Legal Question in Personal Injury in Alabama
Hello I have a few questions for you, if you could be so kind then I will put my story below them.
#1 What are of the law(s) can my fiancee' file these claims as(medical malpractice, patient discrimination, ect.)
#2 How strong of a case would you say she had in each area?
The story is as follows:
My fiancee' was dropped from pain management because of a clean urine after 7 years of being stable for chronic pain on methadone by Dr. A. Dr. B. was her internal medicine doctor and decided to continue her pain management medication(methadone) when he found out she had been fired by Dr. A. Dr. B. after about 8 months of this had his controlled substance certificate stripped and rather than telling her the truth and sending her a referral just told her he quit writing because the med board was unhappy with all methadone writers. We found out later his license was pulled. He referred her to about 5 doctors who all said they would not take her on as a patient with no explanation as to why. In the meantime, we called his office and were told to get her to Hospital A. Hospital A told her to come back when she began having seizures from withdrawal because they don't do preventative treatment there. We went to his office at this point and begged him for his help and he left the office while we were waiting on him to make calls for referrals we thought. Her blood pressure was at stroke level at that point and he left the office without giving her anything for even the blood pressure. His staff came into the patient room and said he left for the day. In the meantime, we found out that he was accused and confessed to not documenting patient charts properly, writing overlapping prescriptions and other charges to the Alabama Medical Board of Examiners. Now we understood why other doctors in our area wouldn't touch her because of his poor documentation and drug dealing behaviors. The next thing we did was get her into see a residency program here who gave her a 30 day prescription of some other pain medicine and referred her to the Methadone Clinic because they don't do pain management. She went to the methadone clinic and was refused treatment because she wasn't a drug addict. A few weeks later, we went to a public health facility next and the doctor there saw that she takes things for mental health and refused to treat her for anything not even an exam but referred her to UAB pain clinic in Birmingham. In the meantime, she started presenting a new symptom where pain was radiating down her arms from her neck to where she couldn't even close her hands and I talked her into going to another local hospital. When we got into the back the doctor treated her like a drug seeker, didn't examine her and gave her two shots and discharged her. Then we tried a public health facility in Tuscaloosa, but realized they didn't have an MRI machine so we left before even signing in. That night her pain got so bad we went to Northport Hospital and were rushed to the back they did a CT scan on her neck that showed neck cartalage being pushed out, they couldn't tell if it was on a nerve or not. They gave her a shot and a prescription for a 5 day supply of ultram and said their MRI only ran in the daytime.We went to the UAB pain clinic where she explained everything to the doctor including the fact that she got some pain medicines from a friend of her mothers due to noone helping her, and he could tell she was in tremendous pain and agreed to see her. He prescribed 25mg fentynil patch and ordered a lumbar MRI, but not one for the neck area. We returned to the emergency room at a Montgomery hospital a week later because she started developing chest pains. They examined her heart and lungs and would not do an MRI on her neck after those areas were ruled out saying they didn't have to diagnose it because severe pain wasn't a life-threatining illness even if it came from the neck. We went to UAB highland emergency room the next night because her chest pain was still there and they were rude about it and ran no test except and ekg. The doctor was dismissive treated her like a drug seeker and discharged her. We went to UAB pain clinic the next day and told them what was going on and were told to go to UAB main emergency room. We went to UAB main emergency room and they too at first were dismissive until a blood test showed a clot in her body. They told me she had a clot while they had her out of the room for a CT of her chest. As soon as that came back they said no more of the clot and discharged her without even an observation period and told her to follow up at the residency program in Montgomery, she turned down a prescription for Loritab for fear of being discharged by her pain doc. Now she gets a letter in the mail from the UAB pain clinic dismissing her as a patient with the explaination that she failed her initial drug screen even though they knew it before she was ever seen. She did follow up after that to the UAB residency program and they treated her like a mental case, inferring it was all in her head refusing to do an MRI and giving no physical exam. She made it to a neurologist finally, and got treated like a mental case there too, but he did order an MRI of her neck and thorrassic area. The MRI showed a herniated disc and two other major things. We are taking her to a neurosurgeon next week. I am getting power of attorney from her this week to handle things for now.
I know I left out some because she begged for help from over 15 doctors, and 6 hospital visits in emergency rooms. I don't know how many areas of the law this falls under, but we need to know so we can contact an attorney. The medical bills have caused her to be unable to pay her other bills, she crys at night in pain, and can barely sleep. This is emotionally and physically devistating to both of us. Please help.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Medical malpractice requires that a care provider violate the standard of care, and in doing so injures a patient. This is very difficult to prove, and I would ask what conduct rises to the level of malpractice. She seems to present to them as a drug seeker. I don't understand your question about discrimination. Discrimination suits deal with persons who are in a protected class. If those people are discriminated against because of their race, religion, ethnicity etc.; then they may have a lawsuit. I don't think you have any case here at all, but I would suggest you consult a personal injury law firm in your hometown. However, I believe they will tell you that you just don't have anything here. Good luck