Washington Injury Law Blog

Imagine being in surgery for a major medical procedure and mistakes happens–that never should have happened– you’re face and throat are set on fire. The fires causes severe burns to your throat and vocal cords that put you into intensive care for more than a month. That is exactly what Dennis “Rocky” Rochenbach had to suffer through.

Adding insult to injury Rocky was billed $66,000 for the surgery that nearly killed him. And he was left  permanently injured.

This kind of thing happens everyday to Washington medical malpractice victims. Finally something is being done. Gov. Gregoire along with hospitals, doctors, surgery centers in the state, and medical providers last week pledged to never again bill patients for egregious medical errors known as– “never events”–because they should never happen in the first place. The “never events” list includes 28 situations ranging from surgery on the wrong body part or wrong patient to foreign objects -like sponges and clamps- left inside patients in surgery. Also covered are death or serious disabilities caused by contaminated drugs or devices, and burns suffered in the hospital.

Rocky was left with permanent injury to his throat and vocal cords as well as the bill for over $66,000. He hired an experienced medical malpractice attorney and sued the hospital and doctors for the serious medical error that never should have happened. He ultimately settled his case for 7 million dollars.

Failures to take responsibility for medical errors is why medical malpractice attorneys are so busy. If more doctors and hospitals would apologize for mistakes and not charge patients for the procedure, perhaps medical malpractice attorneys would find themselves out of work.

If you have suffered through a medical mistake that never should have happened you should speak with a medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible.

Source: Seattle PI, January 28, 2008 by reporter Carol Ostrom “Hospital to tear up bills for medical mistakes“