Vested Interest - News and Notes - March 2007 Issue

March 2007 Issue > News > Torts

Doctor’s Bankruptcy Filing Provides Malpractice Haven

Dr. Jacques Farkas thought he would be sued as soon as the surgical drill slipped from his hands and sliced the exposed nerves in his patient’s lower back. “This may be a lawsuit,” Farkas told an operating room nurse during the 2001 procedure. Two years later, Thelma McAloon did sue the neurosurgeon and JFK Medical Center in Atlantis. The mistake left the woman with no control of her bladder or bowels, pain in her legs, numbness in her feet and no feeling in her vagina. Like many surgeons in South Florida, Farkas didn’t have malpractice coverage. But he found a way to avoid a court battle and potentially paying millions in damages. He filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 7, listing malpractice claims as the reason for his insolvency. The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court blocked McAloon’s malpractice case. It also stopped another patient’s lawsuit against him. As a result, the doctor was able to keep nearly all of his assets, including a $1.6 million oceanfront home in Juno Beach, and maintain his $400,000 a year salary. (Palm Beach Post – December 24, 2006)

The Other Secret Court?

A “Special Master” in an obscure Federal court known only to a few Americans will preside over a highly sensitive judicial matter of urgent national importance. The Bush Administration wants to hold the hearings in a sealed courtroom, off limits to the press and public, with stiff “sanctions” for any outsider who attempts to gain unauthorized access to the secretive proceedings within. Most people do not know it, but there is an official federal “vaccine court,” where some 4,750 autism-related cases have been pending for years. Claimants believe the mercury-based vaccine preservative, thimerosal, and/or the MMR vaccine, contributed to their children’s autism, and they are seeking compensation from a special vaccine injury fund administered by the federal government. (The Huffington Post – November 15, 2006).