Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Texas
hospital
I went to a pyschiactric hospital for severe depression. After the ''assesment'', the doctor told me that I had two choices:1. inpatient care where I stay there or 2. outpatient care where I come in 8-5 and leave. I chose #2. I filled out all the paper work and was told to come back the next day. I did. First I waited an hour and half and then was blindly sent back to the ''ward'' with another outpatient. The nurses had no record of me coming in and told me go back to the lobby. I did. Finally got ''processed'' and went to the ward. I sat down in the main room. Not one nurse told me I what or where I needed to go. 2 patients finally directed me. I was told by a therapist, ''No one wants to hire someone who looks as depressed you.'' I was ignored by the nursing staff the entire 4 days I was there, I saw the doctor for less than 5 min. a day and all he asked was, ''How are you feeling today?'' The week before I got there a patient - on suicide watch - hung himself. The nursing staff couldn't get him down, so that got one of other patients to cut him down. The list goes on. There's not enough space here to tell everything. Would I have a lawsuit for doing absolutely nothing for me in the 4 days they told me I had to stay?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: hospital
you may have a meritorious case. my concern is that your damages may not be significant enough to justify pursuit of a case.
as you may know a couple of years ago the men and women we elected to serve in the texas legislature passed so called malpractice "reform" legislation. additionally, the voters of the state narrowly approved the placement of caps on the amount of non-economic damages that a real victim of medical negligence could receive from an independent jury.
the effect of the "reform" and the caps has been to make it very expensive and difficult for attorneys and the legitimate victims of malpractice to be able to bring claims. you might want to check out an organization known as texas watch at www.texaswatch.org for more information about the texas legislature's attempts to specially protect the insurance companies and corporations from being accountable to injury victims.
in order to determine if you have damages sufficient to pursue a claim, you should consult with a board certified personal injury trial attorney with experience in medical negligence cases. the attorney can review the facts and assess whether the case is actionable.
i hope this helps. bill featherston
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