When You Should Litigate a VA Medical Liability Case to Seek Compensation for Personal Injury
Legislated government rules for filing medical personal injury lawsuits are applied under dual Congressional rulings.
At Spohrer & Dodd, our Coast
Guard medical liability trial lawyers have documented, arbitrated and tried many incidents involving damages to
military members, and injury to civilians related to military operations.
In the United States, lawsuits against
Veterans Affairs members, or a government employee, for an event involving military medical malpractice is regulated
under the mandates provided for in the Federal Claims Tort Act. Before the approval of the federal tort guidelines by
Congress in the late 1940s, citizens were not allowed to file a lawsuit against the nation for accidental injuries.
Accidents outside U.S. borders are presented under the statutes prescribed by our government’s Military Claims Act.
Compensation for damages to non military, Coast Guard dependents and ex-military members due to an act of negligence or
medical malpractice by military personnel or civil servants acting within the scope of their job description outside the
U.S. is controlled by the dictates of the MCA.
The MCA pertains to damages received by military dependents and
retirees working outside U.S. boundaries. The act is somewhat similar to the government’s tort act except the damaged
individual has no right to levy a suit against the federal government if the VA over turns the claim. Under the
provisions of the MCA, a case is filed against the offending department, such as the Air Force, Navy or Army and not the
government. The Federal Tort Claims Act is a comprehensive legislative act by which the federal government has suspended
its preponderant amnesty to concede civil suits for legal actions related to negligent acts of employees of the U.S..
Opposite of the FTCA that evokes statutory rights for claimants, the MCA is operative only and does not embody
provisions for enacting a claim against the government, even if the act of medical malpractice happened at a
military-operated hospital.