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Family fights for kids’ rights in military malpractice cases

On Behalf of | Dec 23, 2015 | Birth Injuries

The men and women who serve this country are generally respected and revered. They risk their lives to keep our country safe and secure. When those service members lives and health are on the line, shouldn’t we expect that medical providers should do their best to keep those special patients safe and secure?

Obviously, all patients, whether they are in the service or not, deserve to be cared for based on the strictest standards of medical care. Medical malpractice happens, however, including to men and women of the military. What is particularly troubling is that the wronged service members are limited in their options to seek justice following a medical error.

A law exists that limits service members from suing the government for issues related to their service. This includes prohibiting someone who may be a victim of a doctor’s error from suing the military (government) hospital that treated them. This law has been and remains controversial, and one military family wants it changed in order to seek justice for their daughter. 

During childbirth, the military mother in this case was reportedly administered a medication to which her medical records reported she was allergic. Complications developed during the birth, resulting in the child’s brain damage that leaves her in need of special care to this day, six years later. 

The law against military members suing the government has thus far banned the family from suing for the birth injuries that have impacted their daughter’s life and their lives as well. They argue that particularly when it is a child of a service member who suffers because of government wrongdoing, the law shouldn’t apply to the malpractice case.

Children who “have never worn a uniform” shouldn’t suffer because of their parents’ military service. With that reasoning in mind, the family in this birth injury case is urging the Supreme Court to rule on the controversial law and its application to incidents involving children. 

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