Medical Malpractice

• Patient Wins $16M Malpractice Lawsuit

  Christina Cole | February 08, 2007 4:21 AM | 0 CommentsDetroit, MI

  A woman was awarded $16 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit against a University of Miami doctor that performed brain surgery to remove a benign tumor in December. The surgeon prescribed anti-seizure meds for her after having a tumor removed from her brain, said her lawyer. However, she suffered a seizure after being released from the hospital which left her brain damaged."The doctor is...

• Are Medical Malpractice Awards Really Out Of Control?

  Jamie G. Goldstein | January 26, 2007 4:01 PM | 0 CommentsChicago, IL

  Politicians and lobbyists are calling for tort reform and implementation of caps in medical malpractice cases because of skyrocketing malpractice insurance for doctors caused by outrageous awards. However, the truth is there is no crisis due to large awards. In fact over a 14 year period from 1991 - 2005, malpractice payments made as the result of judgments and settlements declined 15.4...

• Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Crisis

  Glenn Phillips | January 24, 2007 8:14 AM | 0 CommentsEverett, WA

  According to an analysis released by Ralph Nader's national group, Public Citizen, there is no medical malpractice lawsuit crisis in America. Although, there is a problem with a small group of doctors who make mistakes. The report states that steps should be taken to identify and weed out the doctors that are responsible for the malpractice law suits. "To improve patient safety and prevent...

• Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Dismissed in WI

  John Rice | January 23, 2007 12:14 PM | 0 CommentsChattanooga, TN

  A Wisconsin judge ruled last week that the statute of limitations had run out on a family who filed a medical malpractice lawsuit. Doctors left a sponge inside Robert Genrich during a July 2003 surgery. The sponge was removed in a second surgery, but Genrich died three days later. At issue was whether the date of "injury" was defined as the day the sponge was removed in a second surgery or when...

• Child dies from medication error

  Barry Doyle | January 18, 2007 7:00 PM | 0 CommentsCook County, IL

  A Cleveland-area child died after receiving an improperly-mixed medication as part of her chemotherapy regimen. The actual dose was mixed by a pharmacy technician. The error was uncovered as part of an investigation which followed the child's death.The work of the pharmacy technician was being supervised by a licensed pharmacist. However, he failed to discover the medication error before...

• When will we see certifications of meritorious defenses?

  Ben Glass | January 15, 2007 2:11 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  The 2007 Virginia General Assembly Session brings with it more attempts to make Virginia medical malpractice claims more difficult for patients, while not providing any balancing requirements for defendants. A bill introduced in the House would allow for dismissal with prejudice of any malpractice claim where a court finds that the certification of merit currently required to be obtained by the...

• University of Washington Discloses Settlment Details

  Christina Cole | January 10, 2007 3:53 PM | 0 CommentsSyracuse, NY

  When the University of Washington settled a medical malpractice lawsuit three years ago, a confidentiality clause barred the injured patient and her lawyers from talking about or disclosing "to anyone, including the media," the lawsuit allegations and the settlement amount paid. The University of Washington also failed to release the settlement agreement when the Seattle Times filed a public...

• Lack of Communication Between Medical Providers Can Be Deadly

  Jack Landskroner | January 06, 2007 11:38 AM | 0 CommentsCleveland, OH

  When physicians and medical care providers fail to communicate or miscommunicate in the treatment of a patient it can be deadly. Kenneth Margolin, a Boston Attorney, highlights what can happen when there is an operating room miscommunication. Surgical malpractice with catastrophic results are often caused by miscommunication amongst members of the operating team. The very term operating "team"...

• FDA Medication Error Reduction Efforts

  Ken Margolin | December 27, 2006 11:15 AM | 0 CommentsBoston, MA

  Since 2000 the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has renewed efforts to prevent medication errors and other patient-related safety problems. The HHS formed the Patient Safety Task Force, which is a conglomeration of other agencies united to improve health-care safety, including the FDA and CDC. In 2002, the FDA devoted an entire division to assessing and correcting medication...

• Prescription Label Error Shakes up Mom

  Christina Cole | December 13, 2006 8:05 PM | 0 CommentsCook County, IL

  Becky Vanderlinden was quite surprised last week when she noticed the dose instructions on the bottle of antibiotics for her toddler. The toddler received five times the dose of antibiotics that her doctor had prescribed. Vanderlinden had called the pharmacy to check the dosage and was told that it was indeed correct - but the label was wrong. "I thought, "This seems like a huge amount of...