Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

A recent study published by physicians at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has found that a disturbing increase in the number medical mistakes / medical errors on patients while in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). According to the study, as many as 40,500 patients die annually in intensive care units across the United States due to misdiagnoses while in the ER. In fact, the JHU School of Medicine study found that when that number of fatalities is compared to the overall number of adult fatalities at hospitals, patients in the ICU face almost a 2 times greater risk of misdiagnosis. According to the study, the most commonly missed conditions in the ICU were heart conditions, pulmonary embolism, infections and pneumonia. In addition, other recent studies have pointed to the fact that longer periods of delirium suffered by patients in the ICU that goes unnoticed may result in permanent brain injuries or other cognitive impairments. Finally, still another study found that 45% of all injuries occurring in the ICU were preventable and that 90% of those errors occurred in the context of the provision of routine care – care that should not result in injury.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

A recent Wall Street Journal Article featuring an interview with a noted Johns Hopkins Hospital surgeon has highlighted the somewhat shocking frequency with which medical mistakes are made in health care facilities across America, many of which go unnoticed. In fact, as the author points out, if medical errors were a disease unto itself, they would be the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. Some of the figures and numbers are noteworthy, and here are a few, according to the article’s author:

• Surgeons across the U.S.operate on the wrong body part 40 times per week;
• 25% of all hospitalized patients are harmed by a medical error;
• 20-30% of all medications, tests and procedures are unnecessary

These errors are costly, not only to human life and limb, but also to the health care system, totaling tens of billions of dollars a year.

According to the author’s interview with the Johns Hopkins surgeon, one of the systemic problems giving rise to these errors is an unspoken culture in hospitals to overlook the mistakes of their colleagues. As a result, physicians and hospitals are able to escape accountability and complication rates continue to escalate. In response to this prevailing culture, many physicians are now advocating more transparency of the commission of medical errors to help educate the public and provide them critical information to assist them in choosing a physician and hospital to provide them care. These health care providers advocate the publishing “online” of such information including rates for infection; readmission due to complications, surgical complications, “never event” errors (things like leaving a sponge inside a patient following surgery), patient satisfaction scores and the hospital’s annual volume for a particular procedure.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

The family of a 75-year-old woman recently settled a medical malpractice / medical negligence lawsuit for $1.5 million against a hospital and radiology technician who performed a CT scan on the woman despite the fact that she had previously experienced a reaction to the contrast (Intravenous Pyelogram or IVP) dye. Despite completing a questionnaire that indicated she had, in the past, experienced a severe adverse reaction to the dye, the radiology technician nevertheless injected her with the dye. As a result, the woman began to experience laryngeal edema (swelling) which, in turn, caused her to suffocate and die. The family alleged that the technician was negligent because he knew she had experienced an allergic reaction previously.

It is well known that people taking beta blockers have an increased risk of serious allergic reaction to IVP dye. In addition, some researchers have discovered the persons with allergies to shellfish and seafood account for up to 15% of the population that have reactions to IVP dye. Histories of asthma or hay fever may also increase one’s risk for a reaction. Recent studies indicate that serious allergic reactions occur in 1.2 to 1.5 percent of the population with life threatening reactions occurring in approximately .1 to .5 percent of people. Even the administration of a small dose of the dye can trigger a fatal reaction. In many cases, if the administration of IVP dye is essential to the diagnostic requirements, these individuals are often prescribed corticosteroids to reduce inflammation before receiving the dye. Perhaps most importantly, health care providers who inject IVP must have life-saving equipment at hand that is in working order and be trained to use it in an emergency. In the event of an adverse reaction, treatment must include airway maintenance with oxygen administration; administration of medications to reduce bronchospams; and intravenous fluids to help maintain blood pressure.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

A Wisconsin jury recently returned a $13.9 million dollar verdict against a mid-wife and her affiliated hospital in a lawsuit that alleged the mid-wife failed to administer appropriate levels of Pitocin to a mother and then failed to perform a timely cesarean section when the baby’s heart rate became non-reassuring. The plaintiff underwent induction of labor and was admitted to the hospital in active labor. She failed to progress for the first two hours and the mid-wife began Pitocin (a drug used to stimulate delivery). Over the next 12 hours, the mid-wife approved increasing doses. The baby’s heart rate slowly dropped and she was ultimately born in a severely depressed condition. She was subsequently diagnosed with cerebral palsy, cannot walk without the aid of walker and has serious cognitive deficits. As a result of the wide ranging deficits that cerebral palsy can cause, lawyers tasked with representing parents whose baby has developed cerebral palsy following the negligence of a health care provider, must have the resources necessary to retain experts in various medical fields necessary to accurately and comprehensively address the baby’s needs for the rest of his/her lifetime. Those experts can include health care providers in the fields of neonatology; pediatrics; neurodevelopmentalists; neurologists; orthopedic specialists; opthamologists; physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists; vocational rehabilitation counselors; life care planners and economists. It is therefore important that you choose a lawyer who has established ties to health care providers in these fields so as to maximize any potential recovery in your case.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Recently, a Prince George’s County, Maryland jury returned a verdict of $20.9 million in a lawsuit brought by the parents of a minor child who suffered a left brachial plexus injury with nerve root disruption during his delivery that was complicated by shoulder dystocia. The term “shoulder dystocia” describes a circumstance in which, after the delivery of the baby’s head, the front shoulder of the infant will not pass below the mother’s pubic symphysis and/or requires significant manipulation to get it to pass below the pubic symphysis. Shoulder dystocia is considered an obstetrical emergency because fetal death can occur if the baby is not delivered timely due to the umbilical cord getting compressed while in the birth canal or wrapping around the baby’s neck and suffocating him/her. Shoulder dystocias typically occur in roughly 1% of all pregnancies. Certain well known risk factors include maternal diabetes, fetal macrosomia (large babies) and maternal obesity. Recurrence rates in subsequent pregnancies are actually relatively high as well according to recent studies discussing this phenomenon.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

An Illinois woman recently received a $14.9 million dollar settlement against her endocrinologist, nephrologist and hospital at which she was being treated when she began experiencing complications associated with her diabetes insipidus. Upon arriving at the hospital, the woman’s lab studies revealed that her sodium levels were critically elevated, a level that apparently went unnoticed and/or untreated. Over the course of several days, however, her physicians failed to monitor these levels or make changes to her care plan despite symptoms that included dizziness, sweating, vomiting and diarrhea. The woman’s sodium levels continued to climb to dangerously high levels and she lapsed into a coma and was subsequently diagnosed with permanent brain damage due to metabolic acidosis and central pontine myelinolysis. She now requires round-the-clock nursing care that will inevitably cost her family hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of her lifetime. The woman’s lawsuit simply alleged that the health care providers failed to properly monitor her sodium levels, something that could easily have been prevented had the hospital had in place certain protocols that would mandated such vigilance and/or the nurses and other health care providers maintained their vigilance over the woman’s deteriorating condition.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Every year, numerous patients in hospitals across the country have naso-gastric (“NG”) feeding tubes inserted for a variety of reasons, including situations in which a patient is unable to eat independently because they are on a ventilator or they are simply unable to tolerate solid foods. In every instance, however, it is critical that the feeding tube is inserted properly; i.e., that it terminates into into a patient’s stomach and, does not in any circumstance, be erroneously placed into either of the patient’s lungs. In another common occurrence, a patient may dislodge or partially dislodge their NG tube requiring reinsertion. If the health care provider is not careful, he or she may mistakenly reinsert the NG tube into the lung as opposed to the stomach region. In either of these circumstance, when the tube feeding is resumed, the food will obviously pass into the patient’s lung as opposed to the stomach, likely resulting in an aspiration (“going down the wrong pipe”). This is a classic example of medical negligence or medical mistake that is easily preventable. The consequences depend on the volume, chemical composition, particle size, and infectious agents contained in the food, as well as the underlying health status of the patient. People with significant underlying disease or injury, and in particular hospitalized patients who are on ventilators to assist their breathing, are at an increased risk for developing respiratory complications from the aspiration. These complications usually include the development of respiratory pneumonia and even death. As noted above, this medical negligence is easily preventable by the health care provider simply taking the time to have an x-ray of the patient’s chest performed, a radiology study that will definitively demonstrate whether the NG tube terminates in the correct position. A failure to order this study and/or a failure properly communicate the results to the health care provider is a clear indication of medical mistake and grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn, also known as anti-Kell, is one of the most common causes of severe hemolytic (abnormal blood) diseases of newborns. Anti-Kell is a condition in which the antibodies in a pregnant woman’s blood cross the placenta and destroy her baby’s red blood cells, resulting in severe anemia. This condition results when there is a mismatch between a mother’s and baby’s blood group Kell antigens. Antigens are substances that cause the production of an antibody that binds to the antigen in order to damage, neutralize or kill it. According to studies, approximately 90% of the population are Kell negative and 10% are Kell positive. Because a small percentage of the population are homozygous for the Kell antibodies, roughly 5% of the babies born to a Kell negative mother are Kell positive. As noted above, if the maternal antibodies to Kell are transferred to the fetus across the placenta, the antibodies can cause severe anemia by interfering with the early proliferation of red blood cells. Hydrops fetalis, characterized by accumulation of fluid or edema in the heart or lungs, can also result.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

An Alabama jury recently awarded a man’s mother, on behalf of his estate, $3 million dollars after a hospital negligently discharged him to home following stomach surgery despite clear indications of an ongoing internal bleed. In the lawsuit, Plaintiff alleged that the 37 year old decedent had been diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer and subsequently underwent surgery. Following the procedure, the decedent’s hematocrit dropped, requiring several blood transfusions. He was discharged. A few days later, he died from exsanguination caused by the erosion of the ulcer into an artery. The lawsuit alleged that the two surgeons, residents and hospital were negligent in failing to ensure that the ulcer had been repaired and failing to monitor the decedent’s postoperative bleeding.

At STSW, our lawyers routinely handle cases in and around the Baltimore and Washington D.C. areas in which it is alleged medical health care providers were negligent in failing to properly monitor a patient following routine surgical procedures. In many instances, patients are negligently permitted to bleed internally from a mistake made during the procedure and, without immediate intervention to correct the bleeding, suffer catastrophic injuries and /or death. Cases such as these are truly tragic because hospitals and health care providers possess excellent tests and studies that can be used to determine if a patient is still bleeding internally following a surgical procedure. Past cases that STSW lawyers pursued involved hospitals including but not limited to: Johns Hopkins Hospital, University of Maryland Medical System, St. Agnes Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Harbor Hospital, Sinai Hospital, Bon Secours Hospital, Anne Arundel County Medical Center, Howard County General Hospital, Washington Medical Center, Baltimore Washington Medical Center, Frederick Memorial Hospital and Shady Grove Hospital. Unlike many firms in the area, our lawyers team with in-house nurses who are trained to review the hundreds of pages of medical records, including nursing notes, that painstakingly document subtle changes in a patient’s condition, changes which must be found and documented if one is to be successful in this type of litigation. In addition to our nurses’ review of the relevant medical records, our office has a network of health care providers who stand ready to review our clients’ records to ascertain whether they have been the victim of medical negligence / medical malpractice. In Maryland, in order to move forward with a potential medical negligence case, the victimized patient must secure the support of heath care providers /experts in the same field as the potential defendant; i.e., that health care provider must be willing to testify that the defendant violated the applicable standards of care in treating the patient such that an injury occurred.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Recently, a Massachusetts family settled a medical malpractice case involving a radiologist’s failure to diagnose an aortic dissection for $1.75 million dollars. According to the family, the decedent, a 24 year old man, went to the hospital emergency room with a primary complaint of severe back pain. An emergency room physician suspected an epidural abscess (infection near the spinal cord) and ordered an MRI. While the results were pending, the decedent developed significant hypertension (elevated blood pressure) and severe 10/10 pain. A radiologist subsequently interpreted the MRI as negative. Several hours later, while still in the ER, the decedent collapsed on the floor and become non-responsive. During resuscitation efforts the MRI was reviewed a second time. This review revealed a significantly widened aorta, indicating a ruptured dissection. The decedent subsequently died during emergency surgery. In the Complaint, the family argued that the original radiologist only read 1/2 of the MRI and failed to inform the ER doctor that he had not read the entire test.

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