Michigan Malpractice Laws – The Basics You Should Know

If you sustained an injury at the hands of a medical practitioner, whether through negligence or otherwise, you may be considering what legal options are available and whether your claim has merit. This type of claim is commonly referred to as medical malpractice.

The Deadline: Statute of Limitations

A medical malpractice lawsuit filing deadline, also known as a “statute of limitations,” is the law establishing a time limit on the right to bring a civil lawsuit to court. Under Michigan law, the statute of limitations [Michigan Compiled Statutes section 600.5805(8)] for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit must occur within 24 months of a health care provider’s action (or failure to act) giving rise to the claim.

Since it may take more than two years before malpractice issues present themselves, a carve-out extension [Michigan Compiled Statutes section 600.5838a(2)] states a medical malpractice claim must be filed within six months of when the patient’s harm was discovered, or reasonably should have been discovered, if more than two years have passed.

The carve-out is not unlimited though, as a superseding statute says all Michigan medical malpractice claims must be brought within six years of the act (or failure to act) giving rise to the claim, regardless of the discovery date. The one exception to this is where the health care provider intentionally concealed the malpractice (fraudulently), or injury that involves permanent damage to your reproductive system.

Minors, age 18 and under, as well as victims deemed “legally incompetent” at the time of the injury may have additional recourse since there are specific provisions built into state law medical malpractice statues. Your attorney can evaluate whether these are applicable.

Notice of Intent: Starting the Clock and “Expert” Requirements

Medical malpractice cases are initiated through a court filing called a “Notice of Intent to File Suit” (NOI). A Notice of Intent must be in writing and must be served upon every health care provider who will be named in the lawsuit, at least 182 days before the lawsuit itself is filed. (Serving the NOI pauses the statute of limitations for 182 days.)

State law also requires medical malpractice plaintiffs (you and your attorney) to submit an affidavit of merit, signed by a health care professional qualified under state law. Essentially, you need an individual having the expertise to validate your claim in a statement.

The medical expert must be a licensed health care professional practicing or teaching in the same specialty as the defendant(s). The expert must also have the same board certifications the defendant has (if any). For example, a general practitioner would not be qualified under this statute to offer an “expert” opinion in a medical malpractice case brought against an oncologist (cancer specialist).

Awards: “Economic” vs. “Non-Economic” Damages

Michigan Tort reforms included placing a cap on the maximum amount of “non-economic damages” available in medical malpractice claims. The cap was an effort to reign in exorbitant rewards for ostensibly minor injuries. The cap applies to the amount of compensation you can receive for “pain and suffering,” and other losses not easily quantified. The non-economic cap, which follows a yearly adjustment for inflation, is currently in excess of $470,000.

However, this cap does not apply to “economic” damages, which may include compensation for past and future medical treatment, lost income, and the capacity to earn income in the future.

In cases where the plaintiff suffered a permanent paralysis (hemiplegic, paraplegic or quadriplegic) due to a brain or spinal cord injury, or where there is permanently impaired cognitive capacity or permanent loss of (or damage to) a reproductive body part, the current cap is in excess of $840,000.

Liability: Who’s “At Fault” Matters

In Michigan, as long as the plaintiff bears no portion of fault, each health care provider whose negligence contributed to the plaintiff’s harm is on the financial hook for the entire verdict, jointly and severally.

In simple terms, this means you or your loved one may collect the entire judgment awarded from just one of the health care providers, a select few, or from all named parties. If you (the plaintiff) are found to bear some portion of responsibility, (referred to as an apportioned percentage of fault; a rarity in medical malpractice cases) then the defendants are liable only for their own percentage of fault. However, any uncollected damages can be reapportioned among the remaining defendants, according to their portion of fault, after six months.

Yes, it’s complicated, but that is why the first step in seeking damages is turning to an attorney you can trust, who knows the law, and has a record of obtaining the largest judgments allowed under state law: Turner and Turner is one of Michigan’s most well respected personal injury firms.

Call Turner and Turner at (248) 355-1727 for a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss the specifics of your case; learn whether your claim has merit; and, what compensation you are potentially owed.

In an emergency, we don’t always have the luxury to choose the hospital we want. But, when we are scheduling a non-emergency procedure, we have many factors to consider: where our doctor has privileges, what facility is convenient for friends and family, what the insurance implications of hospital decisions are.

Another factor you might want to consider in choosing a hospital is the safety record of the hospital in terms of hospital-borne infections. You should also be mindful of how many patients each nurse is required to care for; when this ratio is too high, infections are often the result as antibiotics get delayed, sources of infection are missed and supervision of sanitary conditions suffer.

There is good news and bad news.

The bad news is this: unlike 31 states and the District of Columbia, the state of Michigan does not require Michigan hospitals to report their infection rates to the public. Other states actually allow a comparison of these infection rates. Now there is a caveat: just because you can compare hospitals does not mean that you can judge a hospital solely by its infection rates. A small rural hospital may not have the exposure to certain infectious diseases that a large hospital that handles complicated cases and often admits sicker patients does.

The good news: the data is still available; you won’t find it on the hospital’s website, you won’t find it on a state of Michigan website, but you can find at least some information on the Medicare website entitled “Hospital Compare”. This information reports the experiences of Medicare patients, so this group is older than the nation at large, with possibly more pre-existing conditions, but it is the only data accessible to Michigan residents about their own hospitals.

Hospital Compare has data on 137 Michigan hospitals, many of which report no infections. The hospital-borne infections that Hospital Compare tracks include:

• Staphylococcus aureus (or MRSA)
• Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI)
• Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI)
• Surgical site infections from colon surgery
• Surgical site infections from hysterectomy
• Clostridium difficile (or C.diff)

When you go to medicare.gov/hospitalcompare, you will be asked either for the name of a hospital or for your location. You can then choose to compare hospitals.

The most important section of the website occurs when you click on a hospital’s profile. In the next screen, you can choose among lots of tabs: Medicare information, patient surveys, etc., but for our purposes, click on “Readmissions, complications and Deaths”. This tab will then give you even more data including readmission data and surgical complications. You will see a tab for “healthcare associated infections”. You will discover many highly reputable hospitals right here in Michigan with MRSA infections that are twice the national average!

It is not easy to track down hospital-borne infections, but it is not impossible.

In future posts, we will discuss some of these specific infections, how they can be prevented and how to know if you need to contact an attorney who specializes in medical malpractice.

But mistakes occur in hospitals. One of the largest areas of hospital mistakes leading to successfully litigated medical malpractice lawsuits are errors in patient medication. Research in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy states that blood thinner medications account for 7% of medication errors in hospitalizations.

Blood thinners are used to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Blood thinners prevent the development of blood clots in arteries and veins.

There are two types of blood thinner medications: anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs.

Anticoagulants extend the time it takes for a blood clot to form.  Antiplatelet drugs prevent platelets from grouping together.  Examples of anticoagulants and antiplatelets are Plavix, Xarelto, Coumadin (generically known as warfarin)  and the drug class known as heparin.

Blood thinners are implicated in complications caused by excessive bleeding. These events include intracranial hemorrhages, large drops in hemoglobin, and bleeding that requires medical intervention or even transfusion, as well as bleeding that brings on a cardiac event, and death due to bleeding.

The research particularly cautions health care providers to know the health history of the patients and to increase monitoring of patients on blood thinner medications.

If you believe you or a loved one has suffered due to an error in medication or any other medical errors, please contact us at Turner and Turner.