Hospital Liability and Patient Rights

Hospital liability is premised on violations of industry standards defined by credentialing organizations such as the Joint Commission, Medicare Condititions of Participation, institutional policies and procedures, and sometimes simple negligence by its employees (such as nurses, technicians, HR personnel, orderlies, etc).Hospitals are all major corporate entities with vast resources to defend themselves, and such lawsuits can take years to resolve and involve major resources.There are virtually no small claims worth pursuing, so these cases generally involve catastrophic injury or injury to masses of people (whose claims can be combined).Patient rights claims involve violations of the patient bill of rights, such as interference with parental decision-making or medical kidnapping.

Forbrain injury lawyer , James Avery recently handled the Rocky Allen HIV Swedish Hospital (operated by Healthcare Corporation of America-HCA) case, where over 2,000 patients were exposed to HIV in the operating suites as a result of the negligent hiring of an HIV infected surgical technician with a narcotics addiction who was swapping needles from patient ORs.James Avery has handled numerous precedent setting patient rights cases garnering national attention.

Each case requires a complex analysis of individual healthcare practice standards, hospital standards and policies, federal and state law.It is a highly technical area of law. These cases demand an experienced medical-legal trial lawyer.*

If you or a loved one has been injured at a hospital, contact James Avery at 303-840-2222 or complete the contact form below for a confidential consultation.

*Avery Law Firm principal James Avery has more than 35 years personal experience in handling hospital liability and patient rights cases. doctors backgroundstarted his career representing University of Colorado Medical Center and Hospital and its physicians.After several years, he realized that his passion was for patients injured by malpractice and unfair hospital practices.Avery handled the landmark case involving over 600 infants who underwent unnecessary skull surgery at Childrens Hospital Colorado, a case which four times landed on the front page of the Denver Post and was reported in ABCs 20/20 and the Wall Street Journal.It lead to the reform of the Childrens Hospital Colorado and resulted in all departments being governed by University Physicians.

Insurance Bad Faith & Unfair Claims Practices
Insurance bad faith is typically premised on the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing imposed by operation of law in every contract of insurance.

There are first party cases where a named insured makes a claim against their own insurer, with whom they have a contract.In first party cases, there is an express contract that governs the conduct of the insurance company, and breach can lead to bad faith.

There are third party cases where the claimant is a beneficiary (not named insured) of an insurance policy.-such as life or disability insurance.

Generally, insurance bad faith does not apply to conduct of an adversarial insurance company, such as the other drivers insurer in an auto accident.

Unfair claims practices go hand in hand with bad faith, and most states have statutes governing the conduct of insurance companies.Such statutes, like in Colorado, may contain treble damages or recovery of attorneys fee provisions as a penalty for breach of the statutory obligations.

Avery Law Firm principal James W. Avery** has over 35 years experience handling insurance bad faith litigation, and has recovered millions of dollars for his clients against big insurance companies like Allstate, Cigna, Progressive, Safeco, and AIG, to name a few.Avery is experienced in regard to violation of professional liability policy obligations, such as the duties to settle or adequately investigate claims before offering settlement. Avery is experience with both personal lines and commercial lines coverages, having represented insurance companies* in the early days of his career.*Since 1989, James Avery has limited his practice to representing victims of bad faith.

**awarded Americas Top 100 Lifetime Achievement Award, Top 100 High-Stakes Litigators, Superlawyer

If you believe you have been treated unfairly by an insurance company, and suffered major damages, contact James Avery by calling 303-840-2222 or completing the contact form below.Our fee promise- if no recovery, you owe us nothing.