Articles Tagged with medical error

When a loved one is in need of medical care, it is important to research all the options and choose a provider you feel comfortable with. Unfortunately, mistakes can happen, even with a carefully chosen healthcare provider.

Medical malpractice occurs when a provider, usually a doctor or hospital, fails to administer treatment that meets the customary standard of health care. Through medical negligence or misdiagnosis, malpractice may result in injury or wrongful death of a patient. In a medical malpractice case, the doctor, hospital, health facility, or government agency in charge of health care center may all be held accountable.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs paid $91.7 million in malpractice claims, making this the largest judgment against a government agency in 12 years. Gross negligence, missed diagnoses, delayed treatment, and procedures performed on the wrong body parts were cited as the major medical mistakes of the government agency.

According to ABC News, the family of a Californian toddler will receive $10 million a medical malpractice settlement.

In November of 2010, the  two year old’s parents took her to a Sacramento Hospital with a fever, skin discoloration, and weakness. After waiting five hours without seeing a specialist, she was flown to another healthcare facility. The second healthcare provider determined she was suffering from streptococcus A bacteria. Due to the extended wait, the bacteria had invaded her blood and organs, leading to a necessary amputation.

The settlement with the Sacramento hospital and its parent company, Catholic Healthcare West, ranks among the largest in California history, according to medical malpractice attorneys.

A teenager was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down after an epidural anesthetic was left in her spine for too long. The young woman was 14 years old when she went in for a routine operation to remove gallstones.

During the patient’s hospital stay, the hospital staff had been told that the numbness had spread to both her legs and she was unable to move her feet. The anesthetic was not removed until 48 hours after the patient’s operation, by which time it had entered the girl’s spinal cord and damaged the membrane.

The girl’s attorney said that the hospital’s full admission of liability now paves the way for a settlement of this medical malpractice claim that will provide the girl with the financial support she will need to pay for specialist care and equipment for the rest of her life.

Four years after undergoing aortofemoral bypass surgery in January 2004, an 85-year-old woman underwent a second surgery to remove a surgical sponge previously left behind.  Throughout those four years, the woman suffered from pain in her back and the lower left quadrant of her abdomen, weakness, dizziness, numerous infections that were treated with antibiotics, nausea, and a foul odor coming from her body that would not resolve itself with showering or other attempts at personal hygiene. Finally, a CT scan revealed a mass near the woman’s colon that turned out to be an old laparotomy pad.

In December 2009 a suit was filed alleging negligence and malpractice against the surgeons who performed the original procedure and the hospital where the procedure was performed.  The patient offered to settle with the responsible parties for $250,000.  This offer was rejected and the case continued in the court system until the hospital admitted all liability, cleared the surgeons of any blame and settled the case for $375,000.

If you are dealing with an injury due to the negligence of a physician and are uncertain about your rights and how to seek compensation, contact McAleer Law.