Though these incidents did not happen in Pennsylvania, the procedures used in the treatment of the young boy were of a routine nature. The two circumstances are likely to attract national attention because both of the victims were young children.
]]> It is possible that it's merely coincidence that the two deaths occurred under the care of the same dentist. The two deaths occurred under what are described as "completely different medical circumstances." Nevertheless, since we are dealing with two deaths under procedures that every one of us will undergo several times during our lives, such occurrences require thorough investigation and answers.If wrongdoing has occurred, steps must be taken to avoid a repeat of such incidents. Victims of medical malpractice and their attorneys often bring lawsuits against such medical providers to hopefully insure that such incidents do not occur in the future. However, proving up such claims is complicated and will require experienced attorneys in the area of medical malpractice that have litigated many of the same type of claims in the past.
It shouldn't take the death of two young children before medical providers are to be investigated for possible sloppy medical procedures.
Source: The Washington Post, "2nd child dies under care of NJ dentist previously disciplined; state investigating," Feb. 15, 2012
]]>Fevers following epidurals can be related to poor muscle tone, breathing difficulties, poor APGAR scores (appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration observations at birth) and seizures. The higher the mother's temperature during labor, the more likely the newborn child is to develop these symptoms. As many as 19 percent of women taking epidurals had fevers above 100.4 degrees while only 2.4 percent of women had a fever without epidurals.
]]> Proving up birth injuries related to these types of procedures will be complex. Yet if parents are not provided information concerning risks than such birth-related injuries will occur. When such injuries do occur, parents will likely require the assistance of a lawyer experienced in the medical malpractice and birth injury areas.There was almost three times the chance that the baby would require resuscitation at birth when a mother experienced such a fever. Fortunately, women who didn't develop fevers following epidurals were likely to deliver babies without any significant health problems.
Approximately 20 percent of children of mothers taking epidurals experienced an adverse outcome at birth in hospitals. This should place physicians on notice concerning the risks of providing such injections. And since the risks are high, medical providers need to provide parents all necessary information to assess the risks.
Source: U.S. News, "Epidural Plus Fever in Mom May Raise Risks for Baby," by Jennifer Goodwin, Feb. 3, 2012
]]>It has been alleged by attorneys for the plaintiff that the doctor in this lawsuit failed to adequately diagnose the unborn baby child's condition. A pelvic ultrasound led a doctor to believe that there were no fetal abnormalities in the unborn child, and that the child was normal and healthy. However, the child was actually born with no arms below the elbows, no legs below the knees, suffered from deformed tongue and jaw and suffered from a variety of other maladies.
]]> The loosening of restrictions upon claims for emotional distress is part of a nationwide trend as the consequences of emotional injury are more profound than previously believed. Generally some sort of physical injury is required for claims of emotional distress to prevail. The two exceptions to these circumstances include:It now appears that failure to convey accurate information by a physician when a physician is required to do so may make for a third exception to the physical injury requirement.
In any case, physicians need to provide more than just medical care for their patients. Physicians need to communicate accurate and timely information to their patients is every bit as vital in the patient's care.
Source: Medical Daily, "Doctors Can Be Sued for Emotional Distress Even Without Physical Negligence," by Christine Hsu, Jan. 31, 2012
]]>What's also interesting about this lawsuit is that the deceased man, fearing impending death due to his perceived medical condition (that his doctor somehow missed), wrote up a new will the evening before his death. The deceased executor then obtained an attorney who litigated this lawsuit.
]]> The vital aspect of treating a pulmonary embolism is to catch it on time because it tends to block major blood vessels and quickly cause irreversible damage or death. Often a misdiagnosis can come about because a doctor failed to pick up on symptoms that a heart attack or stroke may be occurring. In any event, a trained physician should be able to pick up on the signs of a possible pulmonary embolism very quickly and start treatment immediately.Obviously, with hindsight, the hospital and staff would have handled this incident very differently. The patient had reported to the emergency room complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains. For whatever reason, the hospital was unable to diagnose the pulmonary embolism and released the patient from their care.
Within 24-hours of the patient's emergency room visit, the patient's girlfriend had called 911 expressing concerns, but the patient lost consciousness and died before reaching the hospital.
Source: NJ.com, "Vineland man's estate awarded $1.065 M in malpractice case," by Jason Laday, Jan. 31, 2012
]]>A department report stated that the problems at the facility that led to these incidents were cumulative and systematic. No annual training was required of those operating such pumps and retraining of the nurses and their doctors on the use of such pumps did not take place until after the overdoses occurred.
]]> Whether the overdose did or did not lead directly a patient's death remains unclear. Investigators found that this individual was administered 30 milligrams of morphine over a two-hour period instead of the 6 milligrams that were prescribed. Yet the coroner stated that the death was due to natural causes and made mention that the deceased man was morbidly obese with an enlarged heart. It is unclear why the investigator's report and the coroner's report come to such differing conclusions.One thing certain is that patients should not have been exposed to the chance of an accidental overdose under any circumstances. Patients pay enormous sums for their medical care and should receive only the best care that medicine can provide.
Hospitals cannot take shortcuts when it comes to treating their patients. Such medical care facilities also cannot be excused simply because there were problems with medication pumps that they should have been monitoring. When such medical malpractice takes place, it is only right that hospitals and staff be held accountable by litigants and their attorneys.
Source: Lebanon Daily News, "PA: Hospital error caused patient overdoses," Jan. 27, 2012
]]>Though such a lawsuit does not directly concern medical negligence and malpractice claims, the patients on which such procedures were conducted were placed in danger of significant and unnecessary risk of harm. Many of the cardiologists that are accused of performing the unnecessary procedures were located in the Pittsburgh area.
]]> The medical centers named in the lawsuit include University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Hamot Medical Center, Medicor Associates and an affiliate called Flagship Cardiac. A number of individuals received kickbacks from this practice and also referred patients to various facilities for procedures that they may or may not have required. Suspicions grew when a doctor at Medicor noticed that certain medical providers were performing an unusually high number of surgical interventions on patients.Though the doctors and medical providers in question will, if found guilty, be ordered to reimburse Medicare for funds that were defrauded, this does not in itself compensate those patients that were potentially or actually injured by the performance of unnecessary procedures. Such a circumstance would require the filing of a medical malpractice suit with the assistance of an attorney to make certain that patients injured will be compensated.
If the allegations are correct, we have had an unfortunate number of doctors in the Pennsylvania area that have not taken their allegiance to the Hippocratic Oath seriously. In any case, it certainly seems that they did not put the interests of their patients ahead of profit.
Source: The Heart.org, "Cardiologists accused of defrauding Medicare by performing unnecessary cardiac procedures," by Michelle O'Riordan, Jan. 23, 2012
]]>Currently there is no cure for Alzheimer's. Once properly diagnosed, those with Alzheimer's and their family can expect the disease to worsen over time, affecting the memory, behavior and thought processes of the person with it. But, there may be hope for some of the 5 million people, in Pittsburgh and throughout the United States, who've been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease: you may not have it.
As many as 50,000 or more Alzheimer's patients may actually have been misdiagnosed. Experts estimate that 1 percent of Alzheimer's cases are actually another type of dementia, one that is curable: Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH).
]]> A failure to diagnose NPH or a misdiagnosis of Alzheimer's delays treatment that can essentially 'flip the switch' on the NPH dementia, reversing the memory loss, personality changes and shuffle-like gait characteristic of the disease. In about an hour of surgery, a shunt can be placed in the affected area of the brain, allowing excess fluid on the brain to that causes NPH to drain.For one Dallas, Texas couple, the news of NPH commonly being misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's was a life saver. They sought out a local neurosurgeon who, after additional testing, was able to confirm that the husband actually suffered from NPH, not Alzheimer's.
"It's a miracle... I tell you, it's a miracle," the NPH patient's wife said after he underwent a successful shunt implant. She had her husband back.
Source: CBSDFW.com, "GP Couple Helped By News Of Alzheimer's Misdiagnosis," Robbie Owens, January 27, 2012
]]>Most brain injuries to children come about because of a fall or because of a motor vehicle accident. Most falls do not result in dramatic impact to the brain and cause injury, but falls down stairs or onto hard objects greatly increase the chances of brain trauma.
]]> Even short term impairment due to brain trauma leaves children behind in intellectual development. Many children with traumatic brain injury lagged behind their peers for up to three years after the injury. When children trail this far in development, parents may be forced to seek specialized medical treatment and care that often exceed any financial resources the parent has available.It must be kept in mind that brain injuries are complex. Such an injury is not like suffering broken bones that will in time heal and allow the child to become as active as he or she was before the injury occurred. Determining the pervasiveness and long term impact of a brain injury can only be made through studies, independent medical exams and investigation by experienced professionals. Attorneys familiar with helping out children that have suffered traumatic brain injury usually have access to such resources.
If a child suffers a brain injury through the fault of others, such negligent parties should be obligated to compensate the child and parents for what has occurred. Financial reimbursement will likely never completely compensate the child for what they will be forced to endure, but at least it might help the child and his or her family make inroads towards recovery.
Source: CNN Health, "Severe traumatic brain injury affects development in young children," by Caitlin Hagan, Jan. 23, 2012
]]>That such a practice could lead to tragedy is not surprising. Unfortunately, one of his patients that had received more than twenty prescriptions from this doctor also happened to die of an overdose. It is yet to be seen whether this practice will involve the doctor in a wrongful death and medical negligence suit.
]]> It's not unreasonable to expect from all of our medical care providers only the best of care since healthcare is such a vital part of our lives. Licensed doctors must complete an undergraduate program, attend medical school, participate in an internship, pass their board exams, and promise to meet a variety of state and federal requirements.All told, those that complete medical school and go on to becoming physicians now pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition. In turn, they generally receive salaries in the six-figure range. Such doctors are expected to act professionally and ethically at all times, yet we still find stories like this. By no means is this typical of licensed doctors, but it does send a message that unethical behavior is present within the medical profession.
We can be assured that this doctor will never practice licensed medicine within the United States again as he is now facing 6 to 10-years of imprisonment. Unfortunately, imprisonment will never make up for the damage that he has done, and that's where medical malpractice lawsuits come into play.
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune Live, "Pine doctor gets jail time in drug death," by Brian Bowling, Jan. 24, 2012
]]>Hydromorphone is a morphine derivative used to manage pain. But since it is a derivative of morphine, doctors often mistakenly prescribe Hydromorphone in the same manner as if they were administering morphine. This has resulted in a number of required rapid response calls or use of rescue agents in order to revive patients that suffered an adverse response because of the wrong dosage being administered.
]]> The demonstration in southern Pennsylvania did lessen the number of patients who required rapid response calls because of adverse reactions, but the number of adverse reactions did not in themselves decrease. Nearly 1,700 errors had been recorded concerning errors in prescribing Hydromorphone in a little under 2-year period. In the past decade, there have been 251 reported deaths. Obviously, such mistakes in administration of the medicine can be catastrophic.Education of doctors probably will not eliminate this problem, but it at least will put doctors on notice that they need to take more care in the administration of drugs. Surprisingly, it's been pharmacists rather than doctors that have been catching the mistakes concerning the prescribing of this medicine -and this circumstance cannot be considered acceptable. This may be in part that pharmacists have a greater knowledge of the medications than the doctors who are prescribing them.
If doctors choose not to educate themselves concerning the medications but keep administering these drugs in any case, they should then be held accountable in the courts.
Source: Pharmacy Practice News, "Demonstration Project Cuts Some Risk From Hydromorphone Use," by Ted Agres, Jan. 2012
]]>A woman suffering from migraines for more than 3-years was continually prescribed medications to take the pain away. Though she had told her various physicians about a rare lung condition, most of the doctors dismissed the idea that the migraines were in any way connected with her difficulties in breathing. She had found that a homemade remedy to combat the headaches was actually more effective than the pain medications that she was prescribed. However, no prescription that she was given during the 3-year period resulted in bringing the headaches to an end.
]]> Though mistakes such as these happen frequently, hospitals cannot be excused for failing to treat the disease. Medical technology as advanced to the stage that such errors generally do not happen without some medical professional failing to fulfill their duty or taking their responsibilities too lightly. Legal counsel experienced in the area of medical malpractice can often come to the bottom of what went wrong concerning such situations and hold the responsible parties liable.Often misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose comes about simply because doctors and other medical providers fail to listen to their patients. Though a misdiagnosis can sometimes be later corrected, in other instances it can lead to a waste of precious time as the illness becomes worse and sometimes untreatable.
In the above situation, the woman has now been supplied with portable oxygen tank. She was also found to have hypopnea (too little oxygen while one sleeps) and this was also a cause of her headaches. She was then further supplied with a device that supplies oxygen while she sleeps, and she has rarely suffered from headaches since that time.
Source: Salem News, "What Your Doctor Doesn't Know Could Hurt You or Someone You Love," by Toni Samanie, Jan. 5, 2012
]]>Though there will always be a certain amount of birth injuries that will be unpreventable, too often medical negligence and malpractice will play a role. The negligence could have been the result of some action of the doctor, nurse, anesthesiologist or even paramedic.
]]> Here are some common examples of birth injuries due to medical mistakes:If a parent suspects birth injuries may have been due to malpractice by one of its medical providers, it's generally a good idea to follow up on such a matter as soon as possible. An immediate investigation may turn up evidence that may instead be lost over time.
The results of birth injuries can be devastating and few parents are truly prepared for the consequences. Follow-up care, surgeries to correct any abnormality, and providing for special services to meet the need of the child can be prohibitive on a normal family budget. Compensation would likely be required to provide the child with what he or she deserves.
Source: News4Jax.com, "How medical malpractice leads to birth injuries," by Ed Greenberger, Jan. 11, 2012
]]>A report released back in 1999 suggested that doctor and hospital errors resulted in approximately 98,000 deaths each year in the United States. However, suggestions that information sharing and technology would improve this situation appear to be in part due to wishful thinking.
]]> Part of the problem concerning reporting of errors is that such reporting is loosely regulated. Instead of information technology and sharing becoming a means for the medical industry to self-police its own industry, it now appears that information technology and sharing also needs to be regulated.There has long been a problem with medical providers not reporting their errors. New advancements in information technology were supposed to correct this problem. However, instead most of the vendors of such technology are not reporting instances of patient harm. In part, this comes from non-disclosure contracts that doctors and health care providers sign with such vendors. Suggestions are now being made for the Department of Human Health and Services Secretary to make reports of patient harm or death and unsafe conditions mandatory by such vendors.
It goes without saying that there needs to be transparency in the medical industry concerning instances of medical malpractice and hospital errors. As things stand, we cannot be sure of how many errors are being made by medical providers, vendors or contractors so long as such information continues to be hushed up.
Source: The Journal of the American Medical Association, "IOM: Health IT Needs Better Oversight," by Mike Mitka, Jan 10, 2012
]]>The doctor's diagnosis (or misdiagnosis) in this situation concerning the patient's condition was completely wrong. "This is a hospice case that spiraled out of control," one of his treating doctor's had said. This was a patient that "clearly wasn't dying" while in hospice and instead needed drug rehabilitation and cardiac care.
]]> What this shows is that admissions practices concerning hospice care are often lax, and that those performing such care are often too free with the dispensing of painkillers as an easy solution to the patient's pain. Though hospice is designed only for those that are believed to have 180-days or less to live, such diagnosis is often faulty. It has been suggested by federal prosecutors that increased revenues by having additional enrollees in the program may in part play a role in some patients so easily being admitted to hospice.Medical misdiagnosis can cause suffering in a number of ways. Though the above circumstance could be deemed unusual, patients wrongly prescribed wrongful narcotics that leads to drug dependency is all too common. Victims of such misdiagnosis have been severely and sometimes permanently harmed because others have failed in their duty of care.
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek, "Hospice Turns Months-to-Live Patient Into Years of Abusing Drugs," by Peter Waldman, Jan. 9, 2012
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