Care at Veterans Hospitals Raises Concern
Patients treated at military or veterans hospitals and medical facilities have the right to the same high standard of care as any American at a civilian hospital or medical facility in this country. When military personnel and veterans' rights are not respected, the government can be held financially liable for any resulting injury or damage.
In recent years, veterans' groups have raised concerns that there is a higher incidence of medical malpractice and a lower standard of care in VA hospitals and medical centers. However, there are two laws that govern malpractice claims against United States military facilities: The Federal Tort Claims Act and the Military Claims Act.
Under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), active-duty military personnel cannot sue the U.S. government for injuries "incident to service" even if gross negligence was the cause. That prohibition applies to virtually any kind of injury related to military service even if the injury occurred off the job or wasn't caused by military personnel. This doctrine is known as the Feres Doctrine and has been harshly criticized by judges who have called it unconstitutional; judges are forced to dismiss lawsuits due to the Feres Doctrine.
The Military Claims Act (MCA) compensates for personal injury, death, or property damage caused by activities of the federal government. MCA claims are limited to two general types. The first type is injury, death or property damage caused by military personnel or civilian employees acting within the scope of their employment. The second MCA claim involves injury, death or property damage caused by noncombatant activities of a military nature.
Prohibiting military personnel from pursuing claims and giving doctors immunity from malpractice lawsuits has created an environment that is more conducive to sloppy medical practices, according to the current system's critics, including George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.
Recently, veterans' groups and others are raising concerns about the conditions in Veteran Administration hospitals and whether veterans are receiving substandard care. Official VA inspections at several different U.S. facilities have revealed unhealthy and dangerous conditions such as inadequate cleaning, vermin infestations and re-used medical devices/objects.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been inundated with reports of deplorable medical conditions at facilities such as Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the VA Hospital in Seattle, Washington. Recent disclosures that veterans are not getting adequate care at these facilities has outraged Capitol Hill and shocked the public. In response to this outrage, three high-level Pentagon officials have stepped down.
VA hospital inspections have found, also, that staff members are not adequately supervised and are falsifying reports regarding maintenance of medical equipment. Inspectors at one VA hospital had difficulty locating supervising physicians who were supposed to be present to oversee residents. In Kentucky, supervising physicians were found to have given out their computer passwords to resident physicians so the residents could cosign their own reports with no supervision.
Military medical malpractice law is a highly specialized area and very difficult for the layperson to understand. For this reason, if you would like to learn more about this complicated law specialty, seek counsel from an experienced military medical malpractice attorney in your area.
If you or a loved has suffered or died due to medical malpractice in New York, please visit the website of experienced medical malpractice attorneys Silberstein, Awad & Miklos today.
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/
Added: January 27, 2008
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