Colorado Personal Injury Blog - Medical Malpractice

Doctor Faces Manslaughter Charges in Death of Abortion Patient

Kyle Bachus — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:59:39 GMT

In a rare move, a Cape Cod grand jury indicted Dr. Rapin Osathanondh on a charge of manslaughter, following the October 13, 2007 death of 22-year-old patient, Laura Hope Smith. While, as Dan Slater noted, “it’s rare that even the most egregious instances of medical malpractice qualify as crimes,” Cape Cod District Attorney Michael O’Keefe told the Boston Globe that during Smith’s surgery, an abortion, “there was an inattention to the kinds of procedures of a lifesaving nature that one would expect in a place where an operation with anesthesia is being performed… There was nobody monitoring her, long enough to result in her death. There were a number of other shortcomings that make up the willful, wanton, and reckless conduct."

The litany of allegations brought by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, claim that among these other shortcomings, Osathanondh failed to have someone present to administer and monitor sedation or to assist in resuscitative measures, failed to monitor Smith’s blood pressure, pulse, or heart rate or have oxygen available, failed to timely initiate a 911 call, and “failed to adhere to basic cardiac life support protocol.” Osathanondh is also alleged to have lied to the Board by stating he administered oxygen to Smith and monitored her pulse, that he and the other staff member present were ACLS certified, and that the procedure took place in a different, better equipped room. He is also alleged to have "fraudulently obtained renewal of his medical license by providing false information."

Osathanondh, a Harvard School of Public Health research associate who apparently left a previous hospital “under a cloud of threatened nurses,” is expected to plead not guilty. His attorney told the Globe that “this is a tragedy that sometimes happens in medicine, but it happens; patients die inexplicably in the course of even routine procedures . . . . This is not a matter that belongs in the criminal courts."

Whether it does or not is an extremely close call. That Osathanondh committed malpractice seems to be clear, but where’s the line between medical malpractice and criminal activity? As noted in the comments section at the Wall Street Journal’s legal blog, some facts regarding the type of anesthesia aren’t clear, neither is whether he is charged with voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Other questions that come to mind: what differentiates this doctor’s conduct from similar egregious forms of medical malpractice? Did the fact that Smith’s death occurred during an abortion play any role in the decision to prosecute? Is the level of care generally lower for these types of procedures? The conclusion that this young woman’s tragic death was avoidable, however, is unquestionable.

Thomas Connell

Summer Intern 2008

J.D. Candidate 2010

University of Colorado

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Kyle Bachus

Medical Malpractice Crisis Myths(2)

Darin Schanker — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The Center for American Progress has a series of short articles on medical malpractice, and it is worth giving a read. As the election shifts into overdrive, you can expect to hear a lot about this issue, since health care is sure to be central this cycle and the canard about a medical malpractice crisis is one that gets trotted out every year.

Proponents of damage caps on personal injury like to use the myth of a medical malpractice crisis as a hammer, talking about how frivolous lawsuits and “jackpot juries” are bloating healthcare costs nationwide. However, they tend to ignore a few crucial facts: first, that medical malpractice costs hover around 2% of all healthcare costs, and second, that the systems is quite skilled at sorting out truly frivolous claims.

But even that is missing the point.

The civil justice system generally, and medical malpractice specifically, is not about shifting money from one party to another; and one of the main things it is about is ensuring continuing care for those with medical needs. There is, all to frequently, no safety net for those who are injured. And if you were injured because of another, then nothing is more basic, more primal, more just then to ensure that the person who injured you does their level best to make you whole again. It is not for nothing that a former doctor and new lawyer framed the issue this way:

“When errors do occur, early and honest disclosure and offer of fair compensation should be the norm.”

It is not about the money, it is about responsibility. Keeping that in mind is the secret to parsing talk about the medical malpractice “crisis.” If the statement is not about how to care for injured people, if it instead talks about exploding costs, then you can bet it is a smoke screen. The first goal of everyone should be expanding protection to the injured, not to the bottom line.

Nathan T. Swanson

Summer Intern 2008

JD Candidate, 2009

University of Denver

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Darin Schanker

Are You Paying For Your Doctor's Mistakes?

Linda Snyder — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:38:24 GMT

Imagine going to the hospital for a routine hernia operation. Imagine you wake up and find two incisions instead of one as expected because the surgeon operated on the wrong side and had to start over.

Imagine getting your insurance statement a few weeks later and find your insurance had been billed for both operations!

This is the true story of Kevin Baccam, a 33-year old school district controller from Urbandale, Iowa, who had his surgery in August 2005. He is suing Dr. Frederick S. Nuss and the Iowa Clinic. "It's the principle of the thing", said Baccum.

This is not an isolated case; there are many other medical billing horror stories, some with devastating results. And yet in many cases the patient is being billed for the doctors' or hospitals' mistakes.

Eleven states have adopted a policy of waiving the fee for the worst mistakes, which have been dubbed "never events", meaning they should never happen at all. The NQF (National Quality Forum) has identified 28 never events that include surgery on the wrong part, surgery on the wrong patient, wrong surgery performed on a patient, items being left behind in a patient and a baby sent home with the wrong mother.

There's a certain amount of finger pointing and liability issues that emerge when a doctor and/or hospital admits they made a mistake. For example, the hospital preps the patient correctly and the doctor operates on the wrong body part, should the hospital pay? Or, the hospital performs the blood tests on the wrong patient and the patient dies in surgery because he was given the incorrect blood type. Is that the doctor's fault? It certainly isn't the patients' fault, yet in many instances it's the patient who is paying for these mistakes.

In October 2008, Medicare will start hitting hospitals where it hurts. Medicare will no longer cover 8 of the most serious never events.

Other insurers are looking into this as well. All I can say, is it's about time.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Linda Snyder

Nursing Home Citations Increase

Staff Writer — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 11:20:36 GMT

USA Today recently reported that nursing home citations have increased 22% from 2000 to 2006.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Serices, which regulates nursing homes, claimed that more and more nursing homes are being cited for serious violations that are putting patients at risk.

The most serious type of cases being cited are patients who were physically or sexually abused as well as being left without their medications.

Around 2,000 violations were found by inspectors last year at 850 of the nation's 16,000 nursing homes. These account for the 6% violations reported. Recently, many states have increased their inspections at nursing homes.

Incomplete records for Medicare and Medicaid show that there has been more than 1,300 "immediate jeopardy" citations.

Nursing homes found with these citations are being told they aren't allowed to accept new Medicaid patients and have to pay fines.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Nursing Home Neglect and Elder Abuse.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer

Half of Doctors in U.S. Report Medical Errors

Linda Snyder — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:28:00 GMT

Recently, researchers found that only half of all U.S. doctors report medical mistakes or unethical colleagues.

Only 46 percent of physicians surveyed stated that they knew of a serious medical error and didn't report it.

The U.S. Institute of Medicine surveyed more than 1,600 physicians in 2003 and 2004; only 31 percents had undergone a competency review in the past three years. About 98,000 people die every year as a result of medical errors in hospitals.

Dr. James Thompson, the chief executive officer of the Federation of State Medical Boards stated that state medical boards don't have their own team of investigators and most are underfunded and understaffed. State medical boards only react to complaints.

In 2005, the National Practitioner Data Bank reported that there was 135 medical malpractice payment reports were made against physicians in Colorado.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Linda Snyder

Longer Stays in Hospice Cause Financial Problems

Linda Snyder — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:47:11 GMT

Numerous hospice providers nationwide are facing financial problems due to their patients living longer than expected. You would assume this would obviously be a positive development, yet the effects on hospices' aren't.

Over the last eight years, the federal government has had to demand that hospices exceeding reimbursement limits repay hundreds of millions of dollars to Medicare.

A 2006 report concluded that Medicare spent $6.7 billion on hospice care in the year 2004.

When the Medicare hospice benefit first went into act in 1983, it was designed for patients who were expected to live six months or less. Most of these patients were cancer victims. In recent years, hospice use has increased dramatically for a wider realm of patients with illnesses from Alzheimer's disease and dementia. This has cause the average stay of patients in hospice to rise to 86 days.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, who analyzes Medicare issues for Congress, stated that 220 hospices (one for every 13 providers) had received repayment demands totaling to $166 million.

Medicare's spending on coverage of hospice has tripled from the years 2000 to 2005 to $8.2 billion and 40 percent of Medicare recipients now use this service.

A cap on how much hospice providers can be reimbursed each year cannot exceed the number of patients it serves and a pre-patient allowance has been set by the government each year. The longer lengths of stays have proven to cause problems with the cap, hospice's finances and even shutting down some facilities.

It has been almost 25 years since the Medicare hospice benefit has been in effect and it is about time that lawmakers make a revision, otherwise more hospices may face closing. Hospices remain to be extremely cost-effective for patients when you compare the average daily stay in a hospital to $5,036 and in hospice, $136.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Linda Snyder

Medtronic Defibrillator Leads Recalled

Shannon Weidemann — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 21:29:49 GMT

Defibrillator leads that connect an implanted defibrillator have been recalled. The defective medical device is made by Medtronic and may cause the device to function incorrectly. The name of the product is Medtronic Sprint Fidelis Defibrillator Leads.

The FDA has advised patients who are implanted with this recalled Medtronic defibrillator lead or do not know the model of their lead, to contact their physicians for further information. Patients who have had the Sprint Fidelis lead implanted should contact their physician, especially if they have experienced multiple shocks, lightheadedness, fainting, or palpitations.

The recalled device may stop working or it may deliver a shock when none is needed. There are fractures in the leads causing problems in the defibrillator.

If you would like to learn more about defective medical devices, please visit InjuryBoard's Drugs, Medical Devices, and Implants information page.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Parents File Medical Malpractice Case in Arkansas

Shannon Weidemann — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 15:17:26 GMT

A medical malpractice case is being heard in Arkansas after a woman was incapcitated after surgery at Northwest Medical Center. The case is being heard in Washington County Circuit Court. The woman had an infection in her arm and had surgery to treat it.

The plaintiffs seek money either for expenses for their daughter's future costs at the nursing home or for her to stay at home with them. They claim there were violations in the standard of care for their daughter.
Redding went into cardiac arrest on Dec. 18, 2003, following her inability to return to consciousness from the surgery. She has since been incapacitated.

Her parents are suing on her behalf. The case is against the Fayetteville Diagnostic Clinic and the Drs. Jon Sexton and Gary Templeton. The defense attorney asked for a directed verdict but the judge in the case allowed the case to move forward.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Surgeons Fail to Report When Stuck With Needles

Jenny Albano — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:47:51 GMT

A study being published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that most surgeons who have accidentally stuck themselves with needles while performing surgery, failed to report their injuries. This is a major problem because this lack of reporting is putting many patients and doctors at risk for blood-borne illnesses, such as AIDS and hepatitis.

Most surgeons say the main reason for needle stick injuries was because they were being rushed. Also, many surgeons did not believe that immediate medical attention could prevent infections. But these thoughts are untrue, timely treatment with antiviral drugs can prevent chronic infections.

Julie L. Gerbeding, director of the CDC, thinks this study shows further evidence that protection measures need to be strengthened. Trainees need to be given more instruction on safety techniques and what to do if they become injured.

An estimated 800,000 needle stick injuries occur each year among health care workers in this country. Of the participants in Dr. Makary's confidential survey, 99 percent had experienced at least one needle stick injury by the end of the fifth and last year of surgical training (the average was eight such injuries). Of these, 51 percent failed to report their injuries to an employee health service as some hospitals require.

Of the health care workers that did report, more than half of them did so because they were working with a patient that was at high risk for infections. Many surgeons reported when they were stuck by needles if someone else was aware of the injury.

If you feel you have been injured due to a surgeon's negligence, please contact an attorney.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jenny Albano

Sleep Apnea Flow Generators Recalled

Shannon Weidemann — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:45:00 GMT

Some flow generators used in the treatment of sleep apnea have been recalled. ResMed is voluntarily recalling S8 flow generators made between July 2004 and May 15, 2006 because the power supply connector may short circuit. This creates a potential for machine failure, sparks and fire.

Patients may continue to use their S8 flow generators until they receive a replacement device. As with any electrical device, patients should make sure that it is placed on a hard clean surface and that the area around the device is clear during use. Patients should discontinue use of the device if there are any signs of electrical failure such as intermittent power, cracking sounds, sparking or charred smell. Patients should not use supplemental oxygen with an affected device; patients using supplemental oxygen should immediately contact their home healthcare provider for a replacement.

The recalled flow generators have been distributed around the world. Those that believe they have a recalled device may visit http://www.resmed.com/s8program or call 888-899-8991for more information.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann