Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.

Articles Tagged with medical malpractice

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Steigman%20and%20Sallay.pngA settlement in the amount of $1,750,000 was obtained by our partners New York Medical Malpractice Attorneys Ernie Steigman and Chris Sallay for the Wrongful Death of a 41-year old pregnant woman due to the Medical Malpractice of her Obstetrician and his office staff.

In this case, the decedent, who was about 10 weeks pregnant with triplets, had called her doctor’s office complaining of pain in her leg and shortness of breath on a Saturday. The nurse she spoke with advised her to come into the office on Monday. When she arrived on Monday, the doctor examined her but failed to take a Doppler study to determine the source of her leg pain. She was sent home and the next day she died from an undiagnosed venous thrombosis. She left behind her husband. The matter settled shortly after the start of the lawsuit for nearly all the available insurance proceeds.

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Until recently when a patient with prostate cancer was developing resistance to drugs that block testosterone, the hormone that fuels the cancer growth, his urologist would refer him to an oncologist who would start chemotherapy. The situation recently changed with the arrival on the market of new drugs such as sipuleucel-T, radium 223, enzalutamide, abiraterone, and cabazitaxel. These new drugs target so-called “castrate-resistant” patients and can be prescribed by either the urologist or the oncologist.

As of Today there is a lot of confusion about these new drugs. Urologists and oncologists are not clear on whether patients should be treated similarly or which drug should be used and in what order to be the most effective. The lack of communication between specialists as well as the financial incentive in keeping a patient as long as possible may be detrimental to the patient and may lead to medical malpractice.

In an article published Today in the Journal Urologic Oncology, urologist Ralph de Vere White and medical oncologist Primo Lara, Jr. of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center provide an in depth look at the situation and demonstrate that better guidelines and coordination between specialists are necessary to deliver cost effective and efficient care to patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

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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.

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Retained%20Surgical%20Items.jpgThe unintended retention of foreign objects (URFOs) is medical malpractice that can cause serious personal injury or death. It happens when a surgical team leaves any item or foreign object related to the surgery inside a patient. Most common objects left behind are sponges and towels, small device components or fragments, needles and malleable retractors. The risk of URFOs is higher for patients with high body mass index, during emergency procedures or when an unanticipated change happens during the surgery.

In a recent sentinel event alert The Joint Commission looked at the causes of these surgical errors and recommend strategies for improvement.

According to the Commission previous studies show that the risk of URFOs can be greatly reduced by the creation and the adoption by the surgical team of a highly reliable and standardized counting system. Effective communication including team briefings and debriefings as well as appropriate documentation and safe technology are also factors that can reduce this type of medical malpractice.

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medical_device_alarm_safety_infographic.jpgHere is the 2014 top 10 Health Technology Hazards just released by the ECRI Institute. This list is developed every year and highlights the health technology safety topics that the ECRI Institute’s Health Devices Group believes warrant the most attention for the coming year.

TOP 10 HEALTH TECHNOLOGY HAZARDS FOR 2014

1. Alarm Hazards (click on infographic to enlarge)

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Jeffrey%20Bloom.jpgOur partner, Jeffrey Bloom, will be speaking tomorrow at the “Mt. Sinai Update 2013: Breast Imaging” program. This program is designed to cover clinical aspects of breast imaging including digital mammography, breast ultrasound, breast MRI, and interventional procedures, as well as medicolegal issues. The faculty consists of twelve nationally and internationally recognized experts. Jeffrey Bloom will be speaking on the subject of Breast Imaging Malpractice and provide a Plaintiff’ Attorney’s Perspective. The complete Agenda can be found here.

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A surgeon can be sued for Medical Malpractice if he or she failed to properly communicate care instructions to a patient after the surgery.

Recently Web M&M analyzed the case of a woman who needed arthroscopic surgery after she tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee.

The surgeon talked to the patient before the surgery and gave her postoperative instructions for ACL repair that included 50% weight bearing immediately after the surgery

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An elderly woman with an history of pancreatitis was admitted for an emergency laparotomy after she showed symptoms of acute abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. The diagnosis was small bowel obstruction. Her heart stopped during anesthesia and she had to be resuscitated and sent to the ICU. She died there the day after. The hospital’s case review committee concluded it was a misdiagnosis: the patient suffered acute pancreatitis and not a small bowel obstruction therefore surgery was contraindicated and death could have been prevented. This type of cases raises questions about the decision process in emergency surgery, specifically for elderly people. The complete case as well as a medical commentary, references and World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist can be found at Web M&M.

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Children exposed to anti-seizure medication in the womb have a higher risk of suffering from early developmental issues according to a study led by Dr. Gyri Veiby from Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway.

The study covered a 9 year time frame and looked at the risk of adverse outcomes in children according to epilepsy in the mother or father, and with or without antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) exposure in the womb. At 18 months, the children exposed to AEDs in utero had increased risk of abnormal gross motor skills and autistic traits and at 36 months an increased risk of abnormal gross motor skills, sentence skills, and autistic traits compared to unexposed children.Further analysis determined that AED-exposed children had increased risk of birth defects compared to children not exposed to the drugs in utero.

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Alarm fatigue happens when medical workers overwhelmed by constant and loud alarm rings turn down the volume on the devices, shut them off or simply ignore them. These actions can lead to serious personal injury or wrongful death.

As hospitals invest in more and more sophisticated equipment to save lives, nurses and other hospital workers especially in Intensive Care Units have to deal with the constant and sometimes very loud ringing of alarms during their shift. A recent study estimated that the average number of alarms that sounded per bed per day in one ICU was 771. This is obviously more than staff and patients can take and hospitals have to make a priority of reviewing their alarm system or they may risk loss of their accreditation.

In a very interesting article, Lena H. Sun from the Washington Post, gives an overview of recent Medical Malpractice cases related to Alarm Fatigue and what measures are being taken by hospitals to address this growing medical concern.