As of July 1 of this year, provoked by the Endoscopy Center catastrophe here in Las Vegas, Nevada lawmakers decided to bolster current laws prohibiting retaliation against nurses and other employees of medical facilities who reveal the commission of unsafe policies or procedures. Now, the jobs of whistle-blowing employees cannot end, detrimentally change, or inconveniently move; and their ability to receive promotions cannot be adversely affected by their actions in reporting dangerous or illegal activities. See, NRS 449.205. Further, if retaliation DOES occur, a whistle-blower can pursue compensatory damages, reimbursement of wages, costs, attorney’s fees, and punitive damages. See, NRS 449.207.
For some patients, this change has come too late. For others, maybe it will do some good. Time will tell if care providers actually break the typical code of silence and respond to these new protections with a greater willingness to report unsafe practices than was the case at the Endoscopy Centers. We can only hope. For those brave souls that do report wrongdoing and suffer retaliation or discrimination as a result, White & Wetherall stands ready to pursue a remedy in court on their behalf. In other words, you Nevada whistle-blowers do your part, and we’ll do ours.
For more information on recent changes to Nevada’s medical whistle-blower laws, see the revisions at http://www.leg.state.nv.us/75th2009/Bills/AB/AB10_EN.pdf.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported today that there’s medical malpractice legislation in the works at the Nevada legislature. The bill, in its present form would apparently 1) lift the $350K non-economic damages cap on medical malpractice cases, 2) lengthen the time available to file suit, and 3) lengthen the time available to get a case to trial.
We won’t know for awhile if any of this will happen, but it’s an interesting response to the wide-spread outrage over the Endoscopy catastrophe that occurred around this time last year. While I’m thankful the aforementioned reforms are being considered, I feel bad for the countless victims of medical malpractice whose cases have been and continue to be resolved under the old statute. At present, with the “one size fits all” ham-fisted solution attained by the insurance industry (assisted by misguided Nevada physicians), a brain-injured victim of medical malpractice resigned to a lifetime of pain, impairment, and loss of quality of life is subject to the same $350K damages cap regardless of whether they are injured as a baby (with a 50 years left to live) as a 75 year-old with 5 years left to live. Makes no sense, but then again, it was the diminishment/elimination of malpractice claims that was the purpose of our present statutory scheme, not common sense or fairness to victims.
We have some fantastic, caring and skilled physicians in this state - a lot of them. The same can be said of law enforcement officers, attorneys, and people in all sorts of professions, so that’s not really the point. The point is, when a doctor causes negligent (or intentional) injury, they should be held accountable for the consequences of that harm. That’s what malpractice insurance is for. That’s what accountability is all about.
We have mechanisms for suing attorneys, peace officers, and everyone else for negligence that don’t involve caps on damages. Negligent doctors should be treated no better, no worse. PCW
