The last sentence brings to light the fact that Hospitals are no different than most other businesses. It’s the people at the top that determine the quality of the care, service, and/or product.
Based on the article, it sounds like the smaller Worcester hospital delayed sending test results out to the Boston hospital that eventually took the case. The case was also mis-diagnosed by the doctors, but it is not clear that they were actually negligent.
This is a classic example of just how F’d up our legal system is. After his first visit and CT scan, he was told to follow up with his own physician. He obviously did not follow those instructions and allowed his condition to deteriorate. If he supposedly had “multiple strokes”, he probably delayed saying about them. As for the cancer, that must have been there for awhile and a month delay in treatment wasn’t going to make any significant difference.
This is a sympathy award pure and simple. Without negligence, there is no liability. An institution (hospital) can’t be negligent if it’s staff isn’t negligent. Further more, a mis-diagnosis doesn’t translate to negligence. NOBODY can guarantee 100% perfection for ANYTHING and to think the medical profession should be is absurd. They do the best they can with generally excellent results. In some cases, _hit happens w/o anyone being negligent. This award was a tax free gift to help pay for this guy’s expenses. There’s no “justice” in this kind of outcome.
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The last sentence brings to light the fact that Hospitals are no different than most other businesses. It’s the people at the top that determine the quality of the care, service, and/or product.
How can you find only the hospital responsible and not any doctors or staff? Somebody had to call the shots.
As is often the case, the IJ article really does not contain sufficient facts. You can read the account in the local paper at http://www.telegram.com/article/20101215/NEWS/12150436
Based on the article, it sounds like the smaller Worcester hospital delayed sending test results out to the Boston hospital that eventually took the case. The case was also mis-diagnosed by the doctors, but it is not clear that they were actually negligent.
This is a classic example of just how F’d up our legal system is. After his first visit and CT scan, he was told to follow up with his own physician. He obviously did not follow those instructions and allowed his condition to deteriorate. If he supposedly had “multiple strokes”, he probably delayed saying about them. As for the cancer, that must have been there for awhile and a month delay in treatment wasn’t going to make any significant difference.
This is a sympathy award pure and simple. Without negligence, there is no liability. An institution (hospital) can’t be negligent if it’s staff isn’t negligent. Further more, a mis-diagnosis doesn’t translate to negligence. NOBODY can guarantee 100% perfection for ANYTHING and to think the medical profession should be is absurd. They do the best they can with generally excellent results. In some cases, _hit happens w/o anyone being negligent. This award was a tax free gift to help pay for this guy’s expenses. There’s no “justice” in this kind of outcome.