Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 30, 1990 TAG: 9004280113
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jane E. Brody
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The cause of his death was never revealed, although the family had reason to believe that one of the tests was responsible.
A 58-year-old man who had suffered a heart attack was ready to move from the coronary care unit to a regular room.
Although he was supposed to be out of bed only for half-hour intervals, he was left sitting in a chair for hours waiting to be transferred.
He suffered a setback that prolonged his hospital stay and left him frightened and depressed.
A 40-year-old woman found a lump in her breast and saw her gynecologist about the problem for a year before he finally suggested a biopsy, which revealed cancer.
A 37-year-old woman pregnant with her fourth child inquired about prenatal testing but was told by her obstetrician that it was too risky and not warranted by her age.
Her child was born severely retarded because of Down syndrome, a birth defect related to maternal age.
In none of these cases was a malpractice suit filed or even considered. And had suits been brought, it is unlikely that the plaintiffs would have won.
In fact, although millions of patients every year suffer such "adverse events" in the course of medical care, and although doctors complain bitterly about increasing litigation and skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates, new findings indicate that few victims of malpractice ever file suit and fewer still are compensated.
As a result, some health officials and medical experts are beginning to suggest a no-fault system, saying it would not only bring compensation to more injured patients but would also help uncover and correct poor medical practices.
A recently released comprehensive study by Harvard University of 31,000 patients hospitalized in 1984 in New York State disclosed that 3.7 percent suffered an injury as a result of medical care.
In about 1 percent of patients an injury was caused by medical negligence and sometimes resulted in permanent disability or death.
Yet only one suit was filed for every 9.6 cases of negligence determined by experts who reviewed the hospital records.
And the vast majority of lawsuits were for cases in which the Harvard researchers concluded there had been no adverse event or no negligence.
The New York study provides statistical backing for an earlier estimate growing from a 1974 California study of malpractice, which indicated that only one patient in 10 injured through medical negligence filed a claim for damages.
There are many reasons for the disparity.
Sometimes family members are too distraught or preoccupied to think of lawsuits; that was the case, for example, with the family of the 40-year-old man and the parents of the retarded baby.
Sometimes, as with the coronary patient, no permanent disability results, making it almost impossible to win a malpractice suit.
Or as with the woman with cancer, the patient may have no way to prove that the malpractice compromised the chances for cure.
In some cases, patients or families are not aware that an egregious error was responsible for the outcome. In other cases, patients who know that a mistake caused their disability are nonetheless forgiving since "everyone makes mistakes."
by CNB