medical malpractice

Published on: July 31, 2015

“Never Events” in the Operating Room Still Occur

Certain major errors during surgery are so rare that they are called “never events”. While such medical errors are rare, they do continue to occur in hospitals across the country.

According to a new review of surgical errors published in the JAMA Surgery Journal, approximately one out of every 100,000 surgeries involves a wrong site error. In a wrong site error, the doctor either operates on the wrong side of the patient’s body, on the wrong body part, or even on the wrong person.

The good news is that these “never events” are very rare. The bad news is that there is very limited data on these errors, which makes devising strategies to control them very challenging. For example, researchers had very little data available on the number of fires that break out in operating rooms during surgery. When there are only a few rare events, data collection is difficult, and researchers find it more challenging to develop strategies to prevent these errors.

Published on: July 18, 2011

Frequent Occurrences of Wrong-Site Surgery have Implications for the Medical Field

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

It’s every patient’s nightmare – being admitted to a hospital for routine surgery and wading through a drug-induced fog hours later only to find that doctor’s have operated on the wrong site.Patients, who only wanted a good outcome, are left to figure out how to deal with their unexpected injuries and with a medical malpractice claim they never expected to have to pursue. Apparently, wrong-site surgeries have become a reality for some patients, occurring more often than previously thought. According to the Joint Commission, "National rates of wrong-site surgeries-which include wrong procedure, wrong side and wrong patient-can reach as high as 40 incidences a week." Medical malpractice attorneys agree that the culprit, as is usually the case in institutional settings, is a lack of communication.

The operating room becomes a hum of noise; from the incessant sound of machines to the voices of nurses and doctors battling time and sometimes even each other. The Las Vegas Review-Journal cites issues with pre-operation prep (such as unapproved abbreviations on charts and illegible handwriting) and scheduling processes as added distractions. In light of this, it’s easy to see how some details, such as the purpose of the operation, could get lost in translation. When this occurs, patient safety is put at risk and hospitals, doctors and nurses expose themselves to significant liability for medical malpractice.

Hospitals are exploring various ways to combat wrong-site surgeries, however, and one of the most popular tactics seems to be the institution of a “time out” of sorts – calling for all key participants in the OR to take a step back and assess their plan. This program, designed by the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Health Care and instituted in 2003, works by essentially creating a script for staff to follow, says the Review-Journal. Throughout the course of this “Universal Protocol” script, doctors are required to 1.) Complete a pre-operative verification. 2.) Marking of the operative site and 3.) A time out immediately before starting the procedure.

Published on: August 31, 2009

Hospital Cleanliness Still Major Issue

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about a million people contract a hospital infection each year. A Consumer Reports survey provides clues to why those rates are so high.

In 2008, Consumer Reports surveyed 731 nurses, and this year, sampled more than 13,500 of its readers, who were polled about recent hospital experiences involving them or a loved one. The findings were surprising.

28 percent of nurses reported problems with cleanliness, while only 4 percent of patients reported so.

Published on: January 21, 2008

Medical Malpractice Abundant in State-Run Mental Health Hospitals

by Robert N. Katz, Esq.

As the Georgia General Assembly is currently in session, another topic that we’ll try to stay on top of for you is the funding of the state’s seven mental health hospitals.The Georgia Department of Human Resources runs these facilities statewide.The seven hospitals are Northwest Georgia Regional in Rome, Georgia Regional in Atlanta, Central State in Milledgeville, East Central Regional in Augusta, Georgia Regional in Savannah, Southwestern State in Thomasville, and West Central Regional in Columbus.

Thanks in large part to an investigative report by the Atlanta Journal Constitution this year; attention has been focused on the appalling medical care deficiencies at these hospitals.Justly, these hospitals have become a hotbed of medical malpractice claims.

In 2007, the hospitals reported twenty-one deaths.One hundred and fifteen patients died in the four-year period from 2002 to 2006.All of these deaths arose from abuse or neglect.Most of these facilities are understaffed and overcrowded.Many of these deaths occurred due to over-medicating, misdiagnosing symptoms, and nurses or aides failing to follow doctor’s orders.