Articles Posted in Medical Malpractice

A court has ruled that Jai McMath, the 13-year-old girl who was declared brain dead following complications from a tonsillectomy, can stay hooked up to a ventilator for at least another week. The decision was issued right before the 8pm, ET deadline Monday for when Children’s Hospital & Research Center would have been allowed to remove her from the machines that are keeping her alive. The tragedy could be reason for the family to pursue a medical malpractice case.

McMath, who had her tonsils, extra sinus tissue, and adenoids removed at the California hospital earlier this month, had been alert and was even talking after the procedure, which doctors had recommended she undergo to treat her sleep apnea. Soon after, however, the teenager started to bleed excessively and experienced cardiac arrest. Medical professionals have officially declared her dead.

Now, however, McMath’s family is fighting to keep her alive in the event that she somehow recovers. Her mother says that when she talks to the young girl, her body responds to the sound of her voice.

A Suffolk jury has awarded Li Chen and Peter Xu $5 million in a Boston obstetric malpractice lawsuit against Tufts Medical Center. Xu and Chen’s son Edward Xu, now 9, has a permanent debilitating syndrome that makes it impossible to digest food. He can only be fed via a tube in his chest for hours at a time. (The verdict actually was $24.4 million but because of a prior agreement made by the parties, Edward’s family is getting $5.3 million.)

The couple claims that their son’s condition-part of his intestines had to be taken out- is a result of the hospital’s failure to respond appropriately to his symptoms after he was born prematurely and they took too long to diagnose his condition. The hospital, however, disagrees and says that the care team did everything they could, including providing the applicable standard of care. The Boston Herald says that medical expenses for Edward’s care is over $2,000 a week.

Boston Medical Malpractice
Medical professionals are supposed to provide proper prenatal and postnatal care, in addition to proper care during delivery. When failure to provide such care causes a child to sustain serious health issues or injuries, this can be grounds for a Boston medical malpractice case.

Doctors, obstetricians, and nurses need to be very mindful of babies born prematurely, who may already be at risk of: breathing problems, heart issues, brain complications, temperature control issues, gastrointestinal problems, blood issues, metabolism problems, immune system issues, impaired cognitive development, Cerebral palsy, vision difficulties, hearing issues, dental problems, psychological issues, behavioral problems, and chronic health issues. Proper monitoring of both infant and mother before, during, and after delivery are important so that any warning signs of problems can be identified and treated immediately to prevent long-term complications.

Even babies carried to term can end up with serious injuries or health issues if they don’t get the proper medical care or a medical mistake happens: shoulder dystocia, eclampsia, uterine abruption, persistent pulmonary hypertension, placental abruption, macrosomia, and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

Family to receive at least $5m in suit against Tufts Medical Center, Boston Globe, November 22, 2013
Jury awards $24.4M to parents of Tufts patient, Boston Herald, November 22, 2013

More Blog Posts:
The Dangers of Robotic Surgery, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, November 22, 2013

Medford Doctor Accused of Massachusetts Medical Negligence Gets License Suspension, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, November 14, 2013

Mirena IUD Lawsuits Continue to Make Their Way into the Courts, Massachusetts Drug Injury Lawyers Blog, November 13, 2013 Continue reading

With the recent advances in medical technology, more people are going under the ‘robotic knife.’ Robotic surgeries are becoming a popular alternative to traditional surgeries, but they’re not without risks. Any time new technology is introduced into the medical field, there can be serious glitches involved. The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about the dangers and risks involved with robotic surgeries.

The Increase in Robotic Surgeries

• In 2000, only 1,000 robotic surgeries were performed, worldwide.
• In 2011, 360,000 robotic surgeries were performed.
• In 2012, 450,000 were performed.

Poor Standardization and Evaluation May Lead to User Error

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much in the way of rigorous standardization or evaluation of doctors who are currently utilizing robotic technology for surgeries. This means that user errors are likely to occur with inexperienced doctors. It’s absolutely critical that a surgeon be well trained in the use of robotic surgical tools prior to working on patients. It’s always a good idea to ask one’s doctor about experience in a particular technique prior to undergoing a surgical procedure.
Continue reading

The Massachusett’s Board of Registration in Medicine suspended the medical license of Dr. Sheldon Randall, known for performing thousands of weight-loss surgeries. Following an investigation, a panel for the board accused him of medical negligence and called him an “immediate and serious threat.”

According to investigators, Randall failed to identify and treat complications that resulted after certain operations and, as a result, two of his patients died. One patient, 45-year-old Scott Ferullo, developed sepsis after Randall performed open gastric bypass surgery in 2011.

His widow, Cheryl, said that after the surgical procedure, Ferullo developed a fever that rose to 106 degrees. Investigators say that Randall should have checked immediately to see whether Ferullo was bleeding or had a leak from the procedure.

Officials at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, believe as many as eight patients may have been exposed to a life-threatening, dementia-causing disease as a result of unsterilized tools used in their neurosurgery unit.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, a neurosurgical patient treated at the New Hampshire hospital is suspected to have had sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a degenerative neurological disease caused by a prion, a defective protein. Officials at the hospital believe that the prion may have been transmitted to patients through surgical equipment that was not fully sterilized. During normal sterilization procedures, these prions may not be fully eradicated.

CJD has only been transmitted through surgical procedures four times, and never has this type of incident occurred in the United States. Officials also believe that the disease may have been transmitted to patients in other states, as the surgical equipment that was used, was rented. A spokesperson for the hospital and the director of public health, Dr. Jose Montero, said he believed that the risk for transmission and infection of the disease was minimal, however after extensive investigation, it could not be concluded that there was absolutely no risk for infection.

What is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease?

Spontaneous CJD has no known cause, and occurs unexpectedly. It is characterized as a progressive brain and nervous system disease that causes dementia and eventually death. Some of the most common early onset symptoms include personality changes, confusion, memory loss, impaired judgment, loss of muscle coordination, and loss of vision. Unfortunately there is no treatment or cure for CJD.
Continue reading

According to Massachusetts health officials, hundreds of residents may have been exposed to measles while visiting Massachusetts General Hospital, which is located in Boston, and MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham. The exposures would have taken place at the Boston hospital between 8/17 and 8/23 at the medical walk-in clinic, the ER, or at inpatient spaces and at the Framingham facility between 8/23 and 8/24 also at inpatient areas and the ER.

The infection risk came from two people, a child and an adult, that sought treatment at the hospitals. While most people have received the measles vaccine and are not at risk of contracting measles, pregnant women, young kids, and people whose immune systems are compromised are at risk of developing serious related complications.

Common measles complications may include vomiting, diarrhea, eye infection, inner ear infection, laryngitis, and fever fits. More serious complications, although not as common, can include pneumonia, meningitis, encephalitis, hepatitis, thrombocytopenia, croup, squint, optic neuritis (which can cause blindness), nervous system problems, heart problems, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis of the brain, which may not surface for years after exposure and can be fatal.

According to a recent Journal of American Medicine study, hospitals make more money when surgical errors occur. The reasons for this is that patients who are the victims of this type of medical mistake often have to undergo more surgical procedures and extend their hospital stay in order to recover, which means that their hospital bills inevitably go up.

The study, called Relationship Between Occurrence of Surgical Complications and Hospital Finances, found that when surgical errors take place, hospitals are paid about $40,000 more for patients who have private insurance and $2,000 for those with Medicare. The researchers say that modifying the payment system, which would put a halt to rewarding poor medical care (perhaps even offer incentives for great medical care), could decrease the number of medical mistakes that happen. However, they were careful to note that they are not implying that hospitals are encouraging their surgeons to make mistakes in order to make more money.

Out of 34,256 people who underwent surgery at one hospital in Texas in 2010, 1,820 of them suffered complications that were preventable, including infected incisions, blood clots, and pneumonia. The median length of hospital stay for victims of medical mistakes went up to 14 days-that’s four times more than the average stay for patients who didn’t experience surgical errors. Meantime, hospital revenue was about $30,500 greater for patients who were the victims of surgical errors.