Lawsuit as a resident, from 6 years ago….

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CaptainCool

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Hey guys, I was just served with a lawsuit from when I was a resident assisting an attending in surgery. Aside from contacting my malpractice carrier back then, is there anything else I have to do?

Has anyone else experienced this? I assume because I was a resident I will have more protections, but the attending who performed the surgery has since passed.
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Dermato Fight Club said:
Just contact your med mal carrier. They will tell you what to do. 6 years seems like a long time not to have hit the statute of limitations. Is it a pediatric case?
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Nope, I was wondering about that…. The attending died of covid so I wasn’t sure if she initiated the suit and then had to find someone else to sue 🤷‍♂️? Or if she’s going to say that she didn’t realize there was a problem with the surgery until recently.

Thanks for the reply, first lawsuit so I’m a little stressed
 
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6 years after the surgery is definitely past the statute of limitations in most states. As a resident I would not have too much concern with this. You will be covered via your medical malpractice carrier. They will take care of everything. What would be a real shame is that since the attending is dead that you have to take on the brunt of the work such as being deposed and going to court (if it gets there). That would be a giant waste of your time since this was not your patient and you most likely had no follow up contact either. It’s shameful. But you literally can be sued for anything these days.
 
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We had an attending go through this when they were a resident and talked about it once. Basically as a resident you're covered from any wrongdoing unless you went out of your way to cowboy some stuff and act outside of standard. At the end of the day it falls on the attending since you're just an "assistant".
 
they may as well sue the scrub tech. You were a resident bro. Did you even touch the patient?
 
So last night I got a copy of the lawsuit.

The patient is suing me pro se, for a procedure done in the OR after she was unsuccessful in suing my attending. From 6.5 years ago. She didn’t even name the hospital or anyone else, just my attending and then amended it to me when I guess she thought she could get another bite at the apple.

The annoying thing is I can’t get in touch with anyone in legal at my hospital yet, lol I just don’t want a default judgement against me, after this gets thrown out will I really have to say I’ve been named in a lawsuit when I do my license renewals and stuff?
 
CaptainCool said:
after she was unsuccessful in suing my attending
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I am absolutely shocked at the law firm she is using. This borders on almost stupidity or downright desperation..... and we though podiatry was saturated; step aside for law.

If legal is no help, honestly get a good lawyer and countersue her and win "with prejudice"
 
HardRoadPaved said:
I am absolutely shocked at the law firm she is using. This borders on almost stupidity or downright desperation..... and we though podiatry was saturated; step aside for law.

If legal is no help, honestly get a good lawyer and countersue her and win "with prejudice"
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She’s not using a law firm…. She’s representing herself…
 
Contact your old Hospital and your residency director and get this figured out as soon as possible. Your old Hospital‘s medical malpractice carrier should be figuring this out for you.

Six years has to be past the statute of limitations. Personally, I think she’s just trying to scare you into a settlement.
 
What Retro said. Even if your hospital doesn't have quote on quote "tail coverage" they usually have a fund set aside to cover residents during their training.

Worse case get on phone with your old hospital HR and see if you can get a faster response that way.
 
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Bluecollarmed said:
We had an attending go through this when they were a resident and talked about it once. Basically as a resident you're covered from any wrongdoing unless you went out of your way to cowboy some stuff and act outside of standard. At the end of the day it falls on the attending since you're just an "assistant".
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Yes. This is it, right here. ^^^

It's generally known at any decent residency that the attending will take all responsibility.
Even if they didn't (TFP central?), it's implied residents are under attending doc supervision.
Residents are simply assisting... they did not make decisions or decide plan of care.

...As the attending is dead, the plaintiff here is grasping as straws.
As said above, just call your malprac carrier, contact your residency hospital's malprac, and follow their advice. This will waste a bit of your time, but it won't go anywhere at all (depo or two, "expert" depo... probably drop, possibly residency hospital malprac settles for nuisance to get it over with).
 
I didn’t even know this was a thing tbh. We should mention this to pod students. The fact you can get sued years after some attending does something to get sued over while you’re retracting, and then the patient doesn’t think to sue until years later.

So dumb. On principle I would be half tempted to just toss that letter in the trash at this point. I doubt I would remember the case unless it was something obviously egregious. Obviously - we can’t do that and have to take these things seriously.

Just another reason to make me think surgery is more trouble than it’s worth.
 
A former resident from my program was named in a lawsuit. From what I heard a student did something stupid in clinic that caused the patient to develop a wound that got infected and needed surgery. Patient ended up suing about 1.5 years after the incident. And yes the patient got some type of settlement.

The dumb thing was that the former resident never actually interacted with the patient. The student was using that resident’s account to do notes and now he probably has to answer yes to being named in lawsuits and such. This all happened about 1 year after he had graduated.
 
Notify your current carrier and practice administrator as well.
 
This is nothing to worry about. She’s desperate and as previously stated, she likely couldn’t find an attorney to take your case.

In my entire career, I have been fortunate enough to be named in one lawsuit. It was a case being performed by a colleague and I as in the OR and not even scrubbed. He was using a new hardware set and I was the biggest user of this hardware in the region. The rep was sick and the provider asked if I’d stand in the case for tips and support.

So I stood in the back and answered any questions. My name wasn’t on the op report, but they sue everyone with a pulse.

It was annoying but it was behind ridiculous that I could be named and not even scrubbed on the case. Of course the judge was annoyed, had the plaintiff attorney apologize to me and dismissed me from the case with prejudice.

So it’s not even a reportable event, since I was dismissed. I am sure this will be the same result in your case.
 
ExperiencedDPM said:
This is nothing to worry about. She’s desperate and as previously stated, she likely couldn’t find an attorney to take your case.

In my entire career, I have been fortunate enough to be named in one lawsuit. It was a case being performed by a colleague and I as in the OR and not even scrubbed. He was using a new hardware set and I was the biggest user of this hardware in the region. The rep was sick and the provider asked if I’d stand in the case for tips and support.

So I stood in the back and answered any questions. My name wasn’t on the op report, but they sue everyone with a pulse.

It was annoying but it was behind ridiculous that I could be named and not even scrubbed on the case. Of course the judge was annoyed, had the plaintiff attorney apologize to me and dismissed me from the case with prejudice.

So it’s not even a reportable event, since I was dismissed. I am sure this will be the same result in your case.
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Dang how much do we get paid to be a stand in for reps? Gotta be more than the guy made doing the case
 
ExperiencedDPM said:
This is nothing to worry about. She’s desperate and as previously stated, she likely couldn’t find an attorney to take your case.

In my entire career, I have been fortunate enough to be named in one lawsuit. It was a case being performed by a colleague and I as in the OR and not even scrubbed. He was using a new hardware set and I was the biggest user of this hardware in the region. The rep was sick and the provider asked if I’d stand in the case for tips and support.

So I stood in the back and answered any questions. My name wasn’t on the op report, but they sue everyone with a pulse.

It was annoying but it was behind ridiculous that I could be named and not even scrubbed on the case. Of course the judge was annoyed, had the plaintiff attorney apologize to me and dismissed me from the case with prejudice.

So it’s not even a reportable event, since I was dismissed. I am sure this will be the same result in your case.
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It may not be reportable to the National Practitioner Databank, but when you apply for privileges at any facility, one of the questions is "Have you ever been a defendant in a malpractice lawsuit?" In that case, you'd still have to respond yes and provide additional documentation explaining the case, which will result in your application for privileges being "red filed", needing extra scrutiny.

So it sucks even if you win or are dismissed over something totally frivolous.
 
diabeticfootdr said:
It may not be reportable to the National Practitioner Databank, but when you apply for privileges at any facility, one of the questions is "Have you ever been a defendant in a malpractice lawsuit?" In that case, you'd still have to respond yes and provide additional documentation explaining the case, which will result in your application for privileges being "red filed", needing extra scrutiny.

So it sucks even if you win or are dismissed over something totally frivolous.
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I have never had that as an issue when applying for privileges. There is always an area to provide an explanation. Once you write that you were dismissed with prejudice there are zero problems. Zilch.
 
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ExperiencedDPM said:
I have never had that as an issue when applying for privileges. There is always an area to provide an explanation. Once you write that you were dismissed with prejudice there are zero problems. Zilch.
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Amigo … why the attitude?

You either misunderstood what I wrote or don’t understand the standards hospitals are required to follow by accreditation organizations with deemed status from CMS.

When you apply for membership to any medical staff (aka apply for privileges) or when you recredential:

You are asked a “yes or no” question if you have been named a defendant in any malpractice litigation.

If you answer “yes,” your file must undergo more scrutiny, period.

You must explain the lawsuit and result, if final.

Hospitals are required by The Joint Commission to evaluate for “unusual patterns or excessive numbers of professional liability actions.”

So every file with a “yes” answer must undergo an evaluation.

If you have a single lawsuit that was dismissed with prejudice, it is not going to affect the outcome of your credentialing. But it still must be looked at and it not a simple pass through to the Medical Executive Committee.

My point was, there are consequences of frivolous lawsuits too.
 
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diabeticfootdr said:
Amigo … why the attitude?

You either misunderstood what I wrote or don’t understand the standards hospitals are required to follow by accreditation organizations with deemed status from CMS.

When you apply for membership to any medical staff (aka apply for privileges) or when you recredential:

You are asked a “yes or no” question if you have been named a defendant in any malpractice litigation.

If you answer “yes,” your file must undergo more scrutiny, period.

You must explain the lawsuit and result, if final.

Hospitals are required by The Joint Commission to evaluate for “unusual patterns or excessive numbers of professional liability actions.”

So every file with a “yes” answer must undergo an evaluation.

If you have a single lawsuit that was dismissed with prejudice, it is not going to affect the outcome of your credentialing. But it still must be looked at and it not a simple pass through to the Medical Executive Committee.

My point was, there are consequences of frivolous lawsuits too.
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Amigo??? Attitude???? What attitude? And I assure you I understand the standards of hospital regulatory requirements. So don’t even pull the backhanded insult **** at me.

I replied to your question based on my experience with having privileges at many facilities.

I’ve also been on the credentialing committee of one hospital and 3 ASCs. Your definition of holding up an application or going to review obviously differs from mine.

ALL applications go to the credentials committee. Having a ״yes” for an answer to a prior lawsuit is disregarded in about 30 seconds once someone sees “dismissed with prejudice”. There is no request for case details. The app doesn’t get further scrutinized (barring any non related issues). The app does not get delayed. The app does not go to a higher committee or secondary review.

So yes, you are correct. The question will be flagged for a staggering 30 seconds until someone sees the words “dismissed with prejudice”. So that’s not my definition of a hold up or delay in the process.

Additionally, many applications ask if
the applicant has been named in a suit within a finite time span such as 3,5,7 years. So if the incident was outside of that period, answering NO is 100% legit.

So there is no attitude. I’m simply relaying facts and truth and a lawsuit dismissal will rarely if ever hold up an application or require additional probing or investigation. DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE is a good as saying “no” on your app.
 
ExperiencedDPM said:
Amigo??? Attitude???? What attitude? And I assure you I understand the standards of hospital regulatory requirements. So don’t even pull the backhanded insult **** at me.

I replied to your question based on my experience with having privileges at many facilities.

I’ve also been on the credentialing committee of one hospital and 3 ASCs. Your definition of holding up an application or going to review obviously differs from mine.

ALL applications go to the credentials committee. Having a ״yes” for an answer to a prior lawsuit is disregarded in about 30 seconds once someone sees “dismissed with prejudice”. There is no request for case details. The app doesn’t get further scrutinized (barring any non related issues). The app does not get delayed. The app does not go to a higher committee or secondary review.

So yes, you are correct. The question will be flagged for a staggering 30 seconds until someone sees the words “dismissed with prejudice”. So that’s not my definition of a hold up or delay in the process.

Additionally, many applications ask if
the applicant has been named in a suit within a finite time span such as 3,5,7 years. So if the incident was outside of that period, answering NO is 100% legit.

So there is no attitude. I’m simply relaying facts and truth and a lawsuit dismissal will rarely if ever hold up an application or require additional probing or investigation. DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE is a good as saying “no” on your app.
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To be fair I think amigo is a Texas thing
 
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