What is a Claim?
A claim is a legal action concerning physical or mental harm suffered by the plaintiff due to the defendant’s negligence. In the case of insurance claims, it is a request made by the insured to the insurance company for coverage and compensation for damage or injury. A claim is sometimes also referred to as a Cause of Action.
What is a Claim?
Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute defines a claim as, “a set of operative facts creating a right enforceable in court.” Making a claim is how the process of a plaintiff filing a lawsuit and eventually receiving damages from a defendant begins. A claim must be present in order for a lawsuit to go forward. If one is not present in a specific instance, then that lawsuit will be dismissed. Examples of types of claims include claims to insurance companies, personal injury claims in cases of negligence, claims on breaches of contract, property claims, and employment claims such as unpaid wages, wrongful termination, or discrimination. A defendant may make a counterclaim against the claim of a plaintiff.
Claims can sometimes be dismissed even if there is an intent to file a lawsuit. Rulings in cases such as Ashcroft v. IQBAL and Bell Atlantic v. Twombly have determined that claims need to contain important information. They must be plausible on their own and establish a likelihood of liability. This is how claims can lead to fair compensation, resolution of disputes, and protection of rights.
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$1.6 Million Awarded In College Basketball Player’s Death
According to the Associated Press, a jury has awarded parents $1.6 million in their medical malpractice lawsuit filed following their son’s death on an Eastern Connecticut State University basketball court.
The 22-year-old senior collapsed during a basketball game in 2005. The parents alleged the doctor who examined him in 2001 should have found the congenital heart defect known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The doctor found him to be in excellent health and signed his college medical form.
The doctor scheduled an echocardiogram for the young man after the examination, but he did not show up for the test.
Our attorneys at Munley Law are experienced in medical malpractice lawsuits and will evaluate your case thoroughly and explore all potential sources of recovery – we fight to protect the rights of patients. If you or a loved one has been harmed by medical negligence, […]
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Patients Undergo Risky, Unnecessary Medical Procedure
The Baltimore Sun reports hundreds of heart patients from St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, Maryland may have undergone an unnecessary medical procedure. St. Joseph Medical Center calls itself the busiest heart catheterization center in Maryland, and is thought of as one of the primary cardiac care facilities in the area.
At least 369 patients have received letters informing them they may have received expensive and potentially dangerous coronary stents they did not need. At the time of their surgery the patients were told they needed the stent to open an artery which had severe blockage. They have since learned their blockage was only minor.
Dr. Mark Midei is the only doctor implicated in the hospital investigation so far. He allegedly told patients they had up to a 90 percent blockage, when in fact they had only a 10 percent blockage. In other patients, he placed two stents when only one was necessary. […]
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Boy’s Parents Awarded $22.3M In Medical Negligence Suit
The Chicago Sun-Times reports a Cook County jury has awarded the parents of a 10-year-old boy $22.3 million in a medical negligence case that resulted in the loss of the boy’s leg shortly after his birth.
The young boy was born in May 1999 with a congenital heart defect which required a shunt procedure performed at Advocate Christ Medical Center/Hope Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois. Two weeks after being sent home, the parents returned the infant to the emergency room.
The lawsuit alleged his left leg had to be amputated due to mistakes made in the operating room. The child also suffers from cognitive deficiencies and developmental delays alleged to be caused by the delayed treatment and cardiac catheterization.
The jury found the hospital and staff were negligent in failing to diagnose the infant’s shunt problems in time and subjecting him to an unnecessary catheterization. […]
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$4.34 Million Awarded To Veteran Paralyzed After Spinal Surgery
A 66-year-old veteran who alleged he was left paralyzed from spinal surgery at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in West Los Angeles has been awarded $4.34 million by a federal judge, according to Courthouse News Service.
In October 2005, Alvin Johnson had spinal surgery to correct a ruptured disc at the VA medical center, according to the article. Doctors injected Surgifoam, a material which absorbs blood and other fluids, into the space created once the ruptured disc was removed.
According to the complaint, the doctors did not remove all the excess foam and it expanded, pressing against the spinal cord. When the veteran’s daughter was notified two and a half hours later, Mr. Johnson had no feeling from his neck down and was nearly completely paralyzed.
An MRI showing the spinal cord was compressed was ordered by another doctor, but Mr. […]
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Alleged Hospital Error Using Fentanyl Patch Fatal To Autistic Teen
Autistic teen dies from accidental drug overdose in medical malpractice case
A wrongful death lawsuit alleges a 15-year-old Autistic boy died in March when he was given a Fentanyl patch to alleviate his pain from a routine tooth extraction, reports Seattlepi.com.
Seattle Children’s Hospital sent Michael home with his mother on March 9, following the extraction, with the fentanyl patch for pain, according to a civil suit filed earlier this month in Washington’s King County Superior Court. Family members found him unresponsive the next morning and paramedics were unable to revive him – he was pronounced dead at his home.
The medical examiner report states the boy died from a drug overdose caused by the fentanyl patch, which is usually used for patients with chronic pain such as cancer patients, the newspaper reports.
Children’s Medical Director has admitted the hospital staff erred when if prescribed the fentanyl to Michael, […]
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Parents Sue Day Care Center in Child’s Death
According to the Philadelphia Daily News, the parents of a 2-year-old boy will sue Fairy Tales Daycare and its owners in the boy’s death.
On July 1, 2009, the child died after being left in the back seat of a locked van with the windows rolled up and temperatures exceeding 80 degrees. The lawsuit alleges the boy’s parents paid their neighbor and co-owner of the daycare center to take the child to the center at least three times a week.
On this day, however, the child was left in the van where he was not discovered until about 4:30 pm in the afternoon. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead of heat stroke, also known as hyperthermia.
No criminal charges have been filed in the case.
The Scranton, Pennsylvania attorneys of Munley, Munley & Cartwright have years of experience representing the survivors of wrongful death victims. […]
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$10 Million Awarded to Amputee in Houston Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
Man has leg, fingers, and toes unnecessarily amputated due to botched procedure
According to the Houston Chronicle, a Harris County jury has awarded a Houston man $10 million in a lawsuit filed against Methodist Hospital and the doctors who treated him there.
In 2002, the man underwent heart surgery for an improperly functioning valve. After the surgery, he developed gangrene and had to have multiple amputations, including his left leg above the knee, his fingers and the toes on his right foot.
The lawsuit alleged Methodist Hospital failed to monitor the patient properly for blood disorders after they administered the drug Heparin. Heparin is a widely used blood thinner that is known to have side effects including immunological reactions that cause excess bleeding. This, alleged the plaintiff, resulted in the development of gangrene.
If you or a loved one in Pennsylvania has been harmed by a medical mistake, […]
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Woman Settles Flesh-Eating-Bacteria Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
The Orlando Sentinel reports a woman who ended up having both arms and legs amputated, allegedly due to a flesh-eating-bacteria, has settled her lawsuit against the hospital for an undisclosed amount.
After delivering a son at the Orlando Regional Healthcare System, Inc. (now called Orlando Health) in 2005, the woman developed a rash, fever, chills and other symptoms. The next day, even though she was in extreme pain the hospital tried to discharge her, according to her lawsuit, but her husband refused to take her home, and the following day surgery revealed she had gangrene in her belly.
Her condition grew worse and it was determined her body was being ravaged by Group A Streptococcal infection – a flesh eating bacteria. In hopes of saving her life, health care personnel amputated all four of her limbs. She is now confined to a motorized wheelchair.
Medical negligence is the result of a health care provider’s failure to provide the expected standard of care. […]
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Neurosurgeons Sued For Alleged Malpractice On Child’s Surgery
The parents of 5-year-old Katie have sued North Shore University Hospital and their star neurosurgeons for a spine operation that left the child unable to touch her toes, walk upstairs, and in constant pain.
The parents allege the surgery was unnecessary, reports the NY Daily News.
Before the surgery, which the surgeons claimed would help alleviate a rare brain defect known as Chiari Malformation, Katie was happy and active, riding her two wheeler and playing soccer, the parents alleged.
Katie’s parents are among at least four other families suing Doctors Thomas Milhorat and Paolo Bolognese for alleged unnecessary surgeries that inflicted further harm to the patients, according to the newspaper.
If you or a loved one has been harmed by a form of medical negligence, you may have a medical malpractice claim. Our attorneys at Munley Law are experienced and successful medical malpractice litigators and we fight to protect the rights of patients. […]
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Dakota Urology Clinic Sued for $5 Million in Medical Malpractice
Five plaintiffs are asking for $5 million in damages from the Siouxland Urology Center in Dakota Dunes, SD. claiming negligence, medical malpractice, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In the 22 page class-action lawsuit the patients claim Siouxland Urology breached the standard of care by re-using certain disposable medical equipment which caused damages to the patients. Manufacturers recommend the equipment used in cystoscopy procedures be used only once. Siouxland Urology denies any unsterilized equipment ever came into direct contact with patients.
South Dakota Department of Health has ordered the Center to change its cystoscopy practices and the Center is offering a free blood test to check for HIV and Hepatitis for the 5,200 affected patients.
If you or a loved one has been harmed by a form of medical negligence, you may have a medical malpractice claim. Our attorneys at Munley Law Personal Injury Attorneys are experienced and successful medical malpractice litigators and we fight to protect the rights of patients. […]
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$3 million Settlement Reached in SC Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
Misread CT scan causes death of young girl
A 29-year-old mother of three has reached a settlement agreement with six doctors at the Chester Regional Medical Center in South Carolina for medical negligence which caused her daughter’s death in 2005.
According to the lawsuit, the young woman sought medical help at the emergency room on three occasions for severe abdominal pain. The CT scan was misread the first two times. On her third trip to the emergency room, the doctors and surgeons found she suffered from a twisted bowel and performed surgery. They found her intestine was dead because the blood supply had been cut off. She died the night of her operation from her untreated medical condition.
The lawsuit alleges if the CT scan had been read correctly the first time at the emergency room, the condition could have been corrected and the young woman’s life would have been saved. […]
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$11 Million Verdict Awarded For Death of Brain Injury Victim
Largest verdict awarded against assisted living facility in the United States
An Arizona jury has awarded $11 million to the widow of a 36-year-old man with traumatic brain injury who died after ingesting foreign objects at an assisted living facility.
The verdict included $2 million for the decedent, $5 million for the wife and $4 million in punitive damages. Attorneys in the case say it is the largest verdict ever awarded against an assisted living facility in the United States.
It is indeed tragic when a person with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) does not receive proper care. We at Munley, Munley & Cartwright are committed to handling claims of Pennsylvania individuals sustaining traumatic brain injury. We are committed to spending the time with you and your family members to gain a deep understanding for each and every way the injury has affected your life. […]
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DriveCam: A Trucker’s Best Friend or Worst Enemy?
We’ve been hearing a lot lately about a product called DriveCam. These little video cameras are starting to pop up in tractor-trailers and commercial vehicle across the country. The camera is mounted near the rear-view mirror and records video and audio 24/7. However, the DriveCam is similar to a black box in that, it only keeps a few seconds of footage before and after an occurrence of “exceptional force” (i.e. hard braking, swerving, collision, etc.).
The company claims that using their product can help other companies identify and improve risky driver behaviors, thus, reducing vehicle damages, workers’ compensation and personal injury costs by 30 to 90 percent. That’s quite a claim. Watch a CNN interview with the CEO of DriveCam here.
Some truckers are against DriveCam, feeling like “Big Brother” is invading the cab. However, some are excited about its possibilities. The camera will capture an adequate history of the event, […]
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