CJ&D Executive Director, Joanne Doroshow, wrote a poignant op-ed about Kentucky's medical malpractice situation that appeared in an east Kentucky newspaper over the weekend. Here is an excerpt:
In 1997, Kentucky resident Bill Rogers, then 52-years-old and married to his wife Lela, went to the hospital for a treatable infection on this thigh. Doctors began treating him alright — unfortunately, with the wrong antibiotics. The infection got worse and spread. Within a month, doctors had to amputate Bill’s penis.
In the heated debate over medical malpractice insurance for doctors, there is typically little discussion of cases like Bill Rogers. Indeed, each year up to 98,000 people die from medical errors in hospitals. Hundreds of thousands more are injured, many in catastrophic and life-altering ways like Bill.
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