Why Medical Residents Need Good Medical Malpractice Insurance Coverage
A story is emerging from Ohio that should be a learning experience for all Residents seeking medical malpractice insurance coverage. We hear from Residents all the time looking to secure med-mal coverage, and we make sure that they have the appropriate coverage in place to protect them from costly malpractice suits.
Two women are claiming they were operated on by residents at a teaching hospital, that has led to painful complications. The hospital at the middle of this story is located at the University of Cincinnati. Donna Miller, one of the patients claiming that a resident operated on her, feels misled:
The surgery went from a one-hour operation to take out Miller’s gallbladder to a five-and-a-half hour ordeal, according to Miller, after a liver specialist had to be called in after a resident accidentally cut open her common bile duct, which is near the gallbladder. Miller isn’t happy with the hospital’s explanation either.
“Every other word was, ‘We carefully did this, we carefully did that.’ Carefully, carefully, carefully,” Miller said. “Well, if they’d been so careful in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to have had all that other surgery.”
But from U.C. Medical Center’s perspective, according to the letter written by Dr. Wones, the bile duct complication is fairly common. In fact, hospital spokeswoman Diana Lara says the common bile duct something a veteran surgeon might accidentally nick, too. However, it’s not a “mistake,” according to Dr. Wones’ letter.
“We are sorry that this complication occurred but do not believe that it occurred because of a mistake or error on the surgeons’ part,” he wrote to Miller. “This complication was recognized promptly and treated appropriately by the team.”
Make sure you have the correct resident medical malpractice insurance in place before you do anything. Most residents already have a huge amount of debt from medical school, don’t end up further in the hole.
You can read the rest of the story here.
