Needing legal answers

[CatOG]

Jurisdiction

Missouri

I live in southeast missouri. I have had 2 lawyers turn me down and I don't know why but I need a lawyer to find out why my perfectly healthy daughter goes in for a procedure she has had several times with no problems but this time, the next day she has to be rushed to the er and ends up dying and we later find out it's from sepsis!!! Shouldn't that have been found on a blood test or some kind of lab work BEFORE she had that done? I am so beyond lost and no one will give me answers

 

[zddoodah]

I need a lawyer to find out why my perfectly healthy daughter goes in for a procedure she has had several times with no problems but this time, the next day she has to be rushed to the er and ends up dying and we later find out it's from sepsis!

Condolences on your loss, but (1) if your daughter had the same procedure done "several times," then your assertion that she was "perfectly healthy" bears scrutiny, and (2) you'd want to have a doctor -- not a lawyer -- review the records to help you with this.

Shouldn't that have been found on a blood test or some kind of lab work BEFORE she had that done?

That's a medical question, not a legal question.

Because it may become relevant if this thread progresses, how old was your daughter, what was her date of death, and what was the procedure she was having done?

 

[stealthy1]

My condolences on your loss.

 

[CatOG]

Condolences on your loss, but (1) if your daughter had the same procedure done "several times," then your assertion that she was "perfectly healthy" bears scrutiny, and (2) you'd want to have a doctor -- not a lawyer -- review the records to help you with this.



That's a medical question, not a legal question.

Because it may become relevant if this thread progresses, how old was your daughter, what was her date of death, and what was the procedure she was having done?

My daughter was 38 and she was having her esophagus dialated She had achalasia. And as I said. She NEVER had any problems until she was sent to this new dr

 

[CatOG]

My daughter was 38 and she was having her esophagus dialated She had achalasia. And as I said. She NEVER had any problems until she was sent to this new dr

Her date of death was July 24 2020

 

[army judge]

Please accept my sincere condolences upon the passing of your daughter.

As you grieve her passing, may your heart, soul, and spirit find comfort and peace amidst the tragedy.

Speaking from the physician side of my brain, let's discuss sepsis for a minute.

Sepsis can kill a human being in as little as 12 hours.

Sepsis is a far more deadly killer than heart attacks, lung cancer, or breast cancer.

The blood infection that sets in assists sepsis in the taking of human life.

Did you request an autopsy?

Was an autopsy conducted on her body?

If you seek more details surrounding her death, an autopsy might be useful.

An attorney can seek such a result by obtaining an order for her exhumation, followed by a complete autopsy.

However, an autopsy would have revealed far more had it been conducted immediately upon her passing.

 

[Redemptionman]

The problem being Missouri like many other states have instituted tort reform. Missouri is capped at 700k in a catastrophic/ death case. It could cost a law firm 500+k to bring your case to court and that is even if they could find cost effective expert testimony. Leaving you and your family with 200k (not much money)Tort reform has constricted and almost eliminated the ability to bring successful cases to court and put them before a jury.

I would encourage anyone reading this and facing tort reform in their state they would thereby REJECT this reform. I am sorry for your loss, please do not give up if you truly feel something was done wrong then pursue it all you can. You have 2 years I believe and I pray that you find your attorney to represent you.

Good Luck with it.

 

[army judge]

We lost one of our sons to medical malpractice.
My wife was devestated by the loss.
It was never about money.
We won an award for us, and our two granddaughters, enough to fund their college education.
They'd much prefer to have their father.
It was about holding the culprits liable for their evil deeds.
That's why we have courts.

 

[Redemptionman]

I disagree with @army judge, all you have is MONEY.

Nothing is going to bring your family member back, the memories and the time before the incident.

Your physicians can say their sorry, everyone can, still what is done is done. Nothing is bringing your loved one back.

 

[army judge]

I disagree with @army judge, all you have is MONEY.

Nothing is going to bring your family member back, the memories and the time before the incident.

Your physicians can say their sorry, everyone can, still what is done is done. Nothing is bringing your loved one back.

Disagree with whomever you desire.

You have the right to express your opinion.

I have little concern for the opinions of others, other than to support their right to be heard and not silenced.

I wore this nation's army uniform and spent four years in combat to ensure everyone's rights were preserved.

I pray you never find yourself in the positions of those you oppose.

 

[Redemptionman]

Disagree with whomever you desire.

You have the right to express your opinion.

I pray you never find yourself in the positions of those you oppose.

Well Thank you for that, and I do appreciate your service.

I have been in those spots several times and if you have the right attorney or attorneys then it makes all the difference in the world. Whichever role you are Plaintiff or Defendant, your legal team makes the difference. I do wish the OP the best, this will not be easy.

Don't give up.

 

[Tax Counsel]

It could cost a law firm 500+k to bring your case to court and that is even if they could find cost effective expert testimony.

I don't know where you got that figure, but very few med malpractice lawsuits cost anywhere near half a million dollars to litigate. Note that the Missouri cap of $400,000 on medical malpractice damages ($700,000 for catastrophic personal injury) is for non economic damages only (e.g pain and suffering damages). There is no cap on actual financial damages like medical bills, lost wages/income, and the like.

Tort reform has constricted and almost eliminated the ability to bring successful cases to court and put them before a jury.

Certainly not the case in my state, which also caps non economic damages, and the cap in my state is lower than Missouri. There are still just as many med mal lawsuits today as ever where I am. It's just that the plaintiffs and their lawyers sometimes get less money out of it because of the cap then they would otherwise.

 

[Tax Counsel]

I live in southeast missouri. I have had 2 lawyers turn me down and I don't know why but I need a lawyer to find out why my perfectly healthy daughter goes in for a procedure she has had several times with no problems but this time, the next day she has to be rushed to the er and ends up dying and we later find out it's from sepsis!!! Shouldn't that have been found on a blood test or some kind of lab work BEFORE she had that done? I am so beyond lost and no one will give me answers

You first need to have a medical expert determine what the likely cause of the sepsis was. It's important to understand that a bad outcome does not necessarily mean that any of the medical professionals involved were negligent. Sometimes despite doing everything correctly bad outcomes occur. There is risk anytime you go in for medical procedures like this. The sepsis might have occurred for reasons having nothing to do with the procedure. Unless you can tie the sepsis to some clear evidence of negligence on the part of some medical professional there would be no medical malpractice claim to bring. That issue — finding negligence that would explain the sepsis — may be why lawyers are turning you down. The evidence of negligence may just not be there.

 

[Redemptionman]

I don't know where you got that figure, but very few med malpractice lawsuits cost anywhere near half a million dollars to litigate. Note that the Missouri cap of $400,000 on medical malpractice damages ($700,000 for catastrophic personal injury) is for non economic damages only (e.g pain and suffering damages). There is no cap on actual financial damages like medical bills, lost wages/income, and the like.

LOL, so the hospitals and businesses get their money regardless. Great this is probably the accomplishment of tort reform.

Certainly not the case in my state, which also caps non economic damages, and the cap in my state is lower than Missouri. There are still just as many med mal lawsuits today as ever where I am. It's just that the plaintiffs and their lawyers sometimes get less money out of it because of the cap then they would otherwise.

Yes they do get less money, I stated that some attorney could take this case. More than likely large firms will pass unless you have large amounts of insurance to go along with that. (Life insurance, Catastrophic et. al.)

 

[Zigner]

LOL, so the hospitals and businesses get their money regardless. Great this is probably the accomplishment of tort reform.



Yes they do get less money, I stated that some attorney could take this case. More than likely large firms will pass unless you have large amounts of insurance to go along with that. (Life insurance, Catastrophic et. al.)

This thread is not the right place to discuss the merits of tort reform.

 

[CatOG]

We lost one of our sons to medical malpractice.
My wife was devestated by the loss.
It was never about money.
We won an award for us, and our two granddaughters, enough to fund their college education.
They'd much prefer to have their father.
It was about holding the culprits liable for their evil deeds.
That's why we have courts.

I feel the same way. I just want justice for HER!!!!

 

[Tax Counsel]

More than likely large firms will pass unless you have large amounts of insurance to go along with that. (Life insurance, Catastrophic et. al.)

Again, I don't know where you get that idea. Life insurance would have no bearing on whether a firm takes a med mal case. And large law firms are going to be looking at the same factors as small ones in looking at whether to take a tort case. My guess is that you don't have any experience in this area. The firm I'm associated with does mainly tort litigation, so I do know how these kinds of decisions are made and what it costs to litigate tort cases. While med mal cases are certainly not cheap to litigate, they rarely reach the kind of costs you seem to think are involved. And, indeed, in many cases the awards for non economic damages in a med mal claim will be below the cap anyway, so the cap doesn't affect most cases. It certainly does lower the awards in some cases.

LOL, so the hospitals and businesses get their money regardless. Great this is probably the accomplishment of tort reform.

You miss the point. Economic damages are not capped, so if the plaintiff has $2 million in lost wages, medical bills, etc., he or she can still claim all that. Plus get up to $700k (in Missouri) for non economic damages, i.e. pain and suffering, in ADDITION to that. That's still a pretty good outcome. These kinds of caps are not the great evil that some plaintiffs lawyers like to paint them to be. There are other kinds of caps or tort limits that are more troublesome than this.

 

[Redemptionman]

Again, I don't know where you get that idea. Life insurance would have no bearing on whether a firm takes a med mal case. And large law firms are going to be looking at the same factors as small ones in looking at whether to take a tort case. My guess is that you don't have any experience in this area. The firm I'm associated with does mainly tort litigation, so I do know how these kinds of decisions are made and what it costs to litigate tort cases. While med mal cases are certainly not cheap to litigate, they rarely reach the kind of costs you seem to think are involved. And, indeed, in many cases the awards for non economic damages in a med mal claim will be below the cap anyway, so the cap doesn't affect most cases. It certainly does lower the awards in some cases.



You miss the point. Economic damages are not capped, so if the plaintiff has $2 million in lost wages, medical bills, etc., he or she can still claim all that. Plus get up to $700k (in Missouri) for non economic damages, i.e. pain and suffering, in ADDITION to that. That's still a pretty good outcome. These kinds of caps are not the great evil that some plaintiffs lawyers like to paint them to be. There are other kinds of caps or tort limits that are more troublesome than this.

It is always about the non econ. which is what the plaintiff gets to keep. The hard costs are part of it but by the time everyone gets reimbursed what does that leave the Plaintiff? 700k? attorney gets half of that so more like 350ish give or take.

I am not going to attack you like your posts come off to me. I will say this, there are only roughly 100-150 actual good trial lawyers in complex civil litigation. Find the super lawyers, and Best of the Best for 10 years running and you will find some good attorneys willing to discuss your case with you. This is where I would start, not message forum jockeys who think they know everything. The OP has to pick the best person to represent them.

 

[zddoodah]

My daughter was 38

Was she married? Did she have any kids? Section 537.080(1) of the Missouri Revised Statutes provides that an action for wrongful death may be maintained by "the spouse or children or the surviving lineal descendants of any deceased children, . . . or by the father or mother of the deceased."

The damages recoverable in a wrongful death case typically include medical expenses, lost wages, loss of support, and loss of companionship, but not typically "pain and suffering" (i.e., non-economic damages).

This may sound callous, but the value of a wrongful death case depends A LOT on how valuable (in dollars) the deceased was to other people. A case in which the deceased was an unmarried adult with no children and who was not supporting anyone other than him/herself isn't going to be worth all that much beyond the medical bills. Again, while that may seem callous, that's how medical malpractice lawyers have to view things when considering whether or not to take a case.

Her date of death was July 24 2020

The Missouri statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims is two years.

 

[Zigner]

It is always about the non econ. which is what the plaintiff gets to keep. The hard costs are part of it but by the time everyone gets reimbursed what does that leave the Plaintiff? 700k? attorney gets half of that so more like 350ish give or take.

Please stop - really. This is NOT the right place to debate the merits of tort reform laws.