Medical Malpractice News
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A jury awarded $3 million to the family of a 37-year-old man who bled to death after he was sent home following surgery for a duodenal ulcer. A lawsuit claimed improper surgery and a lack of proper follow-up care. (Full story)
An “incident” at a hospital in California demonstrates the problem with medical malpractice damage caps. An account in The Los Angeles Times notes that that state’s $250,000 cap on non-economic damages discourages patients with serious injuries and legitimate claims from filing suit. (Full story)
Health officials in Washington state order the immediate license suspension for a doctor accused of negligence, incompetence and malpractice, an action reserved for when it is felt a doctor's conduct puts patients in imminent danger. Among the allegations: the doctor, working as a hospital temporary, made an elderly heart attack victim wait seven hours in the ER before being treated. (Full story)
- A Florida judge restores a $4.36 million medical malpractice verdict in favor of a boy left blind after a trip to the Jacksonville Naval Hospital emergency room. The hospital failed to give the boy three asthma medications, ordered by a doctor, within 10 minutes of his arrival. The judge said workers at the military hospital acted with “reckless disregard” for the 9-year-old’s safety and should have known its conduct created an unreasonable risk of serious injury. (Full story)
USA Today report finds that it can be difficult for patients to obtain medical records from hospitals and other treatment facilities after something goes wrong. Often times, disputes over medical records are at the crux of medical malpractice lawsuits.(Full story)
- Study shows that hospitals failed in 30 percent of heart attack cases to get defibrillator treatment to patients within the recommended two minutes, resulting in nearly twice the fatality rate. (See article in the New England Journal of Medicine)
