MEDICAL MALPRACTICE SPECIALITY AREAS
EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT MALPRACTICE
Reported errors occurred in almost every aspect of emergency care… System changes need to be implemented to reduce ED errors.
Fordyce J, Blank FS, Pekow P, et al. Errors in a busy emergency department. Ann Emerg Med. 2003;42(3):324‐333. doi:10.1016/s0196-0644(03)00398-6
Quality emergency care is a fundamental individual right and should be available to all who seek it. Yet, for many of the patients who arrive at a hospital emergency room, the ER is often a chaotic place—overcrowded and understaffed. As a result, blunders occur in almost every aspect of emergency care—delays delivering urgently needed care, lags performing critical tests, and medication and record mix-ups. These mistakes can result in permanent and catastrophic injury, or even death.
When this happens, the responsible ER physician, nurse and hospital should be held accountable. Holding medical providers responsible for their substandard care helps prevent future negligence.
Susan Dennehy and the Dennehy Law Firm have successfully handled many ER negligence cases. Some of the common types of Emergency Room Malpractice are described below, as well as some of our results. If you or a loved one has suffered from emergency department malpractice, please contact us.
How Emergency Care Medical Malpractice Happens
Misdiagnosis and Failure to Diagnose. Doctors are taught to use a tool called a “differential diagnosis” when they are determining the cause of a patient’s complaints. Simply put, a doctor must list all the possible conditions that could be causing the patient’s signs and symptoms. The list is prioritized with the worst first. The most dangerous cause must be ruled out first, even if it seems unlikely or even rare. And so it goes on down the list till the medical provider reaches the diagnosis. A doctor doesn’t get to skip a step or guess. This protects the patient. For example, it is not acceptable for a doctor to diagnose shortness of breath as bronchitis without first considering and ruling out a heart attack or pulmonary embolism. A doctor may not make a diagnosis based on a hunch or the most common disorder.
In one ER case which we handled, a single young man came to the emergency room with complaints of a fever and severe pain in his leg not caused by trauma. The doctor diagnosed muscle spasm, prescribed a muscle relaxant and sent the patient home. When he returned the next day with worsening complaints, the ER doctor gave the patient crutches, but the patient refused to leave. He was left for nearly 6 hours to languish on a gurney, and by the time his sepsis was finally diagnosed, it was too late to save him. In that case, the ER doctor failed to consider a more lethal condition and made the wrong diagnosis. The case ultimately settled for $900,000.
An equally dangerous and frequent medical error is the failure to diagnose. When this happens, critical and sometimes lifesaving, medical interventions are not undertaken and the opportunity for a good result may vanish. Failure to diagnose happens for many reasons, such as when a physician locks on the wrong diagnosis and ignores other possibilities, or the hospital has understaffed its ER. When time is of the essence, failure to diagnose can result in a lifetime of pain, dysfunction or death.
A few common types of Emergency Room Malpractice are listed below. If you or a loved one has suffered from emergency department malpractice, please contact us.
A wife and mother went to the ER with complaints of stabbing pain in her back. She was diagnosed with back spasm when she had an infection in her spine. By the time the correct diagnosis was made, she had suffered irreversible damage to her spine. A jury awarded $2,000,000 for her pain and suffering.
A massive heart attack went undiagnosed by an ER physician when the staff failed to perform a timely EKG despite symptoms of shortness of breath, sweating and rapid pulse. The hospital and ER doctor settled for $900,000.
Common Types of Emergency Room Malpractice
Overcrowding
What is overcrowding? Overcrowding exists when the ER’s resources are insufficient to meet the basic service needs of emergency patients. For instance:
- Beds are full
- Patients are double parked on gurneys
- Patients are treated in hallways
- Doctors and nurses are rushed
- Patients are held in emergency department until a hospital bed becomes available
Dangerous delays in treatment
Doctors, nurses, emergency room staff and medical technicians must diagnose and treat patients in a timely manner. Delays in testing can delay diagnosis and care.
Door-to-diagnostic evaluation by a qualified medical professional
Door-to-diagnostic evaluation is a term that describes the average time a patient spends in the ER before being seen. The shorter the wait time, the more likely a patient will receive medical care.
Triage Errors
A triage error is made when the nurse’s initial assessment doesn’t match the severity of the patient’s condition.
Failure to Monitor
Patients must be regularly monitored in the ER. Understaffing, poor training and faulty equipment contribute to this problem, as well as distractions, fatigue, interruptions, burnout and other communication failures. Alarm fatigue interferes with the ability of clinicians to adequately care for patients.
FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE
When we go to a medical professional, we expect them to provide a diagnosis for our illness, as well as information on how to treat it. Unfortunately, failure to diagnose, also known as misdiagnosis, occurs quite frequently, leading to delayed treatment, improper medical care or no treatment. All of these situations can lead to detrimental, if not fatal, circumstances for the patient and their health.
When one thinks of medical malpractice, it is often in the context of a healthcare provider doing something that harms the patient. However, malpractice may also take the form of not doing something that eventually brings harm to the patient. Failure to diagnose a variety of conditions, from treatable illnesses that have been allowed to manifest to a cancer diagnosis that, should it have been diagnosed earlier, may have saved a patient’s life. The ability to offer a differential diagnosis is standard practice for any physician. Oftentimes illnesses and conditions present themselves differently in every patient, and it is the physician’s responsibility to consider all potential causes for the symptoms. Failure to do so can result in a missed diagnosis that offers unnecessary pain and suffering.
Have you, or a loved one, suffered from a misdiagnoses that led to a worsening of you, or your loved one’s, condition? If so, please contact us.
Susan Dennehy and the Dennehy Law Firm have handled many cases involving failure to diagnose. This is a small sample of some of those cases and their results.
The failure to timely diagnose a mother’s complaints of continuing abdominal pain, bloating and urgency to urinate as the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer resulted in her death. The case was settled for $2,000,000.
When a woman presented to the ER with fever, confusion, nausea and loss of balance, she was misdiagnosed with flu. Her condition deteriorated quickly until a lumbar puncture was performed, revealing a brain infection (encephalitis). Unfortunately the delay in diagnosis caused permanent brain injury. The case was settled for $1,200,000.
INFECTION
Healthcare professionals are responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of patients suffering from infections of various types. Although many bacterial infections are now treatable with antibiotics, a doctor’s failure to timely diagnose a localizes or systemic infection can lead to tragic results.
Various consequences may arise when an infection goes untreated for too long. Patients may need a limb amputated or may suffer permanent damage to internal organs. The most serious risk of failure to diagnose an infection is sepsis.
Sepsis is an infection of the blood and can be a deadly condition. When a patient becomes septic, the infection can spread throughout the entire body rapidly, leading to multiple organ failure or death. Patients can become septic when something as simple as a urinary tract infection or an infected hair follicle go untreated for too long.
Doctors and other medical professionals can make many different mistakes that lead to sepsis in a patient. These mistakes include, but are not limited to, ignoring the signs and symptoms of sepsis, such as fever, elevated white blood cell counts, elevated heartrate, confusion, and shortness of breath; using the wrong antibiotics; failure to culture the infection; failure to note resistance to antibiotics; and failure to ensure that the infection has resolved completely.
Spinal epidural abscess
A spinal epidural abscess is a potentially catastrophic infection in the spinal column. An abscess is a mass that can enlarge and press on the spinal cord, resulting in neurological damage. Doctors are trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of a spinal epidural abscess. Timely diagnosis is critical because with each passing minute, the mass can choke the spinal cord. When it is recognized in time, it may be possible to prevent spinal injury.
Although spinal epidural abscesses are rare, our firm has represented several patients who suffered paralysis as a result of delayed diagnosis.
A wife and mother came to the Emergency Department complaining of severe back pain. After a cursory exam, she was given pain pills. She returned several hours later unable to walk. A spinal epidural abscess was diagnosed by MRI but it was too late to prevent permanent partial paraplegia. The jury awarded $2,000,000
A middle-aged student came to the Emergency Department with complaints of back pain and an inability to urinate. Although the ER staff wanted to discharge him, he refused to leave. He was left on a gurney and ignored, while he progressively lost the ability to move his legs. When a neurologist finally saw him and ordered an MRI, the damage had been done and a jury awarded him $9,600,000.
Necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh eating bacteria
Necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh eating bacteria, is a frightening infection that causes the death of skin and the tissue covering internal organs (fascia). Trauma can be a trigger and symptoms include pain over the area of the injury that is out of proportion to the injury. Signs also include redness and tenderness around the area, fever, and flu-like symptoms. When it is not quickly diagnosed and treated with antibiotics and surgery to remove the dead diseased tissue, it can cause organ failure and death.
The Dennehy Law Firm has handled a number of necrotizing fasciitis cases. In one case, a young man came to the ER several times over a few days with increasing pain in his calf, as well as other symptoms of this infection. He was left on a gurney for several hours, until it was recognized that he was having difficulty breathing and had pain and redness which had spread. Surgery was too late to save him. The case was settled for $900,000.
In another case, a husband and father came to the hospital with worsening signs of infection. Treatment was delayed, and by the time the necrotizing fasciitis was diagnosed, andtibiotics and surgery to amputate his leg were insufficient to save his life. The case settled for $1,300,000.
WRONGFUL DEATH
A doctor who’s rushed. A piece of equipment that malfunctions. A test that isn’t ordered. Each of these situations can transform a routine medical visit or surgery or delivery into a medical tragedy. The failure to timely diagnose a cancer when it was treatable, the misdiagnosis of a grievous illness, improper treatment, careless deliveries, surgical errors, medication errors, and a lack of proper follow up are all potential contributors to the untimely passing of a patient.
In the event of medical negligence, the patient’s family may have the right to bring a wrongful death action against those who were responsible, including healthcare personnel, treatment facilities and hospitals.
Although a wrongful death lawsuit will not bring back a loved one, it may provide a foundation to implement changes in medical policy and procedure to prevent the negligence from happening again, and may also provide financial protection to a family in their time of need. Our “patient first” approach will allow you and your loved ones to proceed with the daunting decision to file a suit. We believe your perspective is integral to understanding the impact a medical mistake can have on a patient’s family, and we will work closely with you during this difficult time.
Susan Dennehy and the Dennehy Law Firm have handled many wrongful death cases for families. If a family member has died as the result of medical negligence, please contact us. These are some of the wrongful death cases we have brought:
A young man was hospitalized following surgery. Although the hospital records documented a history of sleep apnea, the doctor ignored the information and overdosed the patient with Dilaudid, a powerful pain killer with a black box warning that the drug could cause respiratory depression. The case settled for $600,000.
A premature infant was negligently given the wrong formula by the staff. This caused a necrotizing fasciitis infection in the baby’s intestine and caused the infant’s death. The parents received $800,000 for the wrongful death.
NURSING HOME INJURY
Placing your loved one into a nursing home can be a difficult decision. You are trusting that the facility will give your family members the same care that you do, but unfortunately, that is not always the case. Elderly neglect, maintenance problems, and falls can and do take place at many nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. Protecting our vulnerable community begins with ensuring that all of their needs are met and all rules and regulations surrounding nursing home operations are being followed.
Our firm is well versed in the standards of care for nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and rehabilitation centers. We know how to stand for those who may not be able to advocate for themselves and offer compassionate understanding and support to families of innocent residents.
FERTILITY TREATMENT
With the advent of Assisted Reproductive Technology, which includes procedures such as IVF, surrogacy, fertility hormones and cryopreservation of egg and sperm, designed to address infertility, many individuals, couples, and children suffer injury as a result. Fertility clinics and practice groups specializing in these procedures have cropped up all over the United States to assist people with starting families. Unfortunately, as the number of these practice groups increases, so does the number of fertility malpractice victims.
Fertility Treatments and Associated Risks
Fertility treatments are drugs and other medical technology used to help people who wish to expand their families. Fertility treatments can be essential for couples or individuals having trouble with conceiving a child. Such treatments involve risks about which anyone considering using them must be aware before going forward with treatment.
Both the person seeking to become pregnant and the fetus are exposed to some risks when fertility treatment is involved in conception. Harm may occur during childbirth, injuring mother, baby or both. Additionally, these treatments may involve health risks to the individual receiving the treatments before and during pregnancy that may also cause injury and making becoming pregnant in the future extremely difficult or impossible.
Other risks involve the mishandling of genetic materials. Fertility clinics can negligently cause the destruction of stored viable embryos. There have even been instances of physicians implanting the wrong embryo during IVF.
Additionally, people receiving fertility treatments are at a higher risk of delivering twins, triplets or more. Although being pregnant with multiple babies does not always cause complications, multiple births may pose health risks to the mother and the babies. Another risk to the pregnant person includes ectopic pregnancy, an extremely painful, potentially life-threatening condition which occurs the embryo implants itself outside of the fallopian tube. Risks to the baby or babies include genetic disorders, lower birth weights, and premature birth.
Types of Reproductive Technologies and Common Errors
Fertility treatments administered by fertility clinics or practice groups are known as assisted reproductive technology (“ART”). These treatments and procedures include egg and sperm donation, embryo genetic testing, intrauterine insemination (IUI), invitro fertilization (IVF), and surrogacy.
Various errors can be made by fertility clinics or practice groups, resulting in substantial injury to patients that further impedes their ability to grow their families. Medical personnel may misplace, destroy or switch genetic materials, or use improper screening procedures during the sperm or egg donation process. If treatments are administered incorrectly or procedures are performed negligently, injury to the mother or child may result. In certain cases, fertility clinics and practice groups can commit errors severe enough to render an individual or couple completely infertile, and may even cause death to the mother.
In some instances, errors committed by fertility clinics may harm a couple’s ability to have a child entirely. There is also a possibility that errors due to fertility clinics’ negligence may even lead to death in severe circumstances.
In IVF particularly, certain common errors can result in serious harm. These mistakes include, but are not limited to, using the wrong sperm or egg and/or implanting the wrong embryo; prescribing harmful prescription drugs before, during and after IVF; and implanting the embryo in the ovaries and causing ectopic pregnancy.
BIRTH INJURY AND TRAUMA
The much anticipated birth of a child should be a joyous time, but for parents of children born with unexpected injury, the future is less certain. What will life hold for that child and the family, and how will you be able to afford the medical costs? Was someone responsible and why weren’t you informed of this risk? Is there anything you can do?
Brachial Plexus, Erb’s Palsy, and Shoulder Dystocia Injury
The brachial plexus is the network of nerves that sends signals from the spinal cord to your shoulder, arm and hand.
A brachial plexus injury occurs when these nerves are stretched, compressed, or in the most serious cases, ripped apart or torn away from the spinal cord. An Erb’s palsy also occurs when the brachial nerves are overstretched.
A brachial plexus injury can occur when the baby’s shoulder becomes lodged in the birth canal or gets stuck behind the pubic bone. If an obstetrician puts too much traction on the infant’s head during delivery to pull the baby out, the brachial nerve can be stretched, or even torn, resulting in and causing significant damage. The questions to ask are whether the obstetrican should anticipated a difficult delivery? Was the size of the baby in relation to the mother’s pelvis assessed? Was a ceasarean section indicated? What maneuvers did the doctor perform to release the shoulder?
It’s important that you consult with a qualified birth injury lawyer if you believe your newborn is exhibiting the signs and symptoms of a brachial plexus birth injury. These symptoms can range from minor arm weakness to total paralysis. A medical professional can examine your baby and test their nerves and muscle functions.
Susan Dennehy has recovered millions of dollars for children who suffered a brachial plexus injury and birth injuries.
In another case, the doctor was unfamiliar with maneuvers that could be used to release a stuck shoulder and deliver the infant without resorting to yanking. The jury awarded $2,250,000 for the infant’s nerve injury caused by the obstetrician.
An obstetrician who failed to instruct a mother to count kicks during her pregnancy settled a stillbirth case for $500,000 for the mother’s emotional distress. The doctor did not respond to the mother’s call that the fetal movement had decreased, telling her that was normal at term.