Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Texas

scheduled surgery cancelled by billing for months

My dad has workmans comp for life due to a work injury 27 yrs ago. he is full of pain 24/7. He had a surgery scheduled for a bone spur and it was cancelled by billing of an orthopedic center stating they were owed money from a previous surgery from 2 or 3 yrs ago which was also approved 100% by workmans comp and paid (they decided it wasn't enough). they cancelled the surgery twice. A Comp rep who is helping my dad made many efforts to retrieve info to get to comp and only succeeded when she sat in their office for two hours. They then said they would not make a new appt until money was in their hands. The comp rep made a new appt. with a different center and he had surgery the day after his initial appt. That doctor said he would have not needed this op had the previous one been done correctly. There wer also many things that happened as a result of the six month wait for the surgery. Depression, pain on top of pain, and a visit to the psychiatric ward for a day. In all he had a breakdown due to the pain. Is this a sueable situation? Can my mom sue on behalf of my dad? He is reluctant because the only pain doctor is affiliated with this center. Please let me know what kind of resourses I have to help them out. Thank you


Asked on 7/25/04, 4:40 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
William Stern William Stern, P.C.

Re: scheduled surgery cancelled by billing for months

Two things:

First, the statute of limitations on medical malpractice is two years so the time limit for suing the doctors has probably run;

Second, if the performance of the first surgery is a judgment call or just a poor result, you will never get to first base with a malpractice case. Ask the second doctors if they'd testify in a malpractice case. You will find that while they tell you what you want to hear, they will not say it outside the examination room.

William S. Stern

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Answered on 7/26/04, 7:38 am


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