If the claimant declines a settlement offer, is denied relief, or more than 6 months have elapsed since filing, the claim can be filed as a lawsuit in federal district court. The case is then heard by a judge. There is no right to a jury trial in FTCA cases, as normally provided at common law and embodied in the Seventh Amendment. Again, the government makes its own rules when deciding who can sue it and under what circumstances.

These types of cases have been particularly attractive to some plaintiff attorneys, many of whom specialize in suing military and Veterans Administration hospitals. The reason is that the only thing they need to do is to fill out a simple form (the SF-95), in some states file an affidavit saying they found an expert who will testify on their behalf (although no findings need be filed), and to ask for a specific dollar amount.

Now, the judgment can never exceed this amount. Therefore—not wanting to limit possible damages—most claim requests far exceed actual damages. The attorney then gets a free copy of all medical records, and a whole process is thrown into action. The government gathers its experts and reports, does a thorough investigation, and then makes damages recommendations or denies the claim.

If a claim is settled, the attorney takes one-third of the award, with very little work or time invested. Unlike suits against private hospitals, which can cost upwards of $100,000 out of pocket to the plaintiff attorney, there is almost nothing to lose here. One can see the incentive to file these suits.

If there is some sort of damage or injury, it is generally the policy of the government to try to make things right. Therefore, there is a tendency to settle unless there is clearly no negligence.

For cases involving the military, once there is a settlement or judgment, a list of the health care providers is forwarded to a central committee that decides independently if there was negligence on the part of each individual health care provider. If negligence is found by the committee and there is a settlement or judgment for any amount, then the name of that physician will be entered into the National Practitioner Data Bank. This could have implications for credentialing and future job prospects in the private sector.

For this reason, if you are named in a lawsuit and there is a monetary award given, it behooves you to respond to inquiries by your command and to defend yourself. While there may not be any short-term consequences, entry into the Data Bank could have effects reaching far into the future.