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Hiring an attorney when you’ve been the victim of medical negligence is simply a must. You need someone whose practice specializes in that type of law to get the best representation possible. When that negligence claim is against Kaiser Permanente, finding an attorney who knows the Kaiser arbitration system is equally important.
We asked Jeff Milman, a member of the Advocate Law Group Network who has been practicing law for 26 years and specializes in medical negligence, to provide guidance on the type of attorney consumers should look for in medical negligence cases against Kaiser. “What they want is an attorney that specializes in medical negligence, not someone who one day does family law and the next day does criminal and then dabbles in medical malpractice. Medical negligence law is very difficult. It’s very costly. You have to have the right experts.”
“The other thing they should ask an attorney is what experience they personally have had against Kaiser. There may be several attorneys who do medical negligence but are not really comfortable with the Kaiser arbitration system. So you want to get somebody who’s experienced, who in your gut you feel will represent you, who has the financial wherewithal to get good experts and to prosecute your case fully.”
California’s damages cap
While consumers have the ability to make smart choices when hiring an attorney, they are limited in another very important area – the damages cap in California. We asked Milman to explain the cap and whether or not he thinks it will change in the future. “Now you’ve got me on a rant. In 1975, the insurance carriers for the medical community lost a bunch of money investing. In order to recoup their investment, they manufactured this phony tort crisis.”
“They went around to the legislature saying, ‘Oh my god, we have to pass these special set of laws. If we don’t, doctors will be delivering babies in the street.’ So the cap on damages of $250,000 was instituted. The claim was that, since the doctors would have to pay less in premiums, they would pass those savings on to their patients and that would keep premiums on health insurance and medical malpractice down. Well, of course, none of that has occurred.”
“In some states that have passed such tort reform laws, their Supreme Courts have listed that as unconstitutional. Well, California’s Supreme Court affirmed it and since 1975, we’ve had this misguided set of laws on the books which have never been changed. Depending upon who you talk to, if they’d even put in a simple cost of living increase to keep up with inflation, that cap would today be seven figures: $1.1, $1.2 million.”
Talk about change is sometimes just that – talk
Even though California is generally seen as one of the more progressive states in the US, talk about changing the very outdated damages cap law hasn’t produced anything more than that – talk. Milman explained, “Every year there’s talk about changing it. However, I don’t see it changing in the future. I’m wishing it will. I think that for it to change, we would need a courageous legislature and we would need to get together with the medical lobby. Many physicians who feel the same as we do, that it’s unfair. We would have to jointly sponsor a bill that the legislature could embrace. But I don’t see that happening in the near future.”
“So I do suggest that anyone who is in the know to contact their legislatures. The more public outcry there is, the sooner that misguided set of laws will be altered. Even a small change, such as a $500,000 cap, would be welcome. We [California] have the lowest cap in the nation practically.”
Getting the right help
If you’ve been the victim of medical negligence by Kaiser Permanente, it’s important to get the right help. Attorneys whose practices specialize not only in medical negligence, but who also know the Kaiser system inside and out are available to help. To contact an attorney, click here.
