Speaker
Althea Halchuck

Session Details

You're Suing Me BECAUSE I Kept Your Mom Alive? Avoiding Wrongful Life Lawsuits

Healthcare & Home Care

Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Time: 11:15 am

Session Learning Objectives:

1. Evaluate the importance of Wrongful Prolongation of Life Lawsuits and why families are winning significant payouts from providers and insurers.
2. Understand the consequences medical providers and facilities face when they ignore or override an advance directive, medical orders, or legal surrogate.
3. Be able to demonstrate the best ways for professionals to help patients and families avoid these kinds of lawsuits to benefit all involved.

Costly “Wrongful Life” lawsuits are rising, and providers, medical staff, and advocates should take note and beware. Advance Directives give adults with decisional capacity the right to accept or reject even life-saving medical treatment and choose a Healthcare Surrogate to speak for them after they become incapacitated. If medical providers ignore the patient’s healthcare wishes or their legal surrogate’s instructions, the patient or family may have a cause of action against the provider and facility, resulting in significant monetary payouts. Medical professionals no longer have an automatic blanket immunity because they “erred on the side of life.” This presentation is designed to show the importance of listening to the patient and their legal surrogate, the duty to follow the advance directive and any medical orders (such as a POLST or DNR), and the consequences of failure to do so. Through case narratives, attendees will experience how directives are ignored and how they adversely affect patients and their families. Learn the best ways to avoid lawsuits from families who were harmed by the failure to follow the patient’s Advance Directive and Surrogate.