An out-of-state doctor who is being sued by hundreds of his former patients may be attempting to delay his trial, according to some sources. Delaware residents may be aware of Dr. Abubakar Atiq Durrani, who is believed to have committed surgical errors on hundreds of spinal patients. Representation for Dr. Durrani are in the process of moving the malpractice cases from a county court to a federal District Court, possibly in an attempt to put off a trial date.
Representatives of the 523 patients filing these suits say the doctor fled the country in 2013 to escape the charges, which stem from surgeries performed as far back as 2007. The civil suits allege that the surgeries were not only unnecessary, but that they may have caused serious bodily harm to patients. The suit is widely regarded as the biggest malpractice case ever to be filed in the Tri State area.
The parent company of the hospital where the surgeries were performed has been required by the Department of Justice to pay back some $4.1 million to Medicare and Medicaid for submitting claims for medically unnecessary surgeries. However, the civil lawsuits are currently largely dead in the water. It is hoped that the move to a federal District Court will expedite the civil suit process once it is restarted.
Surgical errors caused by unnecessary surgeries can be a nightmare for patients. Delaware residents can no doubt imagine the stress and pain suffered by those individuals, who are certainly entitled to compensation if the surgeries are proven to have been unnecessary or otherwise resulted in medical error. Hopefully, each of the 523 patients who have filed civil suits will ultimately have the opportunity to present his or her individual claim in court.
Source: wcpo.com, “Medical malpractice cases against local hospitals, spinal surgeon, could be moved to federal court”, Paula Christian, Jan. 9, 2016
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