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Tag Archives: surgical error

January 01, 2022 News
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‎2021 Medical malpractice statistics :: New York has second highest incidence of lawsuits

New York – Statistics accumulated from a survey in 2021 show that medical malpractice and negligence ‎lawsuits are significant and concerning, especially for New Yorkers. The ‎survey was conducted by a professional medical information and education organization. The statistics ‎gathered showed that New York State had the second largest volume of medical malpractice lawsuits. ‎These included all types of malpractice claims, including failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis, failure ‎to treat a disease or condition, medical or medication mistakes and surgical error. The category of ‎surgical mistakes has been known to include operating on the wrong patient or on the wrong limb or ‎organ. However, a well-known and described surgical malpractice situation is when the doctor forgets ‎or leaves a foreign object inside of the patient. Some of the healthcare malpractice cases described ‎have led to wrongful death and are also evaluated in this survey. Other cases can lead to paralysis, loss ‎of use of function of part of the body or organ as well as infections. These statistics and the volume of ‎health-related malpractice incidents have patient safety specialists concerned. They warn that ‎continued development and following of safety protocols and education are essential to protect ‎patients. You can check out more medical malpractice statistics here.

Photo for illustrative purposes only. Photo Credit: Jennifer Morrow [License]

January 25, 2019 News
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Medical malpractice involving medical devices and artificial intelligence

New York – The expanding world of medical devices or machines that use artificial intelligence introduces a new kind of risk of medical malpractice injury for unsuspecting patients. Modern medicine has spent many decades creating and perfecting the use of these devices, such as robotics, computer software and hardware. The hope was to eliminate human doctor error, hospital negligence or fatigue that plagues doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. However, research has shown that these devices and programs are far from foolproof and can actually cause medical mistakes, surgical error or injury and even wrongful death. Sometimes a false sense of security can be instilled in healthcare practitioners who overly rely on the new technology, leading to a delayed treatment due to a delayed diagnosis or even outright missed diagnosis.

Top New York medical malpractice lawyers have researched these issues and have fought hard for these injured patients. They explain that it is important to fully investigate who is responsible for the medical mistake or if any negligence was involved. It is usually necessary to look into the underlying development of the technology in question to determine if it was developed and manufactured according to accepted standards. In addition, there is still an element of human error or neglect if there was subsequent improper maintenance or lack of proper training. You can review more about these types of medical errors here.

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September 28, 2018 News
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Traumatic nerve injury pain relief study

New York – Doctors have long struggled to adequately treat pain related to traumatic nerve injury. A recent study into the effectiveness of pain medications for various sources of pain looked into this further. They researched pain medications such as pregabalin, often marketed as Lyrica, that some doctors have tried using for patients who suffered an traumatic injury involving a nerve. Unfortunately, the study showed that this type of medication is not ineffective in treating this type of pain. These could be patients suffering with a laceration or torn nerve, radiculopathy from a neck and back injury, brachial plexopathy or the like. The causes of such nerve injuries often include motor vehicle accident, slip and fall injury, work accident, broken bones and fractures or assault. However, the medication is approved by the FDA for patients suffering from pain from a spinal cord injury. The doctors researching this medication did note that patients with chronic post-surgical pain may benefit from the use of the drug. This is good news for patients trying to get relief from chronic pain after surgery whether its related to routine complications or surgical error. You can read more about this injury and chronic pain research here.

Photo for illustrative purposes only. Photo Credit: Zdenko Zivkovic [License]

August 14, 2018 News
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Medical malpractice more likely if the doctor is fatigued

Research has now documented something that many have long suspected about medical errors by doctors. The recently presented paper shows that a physician that is burnt out or fatigued is more likely to have reported a serious medical mistake. Experts say that this makes sense in light of what we know about fatigue in healthcare providers, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and technicians. Significant fatigue and burnout can obviously lead to a tired healthcare worker that slow the thinking process. However, the fatigue and burnout can also create irritability and dulled clinical senses, leading to poor concentration and critical decision making. All of these can easily lead to various medical malpractice issues, such as a surgical mistake, wrong medication prescriptions or dosing, and even missed or delayed diagnosis. Patient safety advocates have long demanded that medical professionals maintain proper safety precautions, including ensuring proper sleep habits, maintaining safety protocols and monitoring for and dealing with risk factors for medical errors. Stories of surgical error or other malpractice issues are always a cause to take note and make serious changes to prevent recurrence. It is crucial to speak to an injury lawyer that specializes in medical malpractice lawsuits if you or someone you know suffered from an error due to the actions or inactions of a healthcare professional. This study further describes the association between medical mistakes and doctor fatigue or burnout.

Photo for illustrative purposes only. Photo Credit: Army Medicine [License]

January 17, 2018 News
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How common are medical errors and are they being taken seriously?

Repeat studies on medical malpractice show that medical errors are common and serious. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine the accurate incidence of medical malpractice that causes death due to record keeping and statistics issues. However, according to experts, if medical errors were tracked properly, it may be the third most common cause of death in the United States. Cases of medical mistakes occur in regular hospital rooms, the ICU, the emergency and operating room just as often as in an outpatient doctor’s office, according to specialists. Of note, laboratory errors are also too common with inexperienced technicians and outdated equipment with negligent maintenance sometimes to blame. The high incidence of malpractice death has healthcare safety advocates very concerned. A New York City medical malpractice lawyer notes that this cause of death is all too often swept under the rug. Hospitals, doctors and other health providers sometimes cover up for their mistakes to prevent taking blame for medical injury or death. Other times, they may not have caught their blunder or innacuracy that could have led to a wrongful death or patient harm. Activists in this area point out that intensive scrutiny is often necessary to understand exactly what transpired. This can require medical expert witnesses examining the case and trying to determine if proper medical protocol was followed or if anything was missed. Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis can cause just as much of a problem as dispensing the wrong medication or overdose of a correct medicine. Experts say that other common medical malpractice events take the form of birth injury, negligent medical advice and failure to treat. Surgical error can include surgery on the wrong side of the body or the wrong surgery altogether. However, sometimes less obvious can be a surgeon who slips and perforates an organ. You can read more about the issue of surgical and medical errors here.

Photo for illustrative purposes only. Photo Credit: Fotos GOVBA [License]

January 29, 2017 News
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New technology hopes to prevent birth injury

A healthcare instrument manufacturer has recently presented a new kind of scalpel to prevent birth injuries caused by a doctor during childbirth. The makers of this new surgical instrument say that it can prevent common accidental lacerations of the cheek, face and ear of the fetus as well as other body parts. Medical safety experts say that obstetrician doctors or residents often injure the infant while cutting through the mother’s tissues while working quickly to deliver the baby. Hospital errors can occur for various reasons. For example, unskilled physicians or fatigued staff sometimes have difficulty performing caesarean section surgeries under such time pressure. This can lead to permanent disability, wounds or even death of the baby. Patient safety can also be put at risk, leading to injury to the mother during such an intricate operation. The new medical device hopes to reduce the risk or such injuries and wrongful death. They also hope that the new safety blade design will prevent injury to the doctors and nurses involved in the surgery. Worker’s comp injuries involving hospital workers being hurt by needles, scalpels and other sharp instruments is a serious concern. Patient safety advocates explain that many medical safety devices are available to staff but some hospitals refuse to buy them due to high cost. However, they note that the high cost to a victim who suffers a medical malpractice injury must be taken into consideration. Many malpractice lawsuits, especially in cases of fetal injury, can be avoided with proper planning to avoid surgical error or a hospital mistake. Find out more about the new medical safety options here.

Photo for illustrative purposes only. Credit: M C Morgan [License]

July 15, 2015 Case Success Stories
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$340,000 Compensation - Surgical Error - Young Woman Suffers Colon Perforation After Routine Surgery

Brooklyn, NY – – Jane Doe was 21 years old when she went for a routine gynecological surgery to remove cysts from her ovaries in February of 2010. However, she had to return to the Brooklyn, New York hospital approximately a week later due to severe pain from a perforation of her bowel. The injury to her large intestine quickly worsened into peritonitis, a dangerous infection in her abdomen and pelvis.

Ms. Doe continued to suffer and required multiple operations to help correct the apparent surgical mistake. She asserted that the hole in her bowel occurred due to doctor negligence and therefore filed a medical malpractice lawsuit. After consulting with a top medical malpractice lawyer, she further contended that the Ob-Gyn surgeon delayed treatment due to failure to diagnose the complication from the operation.

Following negotiation with the defendants, the malpractice victim was given a $340,000 settlement. For further details on this case, please see the full article below.

Illustrative photo by U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Benjamin Stratton [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 

November 18, 2013 News
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Long Island hospital facing medical malpractice lawsuit in alleged surgical error

New York – A woman went to a well-respected hospital in Long Island for a routine ectopic pregnancy operation but has now filed a medical malpractice lawsuit. She developed life threatening complications while in the hospital that left her with both legs amputated below the knees. The woman and her family say that the problems began when the surgeons pierced her colon during the laproscopic surgery. They explain that this puncture was missed by the hospital due to doctor error. This failure to diagnose, notes the family, led to even more serious complications. The patient then developed sepsis, a deadly infection in her blood, and gangrene necrosis, the death of tissues, in her legs. Doctors and nurses in the hospital detailed how the woman then required several months of hospitalization in the intensive care unit (ICU) with antibiotic treatments and various medications. However, the medical care could not prevent the need for amputating the woman’s feet and legs and several other necessary medical procedures. The victim now exclaims that the alleged hospital mistake have left her unable to care for herself and permanently disabled. She is suing the hospital and its doctors, claiming they were negligent in several areas of their medical care. You can read more about her hospital negligence case here.

Photo by Unknown photographer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons