Wrongful Life Lawsuit Awards Plaintiff $10M After Seattle Nurse Gives Flu Shot Instead of Birth Control
According to reporting by the Seattle Times, a federal judge has awarded just over $10 million in a wrongful life lawsuit brought against the government for the negligence of a nurse at a federally funded health care clinic. The suit was brought because of an unwanted pregnancy caused by the nurse’s negligence when she administered a flu shot instead of the quarterly birth control injection. The negligent action ended in the birth of a severely disabled child and the birth injury award is intended to pay for the future care of the child, now eight years old.
Read MoreFamily Sues Seattle Children’s Hospital For Mold Found in Baby’s Heart After Surgery Causes Serious Illness
As reported on seattletimes.com, the family of a baby boy who ended up in critical condition after open-heart surgery at Seattle Children’s hospital has brought a negligence suit against the hospital for failure to disclose unsafe conditions in the hospital’s operating rooms. The infant – who was only six days old at the time he underwent open-heart surgery at Seattle Children’s hospital in October, 2019 – became gravely ill with a mold infection in his heart one-month post-surgery. The plaintiffs explain that they would not have chosen to have the surgery at Seattle Children’s hospital had they known about the mold issue. The family has had to rent an apartment near the hospital and says that their son has had respiratory and heart failure and needs another surgery. He may not be ready for release until his first birthday in September.
Read MoreWhen Can I Sue a Hospital for Medical Negligence?
If you or a loved one was injured at a hospital because of negligence, you may be wondering if it is appropriate to sue for negligence to recover damages. Specifically, when is it appropriate to sue a hospital for negligence versus an individual medical professional?
First, let’s define medical negligence
Medical negligence is the fault theory used in most medical malpractice cases. It has occurred when a medical professional performs their job in a way that breaks their duty of care by deviating from the accepted medical standard of care. Medical negligence qualifies as medical malpractice when the medical professional’s negligent conduct causes injury to the patient.
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Read MoreWhat is a Doctor’s Duty of Care?
Medical doctors and other health professionals owe a duty of care to their patients. A duty of care is the legal obligation doctors owe their patients to provide treatment in line with appropriate levels of care under the circumstances. This legal obligation is the first step in proving any medical malpractice claim.
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Read MoreWhat’s the Difference Between Wrongful Death and Medical Malpractice?
When a person is injured or dies as a result of the negligence of another, they may be able to file a personal injury claim to recover damages. While both wrongful death and medical malpractice fall under tort law, the appropriate type of claim depends on the circumstances and type of injury. Medical malpractice is a specific subset of tort law that aims to hold professional negligence accountable while wrongful death law is applied in tort cases where the defendant’s behavior resulted in the death of the victim.
Read MoreCDC Report Shows U.S. Maternal Mortality Affects Women Up to a Year After Delivery: Most Deaths Preventable
A 2019 CDC report casts light on a tragic reality in the United States: too many American women are dying from pregnancy-related complications up to a year after delivering their babies. A report released by the CDC today underscores the tragedy. The report found that including maternal deaths during pregnancy, at birth, or within 42 days of birth, the overall 2018 U.S. maternal mortality rate was 17.4 deaths per 100,000 live births. Clearly, the rate would be higher if it had included deaths up to 52 weeks after birth. The U.S. ranks 10th for maternal mortality among 10 other similarly wealthy countries.
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Read MoreBoarding Patients in Emergency Room Hallways Can Increase Risk of Medical Error
The reality in most emergency rooms around that country is that many patients wait several hours to be evaluated, treated and finally admitted to the hospital. Far too often, patients end of “boarding” in emergency room hallways as they await for a hospital bed to open. This opinion piece published on NPR, talks of a bedridden patient with chest pain who spent 47 hours in the hallway before they were finally moved into an open spot in the cardiac unit. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2016, two-thirds of American hospitals boarded patients in the ER for more than two hours while waiting for an inpatient bed, affecting about one in five patients.
Read MoreNew Jersey Patient Receives Kidney Intended for a Different Patient: Wrong Patient Surgery
As reported by the BBC.com, a patient at a New Jersey hospital was given a kidney meant for a different patient earlier this month. The patients – who have not been identified – had the same name and were of a similar age. The wrong patient surgery was discovered one day after the transplant surgery by a member of the hospital’s clinical team. A spokesperson for the hospital says that this was an “unprecedented event” and that both patients have now received kidneys and are doing well. The patient who was supposed to receive the original kidney was given a different one about a week later.
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Read MorePakistani Pediatrician Charged with Medical Negligence and Manslaughter after Allegedly Reusing HIV Infected Syringes
As reported by the Independent.co.uk, almost 900 Pakistani children and about 200 adults have tested positive for HIV in the city of Ratodero after receiving injections from a doctor that allegedly reused HIV infected syringes. Some children have died after becoming infected and those that are living with the disease are often shunned because of a misunderstanding that HIV can be contracted by touch. Health officials believe that the true number of those infected could be higher as they have tested less than one quarter of Ratodero’s 200,000 residents to date. According to the United Nations’ taskforce on HIV and Aids, HIV infections in Pakistan have nearly doubled to 160,000 since 2010.
Read MoreObstetrician in Portugal Suspended in Failure to Diagnose Case
As reported on bbcnews.com, medical council officials unanimously voted to suspend a Portuguese obstetrician for six months after a baby was born in his care without a nose, eyes or part of his skull. Dr. Artur Carvalho is being accused of negligence for a failure to diagnose and notify the parents of baby Rodrigo about their son’s severe physical abnormalities despite the three ultrasound scans performed during her pregnancy under his care. Making matters worse, the mother had a fourth, more detailed ultrasound at a different clinic when she was six months into the pregnancy and was told that there could be abnormalities. When she brought up the risk to Dr. Carvalho, he allegedly dismissed the concerns. When the baby was born with the obvious disfigurements, his parents were told that he would only live a few hours but he is still alive and in hospital care after a few weeks.
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