Medical Mistake Kills Autistic Teen

KOMO News reported on this terrible incident in which doctors at Children's Hospital in Seattle improperly used a narcotic patch on an autistic 15-year-old boy following dental surgery. The boy died in his sleep that night from a narcotics overdose.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/62702992.html

This is one of those rare cases in which the hospital promptly admitted the error and apologized for the mistake. In contrast, most of the time the hospital and physicians involved immediately create a veil of secrecy, refusing to say anything and pretending that no mistakes took place. The only way victims can usually get any relief is by hiring an attorney to dig into the records and prove negligence, over the hospital's and the doctors' protestations.

Interestingly, the article points out that the doctor and the medical team involved in this case will not be disciplined. This is appropriate in my opinion. Although I don't know them, I'm certain that the medical professionals involved in this case are good people who intended to provide the best possible care for their young patient.

However, medical malpractice litigation (at least in the State of Washington) isn't about punishing the doctor for his negligence. It is instead about compensating the victims of that negligence for their loss. In this case, young Michael Blankenship's family will suffer the consequences of the doctor's mistake for the rest of their lives, while Michael himself no longer has a life at all.

Although money can never compensate a family for the loss of a child, money is all the law currently provides. Advocates of medical malpractice "reform" want to place arbitrary limits on the amount of money a jury can award victims of malpractice for non-economic damages. Such limits would deny the Blankenship family and countless other families the constitutional right to have a jury listen to their story and decide the fair measure of their loss.

Again, medical malpractice litigation is not intended to punish doctors for moments of carelessness, and it certainly is not intended to ruin their lives. It is intended to provide some measure of compensation for those whose lives have already been ruined as the direct result of a moment of carelessness by a doctor. That's why doctors carry malpractice insurance. Any attempt to place arbitrary limits on such compensation for malpractice victims and their families is misguided, unjust, and probably even unconstitutional.