Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog

A Fairfax County jury has awarded nearly $3 million to the family of a man who died after his esophagus tore while he was swallowing a piece of steak, finding an Alexandria radiologist liable for misdiagnosing the man's condition as a hiatal hernia.

Large civil jury verdicts are rare in Fairfax, and Virginia's cap on medical malpractice judgments required the jury's award of $2,933,500 to be cut by more than half, to about $1.25 million.

Read full story at the Washington Post.

Continue reading "Fairfax VA Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Case, Family Awarded $1.25 M" »

Federal investigators found scores of problems at UC Irvine Medical Center during a fall inspection that again put the troubled hospital's Medicare funding at risk, according to report released Thursday.

In an 85-page report on their surprise October inspection, regulators said they observed poor oversight and mistakes by UCI doctors, nurses and pharmacists, leading to inadequate care that in some cases harmed patients.

Read full story here at the Los Angeles Times.

Continue reading "More Medical Malpractice Problems Discovered at UCI Medical Center" »

Los Angeles is awash in billboards and other outdoor signs advertising the weight loss treatment.

One feature of life in Southern California that's become hard to avoid is the relentless advertising for a weight-loss procedure known as lap-band surgery.

The billboards feature a willowy blond in a red tank top and the phone number 1-800-GET-THIN in huge red letters. "LOSE WEIGHT WITH THE LAP-BAND!" they say.

Read the full story here in the Los Angeles Times

Continue reading "Los Angeles Lap-Band Ads" »

A Jefferson County jury has found Christus St. Mary Hospital negligent in its treatment of a 41-year-old woman who died of a heart attack within hours of an emergency room visit.

In the verdict, filed Jan. 21, the jury found that the Port Arthur hospital along with Dr. Michael Peterson committed “willful or wanton negligence,” in their treatment of Stacy Meaux.

The jury awarded a combined $1.3 million in damages to Meaux; her mother, Mary Ann, Licatino; and her two children.

Limitations on the amount of money that can be awarded for mental anguish pain and medical malpractice will limit this to $250,000 per defendant.

Read the article here

It occurred to Anne Mitchell as she was writing the letter that she might lose her job, which is why she chose not to sign it. But it was beyond her conception that she would be indicted and threatened with 10 years in prison for doing what she knew a nurse must: inform state regulators that a doctor at her rural hospital was practicing bad medicine.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Continue reading "Texas Nurse to Stand Trial for Reporting Doctor Malpractice" »

Donna Delgado just wasn't healing properly after dental surgery.

There was too much bleeding, too much pain. Her head hurt. She was dizzy. She had nosebleeds and sinus infections.

Lodged in Delgado's right maxillary sinus, the drill bit burr made the 35-year-old woman miserable for nearly a year as she held down a job and cared for her children, according to her lawsuit.

Read the full story here.

Continue reading "Dental Malpractice: Drill Bit Left in Maxillary Sinus" »

Parents of a victim of an accused pedophile pediatrician in Lewes, Delaware have sued the doctor and Beebe Medical Center, where he worked.

The suit, filed in New Castle County, accuses Dr. Earl B. Bradley of sexually abusing a child twice in his office on Dec. 3 and Dec. 14, and charges that Beebe failed for years to report concerns about the pediatrician's conduct.

Continue reading "Pediatrician Accused of Sexual Abuse and Medical Malpractice" »

A student athlete and his parents are suing his doctors and hospitals nearly a year after a flesh-eating bacteria led to the amputation of his legs.

Steven Haxton, 19, and his parents have filed medical-negligence lawsuits against doctors for Ohio Health Corp., Riverside Methodist Hospital and Ohio State University Medical Center in the Ohio Court of Claims and Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Continue reading "Athlete Who Lost Legs Files Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Against Hospitals and Doctors" »

The family of a Troy MI man has sued Rite Aid, alleging an error at a Troy pharmacy led to his premature and wrongful death, according to their attorney.

The suit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, alleges that Rite Aid pharmacists were negligent when they issued a lethal dose of a chemotherapy drug to John Sheridan, who developed malignant melanoma that had spread to his brain in 2007.

Continue reading "Rite Aid Sued for Medical Malpractice Prescription Drug Error" »

University Hospital doctors have settled a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a Lake of the Ozarks couple for $2.5 million.

Susan Martin, now 49, was treated at University Hospital in early 2005 for dehydration, which was the result of a gastrointestinal-related condition, her attorney, Morry Cole, said.

The lawsuit claims doctors infused her with nutritional supplements through an IV in her subclavian artery, just below the collarbone, instead of the subclavian vein, where it was supposed to go. According to the lawsuit, that erroneous placement caused fatty blockages to travel to her brain for five consecutive days, “causing severe and debilitating strokes and neurological and cognitive devastation.”

Continue reading "Columbia MO University Hospital Settles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit " »

A Suffolk County jury found that two doctors at Children’s Hospital Boston - one of them the hospital’s former physician in chief - had caused the death of a 3-year-old Pennsylvania boy and voted to award his parents $15 million in damages.

The actual damage award will be less because of an agreement reached by the parties before the verdict.

Continue reading "Jury Finds That Doctors’ Errors Led to Boy’s Wrongful Death" »

A piece of gauze left behind in a patient after surgery required a follow-up procedure to remove it -- and led to a lawsuit against Staten Island University Hospital and two doctors.

Adding insult to injury, Rossville resident Margaret Palombo contends she only learned through medical records obtained earlier this year -- more than eight years after the initial operation was performed -- that the material had been left in her abdomen.

Continue reading "Medical Malpractice Law Suit says Surgeons Left Gauze Behind" »

Janie Vinson was apparently so ill with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that the 79-year-old woman's family told the medical staff at Albany, Ga.'s Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital not to try to cure her, but to simply keep her comfortable until she died.

A Dougherty County jury awarded her daughter $3 million for medical malpractice claims resulting from Vinson's death in March 2002 after she was given what a plaintiff's expert said was too much morphine too quickly.

Vinson had been in the hospital for more than a week when she suffered respiratory arrest on March 18, 2002. Vinson had stopped breathing by the time a nurse arrived to her room. The nurse called a "code" and the emergency pulmonary team, led by Dr. Thomas Ungarino, responded, but by the time they arrived, Vinson was breathing again.

Continue reading "Daughter Awarded $3 M After Death of Mom Who Had Do-Not-Resuscitate Order " »

The husband and estate of a woman who developed blood clots and died shortly after undergoing outpatient knee surgery have been awarded more than $6 million.

In December of 2003, Ruby Quarles, 42, was referred by her primary care physician at Fort Benning's Martin Army Community Hospital to an orthopedic surgeon to investigate complaints of worsening pain in her left knee, according to trial documents.

The surgeon, Dr.McKenzie, gave Quarles an injection for the pain and ordered physical therapy; during a follow-up visit in January 2004, McKenzie ordered an MRI to determine whether Quarles might have a tear in the cartilage of her knee.

The MRI indicated a "cartilaginous loose body" behind Quarles' knee, according to the pre-trial order, and on Jan. 29 she underwent less than an hour of arthroscopic surgery at Doctors Hospital. McKenzie did not find any loose cartilage or other damage, and that afternoon Quarles' daughter, Frances, took her home.

Continue reading "Widower Awarded $6 M in Medical Malpractice Trial" »

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center officials said that 260 patients had been exposed to high doses of radiation during CT brain scans during an 18-month period, up from the hospital's original estimate of 206 in September.

A review by the hospital also found that about 20% of the patients received exposure directly to the lenses of their eyes, which puts them at a higher risk for cataracts.

Of the newly identified cases, 47 patients had died by the time the hospital began contacting victims -- a reflection, officials said, of their serious illnesses, not the radiation exposure.

Continue reading "Cedars-Sinai Finds More Patients Exposed to Excess Radiation" »

More than 200 patients exposed to high levels of radiation at Cedars-Sinai hospital filed suit, and attorneys say more plaintiffs could be added as word of the lawsuit spreads.

The president of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center - where patients were recently exposed to eight times the recommended radiation after undergoing brain tests related to a stroke - issued a statement saying he regretted the circumstances that led to the mistake.

Continue reading "Class Action Patients Exposed to Radiation sue Cedars-Sinai" »

A recent Illinois Supreme Court ruling is a victory for patient-physician confidentiality and protects doctors from unwarranted liability exposure, according to physicians.

On Sept. 24, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that a group of physicians and other health care professionals did not have a duty to prevent the murder of the wife of a mentally ill patient they treated.

Continue reading "Illinois Supreme Court Rules Doctors Owed no Duty to Nonpatient" »

The family of an 86-year-old Boston woman who died after she fell from an operating table following hip surgery has settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Boston Medical Center.

The family’s lawyer, Meyer, said the hospital agreed to pay $900,000.

Meyer said the case exposed gaps in operating room procedures and hopefully will prevent future tragedies.

Continue reading "Hospital Settles After Patient’s Fall in Operating Room" »

A 4-year-old boy with cerebral palsy received a judge approved a $5.75 million settlement on his behalf.

Cannon Hoops got $1.75 million up front and another $4 million in annuities that are expected to pay for his medical and assistive care as well as future lost earnings over the rest of his life. The money was awarded by the University of California Board of Regents as a result of injuries the boy suffered when he was born in the UC Davis Medical Center.

Continue reading "UC Medical Malpractice Case Settled for $6 M" »

For a 15-year-old, or anybody else, Michael Blankenship had already been through a lot when he arrived at Seattle Children's hospital for some routine dental work.

What left him dead, was the painkiller-laced patch -- meant to ameliorate chronic pain in cancer patients and others -- that was prescribed to Blankenship.

Discharged to his mother's home the day of the March 9 tooth extraction, Blankenship was found dead in his bed the following morning. According to a civil suit filed earlier this month in King County Superior Court, a medical examiner found Blankenship had died from a drug overdose caused by the fentanyl patch.

Continue reading "Teen's Fatal Overdose Blamed on Fentanyl Patch" »

A WI Brown County jury awarded the survivors of a deceased farm worker $3.7 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Gustavo Espinal-Santos died Jan. 1, 2004, after contracting blastomycosis, a fungal infection often transmitted through water or soil.

Espinal-Santos twice visited the Bellin Family Medical Center in Bonduel in December 2003 complaining of illness. Espinal-Santos was seen by physician assistants who determined he had pneumonia. He said they failed to run basic diagnostic tests, specifically X-rays.

Continue reading "$3.7M Awarded in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit" »

John Henry Howard, is brave -- Howard sued an Atlanta men's clinic after its erectile dysfunction therapy caused permanent damage to Howard's penis.

Before and during trial, Howard settled with two of the three named defendants. Boston Men's Health Center Inc. was the defendant hit with the verdict.

Continue reading "Jury Awards Plaintiff $9.5 M for Permanent Damage From Erectile Dysfunction Treatment" »

The parents of an 18-year-old suburban Boca Raton cheerleader who died last year after breast augmentation surgery called for a ban on the use of general anesthesia at outpatient surgical centers.

Such centers are not equipped to deal with emergencies such as the one that ultimately killed their daughter Stephanie, both Joanne and Thomas Kuleba said during a news conference.

Continue reading "Family of Cheerleader Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Plastic Surgeon " »

Surgical sponges left inside two Texas women — but undiscovered for years — will test state laws that place fairly strict time limits on suing doctors and hospitals for malpractice.

One woman's lawsuit was thrown out because the sponge, so grown over with fibrous tissue that it could not immediately be identified, wasn't found for nine years, long after the two-year statute of limitations had expired.

The second woman's lawsuit survived, however, despite an 11-year gap between her hysterectomy and the sponge's discovery during exploratory surgery in 2006.

Both cases are before the Texas Supreme Court, which will decide whether their legal challenges should continue.

Continue reading "Texas Cases to Test Time Limits on Medical Malpractice Lawsuits" »

A Brooklyn man brought to Maimonides Medical Center with chest pains in July 2008 endured what his family now calls a tragedy of errors that led to his death.

Jacob Goldbrenner was sent to the Brooklyn hospital's cardiac catheterization lab so doctors could treat his ailing heart. But they couldn't find the key to the lab.

They couldn't locate an anesthesiologist. And then one doctor couldn't even find the lab itself, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Minutes turned to hours as the 52-year-old clothing salesman's condition worsened.

"We all felt a sense of desperation and frustration," said Baruch Goldbrenner, 27, who watched his father's health deteriorate.

Continue reading "Medical Malpractice: Hospital Negligent in Wrongful Death Lawsuit" »

After years of legal wrangling, a 12-year-old Eureka, Utah boy who suffered brain damage at birth is a step closer to getting money to help compensate for his injuries.

The Utah Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled an insurance company cannot invalidate the medical malpractice policy of the obstetrician who made a failed attempt to deliver the boy with forceps. Under that decision, The Doctors' Company (TDC), an insurance company based in Napa, Calif., remains responsible for an almost $1.3 million jury verdict in favor of Athan Montgomery. With interest, the total could top $2 million.

The insurer has argued for years that it should be excused from defending the doctor or paying any judgment on his behalf.

David Biggs, an attorney who represents Athan and his family, said: "We are pleased beyond measure that finally, this young child, now a young man, might be compensated for the medical malpractice that took place so many years ago."

Continue reading "Utah Supreme Court Says Insurer Has to Pay Malpractice Policy" »

The state orders the medical centers to pay $25,000 each in administrative penalties for incidents that in some cases led to death or injury.

Six Southern California hospitals have been fined $25,000 each in administrative penalties for serious violations that, in some cases, led to death or serious injury, according to state Department of Public Health officials.

Children's Hospital of Orange County was fined because its nursing staff failed to ensure appropriate drainage after a child's neurological procedure in November, an oversight that led to severe brain injury.

Dr. Maria Minon, the hospital's chief medical officer, said the hospital "very much" regrets the incident and has adjusted protocols for patient care, increased staff training and added layers of checks and balances to minimize the chance of it occurring again.

Continue reading "6 Southern California Hospitals Fined For Serious Violations" »

Plaintiffs attorneys say medi-spas, where the beauty-conscious go to lose their unwanted facial hair, acne scars and fine lines, are a new litigation hot spot as patients increasingly sue over spa treatments gone wrong.

Laser hair removal in particular is triggering lawsuits, lawyers note, warning that even more litigation is on the horizon as the number of medical spas has soared.

According to the International SPA Association, which represents 3,200 spas globally, medical spas are the fastest growing segment of the spa industry and have quadrupled in numbers in recent years, from 471 in 2004 to 1,804 today.

Continue reading " Malpractice Lawsuits From Medical Spa Laser Hair Removal" »

Two teenage sisters have been awarded $11 million in a malpractice lawsuit against a prominent New York pediatrician who failed to take steps to prevent the girls from being repeatedly sexually assaulted by their half-brother when they were children in Lake Placid.

An eight-member jury in U.S. District Court ruled against Dr. Patricia Monroe and her workplace, Adirondack Internal Medicine and Pediatric, ending a federal case rooted in horrific abuse dating back more than nine years.

The older sister, now 18, will receive $6 million, the 16-year-old younger sister $5 million, according to a news release issued by Albany attorneys Pamela Nichols and Stephen Coffey, who represented the victims. He noted they were "never offered a dime" to the settle the case, which dates to 2002.

Continue reading "Medical Malpractice Victims Awarded $11M " »

On Oct. 18, 2005, plaintiff Alvin Greenberg, 58, disabled, suffered from an overdose of Zyprexa. He had been administered the drug by the staff at the Green Acres Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, in Wyndmoor, where he was a resident; the order for the anti-psychotic medication had been called into the facility by his treating physician three days earlier.

Greenberg's daughter and power-of-attorney, Alicia Greenberg, sued Green Acres, Melanio Aguirre, Greenberg's attending physician, and Aguirre's practice, claiming negligence, in order to recover personal injury damages. Prior to trial Greenberg settled with Green Acres for an undisclosed amount but Green Acres still remained in the action as a defendant.

Plaintiff's counsel alleged that Greenberg was given 10 times the proper amount of Zyprexa, causing Greenberg to require an emergency room admission for Zyprexa toxicity. According to counsel, when Aguirre spoke to the nurse by telephone on Oct. 15, it wasn't clear whether Aguirre directed the nurse to give Greenberg 25 mg or 2.5 mg of the medication. Plaintiff's counsel asserted that both Aguirre and the nursing home were liable for the overdose because they didn't ensure that Greenberg receive the proper dosage of the medication he required.

Continue reading "Nursing Home Medical Malpractice: Staff Dispensed 10 times Correct Dosage" »

A Denton County jury has awarded the family of a Denton woman who died of misdiagnosed cancer $3.5 million, one of the largest awards in Denton since the tort law reform of 2003.

Civil suit law, however, will cut that amount to $1.5 million to be shared by her husband, her two young children and her father after attorney fees.

Melissa Hendricks was 33 when she noticed a marble-sized bump on the right crown of her head, according to court documents.

Hendricks waited about a month, then visited Highland Family Medical Center in Highland Village on Oct. 14, 2002. She saw Dr. Stephen Glaser, who told her it was a sebaceous cyst, which is a nonmalignant lesion, according to the documents.

Continue reading "Denton Texas Jury says Doctor Failed to Diagnose Woman’s Cancer" »

In November 2005, plaintiff Lee Arnette Zapel, 56, president of a medical supplies company, was diagnosed with cervical cancer during a hysterectomy. The exploratory surgery was due to abdominal pain that she experienced for months leading up to the surgery, which resulted in numerous tests and hospitalizations, including a change in her OB-GYN the previous month.

Zapel, who received annual Pap tests, alleged that PCA Southeast, a Columbia [Tenn]-based pathology lab, failed to detect cervical abnormalities in her slides in 2003 and 2004.

Zapel sued the lab for medical malpractice. The defendant stipulated to negligence for misrepresenting the 2004 Pap test, but contested the 2003 test. The cervical abnormalities that the defendant failed to detect in Zapel's 2003 and 2004 Pap test slides were high-grade lesions, which were an early form of Stage 1 cancer, according to plaintiffs' counsel.

Had the defendant detected the lesions, a cervical biopsy would have been ordered to reveal the cancer and a hysterectomy would have been performed, it was alleged. The hysterectomy would have rendered a 100 percent cure that would have precluded any need for chemo-radiation treatment that Zapel eventually underwent, opined the plaintiffs' gynecological oncologist.

Continue reading "Undetected Cervical Cancer led to Bowel Obstructions" »

Sheila Matthews, a Naples mother of three, walked into NCH North Naples Hospital’s emergency room in March 2005 in extreme pain.

Over the years, the 55-year-old retired nurse had suffered from diabetes, peripheral neuropathy and bipolar disorder. On a scale of one to 10, she told doctors, this was a nine. The pain grew as doctors tried to determine what was wrong.

“She’s screaming, she’s in so much pain,” Matthews’ attorney, Nancy La Vista of West Palm Beach, told a Collier Circuit Court jury during opening statements Aug. 13.

Six days later, Matthews would become a quadriplegic.

Continue reading "Mis Diagnosis of Epidural Abscess Leads to Paralysis" »

The state Court of Appeals has overturned a $53 million damage award to the family of an Albuquerque woman who died in a nursing home.

The court ordered a new trial. The daughter of 78-year Barbara Barber filed a lawsuit alleging her mother died in December 2004 of gastrointestinal bleeding that went untreated by the nursing home staff.

In tossing out the jury verdict, the appeals court said a district judge was wrong in a pretrial finding that ManorCare Inc., a Toledo, Ohio-based company, was the employer of the nursing home's staff. The court said there was conflicting evidence on that issue. ManorCare contended that a subsidiary company owned and operated the Albuquerque nursing home, which was sold in 2005.

Continue reading "Court Overturns $53 M Awarded in Wrongful Death Nursing Home Case" »

A hospital patient suffers excruciating pain from what turns out to be a routine complication from elective surgery.

As her condition deteriorates, she and her family plead to see the doctor. But no doctor examines her until the next morning, when she goes into shock, is rushed into intensive care and dies.

Then, after her death, the hospital deletes portions of the woman's medical file in what the woman's family says is an attempt to cover up its horrendous mistakes.

Continue reading "Routine Complication From Surgery Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed" »

A WV Kanawha County couple say both they and their newborn baby were traumatized permanently when staff at a Charleston hospital informed them the baby died only to later discover he was in fact alive.

Charleston Area Medical Center, Pediatrix Medical Group and Dr. Davangere M. Jayaram are named as co-defendants in medical malpractice suit filed by Carmela and Joseph Newhouse of Elkview. In their complaint filed July 28 in Kanawha Circuit Court, the Newhouses allege Jayaram, and staff from Pediatrix and CAMC misinformed them of the death of their son, Camren, who is now permanently injured after his premature removal from life-support systems.

Continue reading "Hospital Staff Wrongly Declared Infant Dead Malpractice Claim Filed" »

A new report blasts the Texas agency that oversees dentists and hygienists, finding that its databases are replete with sloppy errors, that information reported to the public is flawed and that its new $118,000 enforcement system is "not fully functional or reliable."

The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners plans to buy a new automated system for $644,000 to address some of the problems found in the audit released this week.

A skeptical-sounding report by the State Auditor’s Office noted that "Given the difficulties the agency has had in the past in designing, implementing, and maintaining automated systems, it will be imperative that the agency use a systematic process for installing, customizing, testing, and implementing the new system to ensure that the existing problems do not occur in the new system."

Continue reading "Report: Texas Dental Board is Full of Errors According to Audit" »

A $1.8 million medical malpractice claim was paid last week following a jury's verdict in late June that a doctor misdiagnosed a 25-year-old woman's heart condition — causing her to need a heart transplant.

In a trial in Newport News Circuit Court, a jury awarded to Leslie Thorne a $4 million verdict against Dr. David Glick, who works for a group of emergency room doctors who once provided services at Mary Immaculate Hospital.

The judgment was later reduced to $1.8 million because of caps on medical damages in Virginia, said William E. Artz, Thorne's Arlington attorney. An insurance firm paid the claim, he said.

Thorne initially sued three doctors — Glick, as well as William Hunter and Andrew B. Cole, both of Peninsula Emergency Physicians — claiming they were all negligent.

Continue reading "$1.8 M Judgment in Wrong Diagnosis Medical Malpractice Claim" »

A paralyzed father of three plans to move from a nursing facility back home with his family after winning a $19.2 million negligence award against Montefiore Medical Center earlier this month.

Wilfredo Figueroa, 58, was working as a radiology technician on Sept. 22, 2004, when he was admitted to Montefiore, complaining of severe back pain.

The Bronx hospital's staff failed to diagnose a spinal abscess- an infection on his spinal cord - which rapidly led to his permanent paralysis, according to lawyer Edward Bithorn and court documents.

Continue reading "Montefiore Hospital to pay $19.2 M for Medical Malpractice" »

The central figure of an investigation into the hepatitis C outbreak might have been impaired by a stroke a year ago, but he is competent enough to face medical malpractice charges, according to the state Board of Medical Examiners.

Based on results from an examination performed by Dr. Thomas Kinsora, a clinical neuropsychologist, Dr. Dipak Desai is "borderline" in regards to his ability to assist defense attorneys in his medical board licensing hearing.

Continue reading "Hepatitis C Medical Malpractice Claims Can Proceed" »

An $11 million settlement has been reached between a suburban hospital and the family of a Chicago girl, now 4, whose birth injuries were so profound she can't speak, walk or even eat.

Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood agreed to the payout this week, something Stacie Burek said will ensure her daughter receives the medical help necessary to deal with her severe cerebral palsy, a condition that has left the girl in a wheelchair with a feeding tube through her stomach.

Continue reading "$11 M Medical Malpractice Cerebral Palsy Settlement " »

A jury has awarded $1 million to a Las Cruces man who alleged a surgeon was negligent in repairing a colon perforation after a colonoscopy.

General surgeon Dr. David Friedman operated on Michael Salopek in February 2005, to repair a tiny perforation he had sustained during a colonoscopy, Las Cruces attorney Marci Beyer said.

However, Friedman did not find the perforation, which continued to leak into Salopek's abdominal area for 11 days. Medical expenses just to find the perforation totaled $165,000, Beyer said.

Continue reading "Las Cruces NM Man Gets $1M Settlement in Medical Malpractice Case" »

A surgery technician at the center of a hepatitis C scare in Colorado involving the alleged swapping of patients' clean needles for her dirty ones is being investigated in Texas because she previously worked in a Houston-area hospital.

Kristen Diane Parker, who worked at Christus St. John Hospital in Nassau Bay from May 2005 to October 2006, was indicted in Denver last week on 42 criminal counts. Prosecutors allege 19 people contracted the disease after she swapped the needles.

The Texas and Harris County health departments launched an investigation earlier this month that is still in the early stages, according to officials of both agencies. They said the investigation began after they learned Parker worked in Houston.

Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the Texas health department, said the focus is on whether Parker had hepatitis C while at Christus St. John. Only then would patients be notified, she said.

Continue reading "Texas Investigating Scrub Tech in Hepatitis C Medical Malpractice Claim" »

A Steuben County couple has sued a Fort Wayne orthopedics firm, alleging a missed diagnosis for a blood clot caused the wife to lose her leg.

Filed in Allen Superior Court this week by Jeanette Presley and Allen Presley, the lawsuit against Orthopaedics Northeast seeks compensatory damages and comes after the couple received a ruling from the state’s Medical Review Panel that Orthopaedics Northeast failed to comply with appropriate standards of care, according to court documents.

Continue reading "Medical Malpractice Lawsuit: Doctors Caused Leg Amputation" »

A federal judge has awarded $749,000 to the estate of a World War II veteran who lost much of his vision during surgery at the Veterans Administration medical facility in Jackson, MS.

U.S. District Judge Tom Lee said in a footnote to Monday’s 18-page ruling that he was inclined to award more money for Charles West’s suffering, “which clearly has been extreme,” but was limited by Mississippi’s pain-and-suffering cap in such lawsuits.

West, claimed in his suit that he suffered damage to the corneas of both eyes during a blepharoplasty, a procedure to remove sagging skin between the eyebrow and the eye lid.

Continue reading "Veteran Blinded During Routine Operation" »

A former doctor who admitted he was abusing prescription drugs agreed to settle the medical malpractice lawsuit against him in St. Louis County court this week.

The patient, John W. Campbell, accused Michael Impey of putting a hole in his colon during a medical procedure in 2006. About a foot of Campbell's colon was removed as a result of the injury.

Impey, who lost his medical license soon after the incident because he was abusing pain pills, agreed to settle Tuesday for an undisclosed amount.

Continue reading "Medical Malpractice Trial Over Addicted Doctor Begins" »

A 20-year-old airman was in critical condition at University of California Davis Medical Center on Monday, after losing both legs in what his family described as complications of routine gallbladder surgery.

Neither the medical center nor Travis Air Force Base, where Airman 1st Class Colton Read underwent surgery this month, would comment on specifics of his case.

Travis said only that a "serious medical incident" occurred at its David Grant Medical Center on July 9 and is being investigated by the base, a national hospital accrediting commission and the U.S. Surgeon General.

Read, who was stationed at Beale Air Force Base east of Marysville, Calif., was supposed to get his gallbladder removed laparoscopically at the Travis hospital, said his wife, Jessica Read.

Continue reading "Airman Loses Legs After Gallbladder Operation" »

A Winter Park Florida dentist who twice dropped tools down the throat of an elderly patient -- a 90-year-old man who died after the second incident -- is being sued for negligence.

Relatives of Charles K. Gaal Jr. recently filed the suit in Orange County Circuit Court against Dr. Wesley Meyers of Aloma Park Dental.

They accuse Meyers of failing to take precautions to guard against dropping and losing his dental tools down Gaal's throat and failing to handle his tools properly during the second incident, which occurred May 1, 2007.

On Oct. 4, 2006, while he was performing work on Gaal, Meyers dropped an "implant screwdriver tool" down the patient's throat.

Gaal swallowed the tool and two days later, he underwent a colonoscopy. The tool was removed from his intestines, the suit said.

Continue reading "Wrongful Death by Dentist After Tools Lost " »

A $31 million verdict against Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, could be the largest jury award for a medical malpractice case in Ohio history, though a settlement agreement makes it unlikely the hospital will have to pay that much.

As the jury was deliberating, after a four-week trial before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Timothy O’Connell, attorneys for the hospital and the family of Leondo Stanziano worked out a settlement agreement.

Continue reading "$31 M Verdict Against Ohio Hospital Negated by Settlement Agreement" »

Is Gary Kao a renegade physician, or maybe just a doctor who was allowed to get in over his head?

Kao is the only person whom officials have identified in the unfolding scandal over substandard radioactive seed implants at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center.

As the radiation oncologist who did most of the implants, Kao played a central role. But a cast of actors supported and directed him - week after week, for six years - until the VA suspended the program a year ago.

Those actors included a medical physicist with little experience in developing implant treatment plans, a radiation-safety committee that allowed crucial radiation-dosage calculations to go undone, and Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors who let Kao revise two patients' treatment plans to avoid reporting medical errors, according to the Veterans Affairs investigation report.

Continue reading "Troubles at Philadelphia VA Continue" »

A Harris County Texas jury has ruled in favor of a Houston man in a medical malpractice case, awarding him $10 million in damages stemming from a lawsuit against Methodist Hospital and the doctors who treated him there.

John German developed gangrene that required the amputation of his left leg above the knee, all the toes on his right foot and all of his fingers in the aftermath of heart surgery in 2002 .

“It’s been a long time coming, but I feel vindicated,” said German, who was a 32-year-old mechanic at the time of the care.

Continue reading "Texas Patient Awarded $10 M in Medical Malpractice Claim" »

For patients with prostate cancer, it is a common surgical procedure: a doctor implants dozens of radioactive seeds to attack the disease. But when Dr. Gary D. Kao treated one patient at the veterans’ hospital in Philadelphia, his aim was more than a little off.

Most of the seeds, 40 in all, landed in the patient’s healthy bladder, not the prostate.

It was a serious mistake, and under federal rules, regulators investigated. But Dr. Kao, with their consent, made his mistake all but disappear.

He simply rewrote his surgical plan to match the number of seeds in the prostate, investigators said.

Continue reading "Rogue Cancer Unit at Philadelphia V.A. Hospital " »

An Indiana jury has awarded $5 million to a Mooresville woman still experiencing ill effects from a misdiagnosis nearly a decade ago at Methodist Hospital.

Roxxanna Smith, then 18, arrived at the emergency room in July 2000 with a ruptured diaphragm after playing softball. But through a series of miscommunications about what was shown by X-rays, her lawyers said, doctors instead diagnosed a urinary tract infection and muscle strain -- and sent Smith home.

Continue reading "Jury Awards Woman $5M Over Wrong Diagnosis" »

Since its April board meeting, the Texas Medical Board has taken disciplinary action against 71 licensed physicians.
The actions included 15 violations based on quality of care; 11 actions based on unprofessional conduct; two nontherapeutic prescribing violations; six agreed orders based on inadequate medical records violations; one action based on impairment due to alcohol or drugs or mental/physical condition; four actions based on other states’ or entity’s actions; one action based on failure to properly supervise or delegate; two actions based on peer review actions; two actions based on violation of probation or prior order; one agreed order modifying a prior order; and five voluntary surrenders. Twenty-one physicians entered into administrative orders for minor statutory violations.

At its May 28-29 meeting, the board issued 526 physician licenses.

Continue reading "Texas Medical Board Disciplines 71 Doctors" »

When Debbie Daniels was scheduled to undergo a hysterectomy in 2003, her doctor suggested he do a "tummy tuck" as well.

But the obstetrician/gynecologist did not tell her that he had never been trained to perform the procedure that gets rid of excess skin and fat.

She also did not know he had been kicked off the staff of another hospital for doing tummy tucks without proper credentials -- or that he did the procedure unlike any other doctor, according to court records.

Two days after Dr. David Lee Grimes cut Daniels open and stitched her back up, her wound burst, leaving a basketball-sized hole in her belly 7 to 8 inches deep, one of her lawyers said. She had to undergo emergency surgery -- the first of many -- and be placed in a medically induced coma for a month.

Continue reading "Woman Who Sued Doctor's Insurer Awarded $3.8 M" »

A Florida mother sued Fort Lauderdale Hospital and a psychiatrist who worked there, saying they overmedicated her teenage son with a cocktail of mental health drugs -- some of which have not been approved for the treatment of children.

The boy, Emilio Villamar, died of a sudden heart attack. He was 16.

Emilio, a swimmer and water polo player, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder by Dr. Sohail Punjwani in March 2002. Within the next year, the teen was given 16 different psychiatric drugs, six of which were still being administered when he died, said Michael S. Freedland, who is representing Emilio's mother, Norma L. Tringali.

Punjwani had also been treating 7-year-old Gabriel Myers, a foster child who had been prescribed several psychiatric drugs before he hanged himself in April. In the wake of Gabriel's death, the Department of Children & Families has launched a wide-ranging investigation into the agency's dispensing of mental health drugs.

Continue reading "Lawsuit Links Psychiatric Drugs to Florida Child's Death" »

A MI jury awarded a woman $2.9 million in a 9-year-old lawsuit against Owosso Memorial Hospital and Shiawassee Radiology Consultants.

An attorney for Sue Apsey, now 65, claimed a bowel leak she suffered during an ovarian cyst removal went undiscovered for 10 days despite imaging studies that were done.

The situation worsened when she was given barium during subsequent x-rays. "It acted like throwing gas on a bonfire," said her attorney, Frank Mafrice.

Continue reading "MI Jury Awards A Woman Nearly $3 M in Lawsuit Against Hospital" »

A Pennslyvania jury awarded a woman $1.88 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit filed on behalf of her husband, who died of cancer in 2008.

Christine Golden sued urologist Milan J. Smolko, pathologist Lillian Longendorfer and Wayne Memorial Hospital for failing to diagnose her husband's bladder cancer despite several consultations and examinations between Sept. 18, 2002, and January 2004.

Before the verdict was returned last month, however, Dr. Longendorfer and the hospital reached a confidential settlement with Mrs. Golden.

Mrs. Golden's lawyer, said Terrence Golden saw Dr. Smolko multiple times in those 16 months, each time complaining of urinary problems. Dr. Smolko said he had an inflamed and enlarged prostate, but did not investigate further until July 2003. Then, he did a bladder biopsy and sent the information to Dr. Longendorfer, who worked at Wayne Memorial Hospital.

Continue reading "PA Woman Gets $1.88 M in Medical Malpractice Case" »

A Beaumont Texas man has filed a medical malpractice suit against a local doctor, alleging a needle negligently left inside his body during surgery perforated his bladder.

Ronald Williams claims he underwent surgery performed by Dr. Stuart Scott Kacy of Southeast Texas Surgical Associates on March 12, 2007.

Court papers say that during the procedure, one of the used needles popped off the needle holder into Williams's body.

Ronald Williams and his wife, Erica, filed a medical malpractice suit against Dr. Kacy and Southeast Texas Surgical Associates on May 26 in Jefferson County District Court.

Continue reading "Texas Malpractice Case Alleges Surgeon Left Needle Inside Body" »

Nearly three of 10 teenage Florida foster children have been prescribed a mental-health drug, and 73 foster kids younger than 6 are taking mind-altering drugs, according to a recent study released in response to the death of a Broward foster child who was taking such medications.

In all, 2,669 children -- or 13 percent of Florida foster children -- are being given powerful psychiatric drugs, said the study, commissioned last month by Department of Children & Families Secretary George Sheldon. The largest group, almost 60 percent, are teens ages 13 to 17.

The 2,669 children represent about one-third more kids than a DCF database had reported as taking mental-health drugs -- meaning electronic state records had significantly underestimated the use of mind-altering drugs.

Child-welfare administrators are investigating the use of mental-health drugs by children in state care in the wake of the April 16 death of Gabriel Myers, a troubled 7-year-old boy who hanged himself in the shower of his Margate foster home.

Continue reading "More Florida Foster Kids Are Given Mental-Health Drugs" »

New York City has agreed to pay $2 million to the family of a woman who died last year on the floor of the psychiatric emergency room at Kings County Hospital Center after waiting more than 24 hours to be treated.

A video showed the woman on the floor for more than an hour while workers at the city-run hospital did nothing to help her.

The city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation accepted full responsibility for the death of the woman, Esmin Elizabeth Green, 49, and said it had taken steps to relieve crowding and increase the size of the staff to provide mental health services at the hospital.

Continue reading "New York City to Pay $2 M in Death After Hospital Wait " »

A Superior Court jury awarded a former truck driver $4 M, concluding that negligence by his orthopedic surgeon caused him mental and physical suffering.

Robert T. Baird Jr., of Providence, filed a medical malpractice suit against Dr. Kenneth J. Morrissey in 2002, alleging the Cranston doctor’s negligence. Morrissey denied the complaints.

The jury awarded Baird $1.5 million for physical pain, $1.5 million for mental suffering, $500,000 for disfigurement and $500,000 for lost wages, according to David Morowitz, Baird’s lawyer.

Baird worked as a truck driver for The Providence Journal from 1981 until he began experiencing extreme pain in his right arm in 1999. He went to Morrissey, who operated to improve his movement and in the process removed a benign tumor.

Continue reading "Providence man Awarded $4 M in Medical Malpractice Case" »

Zachary James died at at a North Philadelphia hospital when his heart stopped beating on April 20, 2006.

The next day, his wife learned that his death may have been preventable, if someone had just looked at his X-rays before he died.

Following a 10-day trial, a jury awarded Rosalyn James, Zachary's widow, $2.185 million in a malpractice suit against St. Joseph's Hospital and two emergency-room physicians.

"I know it would never bring him back," she said. "But now he's at peace because I fought for him."

Continue reading "Unread X-ray leads to $2 M Malpractice Award" »

The Texas Medical Board entered an Automatic Suspension Order against Rodney Norman Dotson, M.D., license number D9988, on Monday, May 4, after determining that Dr. Dotson had violated a previous disciplinary order.

The February 8, 2008, Mediated Agreed Order required, among other provisions, that Dr. Dotson take and pass the Special Purpose Examination. The 2008 order also contained a provision that, after a proper hearing, if a Board panel found that Dr. Dotson had violated this term of the 2008 order, his license could be automatically suspended.

Continue reading "Texas Medical Board Suspends License of Rodney Dotson, M.D. " »

A Tennessee jury has awarded a $12 million medical malpractice judgment against a prominent local doctor after a procedure intended to diagnose bowel problems left a young woman so brain damaged she cannot care for herself.

Attorneys for the plaintiff, 33-year-old Kristen Freeman, said they believe the judgment, is “one of the largest” to ever be awarded in Hamilton County with regard to allegations of improper medical care.

“It is very, very difficult to get a judgment against a doctor,” according to one of the lawyers, an Atlanta personal injury trial lawyer who helped represent Ms. Freeman along with two other attorneys. “People don’t like to find doctors at fault.”

The jury, found that Dr. Michael Goodman, a gastroenterologist, was only 51 percent at fault for the incident that led to Ms. Freeman’s permanent brain damage. So Ms. Freeman is allowed to collect only $6.12 million, according to the jury’s decision.

Continue reading "TN Jury awards $12 M in Malpractice Case" »

Kaiser Permanente has agreed to pay $1 million to settle claims on behalf of five patients alleging that the HMO mishandled its kidney transplant program, endangering lives and causing deaths.

The arbitration claims were filed in 2006, found that Kaiser's Northern California kidney transplant program jeopardized hundreds of patients by forcing them into a new program unprepared to handle an enormous caseload.

Continue reading "Kaiser Permanente to Settle Kidney Transplant Claims For $1 M" »

After a 19-year-old Orange County, Calif., man killed two neighbors in 2005, the victim's survivors sued the murderer's psychiatrist, accusing him of causing the rampage by giving his client an unstable mix of antidepressants.

But California's 4th District Court of Appeal ordered summary judgment for the doctor, saying that the patient had a pre-existing mental disorder that "necessitated" treatment.

"As early as 2001, [William] Freund had exhibited violent tendencies toward his parents," Justice Raymond Ikola wrote. "And when he later became [the doctor's] patient, he already suffered from Asperger's syndrome and the consequent frustration about his extreme social problems.

Continue reading "Calif. Appeals Court: Psychiatrist Not Liable to Patient's Victims, " »

Los Angeles County supervisors have agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the children of Edith Rodriguez, the woman who died after writhing in pain for 45 minutes on the waiting-room floor of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Medical Center, according to an attorney representing the family.

Rodriguez's death nearly two years ago attracted national attention, becoming a symbol of an indifferent emergency system. A triage nurse had dismissed her complaints in the early morning of May 9, 2007. A security videotape showed a janitor mopping around Rodriguez and other staff walking past.

Continue reading "King Harbor Medical Center Settles Wrongful Death Case" »

A soldier formerly based in Casper WV sued three Casper doctors in federal court for medical malpractice that nearly killed him.

Poche and his wife, Cynthia, also wanted Wyoming residents to know they have the right to take action in similar cases, he said. "I survived; the next guy might not."

Poche's attorney, Steven Shapiro, said he partly framed the case with a public perspective. "We told the jury, 'Is this the kind of care you want in the state of Wyoming?'"

Continue reading "Jury Awards Soldier, Government $2M" »

A Michigan hospital can be sued for releasing a man who killed his estranged wife with an ax 10 days later, a federal appeals court ruled.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates a lawsuit filed by the estate of Marie Moses Irons against Providence Hospital.

The panel cited a federal law that requires hospitals to stabilize patients if an emergency condition exists, though it couldn't find any precedent for allowing a non-patient who alleges harm to sue.

Continue reading "Mich. Hospital That Released Man Who Killed His Wife Can be Sued" »

A Fulton County jury has awarded $1.8 million in damages to a boy whose penis was severed in a botched circumcision.

The state court jury gave another $500,000 to the boy’s mother in the decision rendered.

The case involves a child,who was born at South Fulton Medical Center in 2004. In a suit filed two years later, his mother contended that the doctor who circumcised him removed too much tissue and that his pediatrician failed to respond when a nurse complained of excessive bleeding.

Continue reading "$2.3M Awarded in Botched Circumcision" »

A congressional study and a national consumer advocacy group found that the health care industry in 2004 had spent millions of dollars exaggerating the malpractice crisis in Nevada and elsewhere in the country.

But the hard-hitting television campaign of five years ago, helped persuade voters to overwhelmingly approve an industry-backed ballot initiative imposing a $350,000 cap on malpractice damages for pain and suffering. Advocates said the intent of the measure, patterned after 1975 tort law changes enacted in California that imposed a $250,000 cap, was to reduce multimillion-dollar verdicts against doctors, which would lower their insurance premiums and reduce health care costs for the public.

Continue reading "Nevada Attorneys Hope to Lift Malpractice Damages Cap " »

A federal judge has upheld most of an $8.5 million judgment awarded to a woman who lost use of her arm due to a flesh-eating bacteria misdiagnosed by an Air Force base doctor.

The judge last month granted only part of the U.S. government's request to trim $1.13 million from the damages he assessed last year for Jean Phillips. Frazier lowered damages covering Phillips' past medical expenses by $62,748, settling on an $8.46 million payout.

Frazier had found that Dr. Dan MacAlpine, who was stationed at Scott Air Force Base near Mascoutah, Ill., failed to notice or heed Phillips' rash on her right arm in 2002. MacAlpine, assuming she was an addict looking for prescription drugs, told her to go home and take over-the-counter pain medication.

But the rash turned out to be necrotizing fasciitis - commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria - that Frazier said eventually cost Phillips use of her right arm.

A Palm Beach County jury has awarded $4 million on behalf of a child suffering from severe mental retardation that the family blamed on a delayed delivery in a West Palm Beach hospital more than 11 years ago.

Stephanie Preshong Brown, of Palm City, was carrying twins in July 1997 when she was admitted to Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach for premature contractions. One of the twins, Sydney Preshong Brown, died in utero.

A few weeks later, doctors determined that the other twin, Jordan Preshong Brown, was in distress and decided to deliver by Cesarean section.

The lawsuit contended that problems securing an operating room led to several hours of delay.

Continue reading "Jurors Award $4 M in Brain-Damaged Baby" »

A pharmacist at the Yuba City Wal-Mart store mislabeled a pill bottle, resulting in a woman taking twice too much blood pressure medication and nearly dying, according to a $1.2 million lawsuit.

After collapsing on a bus, victim Geraldine Schamanski's heart stopped five times in 24 hours.
Besides Wal-Mart, the pharmacist and Asereth Medical Services are named as defendants. The latter company apparently supplied the pharmacist who mislabeled the bottle.

Continue reading "Wal-Mart Sued Over Alleged Drug Mislabeling" »

A Miami Beach woman left bedridden and in excruciating pain following spinal surgery in 2003 at Mount Sinai Medical Center was awarded $38 million by a Miami-Dade Circuit Court jury.

The six-person jury deliberated nine hours over two days before finding that neurosurgeon Mario Nanes, Mount Sinai and the hospital's pharmacy management firm caused Amanda Slavin's debilitating injuries.

Mount Sinai settled before the case went to trial, so it is not on the hook to pay any part of the award. The hospital's pharmacy management firm at the time, McKesson Medication Management, vowed to appeal.

Continue reading "Miami Beach Woman Awarded $38 M For Botched Spinal Surgery" »

A jury in New Jersey ruled that a Perth Amboy oral surgeon committed medical malpractice in the death of patient the morning after having his wisdom teeth removed.

The jury deliberated less than three hours over two days before finding that George Flugrad committed medical malpractice when he failed to get clearance from Woodbridge patient Francis Keller's medical doctor to remove his wisdom teeth after Keller told him he had an impaired immune system.

Keller's family and his estate were awarded $11 million in damages. With interest combined with other settlements reached in the case, Keller's parents will received more than $12 million, according to their attorney.

"The money will never bring my son back no matter how much I get," Helen Keller said. "I only hope it prevents someone else from going through this heartache."

Continue reading "Jury Awards $11M to New Jersey Family in Oral Surgery Malpractice Case" »

Chelsie Barker, now a 10-year-old girl, needs round-the-clock attention as a result of a lack of oxygen during birth in a Michigan jail.

Jail officers are being sued in federal court, for violating the girl’s constitutional rights by not getting her mother, an inmate, to a hospital for the delivery.

Their defense is Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion decision. Attorneys for the officers say they are not liable because the child had no 14th Amendment right before she was born.

The jail officers “had sufficient warning that the child was on the way and did not get her the medical care she needed immediately prior to, during, and after the birth,” according to the U.S. District Judge.

Continue reading "Birth Injury in Jail Leads to Lawsuit " »

A South Carolina jury has awarded $4.4 million to the parents of a 4-year-old girl who died after suffering brain injury at birth at Piedmont Medical Center.

The jury found that the hospital was at fault in 2003 when it assigned a nurse trainee to monitor expectant mother Robin Wilson, who had arrived at the hospital three days before her scheduled induction, complaining of nausea and vomiting.

Continue reading "SC Jury Awards $4.4M Against Hospital" »

A California doctor accused of molesting female patients during medical procedures has been ordered to stop practicing medicine until further notice.

Dr. Peter Chi, has turned in his license, according to the Medical Board of California. He previously had been ordered by a San Joaquin County judge to stay away from the Beauty Renewed Laser Skin Center, where he served as the medical director.

Chi, a cosmetic surgeon, made his first court appearance and is out on $100,000 bail. He has been charged with seven counts of sexual battery by fraud, one count of sexual battery and three counts of rape by a foreign object.

A total of eight women, said that they were violated during cosmetic surgery procedures or postoperative exams at his clinic between September 2007 and December 2008. Most of the women, who were 25 to 39 years old at the time, were unconscious while the molestation occurred.

Continue reading "California Surgeon Charged With Molesting Patients " »

DALLAS — A Bedford infectious-disease specialist has been ordered to pay $7.5 million to a former maintenance man who lost his arms and legs to an MRSA infection.

Judge Jim Jordan ordered Dr. Meenakshi Prabhakar to pay David Fitzgerald after a Dallas County jury found in Fitzgerald's favor in his medical malpractice lawsuit. Prabhakar treated Fitzgerald in 2003 when he developed an infection following surgery at RHD Medical Center in Farmers Branch. Photo courtesy of Dallas Morning News

Continue reading "Dallas Doctor Ordered to Pay Man Who Lost Limbs $7.5M " »

Stacy Rojas was declared brain dead one month before Zoe Rojas' birth. The mother was kept on life support to save their daughter's life. Two days after Zoe was born, Mr. Rojas said goodbye to his wife forever.

Continue reading "Dallas Medical Malpractice Case Settles" »

The Florida doctor's license was revoked in the case of a teenager who planned to have an abortion but instead gave birth to a baby she says was killed when clinic staffers put it into a plastic bag and threw it in the trash.

The doctor, Pierre Jean-Jacques Renelique, was not present when the baby was born, but the Florida Medical Board upheld Department of Health allegations that he falsified medical records, inappropriately delegated tasks to unlicensed personnel and committed malpractice.

Continue reading "Florida Doctor Loses License in Live Birth Abortion Case" »

According to federal drug officials, many doctors may lose their ability to prescribe 24 popular narcotics as part of a new effort to reduce the deaths and injuries that result from these medications inappropriate use.

A new control program will result in restrictions on the prescribing, dispensing and distribution of extended-release opioids like OxyContin, fentanyl patches, methadone tablets and some morphine tablets.

Continue reading "F.D.A. to Restrict Prescriptions of Narcotics " »

At its February 5-6 meeting, the Texas Medical Board took disciplinary action against 32 licensed physicians; in addition, the board has issued one temporary suspension since its last meeting.

The actions included 11 violations based on quality of care; seven actions based on unprofessional conduct; one mediated agreed order modifying a prior order; three actions based on other states’ actions; four actions based on inadequate medical records violations; two actions based on impairment due to alcohol or drugs or mental/physical condition; one advertising violation; and four voluntary surrenders. The board also accepted the voluntary surrender of one surgical assistant’s license.

At its February 5-6 meeting, the Texas Medical Board issued 399 physician licenses.

For further information click here.

A woman aged 18, went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for the doctor to terminate her 23-week pregnancy.

Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated get her ready for the procedure.

The doctor did not arrive in time. According to the woman and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labor and delivered a live baby girl.

What happened next has shocked people on both sides of the abortion debate: One of the clinic's owners, who has no medical license, cut the infant's umbilical cord. The woman placed the baby in a plastic biohazard bag and threw it out.

Continue reading "Botched Abortion Leads to National Shock" »

In 2004, a 24-year-old mother found blood in her stool and kept having pain when she went to the bathroom. When she went to her local doctor, she was repeatedly told that she was merely suffering from hemorrhoids.

Seven months after she visited the doctor, she was rushed to University Medical Center's emergency room because of major pain. Shortly after that, she was diagnosed with colon and rectal cancer. She died in 2007 at the age of 27.

The Las Vegas District Court jury awarded her family $2.5 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The suit contended that the doctor and a nurse at the family practice, were negligent and did not examine her properly.

The jury determined that the doctor was mostly responsible for the negligence that contributed to the woman's death and that he "fell below the standard of care," according to the verdict.

If she had been properly diagnosed when she first visited her doctor, her chances of surviving the cancer would have been 97 percent. Her chances dropped to 50 percent by the time she was diagnosed in December 2004.

Continue reading "NV Jury Finds For Family $2.5 M in Med Mal Case" »

On Dec. 12, 2008, a jury sided with a neurosurgeon accused of failing to perform the appropriate procedure on a patient with spinal injuries.

In May 2004, Dr. Walter Loyola performed a two-level fusion on Melinda Lynch's neck. She had a second fusion in late July, but her problems persisted. She ultimately underwent a 360-degree fusion performed by another doctor three months later.

Lynch sued Loyola for malpractice, alleging the two-level fusions failed and that she wouldn't have needed the third surgery if Loyola had initially performed a 360-degree fusion instead.

Loyola argued that he believed the two-level fusion would be successful and would have allowed Lynch a greater degree of mobility than the other procedure. He also claimed Lynch didn't allow for the 12 weeks he told her it would take for her spine to fully fuse.

Lynch v. Loyola, No. 296-2359-06

Court: 296th District Court, Collin County

Hospital companies in Texas, many of which collect millions in state and federal funds, operate with minimal public disclosure of deficiencies. The state keeps information on complaints and inspections largely private because influential health care corporations want it that way, and Texas legislators have obliged.

As a result, it is next to impossible for the public to determine whether state enforcement works properly. Hospital lobbyists designed much of this system.

The Texas Department of State Health Services provides, on its Web site, a small amount of data on hospital fines. The department also furnishes limited and heavily redacted violation records to anyone who makes a formal open-records request, pays in advance and sometimes waits months for delivery.

Continue reading "State of Neglect: Texas Law Lets Hospitals Hide Problems" »

The Dallas VA medical center's psychiatric wing, where two patients committed suicide last year, reopened fully after a nine-month closure.

The wing has been renovated, with new technologies to help safeguard patients and alert hospital personnel about potential problems.

Continue reading "Dallas VA Hospital Opens Remodeled Psychiatric Unit" »

On Sept. 19, a jury sided with a doctor accused of failing to prevent a patient's heart attack.

In 2004, Phyllis Jackson, then 49, underwent a hysterectomy, which had been recommended by her doctor, Suvij Upatham.

The day after the procedure, Jackson complained of chest discomfort and tests showed an elevated heart rate. A nurse notified Upatham, who ordered a number of interventions but did not order an EKG.

Hours later, Jackson went into respiratory distress, and an EKG revealed she had a heart attack. She now suffers from congestive heart failure and is unable to work.

She blamed Upatham, claiming he did not properly test her heart prior to the hysterectomy and that he failed to notice the heart attack symptoms following the procedure.

Upatham argued that Jackson underwent proper testing before the surgery and that her post-operative discomfort was not unusual.

Jackson v. Upatham, No. 70620

Court: 354th District Court, Hunt County

A Florida man, who is suing two Broward County doctors for malpractice in a rare case allowing a punitive damages claim.

The man claims his plastic surgeon later lied about his detached role in the botched surgery, created two sets of medical records to hide the truth and still billed his insurance company for performing surgery.

The Broward Circuit Judge issued an order in July putting punitive damages in play, and Florida's 4th District Court of Appeal on Sept. 29 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari on the issue. The trial is set for March 2.

Continue reading "Florida Med-Mal Case With Punitive Damages Claim" »

The U.S. government must pay $8.6 million in damages because a military doctor at Scott Air Force Base failed to diagnose a case of flesh-eating bacteria according to a federal magistrate judge's ruling.

The former wife of an Air Force captain, testified that she sought treatment at the base hospital emergency room for pain and swelling in her right arm in 2002.

According to court documents, the doctor was concerned the woman was a drug addict wanting a prescription, advised her to go home and take Motrin.

A month later, the situation got progressively worse and the woman was taken to the emergency room. The woman was then diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a strep infection that decays soft tissue.

Continue reading "Scott AFB Doctor Liable in $8.6 M Judgment" »

Medical device maker Medtronic Inc. said it did not encourage the unapproved use of its spinal implant, which a new lawsuit is blaming for the death of a California woman.

The lawsuit, filed by the woman's family in Los Angeles, said her death was caused by use of the Infuse spinal graft in her neck. The device is approved only for use in lower-back surgery and some oral and dental procedures.

The woman's surgery took place in August, a month after the Food and Drug Administration warned that use of Infuse for neck surgeries had led to problems swallowing, breathing and speaking.

Continue reading "Medtronic Lawsuit Over Spinal Implant" »

The parents of a 7-year-old boy who died after contracting West Nile virus from a transfusion of tainted blood asked the Florida Supreme Court to restore an $8 million jury verdict against a blood bank.

The Court have been asked to decide whether all blood banks are covered by Florida's medical malpractice statutes, which include special procedures and limits on damages and attorney fees, rather than general negligence laws.

The American Red Cross and two national blood bank associations are participating in the case through a written "friend-of-the-court" argument that sided with the defendant, LifeSouth Community Blood Centers Inc.

Continue reading "Lawsuit in Florida Blood Bank Death " »

A widow who sued the U.S. government over her husband's death at the Marion VA Medical Center has accepted a settlement of almost $1 million.

The Kentucky man died in the hospital after gallbladder surgery last year. His widow, sued alleging medical negligence and accusing the government of failing to adequately check the background of her husband's surgeon, before hiring him.

Continue reading "Marion VA Medical Center Liable in Wrongful Death" »

A 59-year-old man lumbers through a junkyard he helps manage; he bumps into a desk and the man is almost blind in his right eye and has trouble with depth perception and peripheral vision.

This unfortunate man blames a doctor for a botched retina reattachment operation in August 2007. But lawyers tell him it is economically unfeasible to litigate his complicated case, or that time limitations are an issue.

For that, he blames medical malpractice reforms of the 2004 Nevada Legislature.

"With this new malpractice law in place, I cannot even get a lawyer to go after who is responsible for what happened," the Las Vegas resident said. "There is hardly any protection for the consumer any more. Now everything is in favor of doctors."

Voters overwhelmingly approved Question 3 in 2004. Physicians called it the "Keep Our Doctors In Nevada" initiative.

Continue reading "Nevada Medical Malpractice Crisis" »

A $4 million award to the family of a woman misdiagnosed with cancer and then given a lethal dose of painkillers was upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

The patient's daughter brought a wrongful death suit against Hospice Ministries and Dr. William Causey. The hospice settled during the trial for the maximum $1 million in insurance coverage.

The daughter said a simple lab test could have prevented the entire thing. The 66 year old patient was diagnosed in 2001 with pancreatic cancer at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and sent to Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland in June 2001. She died about a month later.

Continue reading "Medical Malpractice Judgment Upheld" »

A Nevada doctor has been accused of causing the deaths of three patients and has numerous examples of alleged prescription drug malpractice.

Investigations of the doctor are on going, but the Nevada State Medical Examiners Board has not suspended his license or taken any steps to force him to curtail his prescribing of large quantities of narcotic painkillers.

The medical board has the authority to summarily suspend the license of a doctor who is putting patients in imminent harm.

Continue reading "Nevada and Narcotic Painkillers" »

The Federal government has agreed to pay a Utah family nearly $1 million to settle a medical malpractice case. The man was being treated for leukemia at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City in 2004 when he developed a severe infection and died. His survivors sued, claiming the hospital failed to give him antibiotics in time. He died of sepsis from a low white-blood-cell count.

The Government agreed to settle the case for $950,000 to cover general damages and future lost income.

Continue reading "Utah Medical Malpractice Case Settles for $1M " »

New questions are being raised about the death of a Dallas man, who died after waiting 19 hours in Parkland Hospital's emergency room. See earlier story.

The questions come from another emergency room patient who sat with the dying man for ten hours. The woman says what she saw that night two weeks ago was, in her opinion, the unconscionable misdiagnosis and mistreatment of a man who suffered for 19 hours before dying.

The man complained of so much pain that according to Parkland records, on a scale of ten, he was a ten. The reason, a perforated hernia that he at one point showed to the stranger sitting next to him.

"And at that point I could see the intestines coming through his abdomen," she said.

Continue reading "Dallas Parkland ER Death" »

A Dallas man, died at Parkland Memorial Hospital emergency room after waiting nearly 19 hours for treatment.

The 58 year old collapsed just as he was about to receive medical treatment. Doctors were unable to revive him, and the cause of death is not yet known. Apparently he was suffering severe abdominal pain, when his sister drove him to the emergency room.

Parkland Hospital officials said they are investigating the death.

Continue reading "Dallas Man dies While Waiting at Parkland ER" »

The FDA this week attacked several companies involved in an eye wash and a skin cream without FDA authorization. The FDA stated that these prescription medications could cause risks to patients.

Balanced salt solution is an eye wash which is used to keep the eyes moist. Two companies, Alcon Laboratories and Akorn, Inc. have versions that are officially approved by the FDA, and are not affected by this crackdown.

But B. Braun, Baxter and Hospira firms are selling similar types of eye wash without federal validation of their safety and effectiveness.

Continue reading "FDA Cracks Down on Braun, Baxter and Hospira" »

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that Ed McMahon's medical malpractice lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and doctors can proceed. McMahon had alleged claims that include negligence, elder abuse, battery, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Attorneys for Cedars-Sinai Hospital had challenged the negligence lawsuit for six of the claims. But Judge John P. Sook disagreed, and his ruling now allows McMahon to seek punitive damages.

Continue reading "Ed McMahon's Lawsuit of Botched Neck Surgeries can Proceed" »

In October Medicare will stop paying hospitals for the added cost of treating patients who are injured in their care.

Medicare, has put 10 “reasonably preventable” conditions on its initial list; patients who receive incompatible blood transfusions, those who develop infections after certain surgeries or those who must undergo a second operation to retrieve a sponge left behind. Serious bed sores, injuries from falls and urinary tract infections caused by catheters are also on the list.

This policy will prevent hospitals from billing patients directly for costs generated by medical errors.

Continue reading "Medicare will not pay for Medical Errors" »

Medical mistakes, though common in adults, can have disasterous results in children. The actor Dennis Quaid’s twins nearly died last year after receiving 1,000 times the prescribed dose of a blood thinner Heparin. Other infants have died from the same medication error. A study in the journal Pediatrics earlier this year found that problems due to medications occurred in 11% of children who were in the hospital, and that 22% of them were preventable.

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Texas Legislature passed major medical liability tort reform in 2003, and a new study released by the Texas Hospital Association shows the state’s hospitals continue to see their liability costs drop.

According to the study, 85 percent of hospitals are finding it easier to recruit specialists and subspecialists because of the reduced threat of a major medical malpractice lawsuit. Further, 69 percent of institutions say they have been able to expand services because of declining liability costs.

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Plaintiff attorneys are seeking a new trial in a medical malpractice case in which a jury found a hospital negligent in a patient's death but awarded $0 survival damages because the jury said "no amount of damages will adequately punish" the hospital.

A 24 year old man died after his brain abscess was not timely treated by the Pittsburgh hospital staff. The jury found that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center at Shadyside's care of the patient fell below the standard of medical care and was a factual cause of harm to the plaintiff. The jury awarded $2.5 million in Wrongful Death Act damages, but awarded zero dollars in Survival Act damages.

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Rice, 24, died in 2006, while in Denver City Jail, 20 hours after she was released from a hospital. She had suffered a lacerated spleen and liver and bled to death from injuries she received in a drunken-driving crash.

The family of Emily Rice, who died while in custody at the Jail, reached a $4 million settlement with Denver Health Medical Center. Denver Health also agreed to significant changes in patient screening and treatment at both the medical center and the jail.

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An Atlanta jury has awarded $5 million in damages to the family of a new mother who drowned in a bathtub at Gwinnett Medical Center.

The lawsuit alleged that nurses should have checked on Wendy Wyckstandt, 34, and should have realized that she was too weak to shower without assistance.

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A Philadelphia jury awarded a $20.5 million verdict to the parents of an 18-year-old college student who died from a botched liposuction procedure.

This case had been pending for seven years to the day of the elective liposuction for Amy Fledderman. The patient had liposuction for her chin, abdomen and flanks with plastic surgeon Dr. Richard P. Glunk on May 23, 2001.

In the Fledderman v. Glunk wrongful death and survival lawsuit, the jury awarded $15 million in punitive damages; $3.5 million under the Survival Act; $2 million for Glunk allegedly negligently inflicting emotional distress on Colleen Fledderman (patient's mom); $20,000 under the Wrongful Death Act; and $5,000 for Glunk's alleged failure to obtain Amy Fledderman's informed consent.

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A Tucson family was awarded $6 million in a lawsuit brought after a relative died of a morphine overdose. The judgment cost is to be paid 90 percent by operators of a nursing home, Manor Care Health Services, and 10 percent to be paid by Tucson Medical Center (TMC).
Sylvia Culpepper, 81 years old, was admitted to TMC on Dec. 2, 2003, suffering from sciatica, a painful nerve condition.

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A West Virginia physician has filed a malpractice lawsuit against two other doctors and Thomas Memorial Hospital, alleging negligence and improper treatment when he needed abdominal surgery. In addition to the hospital, the lawsuit was filed against the doctors who treated him.

Cunningham, a Charleston, WV gynecologist, was admitted to the hospital and underwent abdominal surgery. The doctor plaintiff alleged that the hospital and physicians were negligent in their treatment to him.

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The Dallas VA Medical Center has effectively closed its psychiatric wing after a fourth mentally ill patient this year committed suicide.

On April 4, a man fastened a bed sheet to the bottom corner of a door frame, draped a noose over the top, and hanged himself. Before that, a veteran hanged himself on a frame attached to his wheelchair. And in January, two men who met in the psychiatric ward committed suicide in Collin County days after being released.

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The voices in Jack Edenburn's head began soon after he returned from Vietnam. They told him to end it all.

He ignored them for almost 40 years, until the day he stood at the railroad tracks near his Lancaster home, fantasizing about stepping in front of a train. That's the day he went to Dallas VA Medical Center. And some days, he says, he regrets that decision.

"Imagine hell," he said of his five days in the psychiatric unit, "then think worse."

Patients soiled with feces and soaked in urine wandered aimlessly, screaming, rolling delirious on the floor. One woman, he said, removed ceiling tiles and crawled into the space above the day room.

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Pat Ahrens knew something was wrong. The night before, he had dropped his friend Chris Demopoulos off at a Plano motel, promising to return in the morning, but Ahrens wasn't sure he had done the right thing.

The two had met at the Dallas veterans' hospital and had bonded over their wartime experiences, the depression that followed and the troubling thoughts of suicide they could not seem to shake. Ahrens was discharged on January 22; Demopoulos checked out the next day, he then gave Demopoulos money for dinner and put him up for the night in a La Quinta Inn at 1820 N. Central Expressway in Plano.

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