Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyer BlogAn IV, short for “intravenous,” is a familiar medical device used by doctors and nurses to administer various medications and other fluids to patients by inserting a needle or tube directly into the patient’s vein. Once the IV is inserted into the vein, it typically is taped to the skin to prevent it from moving or otherwise coming loose. If an IV becomes dislodged from the vein but stays under the patient’s skin, the medication being dispensed can be harmful to the surrounding tissue. This is called an IV extravasation.
Articles Posted in Hospital Malpractice
Wrongful Birth Cases
A wrongful birth medical malpractice case alleges that a heath care provider such as a doctor (such as an OBGYN or radiologist), hospital or laboratory was negligent by failing to properly inform a pregnant mother that her fetus had some serious medical condition, so that the mother would have had an opportunity to terminate the pregnancy.
Dallas Jury Awards $19.7 Million in Medical Malpractice Case
This week, a jury hearing a medical malpractice case in Dallas awarded $19.7 million to the family of a woman who suffered catastrophic and ultimately fatal brain damage as the result of her healthcare providers’ negligence. In 2013 the woman presented to a local hospital with a chief complaint of leg numbness. Shortly thereafter she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nervous system. It can diminish the ability of muscles to function which ultimately can lead to serious breathing problems. Still, GBS usually resolves and patients can experience a full recovery once their symptoms have passed.
Brain Injury Yields $3.85 Million Jury Verdict
An Idaho jury has awarded $3.85 million to a married couple after the wife suffered a catastrophic brain injury as the result of alleged improper removal of a catheter from her neck. According to the lawsuit, while in the hospital a nurse improperly removed a central venous catheter line which caused the patient to suffer an air embolism and stroke, resulting in irreversible brain damage.
Egregiously Careless Medical Mistake Results In $21 Million Jury Verdict
Earlier this year, a Detroit jury awarded $21 million to the family of a woman who died following a brain surgery that she was never supposed to undergo. A copy of the article regarding the case can be found here. The 81 year-old presented to the hospital in January of 2012 for treatment of her bilateral jaw displacement (dislocated jaw). Unfortunately, upon her admission, hospital staff mixed up her CT Scan results with those of another patient, causing the doctors to believe that this woman had bleeding on her brain requiring emergency surgery.
Medical Malpractice Brain Aneurysm – Failure to Timely Diagnose and Treat
A family, whose daughter died as a result of an untreated brain aneurysm, recently has settled their wrongful death lawsuit against a medical group comprised of more than 400 doctors, prior to the case going to trial.
Medical Malpractice Settlement For Failure to Diagnose and Treat Diabetes
It should go without saying that a person who enters a hospital has certain expectations of the level of care they will receive and how the medical staff will behave. Hospitals can be frightening and intimidating, and patients rely on their physicians to ease their apprehensions and concerns. Above all, patients expect to receive the highest level of care, both quickly and meticulously. In this same vein, doctors are expected, and even trained, to make the proper decisions when the time comes to make a diagnosis or recommend the appropriate treatment.
Jury Awards More Than $950,000 in Medical Malpractice, Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Recently, in a medical malpractice wrongful death case in Harford County, Maryland, a jury awarded more than $958,000 to the family of a woman who died after receiving “excessive amounts” of pain medication during a hospital stay. According to the lawsuit, the woman’s death resulted from the hospital providing hospice care rather than standard treatment for her infected ulcers.
Medical Malpractice and Wrongful Death in Hospitals – An Alarming Trend
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine estimated that each year 98,000 Americans die as a result of medical malpractice. A recent study published in the Journal of Patient Safety says that number now is estimated to be between 210,000 and 440,000 patients. The new estimates, developed by John T. James, a toxicologist at NASA’s space center in Houston and leader of an advocacy organization called Patient Safety America, were based on the findings of four recent studies which examined records of more than 4,200 patients hospitalized between 2002 and 2008. A copy of the article can be found here.
Medical Malpractice Involving Failure to Diagnose
Unfortunately, some of the most common medical malpractice lawsuits involve a doctor of hospital’s failure to diagnose a patient properly. When a patient seeks medical help, he or she trusts that their doctor or hospital will perform the necessary steps to diagnose what is causing their symptoms ultimately provide the proper treatment.
Negligence Involving Bed Rails
There are many hidden and unknown dangers in the very places we expect to heal; for example, hospital beds. Many of these hospital beds have rails, typically made of metal, that run along the side of the sleeping space. These bed rails operate to prevent someone from rolling off accidentally.
Malpractice litigation helps reduce medical error
The New York Times recently ran a fascinating op ed by Joanna Schwartz, a professor at UCLA. The subject was a study that Professor Schwartz did on the value of medical malpractice litigation in reducing medical errors. Professor Schwartz’s conclusion was that medical malpractice claims and lawsuits actually don’t result in doctors and other health professionals hiding problems and, in fact, such suits actually encourage improved practices.
Dr. Nikita Levy – A Race To The Courthouse
A number of news organizations are reporting today that lawyers in Baltimore are racing to the courthouse to file lawsuits against Dr. Nikita Levy and Johns Hopkins Hospital. When I heard that, I sadly chuckled. The only thing that these lawyers know now is what the media is reporting. There is no other information available from Dr. Levy’s family, Johns Hopkins, the Baltimore County Police who executed the search warrant, the Baltimore City Police who are leading the investigation or the FBI which is assisting the Baltimore City Police with the forensic evaluation of the electronic evidence.
Johns Hopkins Physician Dr. Nikita Levy Malpractice
Over the last few days, news reports have surfaced that a gynecologist / obstetrician who worked for Johns Hopkins, Dr. Nikita Levy, was improperly taking photographs and videos of patients.
Johns Hopkins study find misdiagnosis to be a significant contributor to instances of medical malpractice in intensive care units
Johns Hopkins Hospital researchers recently uncovered a startling figure regarding hospital medical malpractice: 40,500 intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients die each year as a result of misdiagnosis, as opposed to life threatening conditions that cannot be treated.