Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

In the medical community they are called “never events”–mistakes that are so basic there is absolutely no excuse for them ever being committed. The prototype “never event” is a wrong-site surgery. This refers to situations where a surgeon performs the wrong operation, on the wrong part of the body, or on the wrong patient. Amazingly, these egregious errors are not nearly as rare as some might suspect. They occur far too often, usually when medical professionals cut corners and engage in lax safety protocols.

Wrong Operation

Just last month, a story from General Surgery News explained how one young boy was forced to undergo a second operation on his tongue because of one of these unacceptable medical errors. The report noted that that the doctor performed the wrong operation on the tongue to remove a growth. When asked about the error the doctor pointed fingers at others, suggesting that his staff should have told him to perform a “time out”–a waiting period to check on the basics before proceeding with an operation. Also, he admitted not to having seen the patient before the operation.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

A Baltimore City jury recently returned a $1.42 million dollar verdict against local OB/GYN, Maureen Muoneke, M.D., in a case arising out of the removal of the wrong ovary of one of her long-time patients, Nadege Neim. During the trial, STSW lawyers successfully demonstrated that Dr. Muoneke had been treating Ms. Neim over the course of several years after having diagnosed her with a dermoid cyst on her left ovary. A dermoid cyst is a solid mass/growth on the ovary that contains such things as hair, teeth, glands and other sebacious materials. Dermoid cysts are well known to cause tortion (twisting) of the ovary which can result in loss of blood flow and death of the ovary and cancer. In addition, dermoid cysts are known to rupture, resulting in the spillage of the materials inside the cyst into the abdominal cavity causing severe chemical peritonitis, and even death. In August 2010, Dr. Muoneke recommended to Ms. Neim that she have the left dermoid cyst removed to avoid any future complications with any pregnancies. At the time, Ms. Neim was 29 years old. On September 22, 2010, Dr. Muoneke took Ms. Neim to surgery for the removal of the left dermoid cyst and possibly the left ovary in total if it proved too difficult to remove the cyst without damaging the healthy part of the ovary. Unfortunately, during the operation, Dr. Muoneke negligently removed Ms. Neim’s right ovary, her only completely healthy ovary. Perhaps more disturbingly, following the surgery, Dr. Muoneke never told Ms. Neim that she had removed the right ovary as opposed to the left ovary and never told her that she still had the dermoid cyst in her body. In fact, it was not until a month later that Ms. Neim found out through a routine CT scan at another hospital that her right ovary had been removed. Shockingly, when Ms. Neim attempted to contact Dr. Muoneke to discuss the CT scan results, Dr. Muoneke never returned her calls and refused to release Ms. Neim’s medical records to her. Following the filing of the lawsuit, STSW attorneys discovered, through the process of subpoenaing Dr. Muoneke’s records, that Dr. Muoneke had altered/changed at least two of Ms. Neim’s medical records from prior to the surgery to reflect the fact that Ms. Neim had complained of right sided pelvic pain prior to the surgery. This was a clear attempt to justify why she had removed the right ovary. At trial, Dr. Muoneke offered no explanation as to why there were two versions of Ms. Neim’s records, one that contained no complaints of right sided pelvic pain prior to surgery, and the doctored version that did contain those complaints. As a result of these efforts to cover her tracks, as well as the clear evidence of medical negligence in this case, the jury returned a verdict of $1.42 million in favor of Ms. Neim.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

A recent study published by physicians at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has found that a disturbing increase in the number medical mistakes / medical errors on patients while in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). According to the study, as many as 40,500 patients die annually in intensive care units across the United States due to misdiagnoses while in the ER. In fact, the JHU School of Medicine study found that when that number of fatalities is compared to the overall number of adult fatalities at hospitals, patients in the ICU face almost a 2 times greater risk of misdiagnosis. According to the study, the most commonly missed conditions in the ICU were heart conditions, pulmonary embolism, infections and pneumonia. In addition, other recent studies have pointed to the fact that longer periods of delirium suffered by patients in the ICU that goes unnoticed may result in permanent brain injuries or other cognitive impairments. Finally, still another study found that 45% of all injuries occurring in the ICU were preventable and that 90% of those errors occurred in the context of the provision of routine care – care that should not result in injury.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

A recent Wall Street Journal Article featuring an interview with a noted Johns Hopkins Hospital surgeon has highlighted the somewhat shocking frequency with which medical mistakes are made in health care facilities across America, many of which go unnoticed. In fact, as the author points out, if medical errors were a disease unto itself, they would be the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. Some of the figures and numbers are noteworthy, and here are a few, according to the article’s author:

• Surgeons across the U.S.operate on the wrong body part 40 times per week;
• 25% of all hospitalized patients are harmed by a medical error;
• 20-30% of all medications, tests and procedures are unnecessary

These errors are costly, not only to human life and limb, but also to the health care system, totaling tens of billions of dollars a year.

According to the author’s interview with the Johns Hopkins surgeon, one of the systemic problems giving rise to these errors is an unspoken culture in hospitals to overlook the mistakes of their colleagues. As a result, physicians and hospitals are able to escape accountability and complication rates continue to escalate. In response to this prevailing culture, many physicians are now advocating more transparency of the commission of medical errors to help educate the public and provide them critical information to assist them in choosing a physician and hospital to provide them care. These health care providers advocate the publishing “online” of such information including rates for infection; readmission due to complications, surgical complications, “never event” errors (things like leaving a sponge inside a patient following surgery), patient satisfaction scores and the hospital’s annual volume for a particular procedure.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

The family of a 75-year-old woman recently settled a medical malpractice / medical negligence lawsuit for $1.5 million against a hospital and radiology technician who performed a CT scan on the woman despite the fact that she had previously experienced a reaction to the contrast (Intravenous Pyelogram or IVP) dye. Despite completing a questionnaire that indicated she had, in the past, experienced a severe adverse reaction to the dye, the radiology technician nevertheless injected her with the dye. As a result, the woman began to experience laryngeal edema (swelling) which, in turn, caused her to suffocate and die. The family alleged that the technician was negligent because he knew she had experienced an allergic reaction previously.

It is well known that people taking beta blockers have an increased risk of serious allergic reaction to IVP dye. In addition, some researchers have discovered the persons with allergies to shellfish and seafood account for up to 15% of the population that have reactions to IVP dye. Histories of asthma or hay fever may also increase one’s risk for a reaction. Recent studies indicate that serious allergic reactions occur in 1.2 to 1.5 percent of the population with life threatening reactions occurring in approximately .1 to .5 percent of people. Even the administration of a small dose of the dye can trigger a fatal reaction. In many cases, if the administration of IVP dye is essential to the diagnostic requirements, these individuals are often prescribed corticosteroids to reduce inflammation before receiving the dye. Perhaps most importantly, health care providers who inject IVP must have life-saving equipment at hand that is in working order and be trained to use it in an emergency. In the event of an adverse reaction, treatment must include airway maintenance with oxygen administration; administration of medications to reduce bronchospams; and intravenous fluids to help maintain blood pressure.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

A Wisconsin jury recently returned a $13.9 million dollar verdict against a mid-wife and her affiliated hospital in a lawsuit that alleged the mid-wife failed to administer appropriate levels of Pitocin to a mother and then failed to perform a timely cesarean section when the baby’s heart rate became non-reassuring. The plaintiff underwent induction of labor and was admitted to the hospital in active labor. She failed to progress for the first two hours and the mid-wife began Pitocin (a drug used to stimulate delivery). Over the next 12 hours, the mid-wife approved increasing doses. The baby’s heart rate slowly dropped and she was ultimately born in a severely depressed condition. She was subsequently diagnosed with cerebral palsy, cannot walk without the aid of walker and has serious cognitive deficits. As a result of the wide ranging deficits that cerebral palsy can cause, lawyers tasked with representing parents whose baby has developed cerebral palsy following the negligence of a health care provider, must have the resources necessary to retain experts in various medical fields necessary to accurately and comprehensively address the baby’s needs for the rest of his/her lifetime. Those experts can include health care providers in the fields of neonatology; pediatrics; neurodevelopmentalists; neurologists; orthopedic specialists; opthamologists; physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists; vocational rehabilitation counselors; life care planners and economists. It is therefore important that you choose a lawyer who has established ties to health care providers in these fields so as to maximize any potential recovery in your case.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Recently, a Prince George’s County, Maryland jury returned a verdict of $20.9 million in a lawsuit brought by the parents of a minor child who suffered a left brachial plexus injury with nerve root disruption during his delivery that was complicated by shoulder dystocia. The term “shoulder dystocia” describes a circumstance in which, after the delivery of the baby’s head, the front shoulder of the infant will not pass below the mother’s pubic symphysis and/or requires significant manipulation to get it to pass below the pubic symphysis. Shoulder dystocia is considered an obstetrical emergency because fetal death can occur if the baby is not delivered timely due to the umbilical cord getting compressed while in the birth canal or wrapping around the baby’s neck and suffocating him/her. Shoulder dystocias typically occur in roughly 1% of all pregnancies. Certain well known risk factors include maternal diabetes, fetal macrosomia (large babies) and maternal obesity. Recurrence rates in subsequent pregnancies are actually relatively high as well according to recent studies discussing this phenomenon.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

An Illinois woman recently received a $14.9 million dollar settlement against her endocrinologist, nephrologist and hospital at which she was being treated when she began experiencing complications associated with her diabetes insipidus. Upon arriving at the hospital, the woman’s lab studies revealed that her sodium levels were critically elevated, a level that apparently went unnoticed and/or untreated. Over the course of several days, however, her physicians failed to monitor these levels or make changes to her care plan despite symptoms that included dizziness, sweating, vomiting and diarrhea. The woman’s sodium levels continued to climb to dangerously high levels and she lapsed into a coma and was subsequently diagnosed with permanent brain damage due to metabolic acidosis and central pontine myelinolysis. She now requires round-the-clock nursing care that will inevitably cost her family hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of her lifetime. The woman’s lawsuit simply alleged that the health care providers failed to properly monitor her sodium levels, something that could easily have been prevented had the hospital had in place certain protocols that would mandated such vigilance and/or the nurses and other health care providers maintained their vigilance over the woman’s deteriorating condition.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Every year, numerous patients in hospitals across the country have naso-gastric (“NG”) feeding tubes inserted for a variety of reasons, including situations in which a patient is unable to eat independently because they are on a ventilator or they are simply unable to tolerate solid foods. In every instance, however, it is critical that the feeding tube is inserted properly; i.e., that it terminates into into a patient’s stomach and, does not in any circumstance, be erroneously placed into either of the patient’s lungs. In another common occurrence, a patient may dislodge or partially dislodge their NG tube requiring reinsertion. If the health care provider is not careful, he or she may mistakenly reinsert the NG tube into the lung as opposed to the stomach region. In either of these circumstance, when the tube feeding is resumed, the food will obviously pass into the patient’s lung as opposed to the stomach, likely resulting in an aspiration (“going down the wrong pipe”). This is a classic example of medical negligence or medical mistake that is easily preventable. The consequences depend on the volume, chemical composition, particle size, and infectious agents contained in the food, as well as the underlying health status of the patient. People with significant underlying disease or injury, and in particular hospitalized patients who are on ventilators to assist their breathing, are at an increased risk for developing respiratory complications from the aspiration. These complications usually include the development of respiratory pneumonia and even death. As noted above, this medical negligence is easily preventable by the health care provider simply taking the time to have an x-ray of the patient’s chest performed, a radiology study that will definitively demonstrate whether the NG tube terminates in the correct position. A failure to order this study and/or a failure properly communicate the results to the health care provider is a clear indication of medical mistake and grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn, also known as anti-Kell, is one of the most common causes of severe hemolytic (abnormal blood) diseases of newborns. Anti-Kell is a condition in which the antibodies in a pregnant woman’s blood cross the placenta and destroy her baby’s red blood cells, resulting in severe anemia. This condition results when there is a mismatch between a mother’s and baby’s blood group Kell antigens. Antigens are substances that cause the production of an antibody that binds to the antigen in order to damage, neutralize or kill it. According to studies, approximately 90% of the population are Kell negative and 10% are Kell positive. Because a small percentage of the population are homozygous for the Kell antibodies, roughly 5% of the babies born to a Kell negative mother are Kell positive. As noted above, if the maternal antibodies to Kell are transferred to the fetus across the placenta, the antibodies can cause severe anemia by interfering with the early proliferation of red blood cells. Hydrops fetalis, characterized by accumulation of fluid or edema in the heart or lungs, can also result.

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