Personal Injury Law

FAMILY AWARDED $3.5 MILLION IN WRONGFUL DEATH MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CASE

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have written before about the draconian ?tort reform? laws enacted by the Georgia legislature in recent years. Most Georgia citizens have no idea what their elected politicians have done to deprive them of their right to be made whole if injured or killed as a result of a doctor?s negligence. A recent case demonstrates what could happen in Georgia. The Denton Record-Chronicle reports that a Denton County Texas jury has ordered a hospital, a doctor and a physician?s assistant to pay $3.5 million the family of a woman who died of mis-diagnosed cancer. According to the article, the victim was 33 years old when she noticed a small bump on the right crown of her head. She visited the doctor who told her that the bump was a sebaceous cyst, a non-malignant lesion. A week later, the doctor?s PA removed the cyst and discarded it instead of sending it to a lab for testing. A year later it returned and the woman went to a different doctor. Fearing that it was a malignant sarcoma, the second doctor removed it and sent it off for testing. The test confirmed the suspected diagnosis and the woman died within a year. Texas caps on awards in medical cases will reduce the size of the award to $1.5 million. Given the fact that the married victim lost her life and left a husband, a two year old and a nine month old child behind, the $1.5 million that her family will receive is pitifully small but under Georgia law they would receive even less. Georgia law limits non-economic damages in a medical malpractice wrongful death case to $250,000.00.

Losing a loved one as a result of a medical providers failure to properly and timely diagnose cancer i.e. medical malpractice, is very difficult. The Georgia injury law firm of Finch McCranie, LLP have over 40 years experience pursuing wrongful death lawsuits. If you have lost a loved one and feel you have a wrongful death claim, call our experienced attorneys at 1 (800) 228-9159 for a free consultation.

Full post as published by Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog on August 27, 2009 (boomark / email).