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 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.