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Medicare is a federal program that pays for medical bills and hospital expenses. In a dramatically new twist, Medicare has decided that where a patient suffers injuries at the hands of a doctor or a hospital, and the patient requires additional medical care or treatment because of that wrongdoing, they will refuse to pay for those errors. The dilemma that Medicare will face is trying to determine exactly what constitutes error by a doctor or hospital, as opposed to a possible complication that might arise from a particular procedure.
What about a patient that develops a hospital-borne infection while awaiting treatment? The initial reports indicate that Medicare will not pay for events that ‘never should have happened’. Here’s the problem: If Medicare doesn’t pay, and the patient is billed thousands and thousands of dollars for medical care following a medical error, the patient will be forced to bring a lawsuit against the doctor and hospital, if nothing else than to recover money to pay for those medical bills that Medicare refused to pay. Medicare says that the doctors and hospitals should pay for their errors. That sounds great in principle, however, neither the doctor, nor the hospital are going to fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars for the patient’s medical treatment just because of medical error. Therefore, the patient will be left with no choice but to bring a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor and hospital. This will, unwittingly, create many lawsuits that might not otherwise be brought.
And what if private insurance companies were to change their policy as well? Despite their contractual obligation to pay for a patient’s medical care, what if they start writing new policies that says exactly what Medicare has said? This will create a ripple effect that, I believe, will incite many lawsuits. In addition, even patients who were otherwise predisposed to go on with their disabled lives and not interested in pursuing litigation, will now have no choice in order to pay their medical and hospital bills. In my opinion, Medicare’s change in policy would have a negative and unintended effect and do no good.
The way Medicare worked in the past, was that they paid for a patient’s hospital stay. If malpractice occurred during the hospitalization, the patient would likely bring a lawsuit, and Medicare would have a lien against the proceeds of the lawsuit. This meant that they would be entitled to recover the money that they spent for the patient’s additional care that resulted from the malpractice. Now that Medicare won’t pay for treatment relating to medical malpractice, there will be no lien which the injured victim would have to repay to Medicare. instead, you’re going to have a lien and possibly a judgment against the patient for the bills for the doctor(s) and the hospital. That could easily result in a lien as well that the patient would be responsible for. Either way, the patient has no other alternative but to go after the wrongdoer and make them pay for their medical expenses. While they’re at it, they will also sue for past pain & suffering and future pain and suffering, together with their economic losses.
Gerry Oginski is an experienced New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial attorney and practices exclusively in the State of New York. He has tirelessly represented injured victims in all types of medical malpractice and injury cases in the last 19 years. As a solo practitioner he is able to devote 100% of his time to each individual client. A client is never a file number in his office.
Take a look at Gerry’s website http://www.oginski-law.com and read his free special reports on malpractice and accident law. Read actual testimony of real doctors in medical malpractice cases. Learn answers to your legal questions. We have over 200 FAQs to the most interesting legal questions. Read about his success stories. Read the latest injury and malpractice news. I guarantee there’s something for you. http://www.oginski-law.com 516-487-8207
Also, take a look at Gerry’s FREE NY Medical Malpractice video tutorials at http://medicalmalpracticetutorial.blogspot.com
