Entries Tagged 'Military Negligence' ↓

The family of Marine Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez says military doctors misdiagnosed his skin cancer. Now, as CBS News correspondent Byron Pitts reports, they want the U.S. government held accountable for his untimely death.

Last week the Senate conducted hearings into the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq due to the negligent installation of electrical wiring by employees of Halliburton KBR. (View Article at ArmyTimes.com)

Testimony by former KBR employees substantiated the gross conduct of that company in performing its responsibilities under contracts with the Army Corps of Engineers. These incidents raise the interesting legal question of whether Halliburton KBR can be held legally liable for the death and injury of active duty soldiers resulting from its negligence.

It is well established that active duty soldiers cannot sue the government for injuries or death sustained incident to their service. That prohibition, however, does not apply to independent contractors working for the government such at Halliburton KBR. Such contractors are bound by the same rules as all non-governmental entities and must exercise reasonable conduct in the performance of its duties to those who foreseeable could be injured by their negligence.

Bottom line—while the United States cannot be sued by an injured soldier, an independent contractor such as Halliburton KBR can. Such an action would have to be filed in Texas federal court where Halliburton KBR has its corporate headquarters. The biggest obstacle to bringing such an action is the need to do so in a timely manner before the statute of limitations runs.

An action against Halliburton KBR can be pursued even if the soldier or his family has already received government benefits arising out of his/her injury or death. Of particular note is that government benefits do not compensate a soldier or a soldier’s family for such injuries as pain, suffering, and loss of society. No such limitation exits regarding a claim against an independent contractor.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured as a result of electrical hazards in Iraq, you are encouraged to contact our military medical malpractice law firm for a free consultation.

Over the years I have represented numerous patients whose cancer was not timely diagnosed in military or VA hospitals, and who subsequently suffered damages as a result. Such cases are very demanding because cancer, as we all know, can be a deadly disease if not timely diagnosed and treated. The legal challenge in such cases is to prove that government health care providers failed to diagnose the cancer and that such failure resulted in damages to the patient. In many cases the military/VA doctor may have been negligent but the negligence did not effect the ultimate outcome. For example, if a doctor ignores the lump in a woman’s breast and two months later another doctor performs a biopsy of that lump and determines it to contain cancer, there will be no damages, and therefore no case, if the cancer is Stage I. Why? Because the two month delay made no difference in the ultimate outcome–the cancer two months earlier was obvioulsy Stage I and the treatment required to treat the cancer had not changed. However, if 18 months had passed before the cancer was diagnosed, and if the cancer had advanced to Stage III with involvement of lymph nodes, then a viable malpractice case could exist. In this instance the patient would have sustained substantial injuries because her life expectancy would have statistically diminished and the treatment required to deal with her cancer would also have changed. For instance, she likely would now require the removal of her entire breast and not simply the cancerous lump. She would also require chemo and radiation therapy which otherwise might not have been necessary. She also would probably be prevented from working or performing household duties while she underwent these treatments. These damages are significant and worthy of pursuing in a tort claim.

If you or a member of your family is diagnosed with cancer and you believe your military/VA doctors were negligent, please contact our firm, the Military Medical Malpractice Legal Network. We can assess your treatment and determine whether you were the victim of substandard care and whether that negligent care resulted in damages for which you are entitled to compensation. It is important that you consult an attorney shortly after your diagnosis so as not to allow the statute of limitations to run out. Timely attorney consultation will also insure that all necessary records are secured before they are lost, misplaced, or altered.

Anyone who receives care at a military or VA hospital can’t avoid noticing that there are plenty of folks working in those facilities who are not government employees. Of course, that is easier to detect in a military hospital where active duty personnel usually wear military uniforms. However, even in VA hospitals where most everyone is a civilian, there are a large number of health care providers who are not government employees. Why is this important? Because if you are injured as a result of the negligence of an independent contractor, the United States is not responsible for any damages you may incur. In such a case you must sue the independent contractor and/or his employer to obtain compensation. This will usually complicate things significantly. Let me give you an example. Our firm recently represented the family of an active duty sailor whose wife received her care at a Navy primary care clinic in California. That clinic was operated by the Navy but staffed by civilian doctors and nurses provided by by a private company. Over the course of two years the patient was seen by numerous doctors and nurses for various primary care needs. No one, however, ever obtained a family history from the patient which would have notified them that the patient, who was 42, was at high risk for colon cancer because her father had died of the disease when he was 48. In fact, the patient on several occasions requested a colonoscopy because of her high risk, but her requests were always ignored. Her husband was eventually reassigned to Arizona where she presented to an Air Force hospital with abdominal problems. Tests demonstrated that the patient was suffering from Stage IV colon cancer. Despite treatment, the patient died about one year after being diagnosed.

Our firm filed a claim against the Navy under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Upon receipt of the medical records we determined that civilian doctors had treated this lady at the Navy clinic. We therefore filed a law suit against the doctors and the civilian company that employed them. When the six month FTCA administrative claims period had run, we joined the United States to our suit. This was all very tricky since California law provides a one year statute of limitation to bring a medical malpractice suit while the FTCA allows two years. Had we missed the California statute of limitations, the sailor and his family would have been barred from suing the civilian doctors.

As things turned out, the Navy blamed the civilians for not properly treating this patient and the civilians blamed the Navy. Both of them, of course, blamed the patient who was dead. After over a year of discovery, both the United States and the civilian company settled with the family.

This case demonstrates how important it is to pursue a claim in a timely manner and to secure the services of a firm which has the experience and resources to take on both the government and a large corporation simultaneously.