Utah: Malpractice Payment of $27,500 for Injury to a Female Patient in her 30s (2016)

In 2016, a non-insurance malpractice payment was made on behalf of a physician (MD) in Utah for approximately* $27,500. Payment was made in response to a claim of medical malpractice claim involving what was described as a "major temporary injury" to a female patient between 30 and 40 years old. The nature of the claim is broadly described as: "surgery related." The payment report submitted by a health care service provider described the allegations in the claim as "Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device."

* The payment amount is approximate because the National Practitioner Data Bank codes payments as a range value. The report's description of $27,500 corresponds to a malpractice payment somewhere between $25,001 and $30,000.

Claim at a Glance

Year of Payment: 2016

Location: Utah

Allegation: Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device

Act or Omission: 2013

Payment Range: Between $25,001 and $30,000

Nature of Claim: Surgery Related

Payer: Self-Insured Organization

Type of Care: Inpatient

Reporter: A Health Care Service Provider

Claim Insights

With respect to any medical malpractice payment, there are three major components of any claim. First, there is the act or omission that gave rise to an injury and whether the provider departed from an accepted standard of practice. Second, there is the nature of the injury itself, which includes several factors like its severity, duration, the impact on the patient’s life, the age and general health of the patient, along with many other elements. Third, there needs to be a causal connection between the negligent act or omission by the provider and the injury itself. Even with a showing of negligence, a medical provider is not legally responsible for an outcome that was not caused by the negligence.

With this in mind, the Data Bank does have some information that can give context to the medical malpractice payments, including the patient’s age, gender, whether it was inpatient or outpatient care, the type of malpractice or medical mistake that was alleged, and the ultimate outcome to the patient.

The information has significant limitations, however, that everyone should keep in mind. For one thing, the information is usually self-reported by the healthcare provider and his or her representatives. When reviewing this information, you should consider whether the patient would have described his or her injury as “minor” or “temporary” or “emotional only.” Further, there are important aspects of any claim valuation that simply cannot work in a database. Flagrant negligence might be coded the same way as what could be described as a smaller error, and one would have no way of knowing from these data. But even with these limitations and even where some required information is missing from any particular report, each of the payment reports in the database have enough to provide some insightful information that can help evaluate medical malpractice claims going forward.

This Provider Has 14 Malpractice Payments in the Database

A medical provider's malpractice history can be extremely insightful. A long history of malpractice claims and discipline can certainly affect whether a matter is resolved and for how much. One of the most important goals of the National Practitioner Data Bank is to track providers' disciplinary and malpractice payment history throughout interstate moves or new employment situations.

In addition to this particular malpractice payment, this provider has another report on record. Specifically, this provider has a total of 14 malpractice payments in the database. This is a highly concerning number of medical malpractice payments. To put this number in perspective, throughout over 200,000 payment records, approximately 55% of them are associated with providers with multiple payments. This provider's total of 14 malpractice payments is more than 99% of all providers in the database, which is limited to providers with malpractice payment history.

Provider Detail

Alerts 14

Utah

Physician (MD)

Also Licensed in:Louisiana

Age: Between 40 and 50 Years Old in 2013 When Allegations Arose

Education Completed: Between 1990 and 2000

Malpractice Payments 14
There are other payments in the database associated with this provider:
YearStateAmountAllegation
2006Louisiana$215,000Improper Performance
2006Louisiana$92,500Patient Positioning Problem
2009Louisiana$4,500Patient Positioning Problem
2015Louisiana$47,500Improper Performance
2015Louisiana$72,500Improper Performance
2016Utah$27,500Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device
2016Virgin Islands$135,000Failure to Monitor
2016Virgin Islands$705,000Improper Performance
2017Virgin Islands$315,000Failure to Treat
2017Louisiana$97,500Wrong Procedure or Treatment
2018Virgin Islands$245,000Improper Performance
2018Louisiana$97,500Failure to Recognize a Complication
2019Virgin Islands$305,000Improper Technique
2019Louisiana$67,500Improper Performance
Payments

Similar Claims

Here are other claims involving an allegation of Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device and an outcome of what was described as a "major temporary injury" to a patient between 30 and 40 years old.
YearStateAmountAllegation
2023Washington$47,500Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device
2016Utah$27,500Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device
2015Tennessee$125,000Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device
2013Nevada$175,000Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device
2011Pennsylvania$97,500Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device
2011Louisiana$72,500Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device
2011Kansas$115,000Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device
2009California$92,500Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device
2008New York$72,500Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device
2008Pennsylvania$47,500Problem with Appliance, Prostheses, Orthotic, or Device