Indianapolis Personal Injury Law Blog

Indiana's hospitals posting jaw-dropping numbers, study reveals
Several weeks ago, a concerned citizen sent me a financial summary of Indiana's not-for-profit hospitals. He asked that I look into the issue of excessive profits by these systems.

I was skeptical that the issue would be relevant. Profits are critical to an economy; they serve as a guide to pricing and investment decisions and reward the men and women who create value. The demonization of profits is a sure sign of unformed thought. Moreover, not-for-profit hospitals have explicitly chosen to forgo profits as part of their operations, so I doubted the financial summary would reveal anything important.

I was mistaken.

What I discovered will deeply anger every Hoosier and should embarrass most hospital administrators and board members. I also expect it to cause significant changes to state policy with respect to these hospitals. This is likely to change the way we tax them, regulate their competitors and enforce antitrust laws. It will surely lead to civil litigation involving billions of dollars of excess profits.

Unfortunately, every year preventable mistakes occur in surgery that are costly to Indianan victims. These types of medical errors are commonly referred to as never events because they should not take place and do not need to take place. When a victim of medical malpractice has suffered from a never event, it is important for them to be familiar with the legal resources protecting them.

Never events refer to medical errors, such as performing surgery on the wrong part of the patient's body, performing the wrong surgery on the patient or on the wrong patient altogether or leaving a foreign object behind in the patient's body during surgery. Based on their study, researchers estimated that doctors left a foreign object, such as a sponge behind in a patient's body 39 times each week; performed the wrong procedure 20 times each week; and, operated on the wrong site of the body 20 times each week.

Wrongful death claims are a type of legal remedy that may be available to surviving family members in Indiana when a loved one has been wrongfully killed because of someone else's negligence. Wrongful death lawsuits can help surviving family members following the loss of a loved one due to medical malpractice, a defective medical device or after a traumatic accident.

When a family member has died because of the medical negligence of a doctor, nurse or other medical care professional, wrongful death lawsuits may be able to help surviving family members recover compensation for their financial and emotional damages. When a medical care professional, such as a doctor, nurse or other medical care professional, has provided medical care or treatment that falls below the standard of care, they may be liable to compensate the victim's family when a death occurs.

Distracted driving is a problem on the roadways in Indiana and is dangerous behavior to engage in. Victims of car accidents caused by distracted driving can suffer serious physical, financial and emotional damages that they need help with.

Distracted driving can be considered negligent behavior. If a distracted driver causes a motor vehicle accident, the distracted driver may be liable for the injuries and harm suffered by the victim. Distracted driving is ultimately considered any behavior that distracts the driver from the task of driving. While all distracted driving is considered dangerous, some types of distracted driving may be especially dangerous.