Tennessee Medical Malpractice Lawyer Reports on Lawsuit Filed over Meningitis Outbreak

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Against Hospital for Meningitis Outbreak

Springfield resident Joyce McKinney’s doctor referred her to Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgical Center in August 2012 so that she could have a better treatment for her radiating neck pain. However, the 73-year-old was diagnosed with life-threatening meningitis following her treatment at the hospital. She has filed a Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuit claiming that administration of tainted spinal steroids at the hospital led her to contract fungal meningitis.

McKinney was injected with methylprednisolone acetate twice within a fortnight gap at the Saint Thomas Hospital. The injections belonged to the New England Compounding Center, which was blamed for supplying contaminated products, leading to fungal meningitis outbreak claiming 153 lives nationwide. There were at least 15 deaths reported in Tennessee. According to the Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuit, the patient remained hospitalized for almost a month until she was treated with anti-fungal medications.

The plaintiff has sought $3 million in damages claiming that Saint Thomas Hospital was “negligent and reckless” for injecting patients with compounded medications sourced from a pharmacy that violated the FDA regulations. A similar Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuit has also been filed by a Nashville couple alleging that the hospital was careless in procuring the injections from the New England Compounding Center.

Tennessee Medical Malpractice: Key Facts

About 2,000 Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuits are filed every year citing lack of hospital care, medication mistakes, wrong prescriptions, surgical mistakes and complications, and diagnosis errors. Birth injuries, surgical mistakes, post-operative infections, lack of care during hospitalization, and delayed diagnosis are the reasons behind more than half of Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuits filed in 2012. Only 30 percent of Tennessee medical malpractice claims are fought in the court, as 70 percent of them are settled out of the court during the legal notice or discover stage.

The state law allows filing of Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuits against a hospital or medical professional only when there is a clear of physical, medical, or emotional injury caused by negligence or visible breach of care standards. The plaintiff is required under the law to prove that

• the hospital or doctor has violated a duty toward patients,
• the violation is the reason of injury, and
• there is conclusive evidence to link injury with violation of duty.

Under the state law, medical malpractice lawsuits are considered civil litigations and can be filed separately from criminal litigations. These are meant to recover medical cost or seek punitive damages for the medical injuries. In 2011, Nashville-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center paid $45,000 and one of its doctor paid $35,000 to settle a Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuit filed against hospital refusal to admit an unstable patient requiring emergency specialized medical care.

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Lawsuit: Compensation Claim

Recently, a Memphis jury awarded $33.5 million to parents of a child born with cerebral palsy attributed to error during the cesarean delivery. The court agreed with the claim that delay on the part of the doctors led to life-threatening conditions for the newborn. The compensation granted included all past, present, and future medical costs and punitive damages.

One can seek following types of compensations by filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in Tennessee.

• Medical costs incurred and future expenditure
• Compensation for loss of employment
• Compensation physical torment
• Compensation for emotional agony
• Damages to punish the defendant
• Non-economic damages for intangible losses

Time Limit for Filing Tennessee Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

• A Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuit must be brought in within three years of the injury or within a year of the injury is discovered, whichever is earlier.
• The statute of limitations offers one-year time limit from the date of discovery for filing of lawsuit citing foreign objects left in patient’s body.
• Tennessee medical malpractice lawsuits filed alleging fraudulent concealment has a one-year statute of limitations from the date of discovery.
• The statute of limitations is applicable only after a patient turns 18 years.

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