Hospital Negligence

Published on: May 22, 2014

Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections are often the result of hospital negligence; most of them are preventable

CLABSI can be medical malpractice. Most infections occur when medical devices are not properly sanitized or when hospital employees are negligent of patients safety regulations.

One hospital recently demonstrated that CLABSI can be prevented. The White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles implemented a training program that resulted in zero iatrogenic pneumothorax hospital wide and zero CLABSI in the ICU. See video below.

Published on: May 13, 2014

What can hospitals do to make sure they are fully prepared to face a water emergency?

By GGCRBHS&M

Hospital%20Sign.png When a water emergency happens, hospitals have to be ready. They need to plan ahead how to deal with the loss of water for consumption, equipment sterilization, laundry and dialysis. Hospitals in West Virginia faced that emergency recently. The Joint Commission staff met with representatives of 7 of the affected hospitals to discuss how they handle this situation and subsequently released a paper about the lessons that can be learned from the week long water emergency that resulted from the chemical spill of the Elk River.

Read the paper from the Joint Commission here

Published on: May 1, 2014

New York Emergency Room Negligence: Bronx Residents and Elected Officials protested Today in front the Montefiore Weiler/Enstein Hopsital to complain about the Excessive Wait Times in the ER

By GGCRBHS&M

Montefiore%20-%20wikipedia.jpg Excessive waiting time in an emergency room can be medical malpractice. Patients who are coming to an hospital ER with serious personal injury or disease and who have too wait an excessive time have a higher risk to suffer from permanent injuries or to die. At the Montefiore Weiler/Einstein Hospital the average waiting time for the Emergency Room is of 107 minutes. According to Propublica this is the second worst in the entire state of New York. The average wait time in New York is 37 minutes and nationnaly it’s 28 minutes.
Bronx Assemblyman Michael Benedetto will hold a conference Thursday outside the center to push the Montefiore-operated hospital to provide answers to the community.

To reduce the risk of hospital acquired infections, a recent sudy demonstrates that it is usually safer for patients to administer a blood transfusion after the hemoglobin falls bellow 7 or 8 g/dL rather than below 10g/dL

By GGCRBHS&M

Hospital-associated infection can be medical malpractice. 5% of hospital inpatients develop an infection during their stay. As a result patients who develop an infection usually have to extend their stay in the hospital. Hospital acquired infection if not diagnosed and treated properly can also lead to the death of the patient. .

Blood transfusion is a very common hospital procedure during which the patient has a risk of developing an infection.

Hospitals have different strategies as to when a blood transfusion is required. Some have a liberal strategy which means that they will administer red blood cells to a patient when the patient’s hemoglobin level falls below 10 g/dL and some have a more restrictive strategy and will give a blood transfusion to the patient once the level of hemoglobin is below 8 or 7 g/dL.

Continue reading →

Published on: February 28, 2014

Medical Malpractice:every time a hospital increases the workload of a nurse by one patient, it increases the risk of an inpatient dying within 30 days of admission by 7%

By GGCRBHS&M

Nurse understaffing by negligent hospitals can lead to medical malpractice that affect patients outcome. A recent study compared the 30 day mortality rate of more than 400,000 patients over 50 years old who underwent surgery in 300 hospitals in 9 different European countries to nurse staffing and nurse education for each hospital.

The study found that an increase in a nurses’ workload by one patient increased the likelihood of an inpatient dying within 30 days of admission by 7% , and every 10% increase in bachelor’s degree nurses was associated with a decrease in this likelihood by 7%. These associations imply that patients in hospitals in which 60% of nurses had bachelor’s degrees and nurses cared for an average of six patients would have almost 30% lower mortality than patients in hospitals in which only 30% of nurses had bachelor’s degrees and nurses cared for an average of eight patients.

Download the study

Published on: February 18, 2014

NY Health Department Investigation in the death of Rory Staunton shows that NYU Langone ER committed blatant medical malpractice

By GGCRBHS&M

Blatant medical malpractice was committed by the Emergency Room staff of the NYU Langone Hospital in New York that lead to the death of 12 year old Rory Staunton according to a recently released investigation by the the New York State Department of Health.

Rory Staunton died on April 1st 2012 from sepsis after a scrape on his arm became infected. He was taken to the ER at NYU Langone Hospital but was sent back home after the staff failed to diagnose sepsis. His condition worsened and he died the next evening.

According to the investigation by the NY Health Department “NYU Langone ER failed to provide care in accordance with acceptable standards of practice for both medical staff and nursing services, as well as a systemic failure related to the reporting and follow up of abnormal laboratory results”.

Continue reading →

Published on: November 25, 2013

Medication errors by hospital pharmacy are often caused by interruptions and distractions

By GGCRBHS&M

Hospital pharmacists often commit medication errors or miss doses because they are constantly interrupted or distracted. Recent studies show that interruptions, especially phone calls are increasing the risk of medication error. A recent article By Anthony J. Melanson, BS; and Marc R. Summerfield, RPh, MS published on The “Patient Safety and Quality Helthcare” website compiles the findings from recent studies covering this issue and provides recommendations to improve it.

Published on: November 12, 2013

Patient injury resulting from medication use or Adverse Drug Event (ADE) is the most common non surgical medical malpractice occuring in hospitals

By GGCRBHS&M

Many adverse drug events are preventable and constitute Medical Malpractice. An adverse drug event occurs when a patient suffers injury resulting from medication use. Adverse drug events are the results of medication errors or of known side effects that may happen even if the medication is taken correctly.

According to a recent report from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) and led by Audrey J. Weiss, Ph.D. and Anne Elixhauser, Ph.D. , 380,000 to 450,000 hospitalized patients suffer preventable adverse drug events every year.

According to the most recent statistics, in 2011, the most common causes of ADE during hospital stays were Steroids, Antibiotics, Opiates, Narcotics and Anticoagulants with 8 out of 1000 adults over 65 experiencing one of them while hospitalized.

Continue reading →

Published on: October 31, 2013

New York Medical Malpractice – Hospital Negligence: a maternity ward worker may have exposed hundred of babies to tuberculosis

By GGCRBHS&M

Babies recently born in St Luke’s Hospital in New York may have been exposed to tuberculosis, a contagious and potentially deadly disease. The negligent hospital began notifying parents yesterday that a maternity ward worker tested positive for tuberculosis and that their babies should be tested for the disease. The hospital did not comment on how far back the exposure spans but the parents who notified NBC 4 New York about the infection gave birth more than two months ago.

Published on: October 22, 2013

Hopsital Negligence: patient missing for 17 days found dead in hospital stairwell after orderly stepped over her body a week earlier

By GGCRBHS&M

A worker at San Francisco General Hospital reported to a nurse that he had to step over the passed out body of a woman while going up and down a fire escape stairwell. The nurse contacted the Sheriff’s Department who is in charge of the security at the hospital but for some unclear reason no deputy was dispatched to check the location.

A week later, the dead body was found by another employee who had to access the locked stairwell. It was the body of Lynne Spalding, 57, who disappeared from her room on the hospital’s fifth floor Sept. 21, two days after she was admitted for treatment of an infection. Her body was found Oct. 8 on the fourth-floor landing of the locked stairwell.