Doctors Lose Round in Malpractice Suit
The jury in a malpractice suit will be allowed to hear allegations that two Simi Valley physicians delayed referring an ailing patient to a specialist because of a health maintenance organization’s payment policy, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Attorneys for Drs. Elvin Gaines and Dan Engeberg--who own the Simi Valley Family Practice--had asked Ventura County Judge Ken W. Riley to throw out that allegation before the medical malpractice trial begins.
“It would inflame the passion of any reasonable person,†defense attorney David Gonzalez argued. “It’s an ugly allegation.â€
Riley disagreed and said the novel approach to a medical malpractice suit can be used.
“[But] I am not ruling on whether or not HMOs are valid,†he said. “This is a medical malpractice suit.â€
The family of cancer victim Joyce Ching has accused Gaines and Engeberg of wrongful death. They contend in their lawsuit that the two doctors, acting as Ching’s primary-care physicians, delayed sending her to a specialist for 11 weeks.
If Ching’s colon cancer had been detected in those 11 weeks, her chance of survival would have been greater, the suit contends. Ching died in 1994 at the age of 34.
The suit further alleges that the doctors delayed sending Ching to a specialist because of the HMO system of capitation. Under capitation, doctors are paid less if their patients require hospitalization or special tests and treatments.
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