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Medical Negligence, Mistakes and Malpractice
- Medical Malpractice Myth - Tom Baker's Book
- Medical Malpractice Insurers Faked Lawsuit Crisis
- Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform: AAJ Primer
- Would Tort or Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Reform Lower Health Care Costs?
- Americans for Insurance Reform Articles on Medical Malpractice
News
- North Carolina Medical Malpractice Case Filed Against Hospital Over Death Of Child
Posted on 5/5/2009 - Jury in trial awards damages to brain damaged victim of medical negligence
Posted on 5/4/2009 - Justice News Flash: Birth Defect Medical Malpractice Article
Posted on 5/3/2009 - Medical Malpractice Victory for Baby Whose Brain Was Injured at Birth
Posted on 10/27/2008 - $6 Million Awarded To Family of Patient Killed by Morphine Overdose
Posted on 5/27/2008
Pleasant Law Blog (Insurance Claims, Medical Misakes, and Nursing Home Claims)
North Carolina Injury and Wrongful Death Attorney Thomas Waitt Pleasant's blog, facilitating commentary on North Carolina nursing home abuse, injury, neglect, and wrongful death; as well as medical malpractice, medical mistakes and medical negligence. Topics also include unfair and bad faith insurance claims practices.Medical Negligence, Mistakes and Malpractice
Medical Malpractice Myth - Tom Baker's Book
Myth of medical malpractice debunked by Tom Baker, law professor at UCONN. Pertains to all kinds of medical negligence, including surgery mistakes, failure to diagnose cancer, labor and delivery and birth injury, and other kind of legal claims against medical providersMedical Malpractice Insurers Faked Lawsuit Crisis
Medical Malpractice insurance companies falsely generated a "medical malpractice lawsuit crisis" in order to help secure legislative protections to protect those profits, according to a report on businessinsurance.com. Medical malpractice insurance companies provide insurance to cover medical negligence claims made in cases where doctors, surgeons, hospitals, nurses, and other healthcare providers are accused with harming patients through negligence, recklessness, carelessness, etc. Hopefully this report will make its way to the general public in a widespead sort of way. People need to understand the cynicism in the insurance industry. People seem so quick to give up their rights in favor of the giant insurance companies and other huge corporations. Think twice. Victims of medical mistakes need to have the right to fair compensation for their injuries. Clearly, the insurance industry cares only about its bottom line; and will -- if this report is accurate -- go to all measures (including dishonesty) to preserve their huge goldmine of profits.Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform: AAJ Primer
The American Association for Justice released a Medical Negligence Primer recently, an appropriate response to the propaganda being shoveled out by the insurance and health corporate lobbies. The publication does a good job debunking the myths that medical malpractice lawsuits are out of control, along with other issues commonly twisted by those who seek special protection. Recently, I heard AAJ's immediate past president point out that what this medical malpractice lawsuit reform movement really seeks to do is set doctors and other healthcare providers apart from the rest of us. I have never heard lawyers suggest that they should be allowed to have special immunities from lawsuits in the event that they commit malpractice. What about engineers, architects and contractors? This is just one of the issues, but I thought the point was well made. People who have been hurt or killed by the negligence (meaning lack of appropriate due care, essentially) of health care providers (doctors, nurses, hospitals, etc.) whould have redress in our court system. The Seventh Amendment to our constutition provides the right to a trial by jury for all citizens; and we are seeing an erosion of this right.Would Tort or Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Reform Lower Health Care Costs?
A recent NY Times article on medical malpractice lawsuit reform sets out some interesting points about why limiting the rights of victims of medical negligence is not an answer to the heatlhcare cost crisis. In a nutshell, medical malpractice lawsuit costs are only a tiny sliver of the total costs of our healthcare system in this country. This whole debate is so politicized, and many are looking past the reality that there are legitimate medical malpractice cases, and there are people who have been hurt by doctors, hospitals, nurses, and nursing homes who need help. Help with future medical care, for example. There are vicitms who have been harmed by a physician's failure to diagnose a serious disease, where simple tests and follow-ups were not scheduled/ordered. There are wrong-site surgeries, botched surgeries by doctors who are careless and in a hurry because of the presures placed on them because of the money pressures of the modern insurance-driven medical practice. There are hospitals failing to provide even the most basic labor and delivery crisis management training for residents, so that they are prepared when the rare, but inevitable, crisis arises. In any event, the article is worth reading.Americans for Insurance Reform Articles on Medical Malpractice
I recently ran accross the website for the Americans for Insurance Reform, which deals in part with medical malpractice issues. A particular section of the site has some interesting "fact sheets" dealing with medical negligence issues.Labels:
Health Care Reform and Medical Liability Reform: The President Needs Doctor Support...What's the Outcome?
The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant, PLLC (Medical Errors, Medical Mistakes and Medical Malpractice in North Carolina). A large metropolitan online newspaper reports in a recent article on the President's push for healthcare reform. An interesting point the article makes is that the President will need the support of the heatlhcare industry (doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers) in order to get health care and medical costs down so that the plan to provide insurance coverage to all Americans can work. This means that the medical industry may have more leverage over the content and effect of any health care reform package, since their cooperation is necessary for the passage of such reform. This article focuses pretty heavily on the issue from the side of the medical profession, and includes more opinions and information from the American Medical Association. Only a small "blip" is included from the perspective of trial lawyers, who represent the victims of medical negligence. Doctors say they have to practice "defensive medicine" due to the threat of medical malpractice lawsuits; but in my opinion, either you need the test or you don't. If the standard of care requires the medical test, then the medical test should get done. If the standard of care does not require it, then there is no negligence and no concern over a medical malpractice suit. Lawyers who represent the victims of medical mistakes and errors in North Carolina already have rigorous pre-suit requirements for having doctors review the care involved, so that before a medical lawsuit is filed, that doctor has already determined that the standard of care was not met. This is clearly a highly political issue, and not easily decipherable by the general public. It will be interesting to see what the President does with this. So far, North Carolina has avoided any significant medical negligence or other tort reform such as caps on pain and suffering damages. Regardless, if you have been the victim of a surgery error, failure to diagnose type error, serious infection (MRSA, etc.) caused by the negligence of health care providers, you may wish to consult with an attorney in order to determine whether you have the grounds for taking legal action. Read more at my Medical Malpractice page on my website. My office generally provides free consultations and evaluations for North Carolina medical malpractice claims. The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant, PLLC. Toll Free 888.435.7156.Where Have All The Doctor's Gone? Medical Malpractice Concerns Are Not The Culprit
This is an interesting Slate article dealing with the causes of doctors and physicians migrating. The tort reform mantra is that doctors leave certain states because of medical negligence lawsuit abuse and the effect of medical malpractice cases on their malpractice liability insurance premiums. There is another possibility, though: doctors are retirning. The demographics of doctors from the baby-boom generation are coming home to roost, apparently.More on the Medical Malpractice Myth: Lawsuits Are Not the Problem -- Preventable Medical Negligence Is
By Thomas Waitt Pleasant, North Carolina Injury, Wrongful Death and Insurance Attorney. I recently read an interesting article in in the Canadian Medical Association Journal online, which discussed the "medical malpractice myth" in America. The article talks about a study from several years ago by the Institute of Medicine of the Academy of Sciences. This landmark study, concluded that 98,000 people die each year due to medical errors. This is more than all automobile/car accidents and workplace accidents in the United States combined. Other sources estimate the number of deaths from medical mistakes at about double that amount (See Healthgrades.com). The Medical Association Journal article also points out the myth that frivilous lawsuits are commonplace against doctors, hospitals, nursees and other healthcare providers. The number of lawsuits against hospitals, doctors and other medical care providers has not only remained flat for a long period of time (15 years), but in many cases has decreased (based on population and economic growth). If you want to know what's costing taxpayers money and clogging the court systems, look to corporate america -- our corporate bohemoths clash in our nation's courts much more frequently than do victims of medical malpractice and their alleged wrongdoers. And, these business disputes are often extremely legally complex problems, requiring judicial resources far exceeding those required to dispose of the average medical or nursing home injury or wrongful death case. This is all very eye opening, and igt appears we have an epidemic of medical mistakes and errors in this country. People should beware as politicians and business groups call for the kind of medical malpractice or "tort" reform here in North Carolina. The jury trial is the critical leveling field for the victims and families of wrongful death and injury, and Americans are too quick to listen to the calls for limiting this right, calls that come from business interests that are not truly aligned with the good of the whole in mind. Thomas Waitt Pleasant, North Carolina Medical Negligence, Nursing Home, and Insurance Lawyer, Toll Free 888.435.7156. Office locations in Raleigh, Wilmington and Fayetteville.Heparin Drug Overdoses In Hospitals: Dennis Quaid Testifies Before Congress
Actor Dennis Quaid has been in the news a lot lately, after he and his wife almost lost their two twin children to a gross medical mistake. The hospital gave the twins extreme overdose of a drug known as Heparin, a blood thinner. Apparently, the dose given to each was the adult dose, and equated to something like 10,000 times the correct dose for an infant. Miraculously, the twins' near wrongful death was averted, despite what seemed to be clear medical malpractice. As a result of this experience, Quaid understandably became interested in just how a medical/drug error like this could have occurred. He began studying the problem of preventable medical errors/mistakes. In a recent episode of CBS' "60 Minutes," Quaid cited statistics indicating that as many as 100,000 people are killed each year as a result of preventable medical negligence, more than are killed by automobile accidents and a host of other causes of death. We tend to take for granted the danger involved in taking to the roads in our automobiles, accepting the risk of serious injury or death from an auto accident; but the public seems to be unaware about the extent to which medical malpractice takes lives each year. While this incident did not happen to Quaid in North Carolina, it could just as easily have happened to him in North Carolina. Just because a hospital or doctor is in a larger North Carolina city like Raleigh, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Greensboro or Winston-Salem; it doesn't mean medical mistakes won't happen or aren't common. The link provided is to video of Dennis Quaid's recent testimony to Congress on this issue. Obviously, he has become an impassioned advocate working for change in preventing medical mistakes by doctors, hospitals, nurses, and other healthcare providers.Limitations Periods Can Be Tricky In Cases Against Doctors, Nurses and Hospitals for Medical Mistakes
If you have a claim against a doctor, nurse or hospital in North Carolina, be careful about the deadlines that apply for bringing suit. They are short, and tricky. Generally, medical malpractice suits must be brought within three years from the date of the last act of the defendant giving rise to the cause of action; or within one year of the date when the injury was or should have been discovered, but not more than four years from the date of the last act of defendant giving rise to the cause of action. N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 1-15 and 1-52(16) (1996).Labels:
Getting Medical Records Before Filing a Medical Negligence Complaint Against The Doctor or Hospital: Let's Apply Common Sense
An interesting “philosophical” point was raised to me during a recent round of medical malpractice legal research regarding the pre-litigation discovery of medical records by a potential medical negligence plaintiff. Aside from the issue of whether records are discoverable before a lawsuit is actually filed, the issue presents some interesting points to consider. In evaluating potential lawsuits against doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other healthcare providers, injury and wrongful death medical malpractice lawyers should have, and often must have, access to the medial records of their clients (the potential defendants’ patient). In some cases, doctors and hospitals are reluctant to provide these records, and might even “drag their feet” in order to deter the possibility of a lawsuit, or to otherwise set up the possibility of the dismissal of a lawsuit that is filed by the medical negligence attorney without his or her having had the benefit of those records to ensure accuracy in the lawsuit papers. Sometimes the reluctance or refusal of doctors and hospitals to turn over the patient’s medical records is the result of a more simplistic desire to just “hide” the records. The question of who “owns” the records aside, the reality in these situations is that the healthcare providers are being disingenuous. We all hear the charge that we are in the midst of a major medical malpractice lawsuit problem, with plaintiff attorneys running rampant filing frivolous personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits. If hospitals, nurses, doctors and physicians assistants are concerned about frivolous lawsuits, and if they are concerned about the truth where there is some potential that they have made medical errors that have injured or killed patients; then they should happily produce their records when requested by the attorney for the victim. They will eventually have to be produced once a case is actually filed, so why “hide” the records before a lawsuit is filed? Doctors and hospitals should adjust their attitudes regarding medical records production pre-litigation. Sometimes, the victims of nursing home abuse, medical error/mistake, automobile accidents, and other wrongful death or injury type problems have difficulty getting their own medical records. An attorney can help. This is particularly true with nursing home records, where, despite the laws requiring that the resident’s records be provided in very short order, nursing homes are uncooperative in getting the records to the nursing home resident or the resident’s family (in cases where the resident has died). Sometimes the lawyer’s involvement makes all the difference. Let my office help you if you are having difficulty getting the relevant medical records in your medical negligence case. We have locations in Raleigh, Wilmington and Fayetteville, for your convenience, and are happy to provide a free consultation in cases involving medical errors and mistakes.Hurt by a Hospital-Acquired Infection: You May Have Medical Negligence Case Against the Hospital or Nursing Home
Infections transmitted to patients in hospitals and nursing homes can be deadly, and in some instances can be easily prevented. I, unfortunately, had to visit the emergency room at Cape Fear Valley Hospital in Fayetteville, North Carolina; and my wife and I were amazed and disturbed that no less than two “paramedics” did not even use gloves when drawing my blood and inserting or removing my IV line. This is an issue not only regarding the safety of patients, but the safety of the employees, also. Although these employees might have washed their hands before doing their work, they still ran the risk of getting an infection from me (assuming I had something to infect them with).The larger issue here, though, is that hospital and nursing home acquired infections can be serious and deadly. In some infection cases, a medical negligence claim or lawsuit could be supportable. I recently read about a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, where 108 hospital Intensive Care Units implemented certain infection prevention procedures, to test the effect on the level of infections in each hospital. The results were pretty amazing: after 15 months, the ICU’s where these new precautions were taken completely eliminated catheter-based blood infections. If a person is hurt or killed by an infection from a hospital or nursing home stay, an evaluation by an expert in infectious diseases could reveal that the hospital is liable for the injury or wrongful death. A lawyer whose practice includes medical negligence, errors and mistakes cases can find the proper expert to do this analysis and evaluate the case to see if a lawsuit is justified.
Questions that need to be answered when evaluating such a medical negligence case include: what is the type and origin of the pathogen causing the infection? What is the pathogen’s mode of transmission? Did the health care providers and the facility take proper precautions to prevent the spread of the pathogen/infection? Did the doctors, nurses, nursing home, hospital or other health care facility recognize the infection type/pathogen and take proper steps to intervene?
Some infections commonly seen in the hospital and nursing home setting include the notorious methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant venterococci (VRE). Recently, reports of the antibiotic-resistant “C-diff” infection seem to be on the rise.
I do free medical negligence consultations, and can do so in any of our locations (Wilmington, Raleigh, and Fayetteville). Feel free to contact my office if you believe you have a claim or complaint related to hospital-acquired infection; or a case related to any other kind of harm or death related to medial errors or mistakes.
Labels: Medical Negligence Lawyer
Surgery Mistakes and Informed Consent: Doctors/Surgeons Must Inform Their Patients of Risks of Surgery; and Adhere to the Standard of Care
Medical negligence complaints often arise from mistakes made by surgeons during surgery. While some surgeries can be extremely difficult, and the likelihood of bad outcomes high, medical malpractice can and does still occur. A doctor performing surgery must adhere to the standard of care applicable to the physicians in that community, so even if a surgery is difficult, a surgery error can still be made giving rise to a supportable medical negligence lawsuit. Further, when a high probability of a bad outcome is likely from surgery, the doctor’s failure to explain the dangers of the surgery (i.e., the patient’s lack of “informed consent”) can give rise to medical liability, despite that those bad outcomes were a known risk of the surgery. Also, surgery candidates often are not informed that there are different ways to perform certain types of surgeries, with a particular type possibly being more risky. For example, a common shoulder surgery is “rotator cuff repair” surgery. This procedure can generally be done using one of three accepted methods: the “open” procedure, the “mini-open” procedure, or the “arthroscopic” procedure. While with rotator cuff repair the surgeon’s own skill and experience may determine which surgery procedure he or she uses, the patient should be informed of the risks, pros and cons of each procedure type. A known risk of rotator cuff repair surgery is “deltoid avulsion,” which is when the primary shoulder muscle, the deltoid, detaches after surgery and slumps down. This surgical problem can arise when the surgeon removes too much bone during the repair of the rotator cuff, and the likelihood of this cause may be increased through the use of the “open” procedure. Deltoid muscle avulsion can be a painful condition, and usually requires an additional surgery to correct. A North Carolina medical negligence lawyer can help you with your concerns about surgical negligence, mistakes or errors. A bad outcome does not necessarily mean that medical negligence or malpractice has occurred, but if you or someone you love has been injured, hurt or killed wrongfully as a result of surgery; contact my law office for a free consultation. Our call center and main office is in Fayetteville, but I can arrange to meet with prospective clients at our location in either Raleigh or Wilmington as well. In some cases, I am even willing to travel to your home to discuss your matter. Feel free to contact The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant with your medical/surgical error concerns.Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: whether the result of delivery room medical error, car wrecks, or another type of accident, these injuries require a unique approach
The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant, PLLC - Toll Free: 888-HELP-156 - “Mild Traumatic Brain Injury” can occur when, essentially, a person’s brain is “shaken” inside the skull, and the brain tissue is affected by its impact within the skull. Our brains are naturally capable of this kind of movement within our skulls. So if someone is in an automobile accident, for example, a car might keep moving, but when the body stops, the brain itself might continue moving inside the skull, impacting the inside of the skull and causing injury. The same thing happens with the injury an infant gets from “shaken baby syndrome.” Conceivably, traumatic brain disorder can occur during a traumatic birth in the hospital delivery room.The science of this kind of brain damage is complex, particularly considering the tests neurophysiologists use to determine and quantify the existence and nature of such injury. But, despite the complexity of the science of mild traumatic brain injury, cases involving such injuries ultimately boil down to the testimony of friends, family, former employers, and other possible “lay witnesses” who can testify as to the often dramatic change that occurs in life of the injured victim. Despite that mild traumatic brain injury is a more subtle diagnosis from a medical standpoint, its impact can be huge, and in some cases, lasting. Sometimes people with this kind of brain damage don’t recognize it; and many lawyers don’t recognize it, either.
Click on the title of this article to link to a website on traumatic brain injury.
If you have been hurt, whether in a car wreck, truck accident, fall, by a doctor or hospital’s error, look for these signs: transient confusion, disorientation or impaired consciousness; dysfunction of memory around time of injury; and loss of consciousness for less than 30 minutes. Also, looking practically at the changes in one’s life can be evidence, such as personality changes, newly-developed difficulty in doing organizational/executive type work, etc. If your head has been hurt in an accident, you can contact my law office for a free consultation. If you are outside the Fayetteville area, we can meet with clients in our Raleigh or Wilmington offices as well. In some cases, I will travel to your home to discuss your legal case, and whether a lawsuit is appropriate. We can do an initial legal evaluation of your injuries and get you pointed in the right direction.
Jury awards $19.6M to injured baby and mother for injuries during delivery
The title to this blog will take the reader to a story in Newsday online about this recent medical negligence verdict. Cesaerean sections are apparently so common and have been virtually perfected in todays medicine; it is amazing that physicians sometimes ignore the necessity to move forward with performing one in order to avoid this kind of devastating injury. While the verdict amount seems extremely high at first glance, considering what it will take to care for this child, who now suffers from debilitating cerebral palsy, such a verdict is not unreasonable. The high cost of medical care warrants large economic damages in medical malpractice birth injury cases like this. If your child suffered any kind of birth injury or other medical injury during delivery or otherwise, consider having an attorney review your case; particularly if you are struggling financially to give care for the resulting injuries. You may be entitled to compensation. Many cases do not warrant taking legal action, but I can help you make the determination whether legal action is warranted. You can contact my office by calling Toll Free, 888-435-7156. We can arrange to meet for a free consultation in any of our three North Carolina law offices (Fayetteville, Raleigh or Wilmington).Some doctors take a reasonable position regarding patients' right to sue
A recent New England Journal of Medicine Article (link attached to title of this blog entry) discusses the dangers of federal "preemption" of state remedies for injuries and death related to defective medical devices. These physician authors acknowledge the importance, for purposes of furthering patient saftey, of preserving the people's right to legal redress for their injuries in the medical context. It's about patient safety, and common sense tells us that accountability is critical to ensure behavior changes where behavior changes are necessary. Sometimes, unfortunately, the reality is that a complaint or lawsuit (through an attorney) is the only way to get fair compensation for a medical mistake. This is true whether one is hurt or killed by medical negligence (surgical mistakes, failure to diagnose, birth injuries, etc.) nursing home abuse or neglect, or other injury or wrongful death situations. The preemption issue involved in this article is about medical devices, but the principles of preemption have been twisted by certain federal agencies during this curent presidential administration. Particularly, the preemption assertion here is that, if the FDA has approved a medical device, a person injured by that device cannot sue under traditional state remedies. The nuances are a bit more complicated, but the gist is that preemption takes away peoples real right to a trial by jury. So, a person injured in North Carolina would not be able to pursue "regular" injury or wrongful death claims through his or her attorney.Medical Malpractice: More Heparin drug mistakes and overdoses at hospital
The title link will take you to a Wall street Journal article about the recent Heparin drug overdoses, which were similar to the Quaid twins' situation; although with a more tragic result. Two twins died as a result of the medical /medication error in the most recently reported case. Hospitals must be vigilant when administering drugs, especially now that the labeling issues associated with Heparin are now well-known. These recent cases seem to be clear cases of careless medicine. It will be interesting to see whether the hospital will take full responsibility and compensate these familiesfairly; but, more importantly, importantly, it will be interesting to see what, if anything, the hospital will do to prevent tragedies like this from recurring. this seems to be a case where the threat of legal action will likely motivate some much-needed safety reforms so that medical negligence, mistakes and malpractice can be avoided. If you have experienced a drug or other medical error, feel free to contact my office for help. Remember, not all bad medical outcomes are the result of medical malpractice; but we can help you sort out your case and make that determination. You can reach my office Toll free at 888-435-7156. If necessary, we can meet prospective clients in Fayetteville, Raleigh or Wilmington North Carolina.Birth Injury: Erb's Palsy / Brachial Plexus From Medical Malpractice
Having a baby should be a joyous occasion. In some cases, though, a baby’s birth is instead traumatic. Many things can go wrong during pregnancy, labor and/or delivery; but in some cases medical neglect and unreasonable, inexcusable mistakes occur.
Problems with a child’s birth can take many forms. One type of birth injury is injury to the “brachial plexus” of the baby. In a nutshell, the brachial plexus is a grouping of nerves. This kind of injury may have been caused by what is commonly called “shoulder dystocia.” Simply put, Should Dystocia occurs when a baby’s shoulder, during delivery, gets caught on the mother’s pelvis. This creates a difficult situation in terms of getting the baby out without injury, and can often lead to the delivering doctor, midwife or nurse using excessive traction to “pull” the baby out. If careful planning and preparation have not been done, Shoulder Dystocia can lead to panic and serious injury to the brachial plexus, which is a group of nerves that control various aspects of the baby’s arm and hands. The injury to the brachial plexus can cause several different types of “palsy” including “Erb’s Palsy.” In many cases, brachial plexus injuries resolve themselves early and the child has no permanent or serious injury. In some cases, though, the actions of the doctor or others on the labor and delivery team are careless, and the resulting injury is permanent and serious; making a legal claim for negligent medical mistakes a possibility.
If your baby’s arm appears to have been hurt during delivery at a hospital, there is help. Although all medical mistakes do not rise to the level of “medical malpractice,” I can help you evaluate whether the injury or death of your baby resulted from medical malpractice.
The families of children injured at birth have to deal with huge hardships: financial, physical, and emotional. Some children, as a result of their birth injuries, need intensive care, even for a lifetime, in some cases. If your child was injured during labor or delivery in a North Carolina hospital, contact The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant, Toll Free at 888-HELP-156 for a free consultation. There is no risk or obligation, and we can assist you in determining the appropriate course of action. We are able to talk with clients by phone, and also are able to meet with clients in our Raleigh, Wilmington and Fayetteville North Carolina offices.
Doctor Alleged to Have Ignored Patient Drug Allergy, Leading to Hospital Death
By North Carolina Medical and Surgical Negligence, Malpractice, Mistakes, and Errors Attorney Thomas W. Pleasant (Fayetteville, Raleigh, Wilmington, North Carolina).The following link, http://www.post-trib.com/news/1111760,hospdeath817.article takes you to a recent Post-Tribune article about a medical malpractice case where the doctor allegedly ignored the drug allergy of the patient. This patient had had a severe reaction to morphine after some prior medical treatment, and the family allegedly told the healthcare providers about this allergy before she went for some fairly routine type back surgery. Despite the warning, morphine was given, and the lady ended up dying as a result of this medical mistake. Time and litigation will have to flesh out what exactly happened, and whether there are legitimate defenses to this medical malpractice claim, but the allegations here smack of negligence, at least on the surface. These are the kinds of situations where a legal claim or lawsuit might be justified. A “family warning” case of a similar nature recently came through my office. In that case, a lady underwent the insertion of a dialysis catheter, by way of her jugular vein. The family warned the surgery center – during the intake session with the nurses at the hospital – that their mother had weak vessels in her neck area, a possible alternative site for the patient’s dialysis access catheter. Also, the problems with the blood vessels were known by the patient’s nephrologist, or kidney doctor (who was not to be actually performing the catheter insertion). For some reason, neck access for the catheter was attempted, a vessel was punctured, and the patient bled to death. While there is a legal argument that the puncture of the vessel was a known risk of the surgery, that does not mean that the puncture during surgery was within the “standard of care” applicable to the physician. Additionally, the records seem to reflect that nobody on the surgery team noticed the tell-tale signs that this patient was bleeding to death. Noticing the signs of the patient’s hemorrhaging internally would have allowed “converting” the surgical procedure into an “open” procedure, whereby the damage to the vessel could be located and repaired. Interestingly, the surgery center has produced some records, and they do not contain key records previously provided to the patient’s family (record reflecting the details of the “code” situation once the doctors and nurses realized this patient was in a life or death situation). At this point, this kind of possible concealment seems to reflect some serious concern about liability. When medical malpractice lawyers take on cases like this, the proper attitude to take is, of course, the attitude of getting to the truth. But when hospitals, doctors and other health care providers “hide the ball” like this, it hurts everyone. A medical negligence lawyer won’t bring a frivolous lawsuit – to do so jeopardizes the huge sums of money (the costs of the lawsuit) that the attorney risks. But if it is necessary to file a lawsuit or claim in order to even get all the records (via court order, etc.), then it makes it difficult for the lawyer to avoid having to file the lawsuit. This is also instructive in that, if you think you or a loved one has suffered negligence at the hands of a doctor, hospital, nurse or other healthcare provider, and if you are considering taking legal action or filing a legal claim as a result; you should immediately secure the medical records yourself.Informed Consent in Medical Malpractice Cases May Not Be What You Think
An interesting article about the doctrine of “informed consent” at the link in the heading of this blog is worth taking a look at. In the medical malpractice context, informed consent is not exactly what some clients think it to be. In a case I am working on now, a patient was killed (she bled to death) during surgery. This patient consented to the surgical procedure, for which there certainly were known risks and complications. The complication that occurred was the puncture of a blood vessel. This patient had signed a “consent” form, agreeing to the procedure. The patient’s family, whom I represent, were under the impression that, because this form (presented to the patient at the hospital) was signed by the patient, that any bad result from the surgery was a risk agreed to, and this family was not sure whether they had any legal right to hold accountable the hospital, doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers involved in the surgery. First, “informed consent” generally has nothing to do with the negligent performance of a surgery or other healthcare. Informed consent simply means that the medical provider informed the patient of the possible risks, complications, and bad outcomes that could result from a medical procedure – even if the doctor, nurses, or hospital acts clearly within the standard of care. Informed consent has more to do with whether these risks, complications, and bad outcomes would have caused the patient to decide not to have the procedure. If you have any sort of legal claim (or you think you may have a legal claim) against a doctor, hospital, nurse or other healthcare provider, informed consent could be an issue. I would advise consulting a lawyer who handles cases involving medical errors, medical mistakes and medical malpractice. My office provides free consultations, in many cases with registered nurses, to evaluate your possible medical malpractice legal claim, whether the case involves a wrongful death, or injury. You may contact The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant, PLLC toll free to discuss your case. We can meet with you at your convenience, to include meeting at our Fayetteville, Wilmington or Raleigh locations; or we can come to you to discuss your case.New Fetal Monitoring Standards: Relevant to Birth Injury Medical Malpractice Cases
Fetal monitoring is a critical part of any birth injury medical malpractice case. When a baby has been hurt or killed during labor or birth, a review of the fetal monitoring records is critical. Standards change as medicine evolves, of course. You can read the latest research guidelines for electronic fetal monitoring published in the September issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, at http://www.greenjournal.org/cgi/content/abstract/112/3/661. The updates and revisions to the 1997 consensus guidelines have been adopted by ACOG, AWHONN, RCOG, and SOGC. Note that there are new definitions for assessing contractions and uterine activity. Hospitals should be adopting these revised guidelines You should assume that these revised guidelines will slowly be adopted by hospitals and professional organizations.If you have a possible claim against a doctor, nurse, hospital or other healthcare provider for a medical mistake, error or medical malpractice – anywhere in North Carolina – contact my office for a free consultation. We can arrange to meet you anywhere in North Carolina, including our Raleigh, Fayetteville and Wilmington locations. Let an attorney consider your case and advise you to help you determine whether you actually have a legal claim with merit. http://www.pleasantlaw.com/practice_areas/medical-negligence-mistakes-and-malpractice.cfm
Medical Errors Attorneys and the "Medical Malpractice Crisis" - Read for the Reality
Unfortunately, Medical errors (whether in a hospital, doctor’s office or nursing home) are one of the nation's leading causes of death and injury. The Institute of Medicine reports that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die from medical errors and negligence in hospitals in the United States each year. This means that more people die from medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS. (See Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2000). 20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors. Patient Fact Sheet (AHRQ Publication No. 00-P038). Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.)It astounds many people to hear this statistic, and puts fear in some people. The reality, though, is that medical malpractice is a problem. It does no good for people to stick their heads in the sand and ignore the problem. The other reality is that attorneys who handle cases dealing with medical errors, mistakes, negligence and malpractice are necessary. One hears often about a “medical malpractice crisis,” but it appears that the crisis is in the high number of injuries and deaths that occur from errors, mistakes, negligence and malpractice – as opposed to a crisis in the number of lawsuits. Many people complain about attorneys and lawsuits, until they themselves are faced with having been severely injured or hurt; or when a loved one (perhaps one who provides critical economic support to a family) is actually killed by a medical error or negligence or abuse in a nursing home. In that case, often one finds that there is nowhere to turn, as the insurance companies are not willing to face up to the loss and compensate the medical mistake victim or that victim’s family appropriately. A dedicated lawyer is often the only way a wrongful death or injury victim can get a fair result in a medical negligence situation.
Contact my office for a consultation is you have a negligence or wrongful death claim or case against a North Carolina hospital, doctor, nurse, nursing home or other healthcare provider. You can call Toll Free, 888-435-7156. We handle cases throughout North Carolina, and can arrange to meet you anywhere. We have office locations in Raleigh, Fayetteville, and Wilmington, North Carolina.
More information on medical patient safety and medical malpractice is available at:
http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/errorsix.htm
http://www.pleasantlaw.com/practice_areas/medical-negligence-mistakes-and-malpractice.cf m
http://www.pleasantlaw.com/practice_areas/nursing-home-abuse-neglect1.cfm
Medical Malpractice Article: "Not Worth the Pain and Suffering" - a Surprise from the Business Community?
A recent Forbes article about medical malpractice lawsuits caught me by surprise. The article is at http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2008/0915/034.html and makes a compelling argument against “tort reform.” Specifically, “reform” that limits the amount of money plaintiffs in medical malpractice claims (including, arguably, nursing home abuse and negligence claims). Although North Carolina has not been affected by caps on “non-economic” damages, the threat looms. Coming from a business magazine like Forbes should be encouraging to those who care about the realities involved in cases of medical negligence/mistakes against hospitals, doctors, and other healthcare providers. The reality is that there are many cases where legal action for injury or wrongful death resulting from negligent healthcare is more than justified; and necessary in order to help encourage real “reform” (reform in industries where injuries and death are too commonplace due to negligence, carelessness and indifference). There are many great hospitals, doctors and other healthcare providers out there. But there are some who are incompetent and dangerous. The government has neither the will nor the resources to combat/police the bad and dangerous ones; and civil litigation has been, and will likely continue to be, one of the most effective ways to fight the problems that underlie many medical malpractice lawsuits. Often in these cases, the medical mistake at issue was entirely preventable; but because of “forces” in the industry (money/insurance pressures, e.g.) no solution was ever seriously considered, and certainly not implemented.For more information on nursing home injury, abuse, neglect and wrongful death, visit http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2008/0915/034.html. More information about medical mistakes, negligence, and errors, see http://www.pleasantlaw.com/practice_areas/medical-negligence-mistakes-and-malpractice.cfm.
If you have a possible claim against a nursing home, doctor, nurse, hospital or other healthcare provider for a medical mistake, error or medical malpractice – anywhere in North Carolina – contact my office for a free consultation. We can arrange to meet you anywhere in North Carolina, including our Raleigh, Fayetteville and Wilmington locations. I can help you determine whether your claim is valid and worth pursuing.
Cost of Medical Care for Injured, But Surviving, Victims of Medical Negligence
By North Carolina Injury and Wrongful Death Attorney Thomas Pleasant. A $25 Million jury award in the northeast reflects why, in some cases, economic damages can be extremely high. http://www.nj.com/timesoftrenton/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1225425982210880.xml&coll=5 ). This medical malpractice failure to diagnose case involved brain damage injuries resulting from the failure to diagnose a brain aneurysm, which ended up not killing the patient, but impairing his brain function severely. Caring for a severely brain-injured person can involve astronomical medical expenses, and the jury’s verdict, no doubt, reflected the amount shown to be necessary to care for this victim of medical negligence. In cases such as these, generally a “life care planner” will testify as to the injured victim’s future medical care and expense needs. This particular medical malpractice victim will, for one thing, require 24-hour a day skilled nursing home care. As I have mentioned in other blog entries (see my "Personal Injury and Wrongful Death" blog at http://www.pleasantlaw.com/blog/?catid=564, attorneys handling medical negligence and mistake cases against doctors, hospitals, nurses, and other healthcare providers understand why verdicts can be so high; unfortunately, many people misunderstand and fall into the hands of those arguing for “tort reform.” The jury obviously understood why so much money was necessary in this case in order to make up for the harms and losses of this injured victim. Many people mistakenly think that juries are more likely to include large amounts of money in their verdicts when someone has been wrongfully killed by medical mistakes or negligence (a “wrongful death” lawsuit”); but the reality is that the amount of money for harms and losses for an injured, but surviving, victim is often more. Again, this is due to the high cost of future medical expenses and care. If you have questions about a North Carolina wrongful death or injury case or lawsuit, whether related to medical care or nursing home care in North Carolina, contact my office for a free consultation. We will come to you, no matter where you are in North Carolina, in the appropriate cases. We also offer consultations in our Fayetteville, Wilmington, and Raleigh North Carolina Sattellite locations. For more information, please visit:http://www.pleasantlaw.com/
http://www.pleasantlaw.com/practice_areas/medical-negligence-mistakes-and-malpractice.cfm
http://www.pleasantlaw.com/practice_areas/nursing-home-abuse-neglect1.cfm
Cap on Medical Malpractice Damages in Medical Negligence Cases Criticized
By Thomas Pleasant, North Carolina Injury and Wrongful Death Attorney. A western state’s medical negligence law implementing caps on damages in cases involving bad medical care has been criticized recently (see http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10873457?nclick_check=1 ). Caps on damages in these cases, as a practical matter, often leave victims hurt or killed by doctors, hospitals and nurses with little recourse for compensation for their injuries. Medical error attorneys interviewed for this article pointed out, among other things, that they have been forced to stop taking many otherwise legitimate cases; and that the reason that there are so many medical malpractice lawsuits (for injuries and wrongful death) is because there are just so many medical mistakes and errors that rise to the level of medical malpractice. In any event, it is an interesting read, and deals with what is obviously a hot topic today. The American Association for Justice (AAJ) has some interesting stuff on its website about the myths that have lead the American public to believe that we have a lawsuit crisis. Go to http://www.justice.org/cps/rde/xchg/justice/hs.xsl/2011.htm for that information. If you think you or someone you love has been wrongly hurt or killed by a hospital or doctor, my law firm can help you evaluate your case and figure out whether you have reason to try and get compensation through the judicial system. We handle cases throughout North Carolina involving medical malpractice, negligence and medical mistakes and errors. We also handle nursing home injury, abuse, neglect and wrongful death cases. You can contact my firm Toll Free at 888.435.7156. Visit the other areas of my website at www.pleasantlaw.com.
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