Medical mistakes can result in horrific injuries to patients seeking care for existing physical problems. These issues can lengthen recovery times, create new physical complications and even result in death. Malpractice comes into play when doctors and other medical professionals didn’t take the proper precautions to effectively diagnose or treat patient ailments. Some medical malpractice cases involve extreme lapses in judgment by medical professionals resulting in not only the terrible deaths of patients, but lifetime’s worth of suffering for surviving family members and friends. Here’s a look at some of the worst medical mistakes in recent history.
Surgeons at Rhode Island Hospital in 2007 operated on the wrong side of patients’ brains three separate times, according to MSNBC. The last ill-fated operation occurred on November 23 when a neurologist drilled into the right side of a patient’s skull when scans clearly showed bleeding present on the left. The hospital received a reprimand and $50,000 fine for the incident from the Rhode Island Department of Health. In August of the same year, a patient died several weeks after a surgical team at the same hospital operated on the wrong side of his head.
Yes, this actually happens. In a case that grabbed national headlines in 1995, doctors amputated the wrong leg from then 52-year-old Willie King. A host of medical errors, including incorrect notations, led to King’s wrongful amputation. Surprisingly, the surgeon who performed the surgery only received a $10,000 fine and the loss of his medical license for six months. Meanwhile, King sued University Community Hospital and the surgeon involved for a combined $1.2 million.
Being wide awake and unable to scream for help during surgery is a nightmare-turned-reality for literally thousands of patients every year, according to PubMed.gov. The phenomenon, known as anesthetic awareness, renders a patient completely alter, able to feel pain but unable to move or speak. An occurrence of anesthetic awareness in 2006 reportedly contributed to the suicide of a West Virginia pastor. Anesthesiologists supervising 73-year-old Sherman Sizemore’s exploratory surgery failed to administer proper drugs to render him unconscious until 16 minutes after the surgeon’s first incision. He committed suicide two weeks later.
Movie star and former Saturday Night Live cast member Dana Carvey nearly died twice when doctors bypassed the wrong artery in his heart. The then 42-year-old comedian had to undergo emergency surgery to bypass the legitimately-clogged artery and repair the damage to the first. The surgeon called the incident an “honest mistake”. Carvey didn’t agree and sued the doctor for $7.5 million citing the seriousness of the medical mistake and the nearly two-year recovery period.
A medical mistake can render you unable to work, provide for your family or perform normal life tasks. Holding the physician or hospital accountable for this error is essential not only to compensate you for your injuries, but to prevent the same thing from happening to someone else. A tenacious team of New Jersey accident attorneys can work to win you a just settlement for your injuries while allowing you to focus on the most important part of all – your recovery.
The following is a guest post from our friends at the Rasasnky Law Firm:
Doctors who are very good at what they do take their patient’s rights very seriously. Among the rights that every patient has is the right to know about the risks involved in any procedure that their physician recommends to them. In fact, good physicians will go out of their way to make certain that you are absolutely clear on any risks involved in treatment. Whether it’s chemotherapy or treating an ingrown toenail, they should let you know what could happen.
When It’s Negligence
If a doctor fails to warn you about the risks involved in a particular type of treatment, you may not even consider the matter again if you don’t come to any harm. When people choose to sue over such instances, it’s usually because they have been harmed somehow due to the treatment they were given and not warned about. In some cases, these sorts of instances result in people suing pharmaceutical companies for damages. In other cases, people end up going after the doctors themselves. There are instances where both the pharmaceutical company and the doctor may end up getting sued over these situations.
Setting an Amount
If you’re going to sue somebody because of damages you suffered due to a medical treatment that proved to be riskier than you thought it would be, be aware that you’re going to have to put a concrete figure on the damages. This is something and attorney will help you do. It’s difficult to determine how much financial damage was done to you by a given medical treatment in some cases. An attorney can help you to factor in all of the different ways that this affects your life and help you to assess how much pain and suffering and mental anguish you may want to add to the sum you are seeking.
Make sure you get personal injury information as it relates to medical malpractice from a qualified medical negligence lawyer. These are the only individuals who can give you accurate information about your case. If you believe that a doctor should have informed you about risks that weren’t made clear to you before they began the treatment, you may have a lawsuit on your hands. If you were caused harm, an attorney may want to sit down with you and discuss the matter and help you determine whether or not filing a lawsuit would be a viable option for you. It will not always be a good option, but it’s sometimes the best way for you to seek compensation.
With Super Tuesday on the horizon the nation’s eyes turn to the GOP candidates that are competing for the Republican seat in the presidential election. Although a late bloomer in this race, Rick Santorum has crept up on Mitt Romney and the results of tomorrow’s primaries could throw him well into the lead. But who is the real Rick Santorum? The former Pennsylvania Senator is not as much of a stand-up guy as some may think. In the end he is a self-serving republican, sticking with republican beliefs except when it directly affects him.
Throughout his political career Santorum has been a strong advocate for tort reform, or imposing caps on damages in civil lawsuits. This was particularly true during his time as a Pennsylvania Senator when he was the sponsor or co-sponsor on several bills aiming to cap damages specifically on medical malpractice suits. However, despite wanting the cap for non-economic damages (pain and suffering) at $250,000, which means someone could not be awarded more than that for pain and suffering, this was not the case when his wife filed a medical malpractice suit.
The suit was filed in 1999 after Santorum’s wife, Karen, suffered a herniated disc as the result of an improper chiropractic alignment. The Huffington Post reported that her medical bills totaled at around $18,800, but they were completely covered by Santorum’s government health care. Karen still filed suit against her chiropractor seeking $500,000 for pain and suffering. This is twice the amount of where her husband so adamantly wanted to cap damages at.
When first confronted with the media attacking this case the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on December 11, 1999 that Santorum replied, “The court proceedings are a personal family matter. I will not be offering any further public comments, other than that I am not a party to the suit. But I am fully supportive of my wife.”
His testimony in the case didn’t help with how much of a hypocrite he looked like especially when he explained the effect this injury has had on his wife in a non-economic way. He testified that she was having difficulty moving, walking, lifting, and bending and that she also gained a significant amount of weight as the result of her injury which made her become self-conscious.
He went on to explain how her injury would affect his political career since she could not help on the campaign trail due to “her physical limitations and the poor self-image.”
In a 1999 Roll Call article he explained “We have to go out and do a lot of public things. She wants to look nice, so it’s really difficult.” So Santorum, how does your wife’s lawsuit differ from the ‘frivolous’ lawsuits you are so against? Isn’t seeking compensation for pain and suffering something that tort reform aims to limit?
Even five years after the media frenzy, he was still trying to justify his wife seeking damages much higher than his political stance. He told ABC News, “Of course I’m going to support my wife in her endeavors. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I agree with everything that she does.”
Nice try, Santorum, but even if it was your wife’s lawsuit and not yours don’t you think you two should have discussed the matter before she went against your political beliefs.
He kept digging the hole deeper in the ABC interview when he said, “I guess I could answer that in two ways. Number one is that I’ve supported caps. I’ve been very clear that I am not wedded at all to a $250,000 cap and I’ve said publicly repeatedly, and I think probably that is somewhat low, and that we need to look at what I think is a cap that is a little bit higher than that.”
So what does this mean in his quest for the Republican nomination? Nothing good I would think. This country does not need a leader who has a very clear political stance except when it comes to something that will benefit him. I am sure his cushy government salary and amazing health benefits had him really hurting for that pain and suffering money. In the end Karen was awarded $350,000, but that amount was reduced by a judge to just $175,000.
Santorum can rest assured that this lawsuit will continue to follow him throughout his political career each time he voices his support of tort reform.
On a Saturday night a couple weeks ago I was taken to the hospital because I was experiencing extreme pain on the right side of my lower back. It was just past dinner time when I arrived, but of course I would be there well into the night. It turned out that the pain I was experiencing was due to a kidney stone, but once I was settled in I got to thinking about the doctors in the E.R.
Although I was at the hospital for several hours I did not get to see a doctor, I did see a nurse practitioner. I faintly remember her talking about a radiologist that went over my CT scans, but for all I know this doctor was some mystical being that parents tell stories about to their children like the Easter Bunny. My nurse practitioner had obviously been on shift for some time. Each time she came into my curtained area she sat at the edge of my bed, if only to just catch her breath for a moment.
Despite being slightly out of it due to the medication they gave me, I could see the exhaustion in her eyes. They were brushed with a lining of dark purple underneath, not from makeup but from sleepiness. She spoke in a low voice, almost a whisper. It was not that late—the E.R. was still bustling with noise so her timid voice could not have been out of fear of waking another patient.
These doctors and nurses work very long hours. At best they are probably looking at a 12-hour shift, but it is not unheard of for them to work upwards of 36-hours (especially in bigger hospitals and for first year residents). Why are there no regulations for how long they are allowed to be on shift?
If you were traveling on a bus or an airplane you would want to be sure that the driver or pilot was well-rested so that you can get to your destination safely. There is constantly talk about the dangers of driving drowsy, especially with regards to truck drivers, yet no one seems to worry about drowsy doctors.
WebMD published this article about the effects of sleepiness. Now I am not talking effects of a serious sleeping disorder, these are the effects a lack of sleep will have on your body even when you don’t have a serious condition.
First they spoke about how a lack of sleep does result in accidents. They cited some major disasters such as the 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, but also car accidents. Like I said earlier the statistics support that driving while tired is a huge risk, but these risks also apply to working while tired. They explained that drowsiness can affect your ability to react as much as being drunk would. This is no different for performing other tasks while tired, it is still a hazard.
Lack of sleep also greatly impairs your cognitive abilities including your ability to concentrate, your alertness, ability to pay attention, your reasoning, and your problem solving abilities—all things a medical professional would need to properly perform their job. The article goes on to explain more effects of continual lack of sleep, check it out.
In the end this ‘drowsy doctoring’ is a serious problem. If doctors and other medical experts are not at the peak of their cognitive ability mistakes can be made and lives can be put in jeopardy. If you or someone you love has been injured due to medical error, contact Console & Hollawell’s medical malpractice attorneys in NJ. Call us today at (866) 778-5500 to set up your free, confidential consultation.
Law Firm Newswire reported that a Utah Supreme Court ruling could become a hot topic across the nation. There has been an ongoing question in the legal world with regards to unborn children and medical malpractice suits.
In most states, a medical malpractice or wrongful death suit cannot be brought forth if the child is considered unborn. A prime example of one of these cases is the Utah case where a mother gave birth to a stillborn baby and then filed a wrongful death suit. In most states, there would have been no claim because the baby was not technically born. This is definitely a gray area of the law because deciding on what constitutes a fetus being alive is debated across many controversial issues.
The Newswire report stated that in this case the Utah Supreme Court ruled that, “indicated parents may file a wrongful death lawsuit for the death of an unborn child under the auspices of a state statute that allows claims for the wrongful death of a minor child.”
The defense in the trial argued that the aforementioned statute referred only to a minor child and not an unborn child. That is where the confusion began; the court was then charged with deciding if there was a difference between the two when it comes to this type of lawsuit.
According to reports the court decided that “child” was an inclusive term for someone young be it a baby or fetus. There are only five other states that uphold that an unborn child is a minor child in a personal injury case: Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, South Dakota, and West Virginia.
However there does seem to be a push for all states to take a firm stance on this matter as there is an advocacy group pushing for this in Alaska, California, Florida, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio.
This begs the question of whether or not this ruling will bring national attention to the issue. What rights should parents have with regards to filing a civil suit on the behalf of their unborn child? If there genuinely was a case of medical malpractice that led to the wrongful death, shouldn’t the parents be able to seek compensation for the tragic loss of their baby?
It is a hard topic to consider because the death of a child is truly devastating and it is hard to be impartial when talking about the loss of a young life. What the courts will need to decide is what is constitutional and just with regard to this issue.
Sometimes we do not realize how precious good health is until we are sick or injured. A serious illness can completely derail your life and you want nothing more than to have things back to normal. When we are sick we put our trust in trained doctors and other medical professionals to help us get better, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way.
Everyone makes mistakes, but when a medical expert does the result could be life-threatening. Medical malpractice is one of the most devastating types of personal injury claims. There are many different ways in which inaction or mistakes made by the doctor can result in the injury of the patient.
Here are some of the most common mistakes that lead to injury:
• Misdiagnosis. An estimated 30 percent of all medical malpractice cases are misdiagnoses. An article in Redbook reported that some of the most common misdiagnoses include stroke, TMJ, heart attack or heart disease, and hypothyroidism. This type of claim also includes failure to diagnose or delay in diagnosing. If you illness or ailment is not properly detected, you cannot be given the proper treatment.
• Prescription drug errors. These errors can be found at many different levels of care, from the doctor who wrote the prescription to the pharmacy that dispensed it. Often times over prescribing, under prescribing, or a dangerous combination of medications result in injury or death. In one recent Pennsylvania case, a man was prescribed medications that could not be taken together which resulted in his death. Since the family sought the help of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer, they were able to recover significant damages for their loss.
• Failure to treat. This includes instances where the doctor or medical professional diagnosed the problem but then did not treat it, failed to refer the patient to a specialist, prematurely discharging the patient from care, did not follow up or reevaluate the situation, or elected or refused to treat based on conservative beliefs or other reasons. None of these reasons for not treating are ethical or acceptable.
• Surgical errors or mistakes. Everyone knows that there are risks involved with surgery, but errors are a lot more common than we would like to believe. These mistakes can be made by the anesthesiologist, nurses, and the surgeons themselves. Different errors can include mistaken incisions, vascular damage, foreign bodies, and more.
Medical Malpractice Statistics
• The National Institute of Health reported that annually 225,000 people die as the result of medical malpractice.
• 1,500,000 people are injured or killed as the result of medication errors every year according to the Institute of Medicine.
• The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that nearly half of all medical malpractice suits are brought up against surgeons.
• The Institute of Medicine also reported that medication errors are one of the most common medical mistakes and results in the death or injury of 1,500,000 people each year.
Each medical malpractice suit will be as unique as the person involved. If you or a loved one has been injured because of medical malpractice it helps to know your legal rights and options. The skilled New Jersey medical malpractice attorneys at Console & Hollawell understand what you are going through. We will work hard to limit the added stress of pursuing a personal injury claim and will be there with you through the whole process making sure you get the compensation you deserve. Call today at (866) 778-5500 to set up your free, confidential consultation.
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