The boy was injured in a car accident that resulted in the death of one of his friends. The boy was rushed into surgery, but emergency surgery appeared to do nothing to improve his condition. So critical was the boy's condition that doctors suggested to the parents that they have the boys organs donated before taking him off of life support.
]]> Fortunately, the boy's father spoke to another doctor to examine the boy and this doctor discovered faint brain waves that indicated recovery might be possible. The hospital then brought the boy out of a chemically induced coma and the boy has now made a remarkable recovery.Though he has to undergo a number of surgeries, without the second opinion he would not have survived his ordeal. Medical mistakes such as this cannot be permitted.
The boy has expressed gratitude at being alive and is in college studying to be an accountant. "I don't think my outlook's changed," the boy was quoted as saying. "I'm a very driven person. I'm living to succeed in life."
It's always possible that doctors and hospital staff were considering the expense if keeping the boy on child support when there seemed to be little reason to hope. However, hospital expense can never trump the best possible care for patients.
Source: Huffington News, "Steven Thorpe, British Teen Who Was Declared Brain Dead by Doctors, Makes Miracle Recovery," April 24, 2012
]]>The exact reason why has yet to be established. It could be the result of jostling of the egg and sperm, or it may be that the sperm used to conceive was defective to begin with and would never have survived through the natural birthing process.
]]> There are a number of processes that can reduce the chance of birth defects and most deal with simplifying of the process. One problem with the process may be that there is much to be learned in this area, but providers of fertilization services often try untested processes in real life situations with tragic results.There are now close to four million babies born each year through the fertilization process. Though it was originally designed as a solution to male infertility, it is not too often being used to create conception every single time the process is attempted. This has led to a higher risk of birth defects actually taking place.
Medical science will evolve, but such an evolution requires that doctors and physicians proceed cautiously. Without such caution, we may also see medical malpractice attorneys bringing along a whole new type of lawsuit. The goal of fertilization is ultimately to deliver healthy babies and doctors and technicians working in this area owe a duty to the parents to do just that.
Source: MSNBC, "Birth defect risk rises with some fertility treatments," by Marilynn Marchione, May 5, 2012
]]>Because the child's injuries from the delivery were considered permanent, the video footage was used at trial to demonstrate that hospital negligence did exist. The jury subsequently returned a verdict of $2.3 million.
]]> Not surprisingly, following this lawsuit the healthcare industry is reconsidering whether they want families to be able to videotape deliveries. Some hospitals have independently banned parents from recording or videotaping the births. Some facilities have even gone so far as to ban cameras or cell phones from being used in the delivery room.Parents are understandably upset about such restrictions due to the very personal desires to have the birth of their child on film. Just as importantly, attorneys that represent clients in medical malpractice lawsuits feel that depriving parents of the ability to film such an event has also led to hospitals covering up mistakes made in the delivery room.
It is often difficult to get such evidence admitted at trial to begin with. Whatever the circumstances of how the film was made, it will not be allowed in unless it is shown to be relevant, fair and accurate, and would not confuse the jury or lead the jury to make their decisions based upon emotion rather than reason.
Source: USA Business Review, "Video Recording in Delivery Rooms May Film Medical Mistakes," May 4, 2012
]]>One such role played by hospital staff would be the radiologist. Radiologists have played an ever increasing role in recent years concerning the diagnosis of certain medical conditions and this role is unlikely to decrease in the coming years. Unfortunately, radiologists themselves do not seem to feel that they are up to the task.
]]> A study conducted by Thomas Jefferson University from out east and Northwestern University in Chicago looked at how radiologists would rank themselves concerning understanding of patient safety and competency to fulfill their role. The radiologists considered themselves far less competent in their trade than did physicians that were not radiologists.The radiologists rated themselves barely average concerning understanding of patient safety. Such radiologists rated themselves as below average concerning the use of patient imaging, the avoidance of medical malpractice and their knowledge of healthcare policy.
The good news is that the radiologists themselves seem to recognize that there is a need for improvement. The bad news is that the area of radiology has not advanced as much as many medical experts may have hoped. Conditions that may were not treated because a radiologist was having problems reading an image will lead to attorneys and clients filing medical malpractice complaints.
We would hope that the field of medicine would advance and not remain stagnant. In five to ten years we hope to see breakthrough innovations that may result in the cure of certain diseases. Nevertheless, we still need personnel that can use such innovations towards the good of the patient.
Source: Medical Xpress, "Radiologists rank themselves as less than competent on health policy issues," April 30, 2012
]]>Especially since our population is growing older, it is often difficult to differentiate between patients suffering from dementia and the general population among elderly people. Part of the problem is there is little standardization when it comes to the making of such a diagnosis.
]]> There is probably little more frightening than to receive a positive diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Yet doctors often opt for the PET scans in making such determinations rather than a more detailed cognitive evaluation. Oftentimes general practitioners, after making such an evaluation, will not refer such patients onto a specialist.One major problem is new technology that should lead to advances in this field of study can also lead to more misinterpretations of PET scan results. As one neurologist suggested, "The scans must be ordered only in certain situations as an adjunct to clinical evaluation, cognitive testing, and structural imaging." Physicians may look at the ordering of PET scans as a shortcut to achieve a diagnosis, though the diagnosis may turn out to be incorrect.
The problem with any misdiagnosis is it may lead to prescribing of medications or having patients go through tests and invasive procedures that they may not need, and this could lead to clients and their attorneys bringing a medical malpractice lawsuit. As in so many cases, the cure can be worse than the possibly non-existent disease it was meant to treat.
Source: Medscape Today, "PET Scan Readings Lead to Alzheimer's Misdiagnosis," by Pauline Anderson, April 25, 2012
]]>Cerebral palsy is often the result of birth injuries that may or may not have come about because of medical error. Cerebral palsy can cause a lifetime of suffering and hamper a child's movement. Sadly, there is no known cure.
]]> There does now appear to be possible hope concerning the administration of a particular drug that targets specific cells in the brain. The drug has shown some success in the testing of rabbits that have been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and the hope is that this same drug can also be used for humans.One particular risk causing cerebral palsy is infection in the womb that may result in brain inflammation. One other unfortunate cause of cerebral palsy is injury to the child during labor when the child is deprived of oxygen - possibly due to errors in the administration of anesthesia. The latter cause is why clients and their attorneys have brought so many lawsuits against medical facilities for birth injury cases.
Researchers feel that lowering of the brain's inflammatory response may improve the motor symptoms of the condition. Such researchers did find that providing this drug to rabbits when they were only one-day old led to significant improvements in movement by the fifth day of their life.
Currently about one in every 300 children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy. A reduction of that rate would be a blessing for everyone. With new technology this just may occur. However, this does place a duty upon doctors and medical providers to keep up with such technology and provide instant treatment to the child when it becomes evident that cerebral palsy may be present.
Source: Fox News, "Cerebral palsy drug may offer hope for treatment," by Rachael Rettner, April 19, 2012
]]>The plastic surgeon apparently used a device manufactured in Israel that was marketed to as a skin-tightening device. The surgeon used the device upon the woman to perform liposuction on hips, thighs, arm and stomach. However, the woman allegedly was never told that the device should not be used on more than three portions of the body or that she was being used as an unpaid subject in a clinical trial.
]]> Though the plastic surgeon's attorney moved for the federal case concerning this matter to be dismissed, the judge refused to throw the case out because the patient had at least made the showing that she could possibly have justifiably relied on the surgeon's representations to her concerning the benefits of using the medical device. Also, it appears that the surgeon failed to warn the woman of the potential dangers in using such a device.Patients do have a right to rely upon their doctor and assume that any medical care provided will be in the best interest of the person being treated. Licensed physicians are presumed to be educated and trained in providing medical treatment and they are paid well for their services. When injury or harm comes about because of unnecessary procedures or because of alleged care that was done without the patient's consent, that patient has every right to be compensated by the doctor.
Source: Courthouse News Service, "Plastic Surgeon Can't Dodge Lipo Patient's Suit," by Matt Reynolds, April 23, 2012
]]>The 53-year old businessman was in the hospital for a dialysis procedure. The gist of the complaint was that such an embolism would never have resulted without medical malpractice. The placing and removal of catheters is a routine medical procedure that likely occurs thousands of times every day in hospitals across the United States.
]]> The hospital settled out without admitting to any sort of negligence. This is fairly typical in medical malpractice cases because no hospital ever wants to admit to a medical mistake.Hospitals will often defend themselves by attributing the injury or death to other causes. This may make it difficult for those injured due to medical negligence to prove up their case, but attorneys experienced in the area of medical malpractice are generally able to make determinations as to whether such negligence did actually exist.
As we've mentioned before on this blog, medical malpractice claims often result in large verdicts precisely because so much damage can be done when a medical mistake occurs. When a patient is either incapacitated or dies due to medical negligence (as in the above mentioned incident), that individual is no longer able to support himself or his family. This will often justify why such verdicts occur.
Source: NBC Chicago, "U of C Agrees to $10 Million Settlement in James Tyree Death," April 23, 2012
]]>One of the infant's medical issues led to heart surgery. The heart surgery in turn led to a hospital pharmacy error which cost the baby boy his young life. In what may be the largest settlement of its type in Illinois, the parents of the baby were awarded $8.25 million as compensation for their loss.
]]> According to multiple news sources, the cause of the infant's death was an intravenous solution that was delivered in a dosage of 60 times its prescribed strength. The solution was sodium chloride. The overdose caused the infant to go into cardiac arrest, from which he could not be saved.The little boy was just 40 days old when he died at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois.
The error that caused this incident was supposedly that an incorrect number was entered into an automatic machine that mixes the IV solutions. The doctor in this case was said to have prescribed the right dosage. Someone in the pharmacy department apparently made the fatal dosage mistake.
When negligence or an error leads to a personal injury or death, the negligent party can be held liable for damages including pain and suffering. In this case, the hospital admitted the error and has changed their hospital procedures to prevent another similar fatal mistake from occurring.
The family stated that they are pleased that the hospital acknowledged the mistake.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times, "Couple whose baby died from wrong IV dose gets $8.25 million," Dan Rozek, April 5, 2012
]]>The circumstances of this particular lawsuit are horrific. The surgery being performed was a hysterectomy. The judge summarized what went wrong in the surgery as follows: "During the surgery, her bowel was lacerated and its contents began leaking into her abdomen. Five days later, she died from an overwhelming infection."
]]> It's understandable that the judge ruled as he did. We want doctors to receive full and frank peer reviews of their actions, and we don't want such reports watered down in fear that such reports will be used against medical providers in litigation.However, this is not to say that plaintiffs in such cases will be left without other options. If attorneys for injured clients can bring in information independent of such reports that malpractice took place, such information can be used in a court of law.
All medical malpractice claims are complex. Proving that a surgical error occurred often means that medical experts will be required to testify about the practices of a medical doctor. Yet doctors have to be held accountable when their actions during an otherwise routine surgery end up causing the death of a patient. It's almost unimaginable to calculate how much the woman in the above suit and her family was forced to suffer because of a medical mistake.
Source: Courthouse News Service, "Report on Botched Surgery is Privileged," by Jack Bouboushian, April 10, 2012
]]>We have previously seen in the Chicago area incidents where ambulance crews declined to transport a patient to the hospital and that patient later died due to a delay in treatment. And though such mistakes do occur, no concerted efforts to determine how to reduce the number of errors that are made by such ambulance crews have been conducted.
]]> Quite simply more than 100 studies have been conducted over the past decade by the American Medical Association concerning patient safety and reducing the numbers of medical errors, but virtually none of these have concerned ambulatory safety or how to improve it. Studies that were conducted have been considered too small, involved conflicting information or did not reflect common trends.Medical errors occur in many different settings, but that does not make such mistakes any less consequential. A failure to diagnose in an ambulatory setting may in certain circumstances turn out to be more costly in that the patient is released without ever seeing a physician or have the opportunity to have a second opinion delivered concerning his or her condition.
Medical malpractice lawsuits brought by attorneys and their clients have at least brought a certain amount of attention upon such mistakes and have hopefully improved medical safety practices and training by ambulance staff.
Source: Renal & Urology News, "Gaps in Data Exist in Ambulatory Patient Safety, AMA Says," by Amy W. Latner, J.D., March 13, 2012
]]>While labor was in process it was noted that the fetal heart rate was relatively slow. The slowing of the fetal heart rate may have lasted as long as 31 to 40 minutes. The physician then attempted to perform a Caesarean section and took various other actions to expedite delivery. The child was born showing signs of abnormal movements, suspected seizures and respiratory distress and has since been diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy.
]]> It will likely be left up to a jury to decide if the actions of the doctors and staff actually caused the injuries. Such a jury will also need to decide if appropriate actions were taken by the medical providers to prevent the birth injuries from occurring once problems were noted. Proving up such claims can be extremely complicated and would require an able attorney experienced in birth injury litigation.Caesarean sections are often responsible for the greatest number of birth injuries that result in cerebral palsy. Because of the prevalence of such injuries physicians and medical providers need to take every precaution to insure that such injuries do not result. Unfortunately, cerebral palsy is likely permanent in nature and the child will thus require a lifetime of care.
Source: Morning Sun, "Medical malpractice suit filed against two physicians, hospital," by Eric Swanson, March 10, 2012
]]>A great concern about the reporting from hospitals is that not all information released is accurate. Without hospitals reporting accurately about hospital errors, the rate of deaths and hospital negligence claims, transparency really does not exist at all.
]]> It has been found that hospitals that voluntarily report data are more likely to implement certain quality initiatives, but for whatever reason such initiatives did not seem to improve patients' wellbeing. Patients are often misled by such data in any case. When reviewing such data they tend to trust doctors that perform more tests and charge more money for their medical services rather than focus on other and better factors that demonstrate actual medical success.Patients need to be provided accurate information about their own treatment so that they can make informed decisions and prevent more medical mistakes from occurring. Efforts are underway to motivate hospitals to provide more data that is actually relevant to the patient. The data that hospitals provide often tells little about the safety performance of a hospital, and much of the language in records provided are coated in complicated technical language.
What this all indicates is that legislative efforts to improve medical safety such as the implementation of reporting requirements have not always worked. Yet when hospital performance does not improve one avenue for patients is simply to retain attorneys and file more medical malpractice claims.
Source: American Medical News, "Hospital report cards fall flat at improving patient outcomes," by Kevin B. O'Reilly, March 19, 2012
]]>Recently a woman did receive a $22 million verdict because unnecessary surgery was performed and the result turned disastrous. The woman went to her medical provider due to the migraines she was experiencing. The physician she met with recommended an angiogram to investigate an abnormal vein. It has since been learned that the vein was unrelated to the migraines.
]]> The dye for the angiogram injected into the blood vessels of the brain apparently resulted in the woman suffering a stroke and then going into a coma. The woman did not wake up for two weeks and then discovered that she had lost the use of both her arms and legs. The jury felt that negligence of the physician recommending the surgery was a substantial factor in causing the woman's injuries.This demonstrates why attorneys and their clients bring medical malpractice suits. The woman, who used to work as a property manager for her family's business, will now require round the clock care and be confined to a wheelchair without use of arms or legs for the rest of her life.
It's impossible to put a price tag on how much this woman suffered. Nevertheless, without compensation this woman would be unable to receive any care to reduce that suffering. Hopefully such a verdict might make other hospitals think twice before performing such unnecessary procedures.
Source: Mercury News, "Menlo Park woman receives $22 million medical malpractice verdict," by Jason Green, March 21, 2012
]]>The mother of the boy has since become an advocate for patient safety in hopes that such a circumstance will never happen again. She felt that part of the reason why her son died was because the hospital they were in were low staffed for the weekend without the personnel available to prevent a delayed diagnosis of what occurred.
]]> Unfortunately, such delays can often lead to devastating consequences that often lead to permanent injury or even death. Proving up that such a misdiagnosis took place is often difficult and will likely require an attorney experienced in the medical malpractice area. In part this is because such individuals are trying to prove up a case against a hospital that prepared or is in possession of many of the relevant medical records.Though the burden shouldn't be upon patients or families to be able to locate the medical personnel that could best remedy an emergency situation, proactive measures can be taken to assure that the medical staff is doing all that they can to prevent or remedy such a situation from occurring. Patients or family members should read their own medical records to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary. Patients should keep a list of all medications they take along with a history of past medical conditions and treatments. Such patients should also pay attention to their own symptoms in the event something is wrong such as a post-operative infection.
A medical system cannot be tolerated where an otherwise healthy 15-year old boy suddenly dies. Sadly, something similar too often does occur.
Source: The CT Mirror, "A patient survival guide, from a mother who learned too late," by Arielle Levin Becker, March 8, 2012
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