractice and dangerous doctors,” he says.

The report published by CNN finds that the VA delayed in reviewing dangerous doctors for months, or even years after troubling reports were filed. Even in the most serious cases, the doctors’ behavior was not reported to state licensing authorities or to the national database aimed at protecting future patients.

“We believe that medical providers, and especially doctors, should have a wide range of options at their disposal to effectively treat patients, but when their discretion falls well outside the standard of care, lawsuits are often the only way to get medical facilities to fix the problem,” Cherkasky says.

Lawsuits against military medical facilities and VA hospitals have very specific legal process that often leads to quick settlements and substantial financial benefit to the injured patient or their family. Historical statistics show payouts well over $100,000 for malpractice claims that caused minor disruption to the patient’s quality of life, and multi-million-dollar awards for malpractice that caused more significant injury or death.

Lawsuits and claims against the military prohibit law firms from profiting more than 20-25% of the award to the patient depending on the stage of litigation. This is a substantial departure from lawsuits against civilian medical facilities that often result in 40% of the patient’s payout being delivered to a law firm.

Golden Law, Inc. is a worldwide law firm with attorneys that have served in the military, and have experience while serving in the military in how they handle large medical malpractice claims. The attorneys at Golden Law have dedicated their careers to the needs of military members, veterans, and their dependents.

Over Prescription of Pain Medications in the Military

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Over Prescription of Pain Medications in the Military

Doctors are required to prescribe pain medications with great care. There are specific guidelines and signs that providers must be aware of to prevent addiction to pain pills. Over prescription of pain medications in the military and VA hospitals is a persistent issue that creates life-altering addiction.

Sue the Military for Over Prescription of Pain Medications

You can sue the military if they are responsible for your addiction to pain medication unless you were on active duty at the time you became addicted. Dependents, retirees, civilian employees, and others that received care at a military medical facility are eligible to sue for the over prescription of pain medications in the military.

Opioid and pain pill abuse has become an epidemic in America. The addiction to these drugs occurs without regard to race, economics, location, or any other factor. Research makes it clear that the over prescription of pain medications is one of the causes to pain pill abuse. Over prescription of pain medication in the military and VA hospitals is often the catalyst to drug abuse by our veterans, retirees, and military dependents.

VA Hospitals Over Prescribe Pain Medications

VA medical facilities are especially prone to over prescription of pain medications. As our veterans and their spouses grow old, they rely on the care of VA hospitals. As these individuals age, so too does their pain from any number of reasons (i.e. old injuries, surgery, arthritis, general weakening of the body).

Too often the providers at VA medical facilities are overworked. One of the quickest ways to remedy ailing patients is with the prescription and frequent refills of pain medications. Even if pain medications were appropriate initially, the continued prescription or the amount of the original prescription may be inappropriate. The more overworked the providers are, the less likely they are to identify pill-seeking-behavior.

VA hospitals are also known to over prescribe pain medication to young veterans that were injured in war or in training mishaps. These young veterans often receive outstanding care in the hours, days, and weeks after their injury, but as the months and years drag on with lingering pain, providers often turn to persistent prescriptions of pain medications which ultimately can endorse addiction.

Abuse of Pain Pills in Military and VA Hospitals

We have seen countless cases of military members that were injured in the line of duty rushed out of the military on medical retirement. These former military members are then often treated for their injuries in VA hospitals or military treatment facilities. As the years go by from their original injury, pain and discomfort often persist. Providers must exercise a great deal of care in the manner in which they treat this pain. Narcotics are not always the right answer, and continued prescription of narcotics is often a sign of malpractice.

If you or a loved one became addicted to narcotics after a military facility or VA hospital prescribed these pills, please call for a free consultation.

Winning Lawsuits for Over Prescription of Pain Medication in the Military

Lawsuits against the military or VA for malpractice regarding narcotic prescriptions are unique to every case. In many situations, merely the number of pills prescribed in a specific time period is enough to establish the provider violated a standard of care. In other cases, a much more thorough analysis must be performed to establish that under the specific circumstances, the providers should not have prescribed medication as they did. Furthermore, in other cases, the addiction may not be the fault of the medical providers.

Settlements or judgments for prescription malpractice could range substantially. The amount could be as low as several thousand dollars, or approach several hundred-thousand for egregious cases with significant life altering impact. Lawsuits could ultimately be in the millions if the malpractice lead to the death of a patient as a result of pain pill addiction.

Initial Consultation for Military Medical Malpractice

Our medical malpractice lawsuits use a “no fee unless you win” policy. That means that if we take your case, you don’t pay us unless you win. Even if you win, our percentage of the settlement or judgment amount is capped far lower than most personal injury attorneys. We believe that is fair for our fees to be lower because we are working for those that served or their families that supported them.

Our initial consultations are also free. After our initial phone call, we often have an in-house medical professional review your case for viability. There is no risk to at least making the initial call and learning more about our services.

Military Malpractice Lawsuits

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Military Malpractice Lawsuits

By: Andrew Cherkasky

Military malpractice lawsuits is one of our firm’s focused practice areas. I started this area of practice because early in my military career I saw too many instances of professional failures by medical professionals without compensation to the victims of the errors. The most egregious situation occurred when I was only a few years in the military and a friend’s wife died during child birth.

Death During Childbirth Military Medical Facility

Andrew Cherkasky Delivers Baby

Andrew Cherkasky assists in delivering his child.

I was stationed overseas and only a few years out of law school. I was very excited to be working as an attorney in the military. Only a few months after my first child was born, news spread that a mother had died during child birth at the military medical facility on base. I quickly learned that we knew the woman that died and her husband was suddenly a widower with a new-born child and a toddler.

It became clear that medical error was a substantial factor in the death of the mother. The doctor on duty failed to respond to excessive bleeding. The nurses did everything they could but the inexperienced doctor was not acting as quickly as he should. After bleeding continued far too long, the mother was finally brought to an operating room that was understaffed. It became clear that the medical facility was not appropriately staffed on the weekends to handle such emergencies.

Aftermath of Incidents of Military Malpractice

There were no criminal charges even though it clearly appeared to be a dereliction of duty, a crime in the military. The doctor was permitted to keep practicing in the military but was quickly moved to a new duty location where people wouldn’t know about his past actions.

The military bent over backwards to support the active-duty father. The whole community did everything it could to support him. However, nobody as far as I was aware was notifying him of his right to aggressively seek compensation for his wife’s death. This man and his children will forever be impacted by the negligence of the inexperienced doctor at an understaffed hospital. The love and support of the military community is important, but the only way the law can even start to try to make a person whole, is through financial compensation.

What I saw in the time after the death of this mother was a very careful tightrope walk of leadership to provide support without exposing this military member to the potential financial responsibility of the military.

Can You Sue the Military for Medical Malpractice

You absolutely can sue the military for medical malpractice unless you were on duty as a military member at the time of the malpractice. Dependents, retirees, civilian employees, and others that receive care from a military medical facility can sue for malpractice.

A medical malpractice lawsuit is appropriate where the medical facility failed to follow the “standard of care”. In the example above with the mother that died during childbirth, the standard of care were a mother continued to bleed after childbirth was to more quickly bring the mother to an operating room with appropriately experienced staff. The facility should never have been delivering babies on weekends because of serious understaffing issues.

Standard of Care in Military Medical Facilities

The Standard of Care in military medical facilities is the same as in civilian facilities. Having spent as much time around the military as we have, we are well aware that many on military bases accept that in return for free medical care they receive care from more inexperienced providers than you typically find on the outside. Worse yet, those stationed overseas have no choice but to accept the care of military medical facilities.

Everyone knows that medical procedures can go wrong, however, the critical question is whether the military medical facility and its personnel did what they were supposed to do in treating a patient. Examples of errors include: misdiagnosis, failure to treat, failure to order testing, inexperienced staff, lack of emergency services, failure to warn of risks, wrong site surgeries, failure to provide aftercare, and the list goes on.

Initial Consultation for Military Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Our medical malpractice lawsuits use a “no fee unless you win” policy. That means that if we take your case, you don’t pay us unless you win. Even if you win, our percentage of the settlement or judgment amount is capped far lower than most personal injury attorneys. We believe that is fair for our fees to be lower because we are working for those that served or their families that supported them.

Our initial consultations are also free. After our initial phone call, we often have an in-house medical professional review your case for viability. There is no risk to at least making the initial call and learning more about our services.