You do not Have to Sign Medical Arbitration Agreements
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Medical providers are starting to coerce patients and prospective patients into signing agreements which seek to eliminate the patient's basic constitutional rights, including their right to a trial by jury and their right to recover full compensation for the consequences for negligent acts on the part of healthcare providers.
In North Carolina, Duke Hospital and its affiliated hospitals have for several years now attempted to get patients to sign agreements which would deprive the patient of a right to trial by jury and to force patients into having their claims decided by a hand-picked group of arbitrators chosen by Duke.
The arbitration form used by Duke is contained within a long document which deals with other patient admission items. Although the arbitration agreement portion of this document indicates that the patient is not required to sign the arbitration agreement clause and that Duke would treat the patient even if the patient did not sign the arbitration agreement, the agreement is still heavily one-sided in favor of Duke. A patient who is sick enough to be admitted to the hospital is usually not in a physical or mental condition to rationally make a decision as to whether they wish their malpractice claim to be arbitrated. The patient is not told in advance that they will be asked to sign such an arbitration clause and, in most cases, the patient will not have the opportunity to discuss this issue with family members. Certainly, the patient is not given the opportunity to speak with a lawyer before signing this agreement. At the point that the arbitration agreement is submitted to the patient, the last thing the patient is concerned about is filing a lawsuit. The patient, as all of us would, hopes that there will be no malpractice committed and, therefore, no need to file a claim.
Unfortunately, North Carolina appellate courts have upheld these arbitration agreements.
Duke's arbitration agreement provides that the malpractice claim will be decided by the American Arbitration Association, the world's largest arbitration organization. Several years ago, the American Arbitration Association stated publicly that they will no longer hear and decide arbitration agreements dealing with healthcare issues unless the agreement was signed by the patient after the dispute arose (that is, after the patient has been injured by the malpractice of the healthcare provider). However, because of the cozy relationship that exists between Duke and the American Arbitration Association, it has chosen to treat Duke differently. The American Arbitration Association has made an exception only for Duke and it will hear and decide healthcare arbitration cases involving Duke even when those agreements are signed by the patient before the malpractice arises. The potential Duke patient should ask themselves what kind of fair hearing they would get from the American Arbitration Association when it bends over backwards to make an exception for only Duke.
The trend towards forcing patients to give up their constitutional rights in healthcare cases is becoming nationwide.
A group of New Jersey OB-GYN physicians have begun asking prospective patients to sign away their right to a jury trial. Complaining about the cost of medical malpractice insurance, more than a dozen OB-GYN practitioners have joined Obstetrician and Gynecologist Risk Prevention Group of America, a medical malpractice insurance company that claims to reduce the doctor's malpractice insurance premiums by 50%. These physicians also require patients to agree to limit their pain and suffering awards to $250,000.00. The spokesman for the group of New Jersey OB-GYN's has been a longtime exponent of efforts to reduce the cost of medical malpractice insurance. She claims that in 2005 she stopped delivering babies in order to reduce her premiums.
In North Carolina, there has been an increase in doctors, including obstetricians, at a rate far in excess of the increase in the population in general. This indicates that doctors, including obstetricians, are coming into North Carolina faster than members of the general population. Although there is no medical malpractice crisis in North Carolina, medical malpractice lawyers are blamed for any increase in malpractice insurance premiums. The increase in premiums is simply not justified by the frequency or the amount of medical malpractice settlements.
If you or a family member have been a victim of medical malpractice, please fill out the short form on this page. You will be contacted by a lawyer who will examine your case.