Secret Settlements – Confidentiality Agreements in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Debbie Pennington went in to surgery 20 years ago for a partial hysterectomy and a surgical sponge the size of a pack of cigarettes was left in her body after the surgery. Pennington suffered years of pain and five additional surgeries that were required to fix the mistake, but she was unable to speak of it because she had signed a confidentiality agreement with the hospital. While Pennington is not able to speak about the amount she accepted in the settlement, she is speaking out about the issue of confidentiality agreements in medical malpractice lawsuits, which serve only to protect doctors and hospitals and to keep the public from hearing the truth about the life-threatening mistakes that take place in hospitals.
WSOCTV interviewed Pennington for a segment called “Surgical Mistakes Kept Secret,” which highlights the growing problems of mistakes at hospitals that cause death an injury due to preventable errors on the part of doctors and medical staff. The health care system pays millions of dollars each year to make sure that the public does not find out about some of the blunders that doctors make.
North Carolina State Senator Floyd McKissick, Jr. is working on a bill modeled after laws that already exist in South Carolina, California and Florida that ban confidentiality agreements. If this bill is approved, hospitals and doctors would be held accountable for the errors that they make because they would no longer be allowed to pay patients off to keep them secret.
What is the purpose of confidentiality agreements in medical malpractice settlements?
A confidentiality agreement protects doctors from the negative publicity that could occur if the public knew about the kinds of errors they make. In some states, it is a requirement that parties settling a medical malpractice lawsuit sign a confidentiality clause in order to receive their settlement. Silencing the victims of medical malpractice means the public has no idea of the magnitude of preventable medical errors that take place in health care settings every day.
Under federal law, all settlements that physicians pay must be disclosed on their physician’s profile, which is maintained by each state’s Board of Medicine. The plaintiffs and financial terms of each settlement are not listed, however the number of claims that each physician has paid in the past ten years is listed. Here are links to the District of Columbia Board of Medicine and the West Virginia Board of Medicine.
If you should become involved in a medical malpractice lawsuit, your attorney will discuss with you the pros and cons of signing a confidentiality agreement. In some cases, until the law is changed, they are not optional.
Paulson & Nace, PLLC protects victims of medical malpractice in the Greater Washington, D.C. metro area and throughout West Virginia. If you suffered a serious injury or a loved one has died due to a medical mistake, please contact our office to learn more.
Christopher T. Nace works in all practice areas of the firm, including medical malpractice, birth injury, drug and product liability, motor vehicle accidents, wrongful death, and other negligence and personal injury matters.
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