Arkansas Injury Lawyer Blog

I recently read a story from California about a little girl who was forced to wait for treatment in an ER for over five hours. According to the story, the family's ordeal began on a Sunday morning in early December, when the normally rambunctious girl developed a fever and became lethargic.

When her symptoms persisted the next day the father took his little girl to the ER and he tried to get immediate care, but was rebuffed. After about five hours, according to the news account, he ambushed a nurse and demanded to see a doctor. The physician took blood samples that suggested the girl was in liver failure. She was taken by ambulance to the pediatric intensive care unit at Sutter Memorial Hospital. Doctors there had her flown to Stanford aboard a helicopter.

It turned out the girl was in septic shock from a Streptococcus A infection that invaded her blood, muscles and internal organs. According to the CDC early treatment can reduce death and disability from the disease. The Stanford doctors put the girl on life support and gave her medicine. They ultimately had to perform operations to amputate her lower legs and her left hand, which had been irreversibly damaged by a lack of oxygen.

This tragic case seemingly could have been avoided if the hospital personnel had taken the time to properly assess the little girl. Although a wait in the ER is expected in many cases, five hours is not reasonable. The hospital was either understaffed or the employees were not doing their job adequately. Either way, medical errors like this should be avoided. As an Arkansas lawyer who represents individuals and their families who are victims of medical negligence, I hope that Arkansas hospitals learn from this sotry and make sure it does not happen here.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled February 12, 2009 that a 2007 state law which allowed charitable hospitals’ risk pools to be sued directly should be applied retroactively. For over 100 years, Arkansas has recognized the doctrine of charitable immunity. Unfortunately, this doctrine affects the rights of injured victims of hospital malpractice in Arkansas. In essence, Arkansas hospitals that are charitable are immune from suit. Fortunately, the Arkansas legislature has granted injured Arkansans the right to a sue a hospital’s insurance company directly under the Direct Action Statute. Additionally, in 2007 the Arkansas General Assembly amended the Direct Action statute to allow a plaintiff injured by malpractice to also sue any self-insurance fund, pooled liability fund, or similar fund maintained by a medical care provider. Prior to this amendment, several Arkansas hospitals attempted to undermine the direct action statute by using a risk pool instead of carrying liability insurance. This 2007 amendment was designed to stop this injustice from happening.

The Arkansas Supreme Court recently ruled that the 2007 amendment would apply retroactively to lawsuits filed before the 2007 Act was passed. Although I would prefer that Arkansas follow most other states and do away with this archaic rule, this is a small victory for injured Arkansans. If you or a loved one has suffered an injury due to malpractice in an Arkansas hospital, it is important that you contact an Arkansas malpractice attorney to discuss your legal rights.