Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

The Huffington Post is reporting that a Spanish-speaking patient had the wrong kidney removed during surgery after a clear communication error. This showcases that the medical community has an obvious problem when it comes to communicating with patients who are not fluent in English. There is a need for interpreters not only for major surgery, but all medical communication. Statistics have shown that language is one of the major factors in cases of misdiagnosis and can lead to delays in service. These studies show that patients who have limited English proficiency are almost twice as likely to suffer medical error in U.S. hospitals. This can lead to temporary harm or even death.

These studies prove that the medical system is failing when it comes to addressing the needs of those with limited English skills. Studies show that those individuals with limited English are at a much greater risk for medical error than those who are native to English. Census data shows that over 47 million speak a language that is not English at home. Of that 47 million people, 23 million are considered to be limited English proficient (LEP). There are more than 176 different languages and dialects are spoken across the country. It appears that a qualified medical interpreter is the bridge to saving the lives of LEP patients. Take a look at the medical malpractice study to learn more about these errors.

While interpreters have become commonplace in government entities, courtrooms and classrooms, it is remarkable that hospitals do not have a requirement for translators. In large cities like Chicago, there need to be interpreters in all major hospitals. This would help decrease the kinds of medical error as the study has shown. The independent National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters has launched a program to make certain that there are not only medical interpreters in hospitals, but that they are well versed in medical terminology. If you have been a victim of a medical error caused by a language barrier that led to serious injury, please consult a Chicago medical malpractice attorney to discuss your legal options.

The Commercial News is reporting that Illiana Healthcare, a Danville, Illinois Veterans Affairs healthcare system, has changed its level of impatient surgeries it will offer in order to reduce the risk of medical errors and to protect patient safety. Instead of performing intermediate procedures, such as colon resections or joint replacements, the hospital will only perform standard procedures, such as foot surgery or ear, nose and throat surgery. If a veteran has to receive an intermediate surgery, he or she must be transferred to the VA hospital in Indianapolis or another facility. This comes after the VA announced a new initiative to designate which veteran's hospitals will perform certain levels of surgeries. The goal is to perform each surgery under the safest possible conditions at facilities that have the resources to support them. The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti commend the VA for its efforts to decrease medical error. Learn more about the changes to the Illinois hospital system by clicking on the link.

Despite the efforts to decrease medical errors in VA hospitals, medical malpractice still occurs. The Federal Tort Claims Act governs medical malpractice lawsuits against veteran’s hospitals. Before your Chicago medical malpractice attorney can sue, he or she must make an administrative claim against the hospital for the full damages. Once that administrative claim is filed, the VA only has six months to review and investigate it. Then they are given the choice to accept and pay, settle the claim for less, or reject the medical malpractice claim. The statute of limitations under the FTCA is a standard two years after discovering your medical injury; however you have to factor in the six month timeframe for administrative claims when filing. To learn more about these FTCA claims, please check out this link.

A new report is showing that state medical boards are not living up to their obligations to protect patients from those doctors who are practicing substandard medicine. Although the rate in which states took disciplinary action against doctors rose slightly in 2009, this is still 18 percent lower than the highest rate which occurred 5 years ago. The Public Citizen Press Room is reporting that if the rate stayed constant at the peak rate, there would have been an additional 653 serious disciplinary actions taken against U.S. physicians.

The director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group stated that there is mounting evidence showing that medical boards are under-disciplining physicians who commit medical error. He believes that most states are not living up to their obligations to the general population to protect those patients from doctors who are not practicing safe medicine. It is imperative that serious attention be given to improving how state medical boards hold physicians accountable. To ensure this, legislative action must but pressure on the medical boards. There needs to be legislative oversight of medical boards in order to decrease the amount of medical errors. While Illinois does not land in the states with the worst records of disciplining physicians, it also does not land in the best. They have worked towards improving the amount of disciplinary actions taken. Illinois must make sure that their medical boards are closely watching all medical errors committed by physicians in order to protect patients. To learn more about the medical malpractice study, please click the link.

The Journal of the American Academy of Physician Assistants is reporting that a report has been gathered to assess whether physician assistant and nurse practitioner utilization increases liability. This study comprises of 17 years of data that was used to compare and contrast malpractice incidence, payment amount and other measurers of liability among doctors, Pas and advance practice nurses.

Most of this study concerns liability in comparison to salary. There was a significant differences were found in liability reports among doctors, PAs and APNs. While physicians made malpractice payments double that of PAs, their payments were less than that of APNs. No matter the level of medical malpractice payment, missed diagnosis was the leading reson for the malpractice report. It was also reported that female providers incurred higher payments than males. A trend analysis found in the study shows that the rate of malpractice payments for physicians, Pas and APNs has been steady and consistent with the growth of the number of providers.

The ending conclusion of the study is that the incorporation of Pas and APNs into American society has been a safe and beneficial undertaking when compared with that of doctors. It is obvious that the more employees that are in a hospital, the less medical errors are made. The chances of paying a medical malpractice award was 1 in 62 physicians and yet 1 in 563 for PAs. This leads to a medical malpractice risk for PAs to less than 9.1 times the risk for physicians. To learn more about this medical malpractice study, please click the link.

Did you know that preventable medical errors are the sixth leading cause of death in the United States? The Institute of Medicine has discovered that as many as 98,000 people die every year in the United States from medical negligence. Medical error claims more lives than diabetes and influenza. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office has found that 180,000 people are injured every year by these preventable medical errors. It’s obvious that the most direct way to decrease the amount of medical malpractice claims is to focus on reducing the incidence of medical malpractice. By enacting certain safety measures, the medical community could decrease many deaths every year. For example, surgical checklists would greatly reduce the amount of medical deaths. Also, medical personnel should always be required to wash their hands in order to decrease the amount of staff infections. If these little measures are implemented, hospitals could greatly decrease the 98,000 people who wrongfully die every year. If that number decreases, the number of medical malpractice claims would also decrease.

While many Republicans claim that tort reform is the way to decrease medical malpractice cases, it is time to focus on the true problem. Instead we should all be focusing on how we can reduce the number of medical negligent deaths. In fact, while the number of medical negligent deaths has remained steady, the number of medical malpractice lawsuits has decreased. If you have been a victim of medical negligence, consult a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer. To read more about Illinois medical malpractice, please check out the Illinois’ white paper.

The Chicago Tribune is publishing that patients are in fact dying in hospitals with great reputations more than those with poor ones. Immediately, medical centers around the state are challenging the information by stating that it did not accurately reflect the different patients that each hospital treats. While the hospitals are stating that these statistics are born on false characteristics, the Illinois Department of Health states that the methodology was developed by significant testing and evaluation.

This would be the first time that Illinois has published mortality data for hospitals. The numbers include many alarming facts. For example, death rates for those patients who have congestive heart failure are higher at the U. of C. Medical hospitals. The average Illinois hospitalization rate for those with congestive heart failure is 3.88 percent while U of C stands at 4.86 percent. Additionally the U of C reported more deaths among patients who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. The statewide average of deaths was 2.87 percent while U of C boasted a 4.94 percent.

The U of C. was not the only facility with poor statistics. The University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center also boasted higher number of medical deaths. For example, stroke patients death rates at this hospital averaged at 10.67 percent compared to an average of 9.10 percent. If you have a loved one that has fallen victim to medical error at one of these hospitals, please consult a Chicago medical malpractice attorney. To read more about the new medical malpractice report, please click the link.

Two decades ago, Congress created a national database to stop dangerous or incompetent caregivers from crossing state lines. The database allowed hospitals to check for disciplinary actions taken anywhere in the country against nurses, pharmacists, psychologists and other licensed health professionals. Twenty-two years later the federal government is finally letting hospitals use it. However, the database is missing serious disciplinary actions against possibly thousands of health providers. One such health care provider had her license pulled after she injected a patient with painkillers in a drugstore parking lot. However, she is not listed on the database.

The head of the Health Resources and Services Administration has acknowledged that records were missing. They sent a letter to the nation’s governors asking for their immediate help fixing gaps in the database calling it a matter of public safety. In 1999, medical malpractice legislation made it mandatory for state boards to file a report on all other health professionals whose licenses were revoked or restricted. Reporters found at least nine states that appear to have submitted incomplete records on registered nurses. This includes one case in which a nurse had put a knife to a co-worker’s throat. A recent medical malpractice article documented the failure of this database.

The Chicago Tribune has found that Illinois regulators had revoked the license of an EMT after she failed to provide proper care to patients in need, yet she was still not on the federal database. Illinois is one of the 20 states that have failed to adequately report disciplinary actions. These databases will help decrease medical error. They must be properly updated in order to protect Illinois patients.

A state’s officials have fined 13 hospitals for medical errors that have killed or seriously injured patients. A report shows that one hospital was fined $50,000 with the death of a patient that died after he pulled out his tracheotomy tube although there were instructions that that patient be restrained and supervised. There was also a fine given to a hospital that misdiagnosed an ectopic pregnancy. A woman’s oxygen levels were not monitored correctly, leading to another fine. A patient died after nurses failed to notice that his heart monitor was disconnected. These are just a few of the examples of the 98,000 people who die every year as a result of medical error. To learn more about the hospital fines, please click the link.

Illinois consumers can now pore over an abundant amount of data, mostly much of it unpublished, about Illinois hospitals and surgery centers on a state-sponsored Web site. The website will include information on what these medical providers charge, how many procedures they perform, how often they deliver recommended care, and how consumers rate their care. They can also find which hospitals use registered nurses most often or which Illinois hospitals perform the most cesarean sections. This will help people become better consumers of medical services and hold medical providers accountable for their performance. The state will also add a great deal of additional information to the Web site over the next year. For example, the website will soon include information about the number of hospital-acquired infections each institution has. The current data includes information on which hospitals adhere most often to the recommended standards of care for patients with heart attacks. This website will help Illinois consumers track medical mistakes.

To visit the website, please click the link.

To read more about the website’s launch, please click the link.

New problems have emerged at the troubled VA Medical Center in Marion, Illinois. This has prompted Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to order a “top-to-bottom” review of the facility. Senator Durbin and other Illinois lawmakers met with the VA secretary after a report this week found ongoing problems at the facility, where nine patients died in surgery in six months ending in March 2007. This is a mortality level more than four times the expected rate. Durbin blamed the nine deaths on “medical malpractice” and called the newly disclosed problems “appalling” and “inexcusable.” The Marion VA’s interim director has been replaced and more personnel changes are scheduled. The new report identified problems in four areas: quality management; physician credentialing and privileging; medication management and environment of care. The final problem area relates to infection control standards and cleanliness of the hospital. The 30-page report identified that two physicians performed procedures for which they lacked privileges. Additionally there was a failure to screen deaths within 30 days of surgical procedure. To read more about the failing hospital, please click the link.

Serious safety issues continue to plague an Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital. This comes even after major surgeries were suspended two years ago because of a spike in patient deaths. Surgeons at the medical center in Marion, Illinois performed procedures without proper authorization. Also, patient deaths were not assessed adequately and miscommunication between staff members persist. The medical center’s is not taking the corrective actions to improve patient care. The hospital has been under intense scrutiny since 2007 when a former surgeon resigned after a patient bled to death following gall bladder surgery. The VA found at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March 2007 which were the result of substandard care at the hospital. Additionally, a report found that the hospital did not sufficiently monitor 87 percent of the physician’s employed. There were strong problems with infection control, including MRSA. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin is outraged by the substandard care that is occurring at the Veteran’s Hospital. To read more about the medical malpractice, please click the link.

Medical malpractice reform is unlikely to cut healthcare spending significantly. The Congressional Budget Office found that the savings of medical malpractice reform would only be approximately 0.5% or $11 billion a year at the current level. This is far lower than advocates had estimated. The study shows that enacting a cap on pain-and-suffering and punitive damages, changing liability laws and tightening the statute of limitations on malpractice claims would only lower healthcare by approximately 1% each year. This figure is far lower than estimates by groups that are currently backing malpractice reform. They claim that the reform would save taxpayers somewhere between $100 billion and $200 billion dollars. Since restricting patient’s rights would not result in great savings, medial malpractice reform should be reviewed. To read more about the congressional report, please click the link.

A detailed safety analysis conducted on behalf of Hearst Newspapers found that at least one in six of the studied facilities had preventable deaths. These occurred from common procedures, including cases in which medical instruments were left inside patients and transfusions were done incorrectly. Many hospitals have poor performance in the safety indicators developed in recent years by federal health researchers. The study found that doctors fudge death certificates, leaving out information that would point to medical errors as a prime cause of death. One woman was reported to have died of pneumonia on her death certificate. However hospital records show she initially went to the hospital for a shot of diuretic to treat leg swelling and then contracted an infection which caused the pneumonia. The CDC is aware of the inaccuracies in death certificates. They stated that medical error is “often not reported” because it gives doctors problems down the road. Some groups say that a nationwide reporting system is too expensive and too difficult to implement. However, it may decrease the amount of medical malpractice cases. To read more about the medical errors, please click the link.

A recent investigation by the Hearst Company has drawn attention to the fact that approximately 200 thousand Americans will die this year from preventable medical errors and hospital infections. Currently 20 states have no medical error reporting system in place, five have voluntary ones and five more are developing reporting systems. Even in the 20 states that have the mandatory systems, hospitals report only a tiny percentage of their mistakes, standards vary wildly and enforcement is often nonexistent. The report also blames special interests for blocking progress in the area of medical reporting. A news medical correspondent described some of the most common medical miscues and offered advice to help keep one from being a victim of medical malpractice.

- Make sure surgeons personally sign or initial the skin of the patient over the area that’s being operated on; patients should remind all surgical personnel about the side and site of the procedure
- Patient’s should ask what every single medication is that they’re given while in the hospital and remind everyone who approaches them with drugs of any allergies they have
- Always look the surgeon in the eye before the operation to avoid any possibility of mistaken identity.

Communication is the greatest key to preventing medical errors which are oftentimes caused by
- Poor documentation
- Illegible handwriting
- Sleep deprivation
- Improper nurse to patient ratios

To read more about the medical mistake survey, please click the link.

Experts estimate that about 98,000 people die from preventable medical errors each year. This calculates to more Americans dying each month of preventable medical injuries than died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In addition, a federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that 99,000 patients a year succumb to hospital-acquired infections. Experts believe that almost all of these deaths are preventable. A huge problem with preventing these deaths is that no definite study has been done to calculate exact numbers. Ten years ago a highly publicized federal report called the death toll shocking and challenged the medical community to cut it in half within the next five years. However, federal analysts believe the rate of medical error is actually increasing. A national investigation by Hearst Newspapers found that the medical community, the federal government and most states have overwhelmingly failed to take the effective steps outlined in the medical malpractice report. Even in states like California, where they have put regulations in place, it appears that hospitals ignore rules without penalty. A study conducted in five states show that only 20 percent of some 1,434 hospitals surveyed are participating in two national safety campaigns. It also showed that a minimum of 16 percent of hospitals had at least one wrongful death from common procedures go awry. Frustrated patient-safety groups say that preventing medical malpractice should be at the forefront of health care. At the center of this would be developing medical design systems that can reduce medical errors and prevent harm from reaching the patient when a medical mistake is made. To read more about the medical malpractice report, please click the link.

It was recently discovered that a patient’s death in a Chicago area hospital was not reported to Illinois state regulators. According to Illinois regulators, the Chicagoland hospital was required by law to report the incident. The Illinois Department of Public Health, according to the article, only learned of the patient’s death a year later. The hospital is also being questioned to whether it overdosed the patient during her stay. Furthermore, a drug the Chicago area hospital prescribed to the patient has not been approved for pregnant mothers, but the patient was eight weeks pregnant.

Read more about the alleged hospital negligence here.

Hospira, a global medication delivery company, is voluntarily recalling a plastic product used to administer injections. A small number of products may be incorrectly labeled. Adverse effects from error may result in electrolyte imbalance, cardiac dysfunction, gastrointestinal disturbances, paresthesia and mental confusion.

For the full story click here.

A recent New York Times article examined recent programs calling for lightened hours for medical residents. The Times piece says that for the standards to be enforced, they need regulations. The panel proposed that residents or no more than 16 hours straight and that every 30-hour shift needs a five-hour sleep break after 16 hours. Such regulations would be great and likely lower rates of medical malpractice and surgical error.

For the full article.

A physician who practices out of an Endoscopy Center has been hit with a medical malpractice complaint by the state’s board of medical examiners. The former gastroenterologist faces four medical malpractice allegations relating to the care he was provided to patients. Officials believe that one of the patient’s hepatitis C was transmitted to seven others. Medical malpractice complaints have already been filed against the clinic’s majority owner as well, and their licenses have been suspended pending an investigation. The allegation is that it was the physician treating the source patient that led to the other patients acquiring hepatitis C later that day. Claims of medical malpractice against the doctor focused on treatment of not only that first patient, who underwent a colonoscopy, but on a patient the doctor treated later in the day. The medical board complained that the doctor failed to exercise proper skill and diligence and that he brought the reputation of the medical profession into disrepute. It is believed that the reuse of syringes in a manner that contaminated multiple vials of anesthesia used for more than one patient led to the transmission of hepatitis C. The state board is investigating whether this has contributed to a widespread outbreak of hepatitis C. To read the full story, click here.

A report shows that a germ that wreaks havoc in people’s guts is infecting hospital patients at a much higher rate than had been previously estimated. The study found that slightly more than 1 in every 100 hospital patients are struck by Clostridium difficle which is commonly referred to as C. diff. The bacterium can cause severe diarrhea nausea and abdominal pain and sometimes can lead to colon failure or even death. Experts suggest that we need programs to improve cleanliness and hand-washing by hospital staff. Additionally there should be better control over antibiotics that can increase susceptibility to infections. The study was conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology and was done in 648 hospitals in 47 states. It found that 13 out of every 1,000 patients in the hospital either had C. diff infections or carried the bug on their bodies. This figure is 6.5 times higher than previous estimates. C diff. spores can live on heard surfaces for weeks or month and resists every-contaminant except bleach. A problem is that the alcohol-based hand gels now omnipresent in hospitals aren’t effective against C. diff spores. Additionally, hospitals are failing to identify patients hit by C. diff. One patient lost 55 pounds in four moths as antibiotics failed to control her diarrhea from C. diff. To read the full story, click here.