Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

As many medical schools don’t have conflict of interest policies that are as strong as hospitals’, drug companies often market directly to young doctors and students to gain an advantage. Many drug companies spend billions in marketing to doctors and students which is more than they spend on research or marketing. The Association of American Medical Colleges hopes that by limiting drug companies’ access to students to help cure conflicts of interest, bias, and curb the reciprocal benefit exchange between doctors and drug companies. Hopefully, medical schools following this program might help to curb medical malpractice and conflicts of interest in the future.

Read the full article here.

One of the greatest organizational problems facing hospitals today is the battle over medical records. Many patients find that it can take months or years to get a hold of their own medical records after treatment. Even worse, some families of victims of medical malpractice or wrongful death have waited for years to obtain their loved one’s medical records from hospitals. Often, lost or missing records are simply part of hospital error and not a deliberate attempt to delay, but on some occasions hospitals may frustrate a patient’s records request purposefully. Patients and victims’ families must be aware that statutes of limitation often require that medical malpractice lawsuits be filed within a certain period of time after the injury occurs or is discovered. This means that patients and victims’ families must decide to file a medical malpractice lawsuit and contact their medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible and begin the medical records request process.

Read more here.

The case of Heparin contaminated with unknown toxins and imported from China continues to claim lives. To date, more than 81 deaths are linked to contaminated Heparin in the US and more may be discovered soon. The FDA says that the deaths from contaminated Heparin are a direct result of an allergic reaction to the toxin in some patients. The Chinese government denies that the contamination caused any deaths, though they do acknowledge that large batches of Heparin were contaminated. The Double lesson here is not just that drugs can be easily contaminated from foreign sources, but that two congressional hearings have highlighted just how under-funded and under-prepared the FDA is currently.

Read more on this story here.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, has urged the Department of Health and Human Services to set standards for how hospitals should deal with hospital infections. Hospital infections usually strike after a patient is discharged from a hospital and are an often forgotten source of medical malpractice and medical malpractice lawsuits. Many hospital infections come from problems with a hospital’s sanitation methods, failure to sterilize surgical instruments, or other medical errors. Hospital infections usually cause 100,000 deaths and infect more than 2 million people each year. The GAO hopes that the new standards will improve hospital accountability and curb the number of hospital infections each year and provide a centralized information source on hospital infection rates, death from hospital infections, and best practices.

See the story here.

The Medicare program may soon stop paying for more medical care that comes as a result of hospital error. In an effort to encourage hospitals to improve their patient care and avoid medical malpractice lawsuits, hospital infections, and hospital patient injury, Medicare announced last year that it would stop funding certain procedures and treatments. Now Medicare has added more potential preventable errors to the list.

Medicare may stop funding for these common hospital errors and preventable injuries:
-Surgical site infections following certain elective procedures
-Deep vein thrombosis/Pulmonary Embolism
-Legionnaires’ disease
-Extreme blood sugar derangement
-Lung Collapse resulting from medical treatment
-Ventilator-associated pneumonia
-Delirium
-Staph infection in the bloodstream
-Disease associated with Clostridium difficile infection

Medicare’s logic is that hospitals will stop making preventable errors and preventable patient injuries if the hospital won’t get paid for the error. Hospitals used to be paid for every consult and procedure but Medicare believes that not funding for preventable error will encourage hospitals to improve patient care to protect their bottom line.

Read more on these proposed changes here.

A lawsuit surrounding the wrongful death of a patient after he received cancerous lung transplants may go to trial. Though many medical malpractice lawsuitssettle, parties in this suit may seek justice in court. The medical malpractice lawsuit surrounds a lung transplant operation that led to the patient’s death: the doctors transplanted cancerous lungs. Attorneys for the victim state that the doctors knew the lung was cancerous and misrepresented the health of the donor.

Read more of the story here.

By 2030, one of every five Americans will be over the age of 65 and nearly half of all medical care spending will go to seniors. However, the US health care market is not positioned to meet the needs of this ever expanding group. The consequences of an understaffed and under-trained geriatric health care workforce could mean a sharp increase in the number of medical malpractice lawsuits and medical injury lawsuits in the future. A recent article highlights the shortcomings of the geriatric health care system, noting that doctors who serve senior patients make less than their internist counterparts and that geriatric specialists have decreased in number by nearly 25%. To meet the new demand for geriatric health services, the US needs to add 3.5 million people to the geriatric health care workforce in the next twenty years. Without necessary staff and salary increases, seniors could face tough choices in selecting a quality health care provider and avoiding injury in the doctor’s office.

Read the full article here.

A US Navy veteran has won his medical malpractice lawsuit against a Veterans’ Affairs hospital doctor after a series of failed operations left him permanently disabled, receiving a verdict of $622,739. The man, who retired from Chicago-based Smurfit-Stone Container Corp in 2001, brought his medical malpractice lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The man originally entered the VA hospital for a hernia operation during which the doctors mistakenly severed an artery in his stomach, leading to 6 additional surgeries, a staph infection, and pneumonia.

For more information, read here.

In some states, the number of medical malpractice lawsuits is on the decline by about 5% due to new policies regarding filing medical malpractice lawsuits. Though not required in Illinois, some states mandate independent medical review of a malpractice claim before the plaintiff can file. This decrease in medical malpractice lawsuits shows that “tort reform” is unnecessary. Tort reform can be very dangerous because it limits citizens’ access to justice and prevents an injured patient from recovering fully against their doctor for the doctor’s medical malpractice.

For the full story, click here.

Illinois doctors stand to receive a refund from their insurance companies in the near future. The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reported that insurance companies have lowered their premiums and are processing refunds to doctors for medical malpractice insurance. According to the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, companies are lowering their rates because the information is now public and subject to state review. Now that more information is available, there is a greater chance for public oversight of the insurance industry and medical malpractice claims.

See the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, April 14, 2008 Volume: 154 Issue: 073.

The Governor of Illinois recently announced a new tool to help health care consumers make informed decisions about choosing providers. According to Governor Blagojevich, “It is not enough to make sure every Illinois family has access to health care. We need to make sure they have enough information to make informed decisions about the doctors who treat them.” The website will include information about the physician, including medical malpractice judgments against the physician.

For the full article.

No one knew that the 18 year-old had a rare, genetic condition that cause a fatal reaction to the anesthesia when she decided to have plastic surgery and chose a surgeon to correct a congenital defect that left her with asymmetrical breasts and inverted nipples. Everything seemed very routine and nobody thought there would be risk involved. The condition that the family believes killed the 18 year-old is an extremely rare genetic disorder that causes a reaction to common types of anesthesia. The reaction is called malignant hyperthermia – it causes the patient’s temperature to spike to 110 degrees or higher. Salts precipitate out of the blood and organs collapse, leading to death.

More adequate care could have prevented this reaction because there is an antidote called Dantrolene that can reverse the effects of malignant hyperthermia. If administered in proper dosages in a timely fashion, the effects can be successfully reversed. However, according to the medical malpractice lawsuit attorney, the anesthesiologist administered only one dose when at least eight were required.

For the full article.

Following a routine procedure to clear a blocked intestine, a German man later discovered operating room medics committed medical malpractice and left a 15 inch pair of medical clamps inside him. He is now pursuing a 100,000 Pound claim for damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

For the full article.

CNN recently highlighted the danger that addicted doctors are still treating patients. One patient says she had to forgo cancer treatment because of a botched surgery by a doctor who was in treatment for alcoholism and had been convicted for driving under the influence of alcohol. She had to forgo cancer treatment while battling complications from the medical malpractice. Now she is dying of cancer. She sued the doctor in a medical malpractice lawsuit. While he did not admit fault, he settled with her for $250,000.

A study by the Federation of State Physician Health Programs found about one percent of all physicians practicing in the U.S. are in confidential treatment. That’s about 8,000 doctors whose patients may have no idea that they are addicts. This brings us back to the importance of researching your doctor!

For the full article.

The Department of Health and Human Services recently released its patient survey where hospital patients rate their experiences and patient care in a format much like a restaurant guide.

The survey showed some troubling results for Chicago area hospitals including some reports of patient dissatisfaction and hospital care statistics that need serious attention. For instance, four out of ten Illinois hospital patients responding to the survey indicated that they had to wait longer than expected when they needed help or called for assistance. Nearly one third of Illinois hospital patients felt that the hospital did not manage their pain properly. Additionally, only 57% of hospital patients thought that the hospital’s staff properly explained the benefits and risks of medication before administering it.

The Department of Health and Human Services plans to make this survey mandatory for every US hospital; though the survey was voluntary in 2007, the Department will reduce Medicare funding for hospitals that do not participate in the survey.

Read the full news story here, and access the survey here.

CNN recently featured an article about how consumers can help to receive their own optimal healthcare by being prepared and helping their doctors. While in an ideal world, a doctor would have your health history, current medications and most recent lab results in front of him or her, the reality is that these things get lost in paperwork. Here are tips for your future doctor visits:

1. Bring a list of medications.
2. Come armed with your personal health history.
3. Bring in your recent test results and doctors’ notes.
4. Make a list of your concerns.
5. Don’t ask your doctor insurance questions. These are better answered by the doctors’ staff.

For the full article.

A medical center recently announced they would pay $1.8 million to settle 100 civil medical malpractice lawsuits filed against one cardiologist. This cardiologist also faces federal medical fraud charges related to cardiac procedures he performed on patients.

This settlement follows a settlement with the Department of Justice for $1.9 million for the unnecessary procedures that were billed to federal and state health plans and a settlement with a class action lawsuit for $7.4 million. In 2006, this cardiologist was indicted on more than 90 counts of medical malpractice fraud for performing medically unnecessary cardiac procedures.

For the full article.

According to a recent HealthGrades study of patient care in hospitals, the past three years of medical errors have cost the Medicare system more than $8.8 billion dollars. Additionally, the study found that hospital safety problems caused 238,337 preventable deaths to patients. Bed sores, failure to rescue, and respiratory failure were the most common cause of preventable death, affecting nearly 2 out of 3 patients. Other preventable malpractice errors included foreign bodies left in the patient during a procedure, anesthesia errors, hospital infections, and accidental lacerations.

For the full story, click here.

The Illinois Department of Financial Professional Regulation has posted a new website database where you can find out more about your doctor or health care professional. The Physician Profile Search allows visitors to see where the doctor went to medical school, if the doctor has been involved in any lawsuits, and determine if the doctor is licensed to practice.

Find the Physician Profile Search here.

The FDA has received 62 reports of deaths over the past 15 months of patients who were treated with heparin, made by Chicago-area Baxter International. In Cook county, Dennis Quaid, a popular actor, has filed suit against Baxter for the wrongful death of his twin daughters after they received excessive doses of heparin. Baxter recalled most of its heparin products in February.

For the full story please click here.

According to a recent industry newsletter, jurors often misconceive the role of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in approving new drugs and how pharmaceutical manufacturers create their prescription drug labels. Jurors often believe that the FDA is responsible for pharmaceutical research. In fact it is just the opposite: private drug companies produce their own studies for FDA approval. Additionally, many jurors believe that the pharmaceutical companies have sole control of warning label contents. Though the FDA has some oversight of label contents, a recent article shows that drug companies can hide information from the FDA to prevent certain risks and side effects from appearing on warning labels. Questions and misconceptions about the FDA’s role will continue with increased litigation on the FDA liability shield issue currently pending before the Supreme Court.

To read the full newsletter, please click here.

The Supreme Court will hear a case next term that could decide whether drug companies may escape liability for harm caused by their products and hide behind FDA approval. The issue in the case involves Johnson & Johnson’s prescription birth control patch, Ortho Evra, which delivered much more estrogen than the company originally disclosed. The Ortho Evra patch was a popular form of birth control as an alternative to the birth control pill. For women, medication dosing errors of estrogen may cause an increased risk of blood clots and strokes and has been linked to one death.

Read the full text of the original article here.

Continue reading "Supreme Court Will Decide if Drug Companies Can Hide Behind FDA" »

A new study published in the journal Pediatrics shows that about 1 in 15 children are harmed each year by medication dosing errors at hospitals. The study revealed that children are harmed by dosing errors and incorrect medication substantially more often than previously thought. The study also revealed that some of these dosing errors and patient injuries could be prevented easily.

Medication dosing errors in children are the central issue in popular actor Dennis Quaid’s lawsuit in Chicago against Deerfield, Illinois-based Baxter Healthcare. Quaid is suing Baxter, a large pharmaceutical manufacturer, after Quaid’s baby twins received a Heparin overdose. The medical malpractice lawsuit is pending before Judge Quinn in the Circuit Court of Cook County.

The full text of the Pediatrics study is available here.

A woman who suffered a seizure as a result of negligent manufacturing of a drug and medical malpractice is seeking compensation for her preventable medical expenses but has repeatedly been denied. After having worn a pain patch containing a Fentanyl gel for several years, it unexpectedly leaked, exposing the woman directly to Fentanyl, a powerful opiate 80 times stronger than morphine. After overdosing on Fentanyl, the woman went to the emergency room where she was mistakenly administered twice the recommended dosage of a drug used to counter overdoses, leading to a seizure. She sought compensation from the hospital for her unnecessary medical bills, but her requests continue to be denied. The patch has been recalled from the market.

For the full article, click here:

The FDA announced it will begin examining a potential link between a popular allergy drug and suicide. The review was prompted by three-to-four reports the FDA received about patients using the drug committing suicide. The drugs listed side effects already include tremors, anxiousness, depression and suicidal thinking and behavior. In response to the announcement, the company has stated it will list reports of suicide on the drug’s label. If a link is found by the FDA, consumers must once again wonder how truthful drug companies are in reporting clinical research relating to the side effects of mass-market drugs.

For the full article, click here:

Policymakers are considering instituting a state-sponsored indemnity fund that would pay the future medical bills of injured patients, effectively shielding all physicians, hospitals, and medical staff from any liability for medical malpractice and negligence. Many groups, including the Center for Justice & Democracy, the Center for Medical Consumers, and various public interest research groups have criticized the proposal for crippling the rights of patients. Not only would the proposal’s benefits apply to insurance companies, physicians, and hospitals, but it would likely pass the cost of the indemnity fund to the average patient by increasing medical expenses.

The proposal has also been criticized by many that would directly benefit, including insurance companies, on the grounds that the harms would be too widespread. Even if successfully implemented, the fund would likely fail to compensate victims of medical malpractice and negligence even for their medical bills. Ultimately, the proposal allows the real wrongdoers to escape any liability.

For the full article, click here: