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Medical Negligence, Mistakes and Malpractice

6/1/2008
Thomas Pleasant
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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.
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The Law Offices of Thomas Waitt Pleasant, PLLC
427 Franklin Street
Fayetteville, NC 28301

Toll Free: 888-HELP-156
Phone: (910) 323-3250