Medical Malpractice

October 11, 2018

Doctors’ Inability to Interpret Tests and Misdiagnosis

The Washington Post wrote an article Monday underscoring fact that is well-known to lawyers handling malpractice cases in Maryland: doctors struggle to accurately read tests that determine medical conditions. Unfortunately for patients, this can have serious long-term consequences.

Most of these errors do not lead to malpractice cases because they show false positives. Sometimes these are malpractice cases because the unnecessary test is the harm — we tried that very case in Baltimore County last year and our client received a $1.45 million verdict.

Below are a few examples that I think really highlight the consequences of this problem. Each of these following examples and studies highlights the need for us to find a path to help doctors to improve their ability to assess tests more accurately.

September 14, 2017

New York Settles with Boxer Abdusalamov for $22 Million

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The state of New York agreed on Friday to settle a lawsuit filed by former heavyweight boxer Magomed Abdusalamov for $22 million. It is thought to be the largest amount ever paid by the state of New York in a settlement.

Facts in Abdusalamov

Abdusalamov, now 33, fought at Madson Square Garden. He lost the fight but was not knocked out. He was evaluated by a New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) doctor after the fight. Instead of sending him to the hospital after showing symptoms consistent with an acute blood clot in his brain, they released him. He took a cab later to the hospital himself. The ER doctors immediately diagnosed his blood clot, and he had immediate surgery.

February 24, 2014

Uterine Rupture Malpractice Lawsuits | What You Need to Know

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A doctor’s failure to properly handle uterine rupture symptoms during childbirth can lead to the death of the child, and injury or death to the mother. This article discusses these cases and addresses:

The acts of a physician that lead to vaginal rupture cases.
The types of accidents that lead to large settlements and verdicts.

June 28, 2013

Missouri Hospital Accused of Medical Negligence

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A 66-year-old man and his wife have filed suit against a Missouri hospital and two physicians claiming that they failed to provide emergency treatment to prevent the spread of flesh-eating bacteria.

Plaintiff was seen in the hospital emergency room with complaints of perirectal abscess and cellulitis. He was given a painkiller and oral and intravenous antibiotics and discharged an hour and a half later. He was told to follow up with the doctor’s office the next day. When he tried to get an appointment for the following day, the office would not agree to an appointment until four days later.

Plaintiff’s expert has testified that one of the physicians made “egregious errors” by failing to immediately order lab tests and radiology procedures that would have determined the severity and extent of the Plaintiff’s infection. He further claims that a surgical procedure should have been performed within 24 hours, that Plaintiff needed immediate attention.

June 25, 2013

FDA Approves Another Da Vinci Robotic Surgery

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Da Vinci Robotic Surgery System has had its fair share of the limelight lately, and we have told you a whole lot about it. In summary, we have a very cool new product to help surgeons. But it has had more than its fair share of problems on the path to becoming a game changing medical advance.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved a new robotic surgery for certain gynecological procedures. The oophorectomy, removal of an ovary, is only the second FDA approved, robotic single-site gynecological surgery, with the first being a hysterectomy.

The procedure is performed through a one inch hole in the belly button and takes about an hour. In most circumstances a patient can go home that day or the next, and back to work in a week or two.

June 6, 2013

Surgical Checklist May Reduce Robotic Surgery Complications

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

I’ve written quite a bit lately about complications with the da Vinci Surgical System. Let’s be honest, I’ve had a lot of material to work with. This time though, it might be a bit of good news that could be another important step towards the promise of what these robots could someday do.

A small liferaft for Da Vinci?

A new report suggests that a number of serious and potentially life-threatening complications from robotic surgery may be avoidable with the use of a safety checklist, before and during an operation. Sounds simple, but true.

A study published this week in Patient Safety in Surgery, researchers from the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine found a decrease in problems stemming from robotic surgery when checklists were used during lengthy procedures, a time of “time out” before and during the surgery.

Including things such as checking pressure points to prevent nerve damage, checking for corneal abrasions, and checking patient positioning, doctors have found a decrease in the number of complications with the robotic surgery.

Now we know that checklists help doctors. This is not exactly breaking new ground. The Checklist Manifesto, a great book, showed us the stunning studies that show just how often patients are better served when doctors override their judgment in favor of an old school checklist. But it appears that with da Vinci surgeries, the need for a checklist is particularly acute.

May 3, 2013

Settlement Reached in Hospital Medical Malpractice Case

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A settlement has been reached in the medical malpractice case against St. Joseph Medical Center and the doctor that allegedly placed unnecessary heart stents in patients between 2007 and 2009. A federal investigation and hospital review found hundreds of cases where stents were placed in patients’ arteries that were not medically necessary.

The medical malpractice case began in court in early April and was expected to last about three to six months. But an attorney for the 21 plaintiffs involved in the suit said that a successful resolution has been reached. The details of the settlement have not been disclosed yet.

St. Joseph has had its fair share of trouble. In late 2010, St. Joseph Medical Center agreed to pay the United States $22 million to settle allegations under the False Claims Act that it paid kickbacks and violated the Stark Law when it entered into a professional services contract with MidAtlantic Cardiovascular Associates. The settlement resolved allegations of the payment of kickbacks under the guise of professional services agreements in return for the group’s referrals to the medical center. The settlement resolved issues related to 11 professional services agreements that were being investigated for being above fair market value, not commercially reasonable, or for services not rendered.

July 18, 2012

“Retained Brain” Case Ends in Summary Judgment

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The 6th Circuit on Monday affirmed summary judgment in a bizarre lawsuit against a Michigan medical examiner accused of improperly disposing of the plaintiff’s mother’s body.

Technically, a medical malpractice claim, this case was anything but. The decedent was a 88-year-old woman who hit her head in a nursing home and died two weeks later in the hospital. After her death, the medical examiner performed an autopsy in an effort to determine when the head injury caused the woman’s death. The doctor returned the body but kept the brain for further study. When the family learned that the brain had been kept and then disposed of, she filed a lawsuit.

The District Court certified a question to the Michigan Supreme Court on the issue of a next-of-kin’s property interest in a decedent’s organs following an autopsy. The Michigan high court shot down the plaintiff’s claim, finding that a decedent’s next of kin does not have a right under Michigan law to possess the brain in order to properly bury or cremate the same after the brain is no longer needed for forensic examination. So when the case came back, the trial court granted summary judgment.

July 18, 2011

Hepatitis C Trial

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of a Florida veteran will begin this week against the Miami Veterans’ Administration hospital. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff claims he contracted hepatitis C from an unclean medical device used in a 2007 colonoscopy. This may be the bellwether trial on this issue: there are a dozen similar lawsuits that have been filed in Florida and more have been filed in Tennessee. (Certainly, Tennessee – even with their new malpractice restrictions – is a more hospitable place than Florida for medical malpractice lawsuits.)

May 18, 2011

Doctors and Malpractice: The Human Toll on Doctors

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

American Medical News writes an article about an important topic: how doctors emotionally deal with malpractice lawsuits. Let’s be honest, medical malpractice lawyers on both sides of the “v” largely ignore this issue.