Medical Malpractice

July 14, 2011

Middleborough Woman Sues Tufts Medical Center for Breach of Privacy and Seeks Punitive Damages

Earlier this year, we published a post on our Boston Injury Lawyer Blog letting you know that patients whose medical records have been lost by a hospital have a right to file a Massachusetts breach of privacy complaint seeking damages. Having unauthorized persons obtain access to this information is no laughing matter. Not only do you not want anyone to know about your medical history, but also, there may be other confidential information, such as your social security number and other private data that you wouldn’t want to end up in the wrong hands.

Today, The Boston Globe reported on a Massachusetts hospital negligence complaint accusing Tufts Medical Center and a primary care physician there of breach of privacy. The plaintiff, 44-year-old Middleborough resident Kimberly White, is claiming that the defendants faxed her medical history and other documents without her permission to her workplace.

White says that the mistake happened after she asked Dr. Kimberly Schelling to send a form for her disability claim to her employer. Instead, the hospital sent over four pages of White’s medical records to a shared fax machine at her place of work. She calls the information “extremely embarrassing” and said that coworkers ended up seeing her medical records. White says that this mistake has impacted her career and exacerbated her medical condition. She also says that she is too embarrassed to go back to her work now that there are people there who know this information.

White is seeking punitive damages. Meantime, the hospital maintains that it did nothing wrong and merely complied with White’s request to provide the information.

Breach of Privacy
Sometimes, an administrative error or inadequate procedures allows this type of breach of privacy to happen. In other instances, the mistake might be human. For instance, Massachusetts General Hospital settled for $1 million a federal breach of privacy case over an employee who left the records of 192 infectious deceased patients on the Red Line.

Lawsuit alleges Tufts faxed patient records to workplace without permission, Boston.com, July 14, 2011
MGH Settles For $1M Over Lost HIV/AIDS Records, WBUR, February 25, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Attorney General Martha Coakley, Mass.gov
Tufts Medical Center

More Blog Posts:
Did You Know That If A Massachusetts Hospital Loses Your Medical Records You Have the Right to Sue?, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 8, 2011
$2.6M Worcester, Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Verdict Awarded to Man Who Ended Up with Surgical Tack Inside His Small Bowel, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 23, 2011
Boston Personal Injury?: Use of Psychotropic Drugs Can Prove Fatal for Some Elderly Patients, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 30, 2011 Continue reading

July 9, 2011

Most Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Are Dropped by Plaintiffs Prior to Settlement or Verdict

by Altman & Altman

According to a study published in the journal HealthAffairs, plaintiffs abandon the majority of medical malpractice lawsuits before they are resolved in court or with a settlement. The main reasons for this are costs and finding out that a case is not as solid as initially thought. The findings in this report support why it is so important that from the start you are represented by a Boston medical malpractice law firm that understands the nature of what happened and how to prove liability.

The study examined the conclusions of 3,695 Massachusetts medical malpractice claims filed against medical providers between 2006 and 2010:

• 59% of the medical malpractice claims were dropped • 26% percent were settled • 15% were adjudicated

June 23, 2011

$2.6M Worcester, Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Verdict Awarded to Man Who Ended Up with Surgical Tack Inside His Small Bowel

by Altman & Altman

A jury has awarded a $2.6 million Worcester medical malpractice verdict to Jorge Rosado. Rosado underwent eight operations over a five-month period after a surgical tack ended up in his small bowel. The Massachusetts medical mistake occurred in connection with a laparoscopic hernia surgery on July 24, 2004 when Rosado was just 21.

Because of his injury, Rosado, who was a mechanic, ended up in the ICU and had to use a breathing tube. He also had to undergo an ileostomy and live with an open abdominal wound for over a month. Other complications as a result of the Worcester, Massachusetts surgical mistake, included severe stomach scarring, another bowel obstruction, a dangerous infection, and other life-threatening complications. Rosado is also reportedly at risk of more bowel obstructions from adhesions in the future. He had to miss work for several months.

The titanium surgical tack, which is used to seal off surgical wounds, was supposed to stay in the lining of his stomach. The defense noted that it is a known risk for the tack to come loose over time and that during a post-operative visit about 10 days after the original surgery, it was not in Rosado’s bowel yet. However, one medical expert said that the doctor who conducted the post-operative checkup should have checked to see where the tacks were embedded while making sure that none were located in the small bowel wall or near there. He also said that if the tack had been correctly sutured to the lining, it wouldn’t have been able to end up in the small bowel wall.

Having a foreign object in your body can be very dangerous-especially when its location impacts an important organ. Medical professionals need to make sure that they don’t leave any surgical tools inside patients when performing a procedure. They also need to ensure that anything purposely inserted inside a patient is done so correctly so that no health complications can result.

Some other examples of medical malpractice:
• Dental Malpractice • Anesthesia errors • Nursing negligence • Failure to obtain informed consent • Failure to provide a certain level of care • Poor post-operative care • Failure to monitor a patient’s vitals • Medication mistakes
$2.6M awarded in malpractice case, Telegram.com, June 16, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Medical Malpractice, Nolo
Medpage Today

More Blog Posts:
Boston Medical Malpractice?: Three Wrong-Site Surgeries Performed at Beth Israel, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, January 11, 2011
Couple Settle Boston Medical Malpractice Case Over Kidney Transplant for $1.25 Million, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, August 27, 2010
Massachusetts Hospitals Racked Up Over 300 Medical Mistakes, Including Fall Accidents, Medication Errors, and Surgical Malpractice In 2008, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, April 9, 2009 Continue reading

May 30, 2011

Massachusetts Dental Malpractice Can Cause Serious Injuries

by Altman & Altman

Our Boston injury lawyers often report on different types of Massachusetts medical malpractice. In this blog entry, we will take a closer look at dental malpractice.

While a trip to the dentist may seem like an appointment where you are least likely to get hurt from medical mistakes, when dental errors do occur, the patient can be left with serious injuries, such as those involving:

• Anesthesia-related complications • Nerve damage • Teeth that shouldn’t have been removed • Infection • Tooth fractures • Loss of sensation • TMJ disorders • Tongue injuries • Root canal • Crowns • Defective dental tools • Wrong diagnosis • Delayed diagnosis
If you sustained dental injuries because a dentist, endodontist, orthodontist, periodontist, oral surgeon, or another dental care professional was negligent or reckless, you may have grounds for filing a Boston dental malpractice case. In some cases. There also may be other liable parties. For example, one man who was injured at an oral surgeon’s office recently received a $3 million settlement from a plumbing company that allegedly crossed nitrous and oxygen lines when it installed the medical gas lines at the oral surgeon’s office. The plaintiff, Austin Stone, is now legally blind and suffers from other health complications. Stone is suing several parties for his dental injuries.

Mediation in Lawrence dental injury lawsuit, KTKA/AP, February 13, 2011
Related Web Resources:
Medical Malpractice, Nolo
American Dental Association

More Blog Posts:
$7M Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Settlement Awarded to Parents Whose Child Was Born with a Genetic Defect, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, May 6, 2011
Boston Personal Injury?: Use of Psychotropic Drugs Can Prove Fatal for Some Elderly Patients, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 30, 2011
Medication Overdose: Boston Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Claims Massachusetts General Hospital Gave 76-Year-Old Woman the Wrong Blood Thinner, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, March 10, 2011 Continue reading

May 6, 2011

$7M Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Settlement Awarded to Parents Whose Child Was Born with a Genetic Defect

by Altman & Altman

A judge has approved a $7M Worcester, Massachusetts medical malpractice settlement for Ran Zhuang and Ziru Guo. The couple had sued two doctors, a genetic counselor, and a nurse practitioner after their daughter was born with cri-du-chat on November 11, 2007 at UMass Memorial Medical Center – Memorial Campus.

Annie, now 3, has severe mental and physical disabilities. Their parents contend that if her chromosomal abnormality had been detected through an amniocentesis early enough, they would have been able to decide whether to terminate pregnancy. Guo and Zuang claim that that they were not provided with proper prenatal genetic counseling.

Named as defendants in the Massachusetts obstetrician malpractice lawsuit are Dr. Mary M. Herlihy, geneticist Dr. Beverly Hay, nurse practitioner Patricia Yranski, and genetic counselor Lisa Blazejewski. They are denying any negligence. They claim that Zhuang was offered an amniocentesis but that she declined to undergo the procedure. Zhuang and Guo, however, say that no one told her the diagnostic procedure was available.

Cri-du-chat
Also known as cat’s cry syndrome and 5p- syndrome, cri-du-chat is a condition where chromosome 5 is missing. Baby’s who have cri-du-chat often have a cry that sounds like a cat’s. Characteristics of the disorder include microcephaly (small head size), weak muscle tone, intellectual disability, delayed development, widely set eyes, low-set ears, a rounded face, and a small jaw. Some children suffering from cri-du-chat may also have a heart defect.

It is important that you receive the proper medical care during pregnancy, delivery, and after your baby’s birth. Unfortunately, obstetrical malpractice can cause serious injuries to you or your child.

Couple reaches $7M settlement in medical malpractice lawsuit, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, May 5, 2011
Judge approves $7M settlement for Shrewsbury couple, Boston Herald/AP, May 5, 2011

Related Web Resources:
Cri-du-chat syndrome, NIH.gov
Amniocentesis, Baby Center

More Blog Posts:
Mother’s Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Accuses Springfield Hospital of Sterilizing Her Without Consent, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, January 4, 2010
$15 Million Boston Medical Malpractice Award: Jury Holds Doctors Accountable for Massachusetts Wrongful Death of 3-Year-Old Treated for Birth Defect Five years after 3-year-old, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, December 21, 2009
Massachusetts Man Awarded $2 Million for Wrongful Death of Wife Due to Medication Error During Cesarean Delivery, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, January 23, 2009 Continue reading

March 30, 2011

Boston Personal Injury?: Use of Psychotropic Drugs Can Prove Fatal for Some Elderly Patients

by Altman & Altman

According to information on nearly 11,000 elderly patients, those who are treated with antidepressants, conventional antipsychotic drugs, and benzodiazepines are at greater risk of adverse outcomes and death than if they were treated with atypical antipsychotic drugs. This is disturbing news, considering that nearly two thirds of dementia patients in assisted living facilities are given psychotropic drugs. The Boston Globe reports that in Massachusetts alone, almost 2,500 nursing home patients were given strong antipsychotic drugs that were not recommended or meant for their health issues. If you think that loved one may have gotten sick from taking a medication, you should speak with a Boston injury lawyer right away.

The study, which can be found in CMAJ, notes that this ‘exploratory” examination shows growing evidence that conventional antipsychotics aren’t any safer than atypical antipsychotics when it comes to treating older adults. Dr. Krista F. Huybrechts, PhD of Harvard Medical school and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and her colleagues said they found that:

• Treatment with conventional antipsychotics appears to up the risk of an elderly patient developing a femur fracture by 61%.

March 10, 2011

Medication Overdose: Boston Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Claims Massachusetts General Hospital Gave 76-Year-Old Woman the Wrong Blood Thinner

by Altman & Altman

The family of Geraldine Oswald believes that she died because of a medical mistake. The 76-year-old Revere woman died last year after she was given too much blood thinner while in the care of Massachusetts General Hospital. Now, they are suing for Boston wrongful death and medical malpractice. Defendants include the hospital, two nurses, and five doctors.

According to Oswald’s daughter Donna Beatrice, her mother fell and broke her shoulder last year. After she developed a minor urinary tract infection, a nurse at the hospital gave her “thirty times more” Lepirudin than the dose that she should have received. Oswald ended up bleeding internally for 12 hours before she died. Beatrice’s Boston medical malpractice lawsuit claims that at the end, the elderly patient started bleeding through her body’s orifices and became unresponsive. The family contends that doctors didn’t realize how serious her condition was until it was too late.

Hospital officials have admitted to the Massachusetts medication mistake. They say that it could have been prevented. Per a report that it gave to the family, the hospital admits that the day nurse knew what dose to give Oswald but made a mistake when putting the dose into the IV pump.

March 3, 2011

Boston Medical Malpractice?: Former Needham Doctor and Nurse Practitioner Blamed for Six Drug Overdose Deaths

by Altman & Altman

In federal court today, Dr. Joseph Zolot and nurse practitioner Lisa Pliner were indicted on charges they conspired to illegally distribute controlled substances to patients and that this resulted in six fatalities. Drugs that they allegedly distributed included oxycodone, methadone, and fentanyl.

According to the indictment, Zolot and Pliner knew that the patients had drug addictions yet they still prescribed the painkillers-even though they were medically unnecessary-in exchange for money or insurance payments. Their alleged medical negligence in prescribing these drugs led to certain patients suffering from health issues, addiction, and/or overdose deaths. Jeffrey Campbell, Dennis Dillon, Thomas Dunphy, Christopher Bartoloni, James Curley, and Scot Poulack died from drug overdoses. The victims’ families may decide they have grounds to sue for Boston medical malpractice and wrongful death.

Zolot’s criminal defense lawyer is disputing the criminal charges. He contends that his client acted in good faith as a doctor. Pliner, who continues to work as a registered nurse, also plans to combat the charges against her.

February 17, 2011

Ex-Children’s Hospital Boston Pediatrician Sued for Boston Medical Malpractice and the Sex Abuse of Child Patients

by Altman & Altman

Former Children’s Hospital Boston pediatrician Dr. Melvine Levine is the defendant of a class action complaint accusing him of Boston medical malpractice and Massachusetts child sex abuse. The lawsuit blames the hospital for failing to properly supervise him during 40 cases over two decades and of knowing (or that it should have known) that Levine was not fit to treat minor boy patients or care for them without supervision. The hospital has denied the allegations and notes that the pediatrician has not practiced there for a quarter of a century. This is not the first lawsuit accusing Levine of medical negligence and child sex abuse. In 2009, he agreed to give up practicing medicine permanently.

This latest Boston sex abuse complaint, however, seeks to represent all the kids that Levine examined between 1966 through 1985, which includes about 5,000 boys. He allegedly performed unnecessary genital exams on patients.

Boston Sex Abuse as Massachusetts Medical Malpractice

February 9, 2011

Pharmacy Error: Pregnant Woman is Accidentally Given Abortion Pill

by Altman & Altman

As you know, our Boston personal injury lawyers sometimes reports on stories making the national headlines. One unfortunate incident that has recently garnered a lot of media attention involves a pregnant woman who was accidentally given an abortion pill by a Safeway pharmacist.

Mareena Silva, who is several weeks pregnant with her first baby, says that a pharmacy misfill caused her to accidentally take methotrexate, which is used in chemotherapy treatments and can end pregnancies. She says that she thought the pill was the antibiotic that had been prescribed to her. After she started to feel sick, she noticed on the label that the drug she had been given was the wrong one. Silva contacted her physician immediately.

She was then rushed to the hospital where she was given charcoal in an attempt to get her body to absorb the drug. Doctors, however, say that she could still miscarry or have a baby with serious defects.