Clients in medical malpractice cases often tell us they are not suing for money but to “make sure this never happens to anyone else.” The hope is that justice will include accountability to prevent future harm. 

All too often, however, the justice system and medical regulatory agencies fail to prevent future harm. This problem was exposed in a recent piece of investigative journalism, “Eight lawsuits, five deaths: How a reservation doctor accused of malpractice kept working.” 8 lawsuits allege malpractice on Fort Belknap reservation

This article reviewed cases against a single physician and staffing company on an Indian Reservation in Montana. On numerous occasions, the physician was sued and the government Indian Health Service (IHS) settled. However, the doctor kept on practicing with no ramifications. Often, the IHS insisted that the doctor be dismissed from the case prior to any settlement to protect the doctor's reputation.

It appears the IHS has serious malpractice problems, having pain out $55 million in settlements from 2006-2019. Payouts have more than doubled in the last five years to over $100 million since 2020.

The pattern of repeat lawsuits and no accountability lead to a great feeling of injustice. To quote one of the Montana victims, “Our people don't matter to the government. From the very beginning, they set us up to fail. They set us up to die.”

We have previously written about how medical boards are too lenient and fail to adequately discipline doctors who have engaged in poor medical care, injuring or killing patients.

As our clients instinctively know, justice must include accountability. The system should identify bad doctors and hold them to account. This sometimes means strong discipline, including restrictions, limitations or even revocation of the ability to practice medicine. Public health and safety must come first.

Unfortunately, we see repeatedly that our system fails to live up to this ideal of public health.