My wife is ill

[lswote]

... in response to Talked to first attorney today, posted by lswote on Jun 22, 2003

This law firm did handle medical negligence but they said that the damages would have to be significant to go forward with a case.  As it stands (because my wife hasn't recovered and the full effects of the illness are not yet known), the only thing I am out is additional medical expenses and because of the costs involved in bringing a lawsuit, that is not enough to file a lawsuit.  The lawyer I spoke with told me I can file in small claims court or if the final prognosis for my wife's or the baby is bad to call them back.  Basically this attorney said my wife has to die or be disabled before there is enough damage to file a lawsuit.  The fact that there appears to be negligence and I am having to pay $5000 to $10000 additional medical costs isn't enough.

I have a couple calls into other attorneys and I will see what they say.  If it comes to it being me have to pursue it in small claims court, I will drop the matter, because as I said previously that would involve a lot of stress and I can't handle stress.

[Pete E]

... in response to Talked to second attorney, posted by lswote on Jun 23, 2003

There are 2 issues,do you have a case and is it worth their while to get involved in it?Sounds like they want to work on cases with possible huge rewards.So unless the outcome becomes very bad,which it hopefully will not,they don't see big bucks.
I discovered this one time when my attorney strangly lost interest in my case.It flunked the $$ test.
I would keep trying other attorneys.Maybe there is a consumer advocacy group that is interested.Even if you just pay someone to file a lawsuit it might get them to cough up your medical expenses.

Pete

[burbuja2]

... in response to Sounds like they don't smell enough mone..., posted by Pete E on Jun 23, 2003

Med-mal cases are treated by most states differently than regular negligence cases.  The cases are expensive to try because of the reliance on out of state expert witnesses.  This is because it is necessary to show a deviation from a standard of care and that usually can only be established through the use of expert testimony.  For obvious reasons, physicians in one locality will rarely agree to terstify against other physicians in the same area.  Also, the procedures are often more restrictive than regular negligence cases and in some states, awards are capped. I'm not familiar with Florida.  If I was in Iswote's position in Louisiana and two specialists thought I had a dubious case, I would consult an attorney to see if I could get the urgent care center to pick up at least those medical expenses related to the delay caused the misdiagnosis and treatment.  He should then be able to negotiate down the balance.

Burbuja2, JD

[HeyNow]

... in response to The problem is..., posted by burbuja2 on Jun 23, 2003

Barburja,
I have a question concerning getting another doc to testify there was a compromised standard of care.  If the attorney specializes in this area of law, don't they have some sort of network of docs willing to do this?  (Not necessarily in the same area as the lawsuit is filed).  If they do, I believe this would really help Bruce.

[burbuja2]

... in response to Re: The problem is..., posted by HeyNow on Jun 24, 2003

Its my understanding that doctors are available but they would have to be from another area to get around the conspiracy of silence.  These doctors need to be paid expert witness fees.  Can you imagine their fees for a case which may demand days of their time?

[HeyNow]

... in response to Re: Re: The problem is..., posted by burbuja2 on Jun 24, 2003

That brings up the next questions.  Will an attorney take a case (like this) on contingency and absorb the expert witness fees?  If yes, how much would the attorney need to gain to take it?  If not, do you think an attorney could write a threatening letter so, Bruce can get his moeny back?

[burbuja2]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: The problem is..., posted by HeyNow on Jun 24, 2003

The attorney may advance costs but most contracts make the client ultimately responsible.  Apparently, the attorneys Iswote consulted uniformly thought that the financial risks and case complexity was not commensurate to the likely outcome. So to answer your question, the Florida attorneys would not take a case like this on contigency.  The threatening letter may work to the urgent care center, but an attorney is probably going to charge more than the center's bill.

[eddiemd]

... in response to Talked to first attorney today, posted by lswote on Jun 22, 2003

Hope that I helped.

You should not have to pay any up front money to the attorney. They should know right away if the suit has any merit.
All your medical bills should be payed for by the urgent care clinic if all works out. And you will get a settlement on top of that.

[Michael B]

... in response to Talked to first attorney today, posted by lswote on Jun 22, 2003

Shop around, don't pay them too much. Your wife has done all the physical suffering and was exposed to the danger, and you and she both experienced the mental anguish. The lawyers haven't suffered as much as a torn toenail, yet will want 30% or 40% of the 'take'...and they won't do anything to earn it except write a couple of boilerplate threating letters and make a couple of phone calls (to another lawyer they like as not play golf with anyway)....when the first one says 'we can get you X dollars, but we want 30%', figure they can actualy get 1/2 of that, and then shop that figure around and you should be able to find a hungry one willing to do it for 10%, 15% at most.

[Red Clay]

... in response to Re: Re: Re: My wife is ill, posted by eddiemd on Jun 22, 2003

Iswote,

I'm not an attorney or MD, but if you hire a lawyer, THEY do the dirty work, not you. It won't stress you out.

[wizard]

... in response to My wife is ill, posted by lswote on Jun 21, 2003

Bruce:

Sorry to hear about your wife... I pray that she and your baby will have a full recovery and no further complications... As others have noted, $11K in the overall scheme of things is a drop in the bucket... I know it doesn't seem that way now, but just be grateful that you caught it in time and that the prognosis is good...

I can empathise to a certain degree... I added my wife to my health insurance coverage as soon as we got her SSN, but she couldn't be added to the policy until July 1st... Well, she had been in the US for 4 days and developed a serious infection too... Similar to your wife's, but no cyst... She couldn't even stand up the pain was so bad... We rushed her to an Emergency Care Center... $400+ out of pocket later, she is on the mend... I am just thankful that is was treatable by antibiotics...

As far as your health insurance, yes, it is legal for your company to terminate health benefits, as long as they do it to everyone covered... By the same token, COBRA is designed for just this scenario... You can continue your existing coverage for up to 90 days via COBRA... During this time you can shop for new coverage... There are laws that prohibit insurance companies from declining coverage based on pre-existing conditions... If nothing else, you may be able to opt for coversage that procludes covering your pre-existing condition, but covers you and your family for everything else... I know this is a little to late at this point, but this may be a wake-up call to get your butt in gear and examine your options...

Best wishes...

Francy and I hope everything will be ok...

Mark

[lswote]

... in response to Re: My wife is ill, posted by wizard on Jun 21, 2003

I did check my options Mark and I didn't find one decent company that would cover my pre-existing conditions even with exclusions here in Florida.  I found a couple companies I had never heard of who would have covered my wife, but since I never heard of them I don't know what their claims departments are like.  I couldn't find any companies with PPOs or HMOs, only companies that you submit claim forms to.  Fairly hefty premiums, big deductibles, lots of things they don't cover and at least a years waiting period before pregnancy is covered.  And as I said I don't know how good they are at handling claims since I never heard of them.  Even some of the larger, well-known companies don't handle claims particularly well as I know from my experience with CIGNA this past year.

Please read my response to MikePastore concerning my COBRA options.

I didn't know what else to do so I just hoped things would be okay and I wouldn't need insurance in the near future.  I felt I had the baby thing covered since she can have the baby in Bogotá for 1/10th the cost of the US and since I am a consultant it is possible in a years time I will be working a different contract with a different company that offers group insurance again.  At least that was what I was hoping for because I didn't know what else to do.  Also in a years time the Veteran's Administration will let me cover my wife at the VA (not exactly excited about VA care, but it beats nothing).  But I have to be married a year for that option.  I have spent a lot of time and energy looking for insurance and so far have come up with zilch.

[Michael B]

... in response to My wife is ill, posted by lswote on Jun 21, 2003

The IMPORTANT thing is that she and the baby are allright, thank goodness. NFI

[stefang]

... in response to My wife is ill, posted by lswote on Jun 21, 2003

I feel sorry for what happened, hopefully your wife is not in pain now and will recover. Insurance is going to be a major epidemic soon, already 40% of Americans don't have any not including many whose plans cover very little. I make about half what you do but since I belong to a trade union they can buy policies for thousands of workers so they get a good rate.

[MikePastore]

... in response to My wife is ill, posted by lswote on Jun 21, 2003

Don't tell me that you ignored your COBRA election and let your health insurance lapse, there must have been some provision for some kind of continuation.