Understanding Medical Malpractice in Foreign Countries

Dick Atkins, owner of Dick Atkins, Esq. is a Philadelphia lawyer who specializes in assisting companies and individuals on legal issues in foreign countries.

He is an owner of International Recoveries, LLC and lectures at travel insurance conventions.   He is on the Board of Directors for the United States Travel Insurance Association.

Atkins paints a picture of both the good news and the bad.  According to Atkins the good news is that there are some very good foreign hospitals where no medical malpractice suits have ever been filed.

On the other hand, the bad news is that should you desire to file a medical malpractice suit the odds are stacked against you and realistically not worth the time and expense to do so.

Read:  Atkins on “Legal Rights Affecting Medical Tourists”

Low Ratio of Medical Malpractice Cases Filed

Atkins often speaks on legal assistance for medical tourists at conferences, for example in November, 2010 at the International Travel Insurance conference in Istanbul, Turkey.   In 2009 he was on a panel discussing the legal rights of medical tourists for the 2009 conference.

“In many countries the care provided and the expertise of the doctors is very high and there aren’t many instances of malpractice in the really good hospitals,” said Atkins, “The services are excellent and indeed a bargain.”

“Bumrungrad Hospital in Thailand presented at one of the conferences where I spoke,” said Atkins, “and I checked thoroughly to see how many law suits were recorded against them and apparently there were none.  Everyone I checked with gave them the highest ratings and I couldn’t find anything wrong going on.”

Malpractice Options Abroad

I get calls from medical tourists and I tell them what the issues and problems are.  There have been a couple of incidents in hospitals in Costa Rica and also in the Dominican Republic but in each of those cases there wasn’t anything viable that could be done.  It was too costly and the system was too complicated to recoup compensation and the amount of any award would be too little.

In addition to all of those things almost everyone is required to sign a very comprehensive release form that tells them the dangers of having a procedure and that certain things can go wrong and/or paperwork that makes a patient agree to bring any law suit only in that country and not anywhere else,” said Atkins”, or other protections for the hospitals that make it very difficult for the individual or the medical providers or intermediaries who set up the trips to benefit from the process of bringing a law suit.

It is very complicated, very expensive and the realistic thing is that it’s almost impossible to sue.  In other countries lawyers don’t offer their services on a contingency basis so you will have to pay your lawyer up front maybe $100 or $200 or more per hour and it can go on for hundreds of hours.

Because of what patients are required to sign, because of the system and because of the lawyers want the money up front it is virtually impossible for suing to be worthwhile.

Foreign Hospital Malpractice Policy

Some foreign hospitals have their own medical malpractice policies.  And according to Atkins you get compensated according to what they are willing to give you.  There’s no point in suing for more.

Cases of malpractice are governed by the country’s law.   “If a person is injured or a life is loss, any awarded compensation is based on the financial value of a person’s life in that country,” said Atkins.

“If there is a clear case of malpractice in the U.S. where a person is permanently injured or died at a medium age, “explained Atkins, “a person might get a couple of million as a settlement.  But in a foreign country for the same claim you might get $10,000 to $20,000 or even less.”

“In virtually every country, with a couple of exceptions, for example Israel,” said Atkins , “the laws are such that it is virtually impossible to get a significant malpractice verdict.   According to Atkins, Israel has a system of much higher awards in civil negligence cases.

Barriers to Bringing a Law Suit in a Foreign Country

I was recently involved in a case in Thailand where there were some severe injuries,” said Atkins, “not medical malpractice.  The judge required that the individual return to Thailand for court appearances even if the individual wasn’t well enough to travel according to advice from his or her doctor.”

“If an insurance company wants to get their money back they may have to fly to Thailand for court appearances as well,” added Atkins.

“The system can take many, many years and the money that you may be awarded will be so low in comparison to the United States that it’s not economically viable to bring the law suit there,” said Atkins.

Advice to Medical Tourists

It’s important for people who are going abroad for medical treatment to make sure they have checked out the reputation of a hospital or to rely on a professional medical tourism facilitator who has checked out the hospital background and reputation.

Don’t just show up in town.  “It would be so dangerous for somebody just to go online and arbitrarily pick some place to go without any advice and assistance.  It’s so important to have somebody there to meet them and orient them to the hospital and recuperation facilities.  They must have some kind of insurance and assistance if something goes wrong,” concluded Atkins.

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