Medical Malpractice Stillborn Birth Cases: Article Highlights Disparities In Compensation
An interesting article in today's New York Times points out the wide discrepancies in damages awards in medical malpractice and personal injury cases.
At the heart of the article is the disparity in medical malpractice cases involving stillborn births. In 2004, New York's highest court allowed mothers to be compensated for their emotional distress and heartache in such cases. The verdict in a Brooklyn case where the mother was awarded $1 million for the stillborn birth of her baby recently was recently upheld after lengthy appeals. In the Bronx, however, a mother in similar circumstances was offered $500,000 by the hospital which she rejected. Her lawyer is arguing that the Brooklyn $1M verdict should be the accepted standard.
For years many states including Connecticut, New Jersey and Ohio allowed mothers to sue on the basis that stillborn births were a result of malpractice.
The article further discusses the "often macabre computations that lawyers make in trying to fix a dollar figure" on pain and suffering. Recoveries vary widely for comparable injuries, depending on jurisdictions. For instance, a mother in a stillborn case was awarded $200,000 in Texas but only $100,000 in Louisiana.
As noted by the author, William Glaberson: "Appeals in injury cases can be ghoulish. Over time, the process sets ranges of values--severed legs are "worth" one sum, paraplegia another--as courts approve some verdicts and slash others as excessive."
This informative article examines the complexities of putting a price on medical carelessness that can lead to emotional pain and suffering.
