Bad Faith Claims Protect Victims of Medical Malpractice from Unfair Treatment by Insurance Companies

Wichita, KS -- (ReleaseWire) -- 12/17/2015 --In Chicago, Illinois, a Cook County jury awarded Alizabeth and Elvin Hana $1.35 million in compensatory damages and $13 million in punitive damages. The $14.3 million judgment comes against ISMIE Mutual Insurance, the largest medical malpractice insurer in the state. It was determined that ISMIE acted in "bad faith" when they refused to settle within the policy limits in the wrongful death case of the Hanas' infant daughter. Furthermore, ISMIE also acted in "bad faith" in their failure to inform the doctors of the insurance coverage available to the family, and misleading the doctors into going to trial. This is the 25th bad faith claim against ISMIE in the last 10 years.

"Insurance companies have a duty to practice good faith toward injured victims. Unfortunately, this does not always occur," explains Bradley J. Prochaska, medical malpractice attorney of Prochaska, Howell & Prochaska. "Bad faith claims arise when a third-party insurance company lies about, or wrongfully interferes with a medical malpractice claim."

Bad faith can include: fraud, withholding evidence, denial of coverage, failure to pay coverage in a reasonable time period, failure to disclose policy limits, and offering significantly less money to settle than the true value of the claim.

In 2004, the Hanas' daughter, Mary, suffered severe brain damage at birth due to oxygen deprivation. She died in 2007 after living in a vegetative state the previous three years. In May 2009, the Hanas' medical malpractice case went to trial and they were awarded $6.2 million in damages.

However, ISMIE had only insured the doctors for $5 million, which left a $1.4 million gap in the court settlement. Obstetricians Albert and Joyce Chams assigned their claim of bad faith against of ISIMIE to the Hanas. The case was settled in November 2015.

"Bad faith by insurance companies harms both medical malpractice victims and physicians," says Prochaska. "In order to protect families who have suffered terrible tragedies, there needs to be complete transparency and accountability in medical malpractice cases. Transparency in all aspects of a case also enforces the credibility of the medical industry's code of ethics."