Pittsburgh Medical Malpractice Law Blog

Pennsylvania is not one of the 36 states that allow physicians and other health care providers to apologize for medically negligent acts without making themselves vulnerable to legal repercussions. This doesn't mean that Pennsylvania health care providers can't apologize for doctor errors. It means, however, that insurers and lawyers may discourage health care providers from apologizing, particularly if that admission of guilt could hurt the provider or the institution he or she works for in a subsequent medical malpractice action.

Yet, some evidence exists stating that when physicians and other health care providers say, "I'm sorry," malpractice litigation decreases. Since hospitals and other institutions in the University of Michigan Health System implemented an apology program, medical malpractice litigation costs have decreased by 50 percent.

When a pediatric specialist received a misdiagnosis on the throat cancer that doctors had labeled as acid reflux, he realized the seriousness of the problem. A resident finally located the tumor that other surgeons had repeatedly missed. The physician eventually had his voice box removed and can now only speak in a whisper. He thinks he might still have his voice if the cancer had been detected sooner. However, he hasn't publicly mentioned hiring medical malpractice attorneys.

When all is said and done, he is thankful to be alive. He has been a doctor for 40 years and says that the misdiagnosis really surprised him. However, statistics bear out that misdiagnoses can occur in up to 20 percent of cases and are much more common than incorrect surgeries or wrong prescriptions although those medical mistakes receive more publicity. A 2009 report indicated that 28 percent of misdiagnosis can be fatal, life-threatening or result in permanent disability. A separate study indicated that they account for more than 40,000 deaths annually, which is about the same number as those who die from breast cancer.

Would it surprise Pennsylvania residents to discover that the family physician they love and trust has committed at least one error over the course of his or her medical practice that has put the health of a patient at risk? It's probably true.

Medical errors are more common than most patients realize. In 2006, the Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academies, published a study showing that at least 1.5 million medication errors occur every year that put hospital patients at risk for adverse health outcomes. Many medical experts believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Pittsburgh medical patients may soon start hearing their doctors admit to medical errors. The standard practice for many doctors has historically been to wait until a patient discovers an error before engaging in conversation. Some hospitals, medical schools and other health care institutions are now proposing that doctors should proactively admit errors before they're discovered by the patient.

In a recent article, one doctor recounted how he had mistakenly prescribed an antibiotic to a patient whose chart indicated an allergy to the medicine. Fortunately, the prescription didn't harm the patient, but the doctor still admitted his mistake. He said that went against standard practice. He said that the traditional approach would have been to wait for the patient to discover the error, address the patient's concern with vague, non-committal responses and let the matter be worked out by medical malpractice attorneys.

Residents of Pennsylvania may be interested to learn of case involving a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In 2010, a Georgia surgeon performed a laparoscopic cholecystectomy on a 67-year-old woman. The patient had a great deal of scar tissue, and the surgeon decided to change from the laparoscopic option to an open surgical procedure. Once the surgeon was involved in the open surgical procedure, he found massive bleeding from a laceration in her portal vein. A vascular surgeon was called, but the patient had suffered significant blood loss and she died a short time later in the intensive care unit. Medical malpractice attorneys would later become involved in the case.

The surgeon denies any wrongdoing. He contends that the initial laparoscopic procedure was made more involved by scar tissue blocking the gallbladder. He does admit, however, that not using the Verness needle to open the abdominal cavity for visualization was a departure from standard procedure. A defense expert testified that the surgeon's actions were not a violation of the usual standard of care. He also added that it was very unusual for a surgeon to skip inserting a Veress needle.

When medical errors happen in Pennsylvania and across the nation, serious injury could be at stake. For example, after a 71-year-old man recently underwent surgery because of a stroke, he was given the wrong drug during surgery because it had a name that was nearly identical to the medication he was supposed to receive. Instead of a drug to reduce bleeding, Hespan, he was given a drug to thin the blood, heparin. Due to the alleged medical error, the man was moved to a nursing home and prescribed additional rehab, including therapy to relearn how to walk. The hospital wrote a letter of apology and did not bill the man for his hospital procedure.

In another case that was splashed across the headlines, a woman, who was the victim of a number of mini-strokes, went to a medical facility for surgery. However, they operated on the wrong side of her brain, which left her seriously disabled. The incident happened at the same hospital and with the same doctor who performed the operation on the 71-year-old man. Although the procedure was later corrected, the involved parties contacted a medical malpractice attorney and filed a lawsuit.

Pittsburgh has its share of cancer patients. A Los Angeles doctor was recently arrested, tried and sentenced to 14 years in prison for her role in taking more than $1 million from cancer patients to whom she promised a "cure" for cancer through the use of an herbal supplement. While most cases of poor treatment are handled in civil court with suits filed by medical malpractice attorneys, this doctor's fraud was so encompassing that prosecutors felt that it merited criminal charges.

The 58-year-old doctor, who has also been ordered to forfeit nearly $1.3 million in assets, was found guilty of wire fraud, as well as tax evasion and witness tampering. She reportedly told her patients that taking her herbal supplement could cure them of diabetes, cancer and multiple sclerosis. However, several of her patients died from treatable cancerous conditions while taking her supplements.

While Pittsburgh hospitals and those throughout the state may perform sex reassignment surgery, it is a rare procedure for several reasons. Doctors are usually reluctant to rush a patient into this type of life-altering procedure without substantial counseling and other intervention. This ensures that the patient understands the implications of the surgery. However, doctors in South Carolina are being sued for medical malpractice for performing sex reassignment surgery on a 16-month-old child.

The story began when a child was born with both sets of sex organs, a condition known as hermaphroditism. The child was removed from parental custody for various reasons, and the state of South Carolina took over the guardianship. A doctor began to propose the idea of sex assignment surgery to make the child a female, claiming that the child needed a decision regarding gender needed to be made. He was supported by two colleagues and the procedure was agreed to by the Department of Social Services.