Attorney Blogs » Medical Malpractice

Heart Disease Misdiagnosis Can Lead to Serious Injury

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:00:03 +0000

Heart disease kills more women each year than all types of cancer combined. It also takes the lives of millions of men. For too many people, the first sign of heart disease is a heart attack or other serious heart condition, which can be fatal. February is Heart Health Month, and if you have risk factors for heart disease, it’s important to get a first and even a second opinion from a qualified physician to preve [...]

How Maryland Patients Can Help Prevent Prescription Medication Errors

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:00:39 +0000

According to a 2006 Washington Post report, at least 1.5 million Americans are sickened, injured, or killed every year due to avoidable prescription medication errors. These often dangerous prescriptions errors can effect: product labeling and packaging; dispensing of medicine; education; monitoring and use; compounding; and prescribing. In addition, mistakes in administering drugs are so common in hospitals that, [...]

Study Finds Medical Errors Affect 1 in 3 During U.S. Hospital Stay

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:52:44 +0000

Tweet According to a 2011 study, one out of every three people in the United States will experience some form of medical mistake during a hospital stay. The study tracked errors using previously unused measurement for hospital error developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Massachusetts in three different hospitals and discovered rates that were 10 times higher [...]

Wrong-Site Surgery Continues to be a Problem Despite Medical Procedures

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:52:40 +0000

Tweet Despite mandatory rules introduced in 2004 by the Joint Commission (the Chicago-based group that accredits the hospitals in the United States) to help prevent wrong-site or wrong-patient surgeries, these types of surgical errors are continuing to adversely affect the lives of patients. According to a Washington Post article, the Joint Commission estimates that wrong-site [...]

Breast Cancer Awareness and the Importance of Accurate, Timely Diagnosis

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:52:32 +0000

Tweet The National Cancer Institute estimates that by the end of 2011, there will be over 230,000 new cases of female breast cancer and over 39,000 deaths because of the disease in the United States. October was National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), helping promote awareness and understanding of a disease affecting hundreds of thousands of women every day. Breast canc [...]

Could “Distracted Doctoring” Lead to Malpractice?

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:19:41 +0000

An increasing number of medical professionals are playing with their cell phones, iPads, and other technological devices while also tending to patients, a situation that might result in dangerous medical mistakes due to inattention, according to a recent article in Information Week. Recently, The New York Times cited several examples of doctors, nurses, and other professionals using gadgets for personal reasons wh [...]

Bronx Family Files Suit Against Hospital Over Son’s Suicide

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:19:37 +0000

The New York Daily News reports that the mother of a man from the Bronx is suing the hospital where her son was being treated for depression, paranoia, and being suicidal. The 30-year-old man was allowed to leave the hospital, despite being a danger to himself, and leapt off a building to his death just days after being released. According to the man’s sister, he went to the hospital because he was very depress [...]

Staten Island Man Receives $5.4 Million in Medical Malpractice Suit

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:18:40 +0000

“I’m happy [about the verdict] but I’d give every dime back to walk,” says a Staten Island man who recently won a multimillion-dollar medical malpractice suit. According to a story on silive.com, following a health episode in 2006, the man was taken to the hospital where he required sedation and intubation. His doctors diagnosed him with encephalopathy, meaning brain dysfunction. The man was already suff [...]

Medical Malpractice Debates in New York Focus on Tort Reform and Patient Safety

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:18:36 +0000

There has been extensive debate in New York recently about its medical malpractice insurance crisis, according to The Times Union. Though some studies have shown that implementing certain safety protocols can decrease malpractice premiums, specifically in obstetrics, realists understand that a true solution to the malpractice crisis is not so simple. Many believe tort reform is essential to overcoming the malpracti [...]

New York Department of Health Helps Patients Make Smart Physician Choices

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:13:24 +0000

The New York Department of Health offers several resources for patients to use when choosing a doctor. By learning about a physician’s education, licensing, background, and complaint history, patients can make choices that help steer them away from the risks of medical malpractice and the serious injuries that can result. First, New York residents can search the Department of Health’s physician records to fin [...]

How to Report Physician Malpractice to the New York Department of Health

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:13:20 +0000

When a physician or other health care professional fails to use reasonable care to treat a patient, New York law gives the injured patient certain legal rights and options. Along with the choice to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, patients may report physician misconduct to the New York Department of Health. The New York Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct investigates complaints aga [...]

Woman Suffers Fatal Injuries during Abortion

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:13:17 +0000

A 37-year-old single mother of four died after a botched abortion at a clinic in New York City. According to a news report, the doctor performing the abortion severed an artery during the woman's procedure. This medical mistake led to massive bleeding and eventually cardiac arrest. The patient was transported to a nearby hospital where she died. The clinic is apparently under investigation by the New York State Med [...]

Rhode Island Hospital Fined for Wrong-Site Surgery

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:10:27 +0000

The Associated Press reports that Rhode Island's largest hospital was recently fined $150,000 and ordered to install video cameras in all its operating rooms after surgeons at the hospital performed their fifth wrong-site surgery since 2007. This is Rhode Island Hospital's second fine for wrong-site surgeries. The hospital was also fined $50,000 after its brain surgeons operated on the wrong part of the heads of th [...]

Family Filed Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Hospital

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:10:23 +0000

Medical errors, especially those that involve prescription mistakes, are extremely tragic. They result in unnecessary injuries and sometimes even death. These are injuries and deaths that can be easily prevented by having supervision implemented and strict adherence to rules and regulations. But the reality is that prescription errors occur far too often in New York City hospitals and elsewhere in the United States [...]

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Settled Against New York City Hospital

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:10:18 +0000

The family of a woman who died on a hospital floor struggling to get up while staffers ignored her, has settled a New York wrongful death lawsuit against New York City for $2 million, according to this news report in the Insurance Journal. Esmin Green's death was recorded on a hospitals security video. Green, a 49-year-old psychiatric patient, was apparently waiting for 24 hours at the city-owned Kings County Hospi [...]

Malpractice Suit Filed Following Dental Procedure-Related Death of MD Teen

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:50:26 +0000

A 17-year-old Maryland teen died in April from complications that occurred during a routine wisdom teeth removal, and now her parents are seeking to hold the medical professionals responsible for the devastating death of their daughter. According to the Daily Mail, the parents of the deceased teen have now filed a medical malpractice suit against the oral surgeon and anesthetist claiming they were negligent and fai [...]

Maryland Cardiologist Falsified Patient Medical Records, Among other Breaches of Duty

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:50:23 +0000

An Eastern Shore cardiologist convicted of healthcare fraud, among other charges, by a federal jury in July has been sentenced to 8 years in prison by a United States District Court. The now retired doctor was convicted for implanting needless cardiac stents in patients at Salisbury’s Peninsula Regional Medical Center, falsifying patient records, and then billing private and public insurers hundreds of thousands [...]

Maryland Hospital Evaluation Guide Can Help Patients Avoid Medical Errors

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:50:20 +0000

Hospitals are a place of healing, but hospital errors sometimes lead to severe disfigurement, life-long complications, and even loss of life. Patients need to be careful in how they select a hospital, as the number of Maryland hospital errors may vary greatly from one facility to another. The Maryland Health Care Commission published the Maryland Hospital Performance Evaluation Guide to help patients and their fami [...]

National Medical Malpractice Database No Longer Public

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:59:12 +0000

Most states have a database that allows the public and reporters to check on the number of medical malpractice claims of a physician and to see how often, if at all, they have been disciplined. Now one of the services has been blocked and consumers and three journalism groups are protesting. The National Practitioner Data Bank was a reliable national source on medical malpractice and is largely used by reporters an [...]

Medical Residents’ Hours will be Limited to Reduce Medical Errors

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:59:10 +0000

A number of studies have estimated that there are about 98,000 preventable and fatal medical errors performed by healthcare personnel every year. Whether a medication error, a failure to diagnose and treat, or a wrong diagnosis, sometimes people are killed when they put their trust in hospitals, doctors, and nurses. Beside medication errors, medical malpractice can occur at the hands of doctors-in-training, called [...]

Baby’s Death Highlights Risks Associated with Electronic Medical Data

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:59:08 +0000

With the shift toward computerized medical records to reduce medical malpractice, this story in The Los Angeles Times shows that human error can still influence a patient’s outcome. A baby was born 16 weeks premature in a hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, when a pharmacy technician typed the wrong information into a computer screen. The baby received an automatic intravenous solution of sodium chloride – mo [...]

Bill Passed by Florida Legislature to Make it More Difficult for Victims to Sue for Medical Malpractice

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:59:06 +0000

Patients injured by incidents of medical malpractice in Florida will find it more difficult to hold the hospital or medical staff accountable thanks to a bill recently passed by the Florida Legislature. The bill, which is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott, will make it more difficult for victims of medical malpractice to bring medical witnesses from outside Florida to testify as an expert. House Bi [...]

Jacksonville Woman Files Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Against Naval Hospital

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:59:05 +0000

A 72-year-old Jacksonville woman has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Naval Air Station Jacksonville Hospital for what she says was a preventable medical error that left her partially disabled, reports First Coast News. The woman went in to have a mass removed around her kidney last May and was told she’d be in the hospital for a few days. Instead she was there for four months after her attorney sa [...]

New Study Finds Hospital Errors Occur 10 Times More Than Reported

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:59:03 +0000

MSN reports that about 90 percent of hospital errors are going unreported by hospitals and federal regulators. A study published in the journal Health Affairs provides a snapshot of just how underreported incidents of medication errors, pressure sores, and staph infections are. A review discovered 354 adverse events like bloodstream infections, pressure sores, and medication errors at three teaching hospitals in th [...]

Are Electronic Medical Records Safe?

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:59:01 +0000

Are electronic medical records the answer to reducing medical errors and increasing patient safety? Almost two years ago, President Obama promised $19 billion to help the nation’s hospitals change over to a paperless system but it still hasn’t happened, and now there are some doubts whether or not electronic records are really an improvement over paper ones. The Institute of Medicine created a 16-member panel [...]

Survey Finds Adverse Events in Hospitals Kill 15,000 Medicare Patients a Month

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:58:59 +0000

Adverse events in hospital care is killing an estimated 15,000 Medicare patients every month, or one in seven hospitalized Medicare patients, according to a government survey released Tuesday, November 16 and reported by USA Today. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) conducted a survey of adverse events in hospitals studied a representative sample of 780 Medicare patients discharged from hospitals i [...]

Why it is Crucial to Seek a Second Opinion for Surgery

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:58:57 +0000

In the early 1980s, Dr. Thomas Graboys, a doctor at Harvard Medical School, was highly sought out for second options by patients across the United States who had been told they needed to undergo bypass surgery because they had a high risk of suffering a heart attack. Graboys often cited a study done by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which followed patients for five years who were experiencing blood v [...]

Harvard Limits Conflicts with Big Pharma

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:58:55 +0000

During the past year, there have been embarrassing stories coming out of universities, some of them Ivy League, about medical doctors who are paid consultants for major pharmaceutical companies. An article on Boston.com stated that Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa has uncovered many conflicts between academia and business, and Harvard and Emory physicians have reportedly broken the university rules for reporting the a [...]

Lack of Insurance Increases Inpatient Death Risk

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:51:46 +0000

An article in the Seattle Times describes the difference in hospital treatments of uninsured or under-insured people in hospitals compared to those with full insurance. Not having an insurance card can have hazardous effects on a patient’s health, even inside a hospital, as two recent studies show. One study, conducted by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, focused on hospital mortality rates fo [...]

Americans Get Most Radiation from Too Many Medical Scans

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:51:45 +0000

A recent story by the Associated Press revealed that Americans get most of their radiation not from cell phones, microwaves or airport scanners, but from going through medical scans. While we do get some radiation from these and other sources, a huge part of it is due to too many medical tests.Americans get the most medical radiation in the world, said the story, even more than people in other Western countries. H [...]

Da Vinci Robot Linked to New Hampshire Hospital Injuries

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:51:44 +0000

At least two patients at the Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, NH were injured by the da Vinci surgical robot, a $1.4 million machine named after Leonardo da Vinci, prompting an investigation of Intuitive Surgical Inc, the company that markets the robot, The Wall Street Journal reports. According to the WSJ, the da Vinci robot is used in 853 US hospitals to perform minimally invasive surgery, though some [...]

Medications Can Affect Diagnoses

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:51:43 +0000

In today’s prescription happy world, there is usually a pill for anything and everything. Start taking too many and you could end up with symptoms or side effects that could be masking the real problem. You might not even know if the symptoms you are experiencing are from your medications or symptoms of a new medical issue. It has been shown that some medications can actually be responsible for causing certa [...]

One Way to Tell a Misdiagnosis

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:51:42 +0000

No one likes the thought of a misdiagnosis; however, some patients never really know that they weren’t properly diagnosed in the first place. Unfortunately it is usually during an autopsy when most misdiagnoses are finally revealed. When an autopsy is conducted, there are clinical findings. Doctors can compare the autopsy report with the diagnoses the patient has in their medical chart to see if they agree. [...]

Pain Treatment Inadequate for Burn Victims

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:51:41 +0000

Treating the pain of burn victims is a tricky situation. Not only does the burn patient experience pain simply from the burn, but often the cleaning and redressing of the wound will cause even more pain. Current narcotics administered via IV may be woefully inadequate. Information on WebMd.com indicates that more research needs to be conducted on pain management in burn victims. Other treatment methods may in [...]

Sleep Disorders: Not Readily Diagnosed

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:51:40 +0000

According to Wrong Diagnosis.com, “The failure to diagnose a condition is one of the most common types of misdiagnosis.” One condition that is routinely not diagnosed is a sleep disorder. In the same report it goes on to state that sleep disorders are the number two condition that is failed to be diagnosed. It is estimated that roughly 40 million people could have sleep disorders that haven’t bee [...]

Are You Sure it’s Alzheimer’s?

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:51:39 +0000

Misdiagnoses and mistakes happen often. Doctors get busy and sometimes they don’t remember all the details of a patient’s case or have all the necessary information for a complete diagnosis. So when the doctor says grandpa or grandma has Alzheimer’s, it may not really be so. Some medications can mimic the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. It is important to make sure your doctor is aware of all t [...]

Medical Malpractice and the Rise of Health Care Expenditures

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:51:38 +0000

The impact of medical malpractice on health care costs is immense, with figures climbing every year.Complications associated with surgical or medical errors are a leading cause of death in the United States, with as many as 98,000 fatalities annually. Many of these cases will generate medical malpractice lawsuits, which cost the victims’ families, insurers and doctors. Insurance companies and medical professi [...]

When to Consider a Medical Malpractice Claim

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:51:36 +0000

Being unsatisfied with medical care does not always represent a reason for initiating a malpractice lawsuit. Every medical treatment is subject to risk, level of provider expertise, and just plain good or bad luck.Consider the facts and then call a medical malpractice attorney to answer your questions definitively on whether or not you have reasonable grounds for litigation.Which of these scenarios is a possible re [...]

PA Patient Safety Authority Provides Tips on Choosing Healthcare Providers

admin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:00:11 +0000

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority provides detailed information on healthcare providers throughout Pennsylvania, including hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and nursing homes. If you or a loved one needs medical care or will be staying in a nursing home, the Patient Safety Authority provides the following tips for choosing the best facility for your needs. The Patient Safety Authority and other regulatory [...]

Patient Paralyzed After Misdiagnosis Sues Hospital

admin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 02:00:08 +0000

Frances Miller of Fayette County, PA has filed a lawsuit against Highlands Hospital, claiming she was paralyzed after a bacterial spine infection was misdiagnosed when she visited the hospital’s ER. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that an on-call doctor didn’t discover her infection until more than 24 hours later, which was too late. Tragedies like these are not uncommon. An article in the Journal of the [...]

Plastic Surgeons Appeal Denied in PA Medical Malpractice Case

admin — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 02:00:04 +0000

The Delaware County Times reports that a PA appeals court denied an appeal from a plastic surgeon from King of Prussia in a Pennsylvania medical malpractice case. The family of Amy Fledderman was awarded $20.5 million after they filed a suit against Richard P. Glunk. Fledderman died from complications from liposuction surgery and the jury found Glunk liable for Pennsylvania medical malpractice. Surgical errors ar [...]

PA Woman Sues Hospital and Doctors for Medical Malpractice

admin — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 02:00:12 +0000

The Centre Daily Times reports that Judith Meyers, a 70-year-old woman from Centre Hall, PA, filed a lawsuit against the Mount Nittany Medical Center, Healthsouth Nittany Valley Rehabilitation as well as several doctors. The lawsuit claims that they did not order tests in time that could potentially have diagnosed a tumor. An emergency surgery left her paralyzed. Pennsylvania nedical malpractice includes misdiagno [...]

Media, PA Woman Awarded $5 Million in Malpractice Suit

admin — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 01:00:23 +0000

Kimberly Reed of Media, PA was awarded $5 million in damages after she filed a suit against a Ridley Park dermatologist. According an article in the Delaware County Times, her suit claims that her cancer was not diagnosed in its early stages by her dermatologist. Her face became disfigured from multiple surgeries for cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, skin cancer is the most commo [...]

Lancaster Wrongful Death Leads to Hospital Malpractice Lawsuit

admin — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:00:10 +0000

A 70-year-old man died after he jumped out of a window at Lancaster General Hospital. According to this article, his family is suing the hospital and two doctors who cared for him. Last summer, the man threw himself through a closed, eighth-story window at the Duke Street hospital and died. He had been hospitalized there for mental health problems. He had a history of seizures and anxiety. He threatened to leave t [...]

Patient Dies of Medication Overdose Due to Hospital Negligence

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:00:02 +0000

According to this article on Maineville.com, a Mayo Regional patient received 10 times the needed epinephrine. The article reported that Timothy Harvey, 51, went to the hospital’s emergency room on June 4. He was suffering from an allergic reaction and died early the next morning from a massive overdose of medication mistakenly administered by hospital staff. The hospital’s CEO said it takes full responsibi [...]

Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Suits Decline

admin — Thu, 13 May 2010 01:00:03 +0000

A recent article in The Legal Intelligencer discusses an annual court study which reveals that a 44% drop in the amount of medical malpractice filings has occurred. This decline is attributed to reform procedures initiated by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2003. The article mentions that PA medical malpractice cases must be filed in counties where the alleged malpractice and subsequent patient harm occurred. In [...]

Erie Hospital Ran Out of Blood, Death Lawsuit Says

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:57 +0000

A woman says that her 46-year-old husband died because an Erie hospital ran out of blood while treating him after a motorcycle crash. The man was a high school wrestling coach. According to this article by the Associated Press, the woman has sued Hamot Medical Center in Erie, PA saying the hospital had only 16 units of blood available when her husband died of pelvic bleeding after the crash on July 24, 2008. The a [...]

Possible Prostate Case Error at Penn Hospital

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:55 +0000

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania reported a possible radiation error involving the treatment of a man for prostate cancer. According to this article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a patient underwent a prostate brachytherapy procedure on Jan. 21 to implant 65 radioactive seeds to kill cancer cells in the acorn-size gland. On a follow-up scan on Feb. 23, doctors saw that the seeds were “outside the in [...]

PA Hospital Sued Over Failure to Admit Patient

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:52 +0000

According to this article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was sued in federal court for allegedly refusing to accept Marcus Murray because he lacked health insurance. Murray needed emergency surgery to treat a tear in a major artery. Marcus and his wife, Jean, claim that Penn initially said it would accept Mr. Murray’s transfer from Underwood Memorial Hospital in Glou [...]

Philadelphia Doctors License Suspended after Patient Dies

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:49 +0000

State authorities suspended Kermit B. Gosnell’s medical license, a doctor whose practice in West Philadelphia was raided by federal drug agents. According to an article on Philly.com, the suspension was issued by the State Board of Medicine and came after a search of Women’s Medical Society practice. The suspension order says the conditions of the clinic were “deplorable and unsanitary.” The order called [...]

FDA Orders National Review of Hospital Scanners

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:41 +0000

Patients not only have their health to worry about, but they also have to concern themselves with the medical devices that are used to diagnose and treat their ailments. According to an Latimes.com report, the well publicized CT Scan malfunction which resulted in accidental radiation overdosing to patients could be a national dilemma.The FDA found that a 3rd L.A area hospital, Providence St. Joseph, has overdosed 3 [...]

Cedars-Sinai Overdoses at Least 206 CT Scan Patients With Radiation

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:39 +0000

Most Pennsylvanians have heard the news of a hospital in Los Angeles, California that accidentally exposed CT scans patients to dangerous levels of radiation. Officials believe that patients received up to 8 times the prescribed dosage at the Cedars-Sinai hospital. The troubling revelation has many experts proclaiming that there is too much reliance on medical machinery in the health industry and that this is a g [...]

Family to Sue Aria Over Waiting-Room Death

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:37 +0000

The family of the late Latino musician Joaquin Rivera is preparing to sue Aria Health System. According to an article in the Philadelphia Daily News, the state Department of Health released a report detailing numerous staff policy violations that occurred on Nov. 28, the night Rivera had a fatal heart attack in the waiting room of Aria Health’s Frankford campus. Rivera, 63, sat dead for more than 40 minutes and w [...]

Trial Begins in Medical Malpractice Suit for Penn Students Meningitis Death

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:35 +0000

The trial is going to begin in a medical malpractice lawsuit following the death of a University of Pennsylvania sophomore. She died in September 2007 of meningitis. According to an article on Philly.com, her family claims that the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was negligent in performing a lumbar puncture on a patient with brain swelling, and that her brain herniated, killing her. The hospital mainta [...]

Patient Sues N.J. Oncologist Over Hepatitis Infection

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:34 +0000

A patient sued a New Jersey oncologist who health officials suspect was responsible for a hepatitis B outbreak this year. According to this article by the Associated Press on Philly.com, one man from Manchester, NJ said he contracted the disease after being treated for prostate cancer at the office of suspected doctor this year and last year. The affected man sued the doctor for medical malpractice in a state cou [...]

VA Hospital Errors Affect Vets, Claims Being Filed

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:32 +0000

An attorney from Nashville is preparing to file claims with the VA for about 60 veterans. According to this article by the Associated Press on Philly.com, he is going to ask the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to pay disability benefits and damages for hospital mistakes that may have exposed veterans to infectious body fluids. The veterans have tested positive for HIV and hepatitis and others have suffered emo [...]

Lawsuit Against Dentist Who Dropped Tools Down Man’s Throat

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:29 +0000

A Florida dentist is being sued for allegedly dropping tools down the throat of an elderly patient - twice. According to an article, relatives of the 90-year-old man recently filed the suit in circuit court accusing the dentist of negligence. The lawsuit that the elderly man’s family filed claimed that the doctor dropped an “implant screwdriver tool” in 2006 and a “mini-wrench” in 2007. The suit also sa [...]

Settlement Reached for 2nd Kentucky Widow Over Husbands VA Death

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:27 +0000

Darla Marshall, the second of two Kentucky widows, settled a federal lawsuit over surgical care she said killed her husband at an Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital. Major surgeries at this hospital have been halted for nearly two years after a spike in patient deaths. According to an Associated Press article that appeared on Philly.com, the terms of the settlement over 61-year-old James Marshall’s July 2007 blo [...]

Pa. Doctor in VA Cancer Treatment Probe Testifies

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:26 +0000

Dr. Gary Kao, an oncologist blamed for botching cancer treatments at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said he is not the type of physician he’s been portrayed to be. According to this article on www.delcotimes.com Kao testified on June 29 at a congressional hearing at the medical center in Philadelphia. Kao says the treatment, which involves implanting radioactive seeds in the prostate, “was an [...]

Chelation Heart Disease Study Investigated by Government

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:22 +0000

The government is investigating if heart attack survivors enrolled in a controversial federal study of an alternative treatment were told about possible health risks. According to this article, the $30 million study with 1,500 participants, is one of the largest alternative medicine experiments. It tests high doses of vitamin and mineral supplements and chelation, a treatment used for lead poisoning. It has not be [...]

$2.185M PA Medical Malpractice Award Due to Unread X-ray

admin — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:37:18 +0000

On May 13, a jury awarded Rosalyn James $2.185 million in a Philadelphia medical malpractice suit against St. Joseph’s Hospital and two emergency-room physicians. Her husband, Zachary James, died at the North Philadelphia hospital when his heart stopped beating on April 20, 2006. According to this article in the Philadelphia Daily News, Mrs. James filed a lawsuit claiming her husband’s death may have been prev [...]