Medical Errors and Malpractice Stories

"Never events" are mistakes the National Quality Forum says should never happen during a patient's hospital stay. The NQF calls these events "serious, largely preventable, and of concern to both the public and health-care providers."

Starting in October 2008, Medicare and some private insurers will no longer pay for additional costs associated with these "never events"-many experts believe this will give the (financial) incentive needed for hospitals to clean up their acts.

Artificial insemination with the wrong donor sperm or donor egg

Leaving a foreign object (such as a sponge or medical instrument) in a patient after surgery

Patients disappearing from a room or hospital during treatment

Medication errors (e.g., errors involving wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong patient, wrong time, wrong rate, wrong preparation or wrong route of administration) resulting in death or disability

Administering incompatible blood or blood products

Death/disability associated with electric shock or elective cardioversion (used to restore an abnormal heart rhythm back to a normal one)

Falling while being cared for in a health-care facility

Surgery performed on the wrong body part

Surgery performed on the wrong patient

Wrong surgical procedure performed on a patient

Death during or after surgery in a healthy patient

Death or disability associated with the use of contaminated drugs or devices

Death or disability associated with malfunctioning equipment or equipment used other than as it is intended

Death or disability associated with gas embolism, or gas bubbles in the bloodstream getting lodged in the heart, stopping blood from flowing

Infant discharged to the wrong person

Patient suicide, or attempted suicide

Maternal death/disability associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy

Death/disability associated with hypoglycemia (the onset of which occurs while the patient is in a health-care facility)

Death/disability after hyperbilirubinemia (or jaundice) isn't identified in newborns

Developing bedsores (or pressure ulcers) after admission to a health-care facility

Death/disability due to spinal manipulative therapy (treatments for low back pain)

Receiving the wrong gas or a contaminated substance from a line intended for oxygen or other gas

Being burned from any source while in a health-care facility

Death/disability associated with the use of restraints or a bed rail during a stay in a health-care facility

Any instance of care ordered by or provided by someone impersonating a physician, nurse, pharmacist, or other health-care provider

Abduction of a patient of any age

Sexual assault on a patient within or on the ground of the health-care facility

Death or injury of a patient or staff member resulting from a physical assault that occurs within or on the grounds of the health-care facility

In the Providence Journal yesterday there was an article about James Woods and Kent Hospital. I immediately read the article and got excited because not only is the Health Care in Popular Culture, but its RI Health Care in Popular Culture- Close to Home!

Unfortunately, James Woods was filing a claim that Kent Hospital's emergency room staff was so negligent in their treatment of his brother Michael in 2006 that the hospital was to blame for his death. After weeks of battling in courts, yesterday they finally reached an agreement: A collaboration by the hospital and the family to improve patient care! This settlement included a promise by the hospital to invest $1.25 million over the next five years in the creation of the Michael J. Woods Institute at Kent Hospital.

Medical malpractice is certainly the issue for this suit. Hospital President Coletta stated, "We know we're not perfect at Kent Hospital. Mistakes were made. We can do better". Right now, Kent is lucky to have celebrity endorsement in improving their services. Woods claims that Kent staff missed or ignored signs of his brothers impending heart attack and left him unattended on a hospital gurney in a hallway until he was stricken.

Woods states that the settlement was reached not Tuesday, but Monday evening when Kent Hospital called to say they were sorry for his family's loss. To me, this shows how physicians and medical staff need to retain good bedside manner. By doing so, they can eliminate the risk of malpractice suits and maintain the dignity of the establishment.

The Health Department has fined Rhode Island Hospital $150,000, after a surgical team violated safety policies when it operated on the wrong finger of a patient. This October incident was the fifth-wrong site surgery at this hospital since January 2007. Health Director David R. Gifford said,

"This pattern of surgical errors is completely unacceptable and must be corrected to protect the safety of all patients at the hospital." The surgery team failed to properly mark the fingers and failed to follow the rules for "time out," a pause before the surgery to verify the patient, procedure, and site. The report also said that the hospital was not even following the error-prevention protocol that was adopted statewide on July 1st. The Health Department reprimanded the hospital, mandated observation of every surgery for a year, required full adoption of the statewide surgical protocol and required the installation of video and audio monitoring in every operating room. The hospital was also given a fine, which was only the second time the state has fined the hospital.

These medical errors should never occur, so five wrong-site surgeries since January 2007 is completely unacceptable. Every facility should have policies and procedure in place to prevent these types of errors from occurring. There should be retribution through the civil court system and through the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for people and facilities that violate these procedures.

A $2.2 million damages verdict was obtained on behalf of a widower of a 68 year old woman in Marion County, Indiana. The case involved a woman with a history of a fatty liver requiring a liver transplant and leading to the development of heart disease. As a result of her condition, she underwent heart bypass surgery and valve replacement. While the surgery was a technical success, a surgical foam pad was inadvertently left inside the woman at the conclusion of the surgery. When the pad was discovered a month later, it had become stuck to her heart and multiple peroforations occurred when the pad was removed, resulting in a five-week-long, painful death from mulit-system organ failure.

Initially, liability was contested as the hospital and surgeon claimed the other was responsible for the pad's removal. After the decision of the medical review panel, liability was determined and the damages case was tried against the Patient's Compensation Fund. The primary dispute was over the value of the case, given the decedent's age of 68 and because she had a decreased life expectancy prior to the malpractice given her liver transplant, heart disease and other conditions.

The case was tried in Marion County in June 2009 and damages were determined to be $2.2 million. Under the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act, the judge was required to reduce the damages to the statutory cap of $1.25 million

A woman working as a health aide, she accompanied the "patient" the physician's office. She had been transported in a van that they and their patients to visit for a routine work in the office. On the way the van was involved in a car accident. The wife hit her head during the accident and both they and the patients were brought to the emergency room by ambulance. Ironically, the accident happened in front of the hospital they were taken to.

Because of their head injuries, the woman had an MRI of her head. She had x-rays and blood work, while in the emergency room. The X-rays were normal, as was the blood work. She was also told that her MRI was normal, too. "Go home, take some Tylenol, and everything will be fine," said emergency room physician.

About five months later, the woman, starting having difficulties in her eyes. She thought she needed glasses. She went to her local eyeglass shop, where an ophthalmologist examined her and gave her a prescription for glasses. He noticed something in the eye and suggested she see an ophthalmologist for further evaluation. Shortly thereafter, she made an appointment with an ophthalmologist, who notices something abnormal. At that time, her vision was getting worse from day to day. It got so bad that this woman could barely see anything out of her eye. Her eye doctor ordered an MRI.

The MRI showed that a brain tumor compression of the nerve that controls the sight in his eyes, the optic nerve. "Do you know that you have a brain tumor?" the doctor asked the patient. No. In fact, only five months ago, I had done an MRI of my head at the local emergency room, and they said everything looked good. "Get me a copy of the MRI " "asked the optometrist.

The patient made arrangements to send her MRI report from the hospital to her ophthalmologist. Included in the report, this statement "The patient has a mass that appears in the vicinity of the optic nerve. Follow-up is recommended. "

"You were never a copy of this report?" Asked the ophthalmologist with disbelief.
"No," they told me my MRI was normal, "says the patient.
"Has anyone ever call from the hospital and tell you for follow-up treatment in this mass back in your brain?" "asked the optometrist.
"Nobody from the hospital I was always," replied the patient.

What do these patients come to us, having learned their potential medical examination misconduct was that doctors in the emergency room treats them work properly. The doctors ordered the appropriate tests for them as well. The problem started after the MRI was read, and no one informed the patient that this abnormal mass in her brain.

If this observation was the patient was told she had elective surgery to remove the tumor to have (it was a benign tumor that mass effect, compression of all the surrounding structures, was the introductionTumor). The tumor had been removed before they began their vision in one eye. In the five months since the accident, the tumor had grown so large, when the blood supply to the optic nerve, causing them to become blind to cut that in one eye.

Even if this woman had surgery to remove the tumor, there was nothing to restore any vision in her eye again. She was constantly in that eye blind. Why? Since the radiologist read the MRI never communicated thisfind the emergency room physician. Another factor was causing misunderstanding that the ER doctor had never received a copy of the MRI report. What happened was that the radiologist's report, a detailed report was dictated. We had no problem with what he saw in the MRT.

The big problem was that no one sent in the clinic, the abnormality in the brain of the patient to the patient! The radiology report was simply in the table, patients who submitted no longer inthe ER because the ER doctor the patient was discharged shortly after the MRI done. No one has ever seen "red flag" of the report to see if the patient is hospitalized or to see whether they were receiving treatment for the abnormal mass in her head has been recalled.

Here, the tumor was right in front of doctors. But no one told the patient she had this tumor. As a consequence, the tumor to grow to die so that the optic nerve. This patient lost vision in their eyes onlyas a result of mistakes made by doctors at the hospital. This was a preventable occurrence. Unfortunately for these patients, they will never go back to their view.

A patient named William Morrison underwent a screening that required his penis be washed in a solution of three to five percent acetic acid. Sure, just typing the words "acid" and "penis" in the same sentence makes us cringe. But that doesn't mean anything could possibly go wrong there, right? Hell, a three to five percent solution probably feels kind of tingly and refreshing, like when you wash your sack in a bowl of ginger ale.

When it came time actually wash his wang, however, Mr. Morrison got a 72 percent solution, which is a little more like having your penis caught on fire.

But that's a one-in-a-million scenario, right? Surely health care professionals normally take way more care when a man's dong is on the line.

Not in the case of Mexican doctor, Francisco Javier Valentin y Ortiz, who was not great with sharp objects, and cut off a patient's penis during a routine circumcision. We like to think Dr. Ortiz muttered "Oh geez," scratched his head then tried to put the severed penis into the patient's ballsack, kind of like a tulip in a vase, in the hopes the guy wouldn't notice.

But those two are cases are only runners up in the medical world's penis mutilation Olympics. Our gold medalist is Romanian doctor, Naum Ciomu. He separated himself from the pack when he was performing an operation to correct some poor dude's weird, bulgy nutsack. Due to the various stresses of being a guy who has to perform delicate surgeries on weird, bulgy nutsacks all day, he lost his shit and cut off the patient's penis with a scalpel, put it on the operating table and furiously hacked it into tiny pieces in front of the nursing staff.

Ciomu said he had a temporary loss of judgment, due to some personal problems. You know, kind of like how you get really mad sometimes and punch a wall. It was like that, only he hacked a man's penis to confetti. He ended up having his license suspended and he was ordered to pay the patient 120,000 pounds while the patient got a shiny new non-functional wang made from arm skin.

A Big Bend woman is suing Froedtert Hospital claiming she was the victim of medical malpractice three years ago at the hands of a nurse during child birth.

The case, filed Nov. 19 in Waukesha County Circuit Court, alleges Jana Pokorny was given Pitocin, a drug used to induce or augment labor, without orders from a physician.

The drug allegedly caused Pokorny to have rapid contractions that slowed the baby's heart rate, prompting an emergency C-section.

The claim states Froedtert Hospital, of Wauwatosa, is responsible for Pokorny's permanent injuries and damages, pain and suffering, disability, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment of life. She is looking for damages as well as compensation for past and future medical expenses related to the incident, which took place on Dec. 1, 2006.

The lawsuit does not detail the extent of Pokorny's physical damages, or the health of her baby, but her attorney, Kevin Martin, with Cannon & Dunphy law firm in Brookfield, said at this time, the child is doing fine.

In Wisconsin, there is a cap of $750,000 for noneconomic damages, or pain and suffering, but no cap on medical expenses or lost income.

UnitedHealthcare also has been named as an involuntary plaintiff in the case.

Pokorny was receiving health insurance through a state Medicaid program at the time of the birth and UnitedHealthcare was her health maintenance organization, or HMO.

Martin contends UnitedHealthcare, and the state, should not have to pay a bill totaling $56,624, which includes about $7,000 for physical therapy and almost $12,000 in plastic surgery costs, because of hospital error.

"One of our goals is to ensure the proper party responsible pays the medical bills," Martin said. "Given that an employee of Froedtert breached the standard of care, it's Froedtert's responsibility, not the people of the state of Wisconsin, to pay the bill."

Froedtert spokesperson Kathy Sieja said the hospital could not comment on pending litigation.

Pulmonary embolism and drug reactions or overdose are the most common diagnostic errors committed or observed by physicians, according to a survey of general practitioners and specialists, the results of which are published in the November 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

After pulmonary embolism (4.5% of total) and drug reactions or overdose, including poisoning (also 4.5%), the next most common missed diagnoses were lung cancer (3.9%), colorectal cancer (3.3%), acute coronary syndrome, including acute myocardial infarction and breast cancer (each 3.1%), and stroke (2.6%). At 20.2%, all types of cancer together constituted the largest disease category.

Errors in the testing phase, including failing to order, report, or follow-up on laboratory results, occurred most frequently (44%), followed by clinician assessment errors, such as failure to consider and overweighing competing diagnoses (32%), history taking (10%), physical examination (also 10%), and referral or consultation errors and delays (3%).

Inadequate follow-up of abnormal imaging studies emerged as a leading cause of diagnostic error. "Certainly, ensuring reliable follow-up of abnormal test results represents a "low-hanging fruit" ripe for improvement," write the authors.

Hundreds of women have trusted him with their bodies, and their dreams of motherhood. Many depend on him as their doctor today. But for nearly seven years, none of Dr. Ben D. Ramaley's patients have known that the prominent obstetrician/gynecologist had been accused of an almost unimaginable act - substituting his own sperm for that of a patient's husband during an artificial insemination procedure. The allegation was made against the veteran Greenwich, Conn., doctor in a 2005 medical malpractice lawsuit - which was quickly settled, then sealed, the very court documents shredded. The suit was filed by a couple when a DNA test revealed that the husband was not the biological father of their twin girls, born after an insemination procedure performed by Ramaley. The state Department of Public Health investigated after the lawsuit, but did not order Ramaley to undergo a DNA test - even though state law appears to give the department authority to do so. Instead, in a consent agreement negotiated with Ramaley's attorney, they fined the doctor $10,000 for "using the wrong man's sperm" in the procedure and allowed him to keep an unrestricted license.
The lawsuit was settled before Ramaley had to answer questions. Through a letter from his attorney, Ramaley denied the accusation to the DPH during its investigation. Contacted this week outside his Southport clinic, he said he had no comment.

The Institute of Medicine, about 100,000 people die each year from errors in medical malpractice. The medical malpractice injuries most common are:

Birth Injuries

The complications of childbirth can cause injury or death to the baby, mother, or both, especially when the doctor can not provide appropriate care before or during birth. Inadequate attentionMay or failure to administer blood tests to detect abnormalities, inability to recognize signs of fetal distress, lack of adequate prenatal care, lack of recognition of signs of respiratory distress, failure to perform a cesarean section when needed, the resulting acceleration of the breech delivery and broken bones, or lack of proper care for a premature baby. The doctor's negligence could lead to the following:

Cerebral palsy --permanent damage to the brain's motor centers of the baby monitor in the brain, characterized by motor dysfunction, such as spasms and muscular incoordination
Brachial Palsy or Erb's palsy - injury to nerves around the shoulder of the baby when he is unable to exit the birth canal (shoulder dytocia), causing paralysis of the arm
Facial paralysis - facial nerve injury of the baby, usually caused by the use of forceps
The fracture of the clavicle - collarbone when the child or theclavicle fracture, usually occurs births per seat

Surgical Injuries

Many injuries are caused by medical malpractice in the operating room, usually due to poor planning and pre-operative care. This sometimes leads to irreversible consequences or death. Errors such as premature or improper administration of anesthesia, inadequate surgical technique, accidental puncture or cut the internal organs, which operate on the patient's body or badly wrong, leaving surgical instrumentsor materials within the body, not to diagnose and treat postoperative infections may have the following consequences:

Choking - Choking or loss of oxygen to the body parts, the errors caused by anesthesia
Blindness
The spinal cord
Paralysis
Broken or punctured organs
Hypoxic and anoxic brain damage - partial (hypoxia) or total (anoxia) oxygen deficiency in the brain
Amputation
Cardiovascularproblems
Coma

Infections, sepsis and haemorrhage

Sterile conditions are essential during surgery to prevent infection. Inability to maintain a sterile environment in offices has been shown to cause infections and / or bleeding, sometimes with fatal consequences. Infections are also known to be caused when blood transfusions, especially when the wrong blood type given in an emergency. Hospitals are required by law to have protocols for infection and for monitoringPatients undergoing surgery to prevent infection and excessive bleeding.

A misdiagnosis or no diagnosis

There are cases where the life of a person depends on what the doctor does or not. It is the responsibility of the physician to see if there is something wrong with the patient, and what it is. To this end, the doctor must order medical examinations and closely reviewing the results of tests to help determine the patient's illness. Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose a disease sometimescause serious illness, chronic pain or even death. Some of the most common diseases are diagnosed:

Cancer - Breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer
Brain Tumor
Ischemia - lack of oxygen in body parts
Pneumonia
Mesothelioma - a type of cancer affecting the abdomen, liver or heart, caused by exposure to asbestos dust
Asbestosis - lung disease caused by inhaling asbestosparticles

The evidence of guilt of the doctor in the examination and ordered to make a proper assessment of the disease can lead to misdiagnosis of:

Appendicitis
Lyme Disease
Heart disease and other heart problems
Cervical Cancer
Malignant melanoma and skin cancer

Medication errors

Medication errors are a considerable number of medical malpractice lawsuits. The errors in the form of incorrect dosing, prescribing the wrong medicine,incorrect combinations of drugs and medications the patient is allergic to can, instead of curing patients, causing severe allergic reactions and even death. Medication errors also occur in pharmacies where the pharmacist gives the patient the wrong medicine.