Louisiana: Malpractice Payment of $165,000 for Death of a Male Patient (2009)

In 2009, a medical malpractice insurance company made a payment on behalf of a physician (MD) in Louisiana for approximately* $165,000. Payment was made in response to a claim of medical malpractice claim involving the death of a male patient of unknown age. The nature of the claim is broadly described as: "treatment related." The payment report submitted by a medical malpractice payer described two separate allegations of "Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress."

* The payment amount is approximate because the National Practitioner Data Bank codes payments as a range value. The report's description of $165,000 corresponds to a malpractice payment somewhere between $160,001 and $170,000.

Claim at a Glance

Year of Payment: 2009

Location: Louisiana

First Allegation: Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress

Second Allegation: Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress

Act or Omission: 1998

Second Act or Omission: 1998

Payment Range: Between $160,001 and $170,000

Nature of Claim: Treatment Related

Payer: Insurance Company - Primary Coverage

Type of Care: Both Inpatient and Outpatient Care

Reporter: A Medical Malpractice Payer

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 12 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 12 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 12 malpractice payments is more than 99% of all providers in the database, which is limited to providers with malpractice payment history.

Provider Detail

Alerts 12

Louisiana

Physician (MD)

Age: Between 50 and 60 Years Old in 1998 When Allegations Arose

Education Completed: Between 1960 and 1970

Malpractice Payments 12
There are other payments in the database associated with this provider:
YearStateAmountAllegation
2005Louisiana$195,000Failure to Diagnose
2007Louisiana$72,500Improper Performance
2009Louisiana$165,000Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress
2009North Carolina$97,500Failure to Recognize a Complication
2009Louisiana$795,000Improper Performance
2011North Carolina$42,500Improper Technique
2013North Carolina$1,450,000Improper Performance
2013North Carolina$72,500Improper Management
2019Louisiana$97,500Failure to Perform Procedure
2019North Carolina$395,000Improper Performance
Payments

Similar Claims

Here are other claims involving an allegation of Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress and an outcome of the death of a patient of unknown age.
YearStateAmountAllegation
2019New Jersey$57,500Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress
2014Georgia$425,000Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress
2011South Carolina$97,500Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress
2010Missouri$175,000Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress
2010Georgia$125,000Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress
2009Louisiana$165,000Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress
2009New Jersey$675,000Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress
2009New Jersey$125,000Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress
2008California$145,000Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress
2008Massachusetts$67,500Delay in Treatment of Identified Fetal Distress