Depending on the hospital, veterans often have to make appointments at VA facilities months in advance. That kind of waiting can be bad for your health, especially if you’re living with a life-threatening condition and you don’t know it yet.
It’s no secret that VA hospitals are busy. Still, when you do get to see a nurse or a doctor, that individual and the rest of the medical team are obligated to provide the appropriate standard of care. That does not always happen, though.
Consider the case of a veteran who says that a VA nurse practitioner failed to take proper action to diagnose and treat the cancer that now threatens the veteran’s life.
If medical malpractice at a VA hospital results in injuries to you or a loved one, you have legal options for obtaining financial compensation and holding the responsible parties accountable.
However, military medical malpractice claims are handled differently than civil medical malpractice claims. Military medical malpractice falls under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) – an area of law in which most medical malpractice lawyers do not practice.
The FTCA allows victims of military medical negligence to sue the federal government.
The FTCA covers a variety of types of medical errors, including:
- Failure to diagnose cancer
- Surgical errors
- Birth injuries
- Failure to diagnose heart disease
- Medication errors
Additionally, the FTCA allows spouses and dependents of military personnel to bring claims for injuries or wrongful death caused by military medical negligence.
For more on the types of negligence that can occur at VA and military hospitals, please see our recent post on medical battery.