Physician Liability for Assisted Suicide
If you are a plaintiff in a medical malpractice action, you might be seeking information on the issue of whether or not the physician who treated you had a substance abuse problem that might have contributed to his or her claimed negligence. If you are a physician who is the object of a medical malpractice action, you might be looking for information on whether the patient's injury was the result of his or her own drug problem. Whatever, the reason, it is not uncommon for one or both parties to try to obtain substance abuse records.
Generally, there is a waiver of liability for the malpractice committed by employees of the United States government pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The government is substituted for the physician as a party in medical malpractice actions, and the remedy against the government is exclusive. The federal courts have sole jurisdiction in cases under the FTCA, and a judge without a jury tries them.
HMO Malpractice?
What happens if, after a patient has been injured by the negligence of a physician, he or she goes to a second physician for treatment of the injury caused by the first doctor, and the injury is aggravated by the negligence of the second doctor? The answer may be surprising. Generally, the rule is that the first physician whose negligence caused injury is also liable for additional injury later caused by the negligent treatment that the patient received from the second physician, provided that the patient used ordinary care in selecting the second physician. The patient is not obligated to find the best physician available, but is only required to act with due care and good faith in selecting the second physician. Therefore, a negligent doctor is liable not only for the injury caused by his own acts but is also liable for any additional harm resulting from the manner in which reasonably required medical services are rendered.
