Some Doctors Face Multiple Malpractice Claims at a Time

With different insurance programs, a patient may have limited options when selecting their primary care doctor. With specialist services and hospital treatment, patients may have limited options available in deciding who will provide care. Leaving it up to the hospital or insurance company to decide who will provide care, patients expect their doctor to have at least a minimum standard of care. Unfortunately, many patients who are injured by medical negligence find out too late that their doctor was already subject to many malpractice lawsuits or medical board discipline. 

Limited Information for Patients

It can be difficult for patients to find information about their doctor. There are a number of online review sites but the information may not be helpful because many for-profit review sites allow doctors to pay to remove negative reviews. Other reviews may seem suspiciously created or not have any relevant information. How do patients find out about their doctor’s reputation and history of care?

In some cases, a patient can search for a history of medical board discipline or malpractice claims against a doctor. However, medical board investigations may be delayed or a doctor could have had disciplinary action or lawsuits against them in another state that never show up in another state’s medical board search. 

For example, patients in Philadelphia who want to review disciplinary actions have to sort through dozens of pages in a monthly summary which includes everything from violations for barber licenses to actions against funeral directors in order to look at Board of Medicine actions. 

Multiple Malpractice Claims Against Doctors

Any doctor could be named in a medical malpractice lawsuit but it does not necessarily mean the doctor provides negligent care. However, what is a patient to expect when some doctors have multiple lawsuits against them at any given time for alleged malpractice? Patients may also wonder how these doctors can continue to provide medical care after they have been disciplined by the medical board or found guilty in numerous medical malpractice lawsuits. 

For example, one surgeon was allowed to continue practicing medicine after admitting to 21 cases of incompetence and professional misconduct. Dr. John Pariag had been sued at least 9 times for more than $7.5 million in damages. In one of the cases against the doctor, a patient alleged the doctor severed two arteries during a procedure, which required the patient to be airlifted for emergency care. Another patient sued the doctor for a bowel puncture and unnecessary removal of the appendix.

Unfortunately, this kind of situation is not uncommon. A number of doctors are overrepresented in medical malpractice yet they continue to operate just the same as a doctor with no history of professional negligence. Sometimes referred to as “frequent flyers,” only about 2% of physicians had two or more medical malpractice claims pay out. However, that 2% of doctors represented almost 40% of all paid malpractice claims. 

After Negligent Medical Care

Unfortunately, most patients do not find out about a doctor’s history of negligent care until after it happens to them. Doctors should be held accountable for their actions. The skilled medical malpractice attorneys at Gilman & Bedigian fight to get compensation for injured patients and their families. Contact our law office online or by calling (866) 849-9899.