Falls at Hospitals
This doesn’t just happen to the elderly. This happens to many different ages of people that may be fall risks or subject to negligence of a hospital. As a general rule, falls should not happen at hospitals. In these days especially with the baby boomers aging, there are a lot a lot of people going through the hospitals. Hospitals maybe under adequately staffed understaffed so that it’s very difficult for them to go and operate effectively. However, this is not an excuse to have a person become injured because they’re not being properly monitored, certainly if they are fall risks.
Responsibility
Who is responsible potentially in these slip and fall cases at hospitals? The hospital may be responsible and potentially the attending physician may be responsible. People all have duties of reasonable care. If someone falls, certainly if the hospital is on notice that a person is a fall risk, then they should be held accountable.
Cap on Pain and Suffering in Medical Malpractice
One downside is that in California in medical malpractice actions pain and suffering is limited to $250,000. This may seem like a lot but when a loved one passes away or when they’re gonna have a lifetime of pain it’s really very, very low amount. The Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (MICRA) was a law that was passed in the 70s for $250,000 pain and suffering past and future. It has not been changed since. Sometimes it comes up for vote but the insurance companies and their almost unlimited amount of money, their lobbying and support makes it very difficult to overcome. It is difficult to get voters to vote to increase the pain and suffering amounts for medical malpractice.
Hire an Experienced Medical Malpractice Attorney
There are many differences with “regular” personal injury and medical malpractice cases. There are different standards of proof, potentially different damages, and different ways to litigate the cases. When choosing a medical malpractice attorney, choose someone with experience with slip and falls at medical facilities. Choose Jonny Law.
