Why are Medical Malpractice Claims More Complex Than Other Types of Claim

[Brian57]

When a contractor makes a mistake and causes tens of thousands of dollars of damage our insurance (or bond) will pay. But its curious how people can say that a doctor can make a mistake, or work outside his expertise, cause tens of thousands of dollars of damage, and should not pay. And further, nobody here will call you out on that statement.

You are a person aren't you? Why don't you tell when's the last time someone you hired took you for that type of loss and you shrugged it off? Bet you can't.

No bond or insurance would pay out on a wall being off plumb. But they would pay if it caused damage.

[ebayuser]

When a contractor makes a mistake and causes tens of thousands of dollars of damage our insurance (or bond) will pay. But its curious how you can say that a doctor can make a mistake, or work outside his expertise, cause tens of thousands of dollars of damage, and should not pay. And further, nobody here will call you out on that statement.

That is such BS I am surprised you did not have a conniption while writing it. So you put up cabinets for me but screw them into the wall with only TWO screws. The cabinets eventually fall. I bring another contract that says well he should have screwed them in with four screws and not have tightened them so much. Your bond company will pay out? I don't know of any bond company that just pays out "tens of thousands" of dollars on the customers say so, even if you have another experts cost (i.e. an estimate from another contractor). In fact most bond companies will defer to their insured and in house experts (gee who does that sound like? maybe a malpractice insurance company?) and if there is no clear wrong doing they won't pay. You then have to sue them, maybe in small claims, to get them to pay. But wait- you can't even do that in some states. In CA even though you can sue for up to 10K in SC the bond company is only responsible for up t0 $6500. So if you want full damages you have to "hire an attorney to represent you, (which) inflates the original claim" in limited jurisdiction. Huh, I wonder what that reminds me of again?

Yeah, like I said for every line of work a bona fide law suit for real damages needs a lawyer. An orthopedist treating your hand is not working outside of his expertise. A general orthopedist is trained in treating hands as well as other parts of the body. In fact in many parts of the country you won't have access to a subspecialist readily so all you get is the orthopedist if you are lucky. If not it can be an ER doctor or even a family medicine doc - both of which have some minor training in handling a fx injury urgently.

You are a person aren't you? Why don't you tell when's the last time someone you hired took you for that type of loss and you shrugged it off? Bet you can't.

Every time I work with a contractor. The wall isn't right, they forget to do something or the finish doesn't end up the way it was supposed to be (that's not what a Grade III acid wash is suppose to look like on concrete). You think their bonds are all paying out tens of thousands to break the concrete and redo it?

No bond or insurance would pay out on a wall being off plumb. But they would pay if it caused damage.

Why not? "I just spent god awful amount of money on this bathroom and after the tiling I can clearly see all the walls are crooked I have been damaged". See how stupid it sounds?

[Brian57]

Liability insurance or a contractor bond does pay out because brush marks are visible in the enamel trim. But if the painter's ladder fell on a car, it would be covered.

A bond will not pay if the tile deviates by 1/4" over 8'. It will pay if you were stupid enough to pay the tilesetter in whole and he skipped out on the job.

As for your grade III acid wash and tilesetting, it is up to you to vet a contractor before hiring him. My suggestion, don't go for the cheapest bid next time.

[ebayuser]

Liability insurance or a contractor bond does pay out because brush marks are visible in the enamel trim. But if the painter's ladder fell on a car, it would be covered.

Exactly. If a surgeon leaves a lap sponge/instrument inside you during surgery the mal practice insurance will pay out as well. You won't even have to go to court. There is a industry std. amount that they pay/settle for.

Unfortunately for you at best, from what you have posted, you have the medical equivalent of "brush marks are visible in the enamel trim" so the insurance is telling you to take a hike because your claim is BS. If you think it is more then that you are more then welcome to prove it in court - but that will cost ya! So you better really think, is the brush strokes being visible really worth it?

As for your grade III acid wash and tilesetting, it is up to you to vet a contractor before hiring him. My suggestion, don't go for the cheapest bid next time.

Those aren't a problem for me. I know contractors and I know not to trust them as a general rule. I expect this sort of BS out of them all the time. In fact a job isn't complete w/o the GC uttering nonsense about how no walls are ever straight, the color never matches, there is always a problem, blah blah blah. I just don't go suing their bonds over stupid things like that. Your crying over this issue is the equivalent of the costumer crying about why the wall wasn't built straight and expecting your bond to pay for demo of the house and a rebuild.

Get over it or sue. If you are truly injured you shouldn't have any problem finding an attorney to take your case and get you some money. My guess is that like the majority of "injured by doctor patients" you can't find anyone to take your case short of a hefty retainer upfront.

[Brian57]

Exactly. If a surgeon leaves a lap sponge/instrument inside you during surgery the mal practice insurance will pay out as well. You won't even have to go to court. There is a industry std. amount that they pay/settle for.

Unfortunately for you at best, from what you have posted, you have the medical equivalent of "brush marks are visible in the enamel trim" so the insurance is telling you to take a hike because your claim is BS. If you think it is more then that you are more then welcome to prove it in court - but that will cost ya! So you better really think, is the brush strokes being visible really worth it?

Those aren't a problem for me. I know contractors and I know not to trust them as a general rule. I expect this sort of BS out of them all the time. In fact a job isn't complete w/o the GC uttering nonsense about how no walls are ever straight, the color never matches, there is always a problem, blah blah blah. I just don't go suing their bonds over stupid things like that. Your crying over this issue is the equivalent of the costumer crying about why the wall wasn't built straight and expecting your bond to pay for demo of the house and a rebuild.

Get over it or sue. If you are truly injured you shouldn't have any problem finding an attorney to take your case and get you some money. My guess is that like the majority of "injured by doctor patients" you can't find anyone to take your case short of a hefty retainer upfront.

Please tell. What have you sued a bond company over? As if that's how it works.

You appear to have vastly more experience in hiring subs and GC's than me. I only have 25 years experience and have successfully represented myself suing clients twice and Pittsburg Paint, the second largest paint manufacturer in the world.

If permanent disfigurement of a right hand, loss of strength and range of motion is trivial, what is worth suing over? The retrieval of a sponge?

[ebayuser]

If permanent disfigurement of a right hand, loss of strength and range of motion is trivial, what is worth suing over? The retrieval of a sponge?

1. This is all according to you
2. There is no proof (at this point) the doctor is responsible for any of this
3. This could all be because of your injury irrespective of treatment
4. There is no evidence a different treatment would have guaranteed better results
5. Even if the doctor may have caused this that does not mean he committed malpractice

I could go on but you get the idea....

Again: Get over it or sue. If you are truly injured you shouldn't have any problem finding an attorney to take your case and get you some money. My guess is that like the majority of "injured by doctor patients" you can't find anyone to take your case short of a hefty retainer upfront.

And I believe I said I have NOT sued any bonds because I realize that while it may seem like a big deal in the grand scheme most of the issues are BS and do not rise to the level of a law suit

[Mr. Knowitall]

When a contractor makes a mistake and causes tens of thousands of dollars of damage our insurance (or bond) will pay. But its curious how people can say that a doctor can make a mistake, or work outside his expertise, cause tens of thousands of dollars of damage, and should not pay. And further, nobody here will call you out on that statement.

You are, of course, misrepresenting the discussion. Nobody suggested that people who cause injury through culpable negligence shouldn't pay for the injuries that they case. They pointed out that malpractice cases are complex, that not every injury constitutes malpractice, and that it can be difficult and expensive to prove malpractice in court.

Your comment on contractors reflects that you aren't familiar with complex, multi-party litigation surrounding large-scale construction. When damages are significant, you can find plenty of cases in which all of the parties involved point their fingers at each other as being responsible for a problem, defect, or delay.

A small-time contractor may well have an insurer that is willing to pay modest amounts to settle claims, particularly when the contractor is at fault for the problem. But if the small-timer can't start getting things right, the contractor is going to see significant premium hikes or be dumped by the insurance company.

You are a person aren't you? Why don't you tell when's the last time someone you hired took you for that type of loss and you shrugged it off? Bet you can't.

Homeowners get the short end of the stick from contractors on a regular basis. From evening news exposés to reality TV shows, you can find any number of contractors who either scam customers, who walked off of a job, or whose work was far from adequate, where the customer was left with no meaningful recourse.

You can also find plenty of cases where the damages offered are inadequate to the homeowner or building owner. Let's say a contractor is putting up a brick structure and gets a delivery of bricks from two different dye lots. The contractor's masons don't mix the bricks, and end up erecting a wall or structure that has a clear and irregular line between section constructed with bricks from each dye lot. The damages available to the customer may be based upon diminution in value, or a non-destructive corrective measure meant to conceal the difference; but it's going to be a rare contractor who agrees to tear down the entire brick structure and start again.

It is also not the case for a small-time building contractor that a modest mistake could easily turn into a six- or seven- figure judgment. If you install a door that is not true, the damages to fix the door could be a couple of hundred bucks. If you overlook a bone fracture on an x-ray such that half of the bone dies, or the bone has to be rebroken and reset, that's a much bigger deal.

If a surgeon leaves a lap sponge/instrument inside you during surgery the mal practice insurance will pay out as well. You won't even have to go to court. There is a industry std. amount that they pay/settle for.

If a surgeon leaves a sponge or instrument inside of a patient, that would be almost impossible to beat in a malpractice case. The standard of care includes doing pre- and post-surgical counts, such that everything is accounted for. I'm not going to say that there may not be an exception for emergency field surgery, but if so that would be the sort of exceptional circumstance that might allow for a defense.

As the consequences of having a foreign object left inside of you can vary -- from serious, chronic pain and the need for a corrective surgery to, "Oh, look what we found" on an x-ray, to "Oh, look what somebody left here", during a subsequent unrelated surgery, and with corrective surgeries ranging from simple to very complex, there is not a standard amount of compensation for an object left inside a patient. However, it is very likely that such a case would be limited to damages, and that the case would settle early.