The Boston Globe is reporting that there have been 38 incidents since 2006 in which Massachusetts surgeons have performed surgeries on the wrong part of the body. Their review found that bungled spine surgeries account for more of these surgeries than any other kind of surgery performed, with four of…
On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Court issued a ruling that doctors can be held liable for medical malpractice if they do anything to lessen a patient’s chance of survival. The ruling upholds the “loss of chance” doctrine that holds medical professionals liable even if a patient’s recovery odds were already…
In Massachusetts, the family of Winston Napier, a 55-year-old Clark University Professor that committed suicide inside his St. Vincent Hospital room last month, is wondering why he wasn’t under close watch even after he had threatened to commit suicide. Worcester police are also wondering why they were never told of…
In Massachusetts, Boston-area psychiatrist Dr. Kayoko Kifuji is being sued for the wrongful death of 4-year-old Rebecca Riley. Rebecca died in 2006 following an overdose of psychiatric drugs. The lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, alleges that Rebecca was mostly prescribed drugs over the phone, using “slipshod diagnosis.” Kifuji had…
In Suffolk County Superior Court in Massachusetts, an unnamed plaintiff has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit suing pediatrician doctor Melvin D. Levine for sexual assault, battery, and abuse from 1980 to 1985. This is not the first time that Dr. Levine has been accused of sexual abuse by a former…
Dr. Rapin Osathanondh, the Massachusetts gynecologist whose patient died last September at his Women’s Health Center in Hyannis, is being sued for wrongful death. The wrongful death plaintiff is Eileen Smith, the mother of 22-year-old Laura Hope Smith, who died during an abortion procedure. Smith is asking for punitive damages…
Medical regulators in Massachusetts suspended the medical license of Dr. Suzanne B. Rothchild, a Winchester Hospital obstetrician. The Board of Registration in Medicine called Rothchild “an immediate and serious threat to public health.” Since the board’s decision, Winchester Hospital has suspended Rothchild’s medical privileges. The hospital has disciplined her for…
This week, attorneys involved in John Ritter wrongful death lawsuit began jury selection. The case finally goes to court more than four years following the September 2003 death of the beloved actor. The late actor’s wife, actress Amy Yasbeck, and his children are suing cardiologist Joseph Lee and radiologist Matthew…
A jury in Massachusetts awarded Fitchburg resident Audrey Serrano $2.5 million in her medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Kwan Lai, the doctor who misdiagnosed her with HIV. Serrano was treated for HIV for nearly nine years before she found out that she never had the virus. Her treatments included powerful…
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a ruling earlier this week that says a doctor can be sued for personal injury if his patient caused a deadly car accident. The case before the SJC involved a mother who wants to sue a doctor because he allegedly did not warn his…