In recent years there has been much debate over how best to provide affordable health care. As Americans and Ohioans wait for parts of the Affordable Health Care Act to kick in, today millions live without any type of health care coverage. Not having health care coverage does not, however, exempt hospitals from admitting or treating patients in need of medical care. In fact, hospitals and health care providers are legally obligated to provide all patients, regardless of economic status or health care coverage, with the same level of care.
One 66-year-old man recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in which he accuses a hospital and two of its doctors of negligence. The lawsuit also asserts the doctors and hospital delayed treating the man because he was unemployed and lacked health care coverage.
According to the lawsuit, the man visited the hospital’s emergency department complaining of extreme pain related to an abscess which covered his backside and leg. Upon being seen by an emergency room doctor, the man was given antibiotics and instructed to keep the area clean and rest. He was also advised to see a surgeon at the hospital the following day and was then discharged.
According to the lawsuit, four days passed before the hospital’s surgeon would agree to see the plaintiff. By the time the surgeon examined the plaintiff his condition had worsened and spread over a larger area. The 66-year-old man was forced to undergo four surgeries in which large areas of his buttocks and leg were cut away.
Today, the man’s wife asserts her husband is a changed man. Once active and good-natured, the 66-year-old is now depressed and bitter about his situation and the permanent disability and disfigurement he has suffered. The couple is seeking compensatory damages related to the $400,000 dollars in medical expenses they accrued as well as damages related to pain and suffering and permanent disability.
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “Mercy Clinic in Springfield, Mo., accused of medical negligence,” Jim Doyle, June 2, 2013