If you are a victim of a medical malpractice, then you deserve compensation for your pain and suffering. We trust our doctors and surgeons to bring us the best care available and to remedy our medical problems. When something goes wrong, it can have life-long consequences. Doctors who misdiagnose their patients or postpone a necessary surgery may endanger that patient's life, or cost them thousands of dollars in medical procedures that could have been avoided. If you are currently involved in a medical malpractice lawsuit, you may have encountered a situation in which your physician is the employee of multiple medical institutions. This was a prominent complication in the 2007 medical malpractice case, Turner v. the United States of America.

This case concerned a patient at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Hines, Illinois with the initials J.J. He underwent a dental surgery on September 19, 2007, when his anesthesiologist suggested that they should perform an "Awake Tracheal Intubation." This is a complicated and uncomfortable procedure where a breathing tube is inserted into the patient's windpipe when he or she is still awake. According to the case document, the hospital was co-sponsoring an investigative study on this new medical tactic with the Department of Anesthesiology at Loyola University Medical. J.J.'s anesthesiologist was the head researcher on the project.

J.J. submitted to the procedure, but later suffered a cardiac arrest due to the medical investigation that left him permanently injured. His brother began a lawsuit against the anesthesiologist on J.J.'s behalf. The doctor responsible was both an employee at the Veteran Affairs Hospital and at the Loyola University Medical Research Center. Because of this, J.J.'s brother believed that he should receive compensation from both institutions, as well as from the doctor's personal finances. The case presented a sticky situation: who was responsible for J.J.'s injuries?

In this case, the plaintiff offered payroll forms and proved that both Loyola and the veteran hospital listed this doctor as an employee. The hospitals were "affiliated institutions" which provide each other with their "call schedules." The anesthesiologist was required to contact Loyola for approval before doing clinical research at the VA hospital. Because the two medical institutions had close ties, the courts determined that both were affiliated with the damage suffered by J.J. Both organizations sponsored the research study that went terribly wrong, and the doctor even admitted that she would wear her Loyola lab coat while working at the VA. Part of the reason that this case was so complicated was Illinois' lack of definition on the term "scope of employment." Under Illinois law there are only broad criteria for this term.

Still, after further review, the courts could only prove that the harm was the direct result of the Veterans Affairs hospital in Hines. Though Loyola sponsored much of the research that took place on J.J., the school and medical research facility were not directly responsible for the doctor's malpractice. The Awake Tracheal Intubation was performed while the doctor was acting directly as an agent at the Hines, Illinois hospital, not as a Loyola University employee.

Essentially, this case showed that it is not always as clean cut as you may think to point out who is responsible for medical malpractice. Doctors are often associated with more than one medical facility, and may be doing research for one institution while practicing for another. In the end, it is important to contact a well-learned medical malpractice lawyer before pressing medical malpractice charges. An attorney can help you research the many aspects of a medical case, and work hard to get you the compensation that you deserve.