SCRANTON, Pa. — Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death in the U.S., and the pandemic brought on a slew of concerns and lawsuits, according to experts.
“Whenever there was a spike in the number of COVID cases, about a month and a half after the spike, we saw a spike in medical malpractice lawsuits," said attorney Victor Bornstein, founder of Justpoint.
Bornstein said the past year brought a spike in COVID-19-related cases and other malpractice lawsuits.
It is not just in hospitals either: those lawsuits stem from care in long-term care facilities as well, like nursing homes.
“I think the biggest concern we have is that these mistakes are happening in the first place. We have people who lost their spouses, lost their kids.”
Bornstein believes there is a lot for everyone to still learn from this pandemic, including how to best treat COVID-19 patients and how to deal with COVID-19-related lawsuits.
“There’ s been some laws approved to shield healthcare professionals from lawsuits related to COVID, and some states have been adopting them, and some states have not been adopting them. It’s basically legal chaos; it’s a little bit difficult to determine if someone has a lawsuit if it relates to COVID to know if someone might have a lawsuit related to COVID.”
Bornstein said compared to other states, Pennsylvania falls below the national average when it comes to COVID-related lawsuits.
States like Ohio and Massachusetts have some of the highest rates.