| Progress Notes | January 2007, Volume 2, Issue 1 |
Recovering Litigation Costs May Stem Frivolous Lawsuits
In Northern California, our insured orthopedic surgeon performed repair of bilateral patellar tendon ruptures on a 53-year-old patient. Postoperatively, our insured prescribed ice cooling units to aid in reducing pain and swelling. Initially, the patient’s post-op course was uneventful, but it was later discovered that he had sustained a full thickness dermal injury to both knees that was attributed to the continuous use of the ice cooling units. The patient went on to require multiple procedures, including rectus muscle transfers and skin grafts.
The patient filed a lawsuit naming our insured, the hospital, and the manufacturer and distributor of the ice units. Because our insured’s treatment was not the cause of this patient’s injury, we attempted, unsuccessfully, to secure a dismissal on his behalf. We then filed offers under Section 998 of the California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP §998), reminding the plaintiff that we would collect all of our court costs when the jury ruled in favor of our insured.
After two years of litigation and three weeks of trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of our insured. The court approved our bill for court costs under CCP §998, and we have now received a check from the plaintiff in the amount of $55,574.
Statutory Device Has a Twofold Benefit
The California Code of Civil Procedure Section 998 offer to compromise is a statutory device that has a twofold benefit:
The first is its effectiveness as a tactic to encourage the opposing party to evaluate the merits of its case or defense at an early stage due to the penalties associated with rejecting a reasonable offer. From our insured’s perspective, if the plaintiff refuses to accept a valid CCP §998 offer and fails to obtain a more favorable judgment at trial, the plaintiff cannot recover the costs incurred after the date of the offer and must pay the insured’s costs from the time the offer was made. If, however, the plaintiff files a CCP §998 offer and obtains a more favorable judgment at trial, he or she will have the same rights as the insured would have if the insured had obtained a defense verdict.
The second benefit of the CCP §998 offer is that after the defense verdict is returned, the plaintiff—not the plaintiff’s attorney—must satisfy the insured’s enhanced cost bill himself or herself. When faced with this possibility, a CCP §998 offer may result in the dismissal of a case that is weak or without merit.
The Doctors Company uses the CCP §998 offer to compromise as a tool for effectively jump-starting a dialogue with the opposing party. This statutory device has helped us to resolve some claims more quickly for our members and to recover litigation costs when the jury rules in favor of our insured.
Our Rocky Mountain Regional Claims Office Secures Victories
As of the end of the third quarter 2006, our Rocky Mountain Regional Claims Office had taken 17 cases to trial. The trials resulted in 16 defense verdicts and one plaintiff verdict, which was reversed on appeal and will be re-tried.
The Rocky Mountain Regional Claims Office protects our members in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming.
Rx for Patient Safety: Tips for Communicating Effectively with Your Patient Population
Our health care environment provides a narrow window of opportunity for effective provider-patient communication. Fragmentation among health care specialties and limited time for patient education combined with cultural and literacy issues are factors that can influence or even compromise the quality and safety of patient care.
Assess and evaluate the literacy level of your patient population and the communication practices within your office. Listen to how and what the patient is conveying to you and your staff. Tailor your language so that you and your office staff communicate with patients at their level. Provide them with written and/or translated materials. Have interpreters and other means of assistance available for those patients where language and cultural barriers may exist. Your Department of Patient Safety can help you implement policy and procedure for documenting patient care interventions, including telecommunications and referral tracking. Contact us at (800) 421-2368, extension 1243, for assistance.
Remember, the quality and safety of patient care depends on effective communication between the health care provider and the patient.
—Cynthia Morrison, B.S.N., A.R.M., C.P.H.R.M.,
Patient Safety/Risk Management Account Executive
Progress Notes is published quarterly by the Claims and Patient Safety Departments of The Doctors Company.
