Medical Malpractice Attorney Bellingham

Can I Sue My Health Insurance Company Under the Insurance Bad Faith Law?

Each of us has a right to expect that our health insurance companies will act in good faith when handling health insurance claims or a request for care that is covered under our policies. When legitimate health care is denied, there can be terrible consequences to patients including the progression of an illness or even the death of a loved one. When a health insurer acts in bad faith, the insured may be able to recover damages through a civil lawsuit.

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Doctors Found Negligent in Wrongful Death Case Involving Florida Woman Who Died After Childbirth

As reported by the Miami Herald, doctors who delayed a scheduled C-section for a Florida mom for over 14 hours have been found negligent in her death. The woman bled to death after giving birth to her last child, Lillian, in July 2015 at Broward General Hospital. A Broward County jury awarded $24.5 million to the family of the mom who was 34-years-old at the time of her death.

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Canadian Women Bring Medical Malpractice Lawsuit For Improper Use of Labor Inducing Drug

As reported by Global News, New Brunswick’s largest health authority and one of their now former obstetrics nurses are named as defendants in a proposed class action lawsuit. The lawsuit, brought by two of at least a dozen women who were affected by this behavior, alleges that the nurse improperly administered labor-inducing drugs by adding the drug to IV saline bags hooked up to pregnant women. The drug oxycontin was allegedly administered without the knowledge or consent of the mothers. The women allege that the Moncton Hospital either knew or should have known that their nurse was allegedly improperly administering the drugs. They also argue that the health authority could have done more to prevent this from happening by acting on their knowledge that “the hospital…performed an unusually high number of emergency c-section and instrument-assisted deliveries.”

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Medical Malpractice Lawsuits: Alleged Deadly Dosing by Mount Carmel Doctor

Medical Malpractice Attorney Gerald Leeseberg was hired by the family of Janet Kavanaugh who was 79 years old and near death when she was transferred from an assisted care facility to Mount Carmel West hospital in Columbus, Ohio. According to an article on WOSU Radio, her family asked that lifesaving measures be stopped, and that Kavanaugh be comfortable for her remaining time. Kavanaugh died Dec. 11, 2017. As Leeseberg began to review records from the assisted care facility and Mount Carmel he noticed a concerning pattern. Mount Carmel has now identified 25 patients under the care of William Husel – including Kavanaugh – who received an “excessive and potentially fatal” dose of the opioid fentanyl, which is used as a painkiller. All 27 patients later died, according to a statement by the hospital.

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Medical Malpractice: FDA Issues Warning that Certain Antibiotics May Cause Aortic Aneurism

On Thursday, December 20 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cautioned that the benefits of fluoroquinolone antibiotics do not outweigh the risks for certain patients. This warning came after a review of studies on patient problems published between 2015 and 2018 concluded that these antibiotics double the risk of a deadly aortic aneurysm for patients with certain symptoms or characteristics.

The patients with the highest risk of aortic aneurism from taking these antibiotics are the elderly, people with high blood pressure and/or who have a history of blockages of the aorta or other blood vessels, and patients who have certain genetic syndromes. The FDA advises physicians treating patients with these risk factors to consider an alternate source of treatment.

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Medical Malpractice: Study Finds Women Less Likely to Receive Life Saving Treatment for Heart Issues

New research published in the December issue of Women’s Health Issues reveals that sexism in healthcare is literally killing women. Researchers at George Washington University measured gender bias in emergency situations by analyzing data from the National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS) database. The dataset included about 2.4 million people total; 1.2 million of them were women. Patients were spread across 46 states and focused on people over the age of 40 with a higher risk of heart disease and cardiac arrest. They found that women are less likely than men to be resuscitated (1.3 percent), given aspirin (2.8 percent), receive cardiac defibrillation (8.6 percent) or rushed to the hospital in ambulances using lights and sirens (4.6 percent). The bottom line is that women’s lives are more often put in danger than men in emergency health situations.

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Medical Malpractice Lawsuit for Bowel Injury Caused by Hernia Repair Surgery

Hernia surgery is common and has positive patient outcomes the vast majority of the time. This is no comfort to the two percent of ventral hernia surgery patients that experience bowel injuries as result of the procedure however. Bowel injuries can lead to serious complications including sepsis and fistulas and even death. Bowel injuries also increase the length of the hospital stay after hernia surgery from four to seven days and increases the likelihood of reoperations and readmissions.

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State Finds Bellingham, WA Doctor Breached Standard of Care

Dr. Craig K. Moore of Bellingham, Washington has had his doctor’s license put on oversight for two years after the Washington State Department of Health concluded that his care of a woman who was later diagnosed with rectal cancer did not meet the standard of care. Specifically, the Department of Health records show that the doctor failed to properly address the symptoms that the woman communicated with him.

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Risks of Painkiller Addiction after Car Accident

In 2017, drug overdoses became the leading cause of death among Americans under the age of 50. Public health experts estimate that 2016 drug overdose deaths exceeded 59,000; the largest year over year increase ever recorded in the United States, according to data compiled by The New York Times. The increase represents an estimated 19 percent jump over 2015 opioid prescription deaths which saw 52,404 recorded drug overdose deaths.

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Who Pays for Medically Unnecessary Services for Injury Victims in WA State?

When a person is injured badly they typically seek medical treatment from a qualified medical care provider. Imagine if you are injured in an accident through no fault of your own and you seek and receive medical care but when you try to recover damages, the defendant’s attorney or insurance company claims that you received unreasonable or medically unnecessary services. What if they are right? Should the injured victim now be responsible to pay for that medical care even though it was not their fault that they were injured and then received unnecessary procedures/services? No they should not but who pays?

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