Malpractice at Kansas and Missouri health centers cost taxpayers $21 million since 2018

Silvia Garcia’s 14-year-old son was left permanently disabled and in a wheelchair after a community health center doctor in New Mexico failed to diagnose his appendicitis despite his complaint of severe stomach pain. The teenager’s appendix ruptured before he could get to a hospital, and complications led to septic shock.

Akimbee Burns had a Pap smear at a community health center in Georgia that showed abnormal cells. But she was not told of the results. About eight months later, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes. She died within two years, at age 38.

Rhonda Jones’ baby was left brain damaged after her Chicago-area medical team, which included community health center doctors, failed to perform an emergency cesarean section quickly enough even though Jones was at high risk for labor complications.

These three incidents — alleged in court documents as part of malpractice lawsuits that were settled without admission of wrongdoing — are among 485 payouts made nationwide involving community health centers from 2018 through 2021. The settlements and judgments totaled $410 million paid to the patients or their families, according to federal data released to KHN through a public records request.

Three of those payouts were to Kansas health centers and 12 were to Missouri health centers, totaling nearly $21 million between the two states. The Betty Jean Kerr community health center in St. Louis had the seventh-largest payout of all those analyzed by KHN, with a $9 million payout last year.

But none of those health centers, and none of the doctors, paid anything. U.S. taxpayers picked up the tab.

The nation’s 1,375 federally qualified health centers, which treat 30 million low-income Americans, are mostly private organizations. Yet they receive $6 billion annually in federal grants, and under federal law their legal liabilities are covered by the government, just as those of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service are. That means the centers and their employees can receive immunity from medical malpractice lawsuits and the federal government pays any settlements or court judgments.

As a result, the public is often unaware of malpractice allegations against those centers. The health centers and their employees are not named as defendants in the lawsuits, and the government does not announce when it pays to settle cases or court judgments.

“People should know if these doctors or centers are harming their patients,” said Deirdre Gilbert, national director of the nonprofit National Medical Malpractice Advocacy Association, a consumer advocacy group.

In addition, attorneys who have represented plaintiffs in lawsuits against health centers say federal rules handcuff patients with a short statute of limitations — two years — and do not allow punitive damages.

From 2018 through 2021, the median payment for malpractice settlements or judgments involving health centers was $225,000, according to the data from the Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees the community health centers. In 68 of the 485 payouts, the total was at least $1 million.

Many of the lawsuits against health centers involved allegations of misdiagnosis or dental errors. Most large awards were for birth injuries or cases involving children.

Community health centers pushed for — and won — government malpractice protection in the 1990s. They argued their revenues were limited and malpractice insurance would divert money that could better be used for patient care.

The centers differ from other health clinics because they get a federal grant each year. They also receive higher reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare than do private doctors. In return, the centers are not allowed to turn anyone away, and the fees charged to low-income patients are on a sliding scale. Nearly half of the centers’ patients are covered by Medicaid, and 20% are uninsured.

The system makes collecting damages more difficult for patients than if they went to state courts for malpractice suits, said attorneys involved in cases against health centers. In addition to the prohibition against punitive damages, such cases are decided by federal judges instead of juries. The lack of a jury is important, they added, because judges are less likely to be swayed by emotion and that can mean lower dollar amounts in the awards.

Plaintiffs are also at a disadvantage because the federal government has unlimited resources to defend cases, unlike the patients and their attorneys, said Christopher Russomanno, a Miami attorney.

“These cases cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for us to get ready for trial,” said Jack Beam, the Illinois attorney whorepresented Rhonda Jones. “Our record was $900,000 in case costs.”

All these factors can make finding a lawyer an obstacle for patients.

Deborah Dodge, a Missouri lawyer, said some attorneys are reluctant to take the cases because the government caps their fees at 25% of the settlement amount. In contrast, plaintiff attorneys often take about 40% in successful state court malpractice cases.

This story was originally published by KHN. Alander Rocha and KHN reporter Colleen DeGuzman contributed to this article.

Thanks to hppr.org, Bram Sable-Smith, Phil Galewitz at KCUR