The Maryland obstetrics and gynecological (OB/GYN) community faces several million-dollar medical malpractice lawsuits for damages resulting from complications during birth. A new bill proposes the formation of a fund to pay for medical bills, lost earnings and other damages of families who have suffered birth traumas.
The bill’s detractors claim that such a fund would absolve OB/GYNs of responsibility for their negligent care. “The best way for hospitals to reduce their financial burden is to prevent negligence,” said the founder of the Coalition for Patients’ Rights in Maryland. “A birth injury fund will only serve to remove accountability and thereby increase likelihood of negligence.”
What Does A Birth Injury Fund Mean For Parents?
After a birth injury or complication, instead of suing the doctor or hospital responsible for the injury, the child’s parents would apply to the fund. Families would then proceed through a bureaucratic process in which a judge examines proof of the birth complication and decides if the family is eligible for financial support.
Regular fees from doctors, hospitals and insurers would support the proposed fund. However, some claim that hospital’s $175 birth fee and the $7,500 annual doctor’s fee will ultimately wind up as misplaced funds. “Rather than making bills to evade responsibility for committing malpractice, hospitals should instead be working to improve the quality of care,” said a proponent of patients’ rights.
The bill is currently proceeding through various congressional hearings, and skeptics from both sides are airing their grievances. The president of the Maryland Association for Justice, a trial lawyer association, believes that hospitals are vastly over exaggerating the extent of their financial troubles. He claims that the fund is merely a sly attempt at tort reform.
Moreover, some hospitals are against the initiative. MedStar Health, Greater Baltimore and Anne Arundel Medical Centers are still not sure if a fund is the right way to fix Maryland’s medical malpractice problems.
I Need a Lawyer That Can Secure Compensation for My Birth Injury
The immense medical malpractice settlements OB/GYNs are facing are representative of the lifelong damages incurred by a birth injury. In 2012, a child was born with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy because the baby was deprived of oxygen while awaiting a cesarean section. That child will suffer cognitive disability for the rest of his or her life. As such, the settlement the family received includes the child’s future medical bills as well as compensation for the effect of the illness on the family’s quality of life. Building a medical malpractice case is no simple matter in a constantly shifting legal environment. If you need legal advice on anything medical malpractice related, give Cappolino Dodd Krebs LLP a call. Our lawyers have the expertise and resources to recover the compensation that you deserve.
