Arizona: Malpractice Payment of $3,450,000 for Injury to a Male Fetus (2005)

In 2005, a non-insurance malpractice payment was made on behalf of a physician (MD) in Arizona for approximately* $3,450,000. Payment was made in response to a claim of medical malpractice claim involving an injury along the lines of quadriplegia, brain damage, or the need for lifelong care suffered by a male fetus. The nature of the claim is broadly described as: "obstetrics related." The payment report submitted by a health care service provider described the allegations in the claim as "Failure to Identify Fetal Distress."

* The payment amount is approximate because the National Practitioner Data Bank codes payments as a range value. The report's description of $3,450,000 corresponds to a malpractice payment somewhere between $3,400,001 and $3,500,000.

Claim at a Glance

Year of Payment: 2005

Location: Arizona

Allegation: Failure to Identify Fetal Distress

Act or Omission: 1999

Payment Range: Between $3,400,001 and $3,500,000

Nature of Claim: Obstetrics 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.

Only Malpractice Payment in the Database for this Provider

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.

Because of this, a medical provider with no malpractice history or disciplinary record may be less amenable to any payment on a malpractice claim whatsoever. As of 2020, this particular provider had no other reports for other malpractice payments or other adverse action reports.

Provider Detail

Alerts 1

Arizona

Physician (MD)

Also Licensed in:Mississippi

Age: Between 50 and 60 Years Old in 1999 When Allegations Arose

Education Completed: Between 1970 and 1980

Malpractice Payments 1
This is the only payment in the database for this provider.
Payments

Similar Claims

Here are other claims involving an allegation of Failure to Identify Fetal Distress and an outcome of an injury along the lines of quadriplegia, brain damage, or the need for lifelong care suffered by a fetus.
YearStateAmountAllegation
2024Wisconsin$6,150,000Failure to Identify Fetal Distress
2024Arizona$1,450,000Failure to Identify Fetal Distress
2024Illinois$1,450,000Failure to Identify Fetal Distress
2024New Jersey$205,000Failure to Identify Fetal Distress
2024Delaware$205,000Failure to Identify Fetal Distress
2024New Jersey$205,000Failure to Identify Fetal Distress
2024New Jersey$295,000Failure to Identify Fetal Distress
2024New Jersey$205,000Failure to Identify Fetal Distress
2024New Jersey$205,000Failure to Identify Fetal Distress
2024New Jersey$205,000Failure to Identify Fetal Distress