According to Texas newspaper the Star-Telegram, Kourtney McGee, who experienced bleeding during her second trimester of pregnancy, went to the hospital to receive care and attention. Tragically, however, her infant was stillborn.
As if that weren't bad enough, the hospital literally added insult to injury by losing the little baby's body. Unbelievably, the body was sent to the cleaners along with the hospital's dirty laundry.
Surely you would expect the hospital to do the right thing. Certainly, they would recognize the gravity of their error, and the nightmare that they had put this poor mother through.
But the hospital's lawyer said it all: "[W]e deny that the hospital has done anything inappropriate."
People like to joke about "ambulance chasers," and many are concerned about the perceived "malpractice crisis" and "frivolous lawsuits." But this tragic example out of Texas illustrates the real crisis--health care corporations and insurance companies that refuse to do the right thing; that refuse to be accountable for their mistakes.
But mistakes happen. And when responsible people make a mistake, they take responsibility for the consequences. As this most recent example shows, the health care industry is unwilling--even in the clearest of cases--to take responsibility. That's the reason that medical malpractice attorneys who represent injured persons are necessary--to fight the big companies on behalf of people that have already lost so much, and to hold such irresponsible companies accountable for their negligence.
Our sincerest condolences go out to Ms. McGee for her loss.
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