Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Article posted on: 02/19/2008

As reported last week in USA Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have released the names of the nation’s 131 worst nursing homes. The high-risk nursing homes, cited as ‘special focus facilities’ in the list, are required to receive at least twice as many state inspections as other facilities. The list released Tuesday showed that 52 of the nursing homes had shown no improvement since being cited for poor performance. The offenses typically involve unnecessary use of medication for elderly residents, or inadequate safeguards to protect residents such as those with Alzheimer’s from day-to-day hazards in the nursing home.

Nursing home malpractice cases involving patient neglect are often very difficult for plaintiff’s attorneys. Whereas in typical personal injury type cases jurors are asked to focus on things such as medical expenses, lost wages and lasting results from injuries, these things are often absent in nursing home cases. As a result, attorneys representing injured nursing home patients must focus on developing themes that focus on the nursing home’s wrong doing such as: that the nursing home puts profits over people; that the facility was understaffed and the home knew it; that the staff were not adequately trained; and that the case is not just about 1 patient but about a larger systemic problem at the facility. In short, attorneys often focus on the institutional negligence as opposed to the negligence of lower level employees.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Article posted on: 02/19/2008

As reported in the New York Times last week, a major maker of heparin, a blood thinner used widely in surgery and dialysis, has stopped making it after hundreds of patients reported severe allergic reactions to the drug, which is made from pig intestines. At least four people died. Although alternatives exist, doctors warned of serious consequences if heparin became truly scarce. Public health officials first noticed a problem late last year in four children undergoing dialysis at a hospital in Missouri. Within minutes of being injected with heparin, the children experienced serious allergic reactions. As officials investigated, they found a total of 350 reports of patients’ experiencing problems after being injected with large doses of heparin made by Baxter Healthcare. Baxter supplies about half the nation’s heparin. Most of the cases were reported in late December or January and 40 percent were deemed serious. Allergic reactions included difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating and rapidly falling blood pressure that in some cases led to life-threatening shock. Heparin is used in dialysis and is also used to prevent clotting in catheters, which 25 percent of dialysis patients have to use for treatment. The drug is also commonly used in heart bypass surgery. As an anticoagulant, Heparin can be used to reduced the risk of blood clots before surgery.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

As reported in the The Times this week, on Thursday, an Illinois jury awarded a man nearly $24 million in medical malpractice case brought against a doctor and nurse practitioner following complications suffered while having a kidney stone removed from his ureter. According to court records, the plaintiff entered St. Mary’s Hospital in Streator, Illinois in November 2001 for surgery involving a kidney stone in his ureter. During surgery, he underwent cardiac arrest and the flow of oxygen to his brain was interrupted. As a result of the oxygen interruption and subsequent stroke, the man lost most of his fine motor skills and suffers from spastic movement, severe double vision and slow, slurred speech, making him difficult to understand. He is married and has two children. Before the surgery, he worked for a phone company.

At STSW, our lawyers routinely handle medical malpractice / medical negligence cases in which patients have experienced cerebral hypoxia (the lost or reduced supply of oxygen to the brain) as the result of the administration of anesthesia or cardiac arrest. Generally speaking cases of cerebral hypoxia are placed into four categories: diffuse cerebral hypoxia (moderate impairment of the brain resulting from low oxygen levels in the blood), cerebral infarction, focal cerebral ischemia (often referred to as a stroke that occurs in a very localized area of the brain) and global cerebral ischemia (total stoppage of blood flow to the brain). When someone experiences a total deprivation of oxygen to the brain it is called anoxia. Often times physicians refer to patients as having suffered an anoxic brain injury. Anoxia often results from hypoxia (reduced oxygen availability). Another common term that is often heard, and which is associated with hypoxia is a TIA (transient ischemic attack). A TIA is essentially a mini stroke. The American Heart Association defines a TIA as a transient episode of neurologic dysfunction caused by a focal brain, spinal cord or retinal ischemia (reduced blood flow), without acute infarction. The symptoms associated with a TIA can resolve within a few minutes unlike a full blown stroke. TIAs are caused by the same things as strokes — disruption of cerebral blood flow. Another common term that is often heard is a “silent stroke”. A silent stroke is a stroke that does not manifest itself with any noticeable symptoms; i.e., there is no paralysis, no slurring of speech, etc. Essentially, the person has suffered a stroke but even they may not know it. While seemingly innocuous, however, silent strokes still cause damage to the brain due to the reduced blood flow to the brain and place the person at a greater risk of having a major stroke at some point in the future. Younger adults and women appear to be more at risk for silent strokes than other kinds of strokes according to the American Heart Association.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Article posted on: 02/18/2008

A Pennsylvania jury has ordered a doctor to pay approximately $4 million after finding that he was negligent for failing to diagnose a woman’s breast cancer. The lawsuit alleged that Dr. Joseph M. Skutches failed to pursue a traditional course of treatment after a woman complained to him about a painful lump in her breast.

If you or a loved one have ever received a diagnosis of cancer, you know that it is a life altering event. As with most illnesses, early diagnosis of cancer is the best ammunition that a patient has toward defeating the disease. If, however, the cancer was missed by physicians for an appreciable amount of time or simply not timely diagnosed, a patient can face dire consequences. Sadly, these delays in diagnosis can result in more invasive treatment, extended physical and emotional heartache and even death. Most cancers are either graded or staged in terms of their severity. The lower the grade or stage (i.e., the earlier the diagnosis), the better a patient’s chances are of survival. Conversely, the higher the grade or stage, the worse a patient’s chances are of survival. Importantly, a delay in diagnosis can increase the likelihood that the tumor will metastasize (spread) to the lungs, thereby significantly decreasing a person’s chances of survival. In Maryland, failure to diagnose cases can only be pursued if the negligence caused the patient’s cancer to progress from a stage in which the patient had a probability of surviving the cancer if he or she received proper treatment to a circumstance in which they now face a probability of death due to the growth / spread of the cancer inside the body.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Article posted on: 02/12/2008

As reported in the Daily Pennsylvanian, the mother of a man who died after he received the cancerous lungs of a smoker during a transplant has filed a medical malpractice / medical negligence / wrongful death lawsuit against the Pennsylvania hospital that performed the procedure. In the lawsuit, Emma Grier claims that doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania knowingly misrepresented the identity of the lung donor; i.e., they knew that the lung donor was a smoker who had been diagnosed with lung cancer prior to his death. The complaint also names the doctor who determined the lungs to be suitable for transplant and the organ donation program that provided the lungs. At its core, the allegations seemingly suggested that the defendants were received benefits for the lung transplant procedure and therefore there were certain motivations for ensuring that the procedure went forward despite the revelation of the cancerous lung.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Article posted on: 02/12/2008

The blood-clot preventing drug Plavix has been linked to an increased risk of heart attack or death in patients who took the drug and then stopped following procedures to install a stent, researchers have found. According to the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, patients showed an almost two-fold increase of heart problems within the first 90 days of cessation when compared to later follow-up periods.

Plavix is an anti-platelet drug that thins your blood and makes it less likely to clot. Side effects include fatigue, headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, nosebleeds, some of which can be serious. Plavix was manufactured by Bristol Myers Squibb company. Doctors and other health care providers promote it as a drug capable of preventing strokes and heart attacks. The medication, however, has several side effects that should be known. Certain studies suggest that when aspirin and plavix are combined, the medication nearly doubled the death rate from heart disease among patients who hadn’t experienced a heart attack before, compared to just taking aspirin by itself. Recently, many patients have been told to stop taking Plavix and take aspirin only. Other heightened risks that were documented in patients taking both Plavix and aspirin was an increase in gastrointestinal bleeding and stomach ulcers. Based on the studies that have been conducted over the past 10 years since the drug was first manufactured, people taking Plavix are urged to speak to their doctor about the new findings and avoid taking certain over-the-counter medications without your doctor’s permission. In addition, if you doctor is recommending elective stent placement for narrowed coronary arteries, some doctors suggest that patients may want to have genetic testing before agreeing to the procedure so as to better understand the effect that Plavix could have on your body. A careful risk to benefit analysis should be reviewed for each patient. Lastly, many health care providers are warning their patients not to stop taking Plavix abruptly without first consulting with your doctor because it may actually increase your risk for a heart attack or a stroke.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Article posted on: 02/12/2008

According to the San Diego Union, Kaiser Permanente will pay $3.2 million to a disabled girl as part of birthing malpractice settlement reached earlier this month. According to court documents, the girl, now 14, was left with brain damage following a Caesarian delivery and suffers from physical and behavior problems associated with severe cerebral palsy that occurred following the loss of oxygen to her brain during delivery. The settlement will be used to purchase an annuity for the girl. That annuity will enable her parents to provide for the girl’s future medical care, including doctors’ visits, necessary medical monitoring, medical equipment and supplies and modifications to her home to make her care and treatment easier for the family.

Cerebral palsy is a complex medical condition that ranges in severity from mild to severe. Typically, those afflicted with cerebral palsy have an inability to control their motor function; i.e., they lack adequate muscle control and coordination. Common symptoms that can lead to a diagnosis of cerebral palsy include: involuntary movements of limbs; muscle spasticity (tightness), inability to walk properly (gait); seizures, breathing problems or difficulty swallowing; bladder and bowel continence issues; learning disabilities, and the impairment of one or more senses (sight, hearing, etc.). More severe cases may also result in a child having difficulty speaking.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Article posted on: 02/12/2008

Last month, Illinois jurors handed down a record verdict to the family of a woman who died from complications during child birth. Jurors awarded $22 million to the family, finding that the hospital staff’s failure to treat the woman’s high blood pressure resulted in a massive brain hemorrhage. According to Plaintiffs’ lawyers, the hospital staff negligently failed to properly treat the woman’s high blood pressure during labor, thereby causing the massive hemorrhage. After suffering the brain hemorrhage, the woman was placed on a ventilator and died four days later. Her son, Richard, was delivered by Caesarean section and survived. The verdict is the largest award involving the death of a woman in Illinois, according to the Cook County Jury Verdict Reporter.

At Silverman Thompson, our lawyers routinely handle medical malpractice / medical negligence matters involving health care providers’ failure to properly monitor patients during labor and delivery. Unfortunately, negligence during a woman’s labor and/or delivery often results in significant harm to the mother and/or children being born with profound physical and neurological deficits. A surviving spouse and/or parents are then often faced with hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical expenses necessary to properly care for their child, expenses that they often cannot afford. At STSW, our lawyers recognize that in order to successfully pursue these cases, numerous experts must be retained in various fields of medicine ranging from obstetrics, maternal fetal medicine, neonatology, perinatology, pulmonology, critical care, nursing, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurodevelopmental disabilities, life care planning, vocational rehabilitation and economics. Without securing experts in these fields, successful resolution of these cases would be very difficult. Naturally, it is expensive to locate and retain experts in these fields who are willing to testify in court against other doctors. Our lawyers, therefore, have cultivated long-standing relationships with numerous experts around the country who are willing to review these cases and testify if necessary. Our offices also are able to take these matters on a contingency basis, meaning that our firm pays all up front expenses during the pendency of the litigation and our clients are only obligated to repay us those funds if we are successful through a settlement, jury verdict or on appeal.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Article posted on: 02/12/2008

As reported in the Houston Chronicle last month, a new study has found that emergency room waiting times nationwide increased 36 percent between 1997 and 2004. The study, conducted by researchers from the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School, concluded that the increased wait likely has an adverse impact on patient care and may cause some to leave the hospital before seeing a doctor. Data for the study were based on the more than 90,000 emergency room visits in urban and non-urban areas.

Emergency room overcrowding is a widespread and debilitating situation in ER’s across this country today. Anyone who has visited an emergency room over the past several years has surely noticed the clear signs: conference rooms and offices converted to patient care areas, waiting rooms mobbed with people, sometimes standing room only, stressed nurses and aides working round the clock to see patients. In most emergency rooms, patients with non life threatening injuries can expect to wait upwards of 90 minutes to see a physician. Factors that have contributed to overcrowding include the closings of a number of emergency departments nationwide, increasing volume of patients, increasing severity of illnesses that patients contract, the frequency with which a large percentage of the population without healthcare utilize emergency rooms as their “primary care physicians”, nursing shortages, the fact that many underinsured or uninsured let their illnesses go on for weeks before seeking medical attention and the hospitals’ decision to admit elective cases (higher payments) rather than allocating beds to admitted and waiting emergency room patients. Other factors include the lack of availability of nursing home beds to clear room for people with acute illnesses, the shortage of radiology and laboratory technicians to process critical tests in a timely fashion, thereby preventing hospitals from discharging or admitting these patients.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Article posted on: 02/12/2008

As set forth in the New York Times last month, the results of a new study have shown that in nearly a third of cases hospital staffs take too long to respond to sudden cardiac arrests. The study, to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimates that the delays contribute to increased rates of brain damages and death each year. Data for the study were gathered from records at 369 hospitals where patients’ hearts stopped because of conditions that could be reversed using a defibrillator.

According to the American Heart Association, regardless of whether you have been trained, you should begin CPR with chest compressions on a person who you suspect is having a heart attack or is unconscious from a heart attack. With each passing minute after a heart attack, more heart tissue loses oxygen and begins to deteriorate and die. The way to prevent heart damage is to restore the flow of blood quickly. Medications that are typically given to heart attack victims include aspirin (reduces blood clotting, helping blood flow through a narrowed artery), clotbusters or thrombolytics (help dissolve a clot in your artery), super aspirins, nitroglycerin (temporarily opens arterial blood vessels, improving blood flow), beta blockers (help relax your heart muscle, slow your heartbeat and decrease blood pressure, making heart’s job easier), ACE inhibitors (lower blood pressure and reduce stress of heart), and cholesterol lowering medications (otherwise known as statins).

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