Before we get into anything else, your silence is a valuable bargaining chip in negotiations with a negligent doctor or hospital. The doctor and hospital don’t want the negative press of a medical malpractice lawsuit, and they certainly don’t want allegations of negligence to come up when prospective patients search their name online. For that reason, your silence needs to be paid for and it can be worth much more than your actual medical expenses.
Medical malpractice lawsuits are complex and are costly to wage. In most cases, a settlement agreement with include a non-disclosure clause that prevents the parties from speaking about the lawsuit, the agreement, and any elements of negligence. Doctors are incentivized to settle claims because if they lose at trial, then they get a strike against them. Three strikes and you can lose your license to practice medicine in Florida. These are one of the few pressures that the plaintiffs can place on a doctor or hospital to recover damages for their injuries.
So, if a doctor or hospital ever offers you a deal to cover the costs of medical expenses related to the wrongful death of a patient, they may be drastically undervaluing your claim. In such a situation, immediately contacting an experienced medical negligence attorney would be the wisest course of action.
What happened?
A man was admitted to the hospital with leg pain. It was revealed that he had a 9-inch blood clot that went undetected. The patient later passed away as a result of complications from the undetected blood clot. The Florida Department of Health ruled that medical malpractice did occur when the doctor failed to detect the massive blood clot in the general area that the patient said was uncomfortable.
After the death, a hospital lawyer offered to discharge the dead man’s medical expenses in exchange for a non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreement. The offer was denied, but the family may have difficulty filing a medical malpractice lawsuit as all of the children are over 25 years of age. Florida’s wrongful death statute makes it impossible for a child over the age of 25 to file a lawsuit for the death of a parent. Similarly, parents cannot file lawsuits over the death of a child who is over the age of 25. This is known as Florida’s “Free Kill Law.” Doctors cannot face lawsuits filed on behalf of unmarried victims who have no children under the age of 25.
The other part of the issue is that if a hospital is found to have committed medical malpractice, and a finding of medical malpractice was reached in this case, then the hospital is prohibited from collecting any type of bill related to the services provided.
Talk to a Tampa medical malpractice attorney today
Don’t sign anything until you talk to an attorney! Palmer | Lopez represents the interests of those injured by medical doctors and grieving families who have lost loved ones. Call our Tampa medical malpractice attorneys today to schedule a free consultation and we can begin discussing strategy immediately.
Source:
wfla.com/8-on-your-side/tampa-bay-hospital-offers-to-discharge-malpractice-victims-bills-in-exchange-for-silence-daughter-says/
