As most experienced injury lawyers will agree, Missouri and Illinois medical malpractice cases are often the most difficult type of personal injury cases to pursue. Doctors, hospitals, health care providers and medical malpractice insurance companies fight all medical malpractice lawsuits and claims persistently and unscrupulously, even when liability is clear. Clear liability does not matter to the health care industry and medical malpractice insurers, they always deny legal responsibility.
Many victims of medical negligence and their families that I have represented in St Louis and across the state of Missouri often cannot believe the medical providers unashamed denial of fault, especially when it is clear. This is compounded when your clients are parents and their injured young son, as in a malpractice case I am currently handling. This medical negligence case involves a 4 year old boy who inexplicably went into a state of unconsciousness and was also showing multiple outward symptoms of seizure and other type of neurological deficits. The symptoms the boy was showing almost exactly parallel the symptoms all the medical literature states are the signs and symptoms of herpes encephalitis,a viral infection that attacks the brain by causing swelling and permanent neurological and brain injury and damage . The parents rushed their son to the local emergency room, however, despite these clear signs of a problem, the emergency room doctor, and his pediatrician who showed up, diagnosed the boy with an ear infection and sent him home about an hour after he arrived at the emergency room. Unfortunately, after being sent home, the child suffered intense seizures that caused irreversible and permanent brain injury. Upon readmission, the attending emergency room physician quickly identified the symptoms and took the appropriate medical action.
Recently, we deposed the emergency room physician and the pediatrician. Through almost an entire day of depositions of the doctors, the parents understandably had a hard time dealing with the blatant denial when the facts were so clear. This coupled with the fact that their son is permanently suffering neurological damage and the severe and life altering symptoms that come with such a brain injury. Many people, including injury lawyers, often do not realize the intensity required to effectively take a medical deposition when the witness is a doctor defendant. Most doctors are very intelligent and are good at responding evasively; long intense depositions are necessary to get as close to the truth as possible. During my first several years of dealing with medical malpractice cases I gained high respect for Missouri medical malpractice lawyers upon realizing the complexity and hard work required to successfully pursue medical malpractice cases.
The above case represents a Missouri medical malpractice case with true merit as there is legal liability for medical malpractice (someone was negligent) and there are damages (injury that causes economic loss and pain and suffering). We will pursue this case to trial and seek money damages to cover the minor child's reduced earning capability and future medical care; expected to be more than $5,000,000. As far as pain and suffering, that is capped by Missouri law at $350,000. This cap effectively eliminates Missouri medical malpractice cases unless their are significant injuries as the limitation of damages sometimes make the case economically unfeasible to pursue, as the one above. You have a lifetime of future care, lost wages, opportunity, or other economic damages pushing the case into the multi-million dollar medical malpractice case category.
Missouri Injury Lawyer Reference Source - Missouri Medical Malpractice Petition - Failure To Diagnose - Claim against Admitting Emergency Room Doctor, Consulting Pediatrician, and Hospital as the Employer
