Medical Malpractice News

01 oct

The Special Focus Facilities List is a national registry of nursing homes that are considered to be problem facilities that require monitoring for poor and negligent treatment. The list was created by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, and as of 2010, there were at least 126 nursing homes nationwide that qualified for this negative

01 oct

In 2010, Tom Douglas filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Manor Care Inc., HCR Manor Care Services Inc., Healthcare and Retirement Corp. of America LLC, and Heartland Employment Services LLC as he blamed his mother’s death on the negligence of her nursing home.  Dorothy Douglas was reported to have died from dementia within the weeks

01 oct

On September 12, 2008, Arvia Johnson filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. H. Jeffrey Schwartz in Maryland, contending that the physician had committed negligence in an outpatient colonoscopy surgery. After a 5-day trial, the jury ruled in Johnson’s favor and he was awarded a settlement of $23,791.19 for his medical costs, as well as

01 oct

Rebecca Fielding, in agreement with her husband, Enso Martinez, had hoped to give birth to their child at home. However, due to complications and the necessity of a Caesarean section, Fielding was transported via ambulance to the emergency room at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. But instead of receiving prompt medical attention and surgery, Fielding

01 oct

A 5-year old Pennsylvania boy was recently awarded $1.1 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit over a surgical procedure that left him with a brain injury. At only 11-months old, Keonte Graham suffered from sleep apnea so badly that his parents took him to Dr. Andrew Shapiro in 2007 for consultation and to find a

01 oct

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) defines the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system as the electronic version of patient medical history.  Healthcare providers actively maintain and update this record and may also “include all of the key administrative clinical data relevant to that persons care under a particular provider, including demographics, progress notes,

01 oct

Errors by radiologists can occur for a number of reasons, from misreading X-rays to poor communication with physicians, and they can result in very serious health complications that can even be life-threatening. In the case of one New York man, an error by a radiologist proved to be life-altering and a jury awarded him $2.1

01 oct

  In 2004, Spokane resident Darlene Turner visited Dr. Nathan Stime for a physical after she had been feeling considerably ill, and the physician determined that she had terminal cancer. While that news must have been both shocking and horrifying for Turner, it was presumably even more shocking when she learned that Dr. Stime’s diagnosis

01 oct

On March 28, 2011, 17-year old Jennifer Olenick underwent a routine wisdom tooth extraction procedure. While that sounds typical and seemingly ordinary, Jennifer wound up entering a coma and dying ten days later. According to the Baltimore Sun, “[a]n autopsy report showed she died because of a lack of oxygen to her brain during surgery.”

01 oct

The family of 10-year-old Shannon Reilly filed a lawsuit against St. Charles Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Port Jefferson, claiming several of the staff’s mistakes during the delivery of the baby girl in November 2002 led to the development of her cerebral palsy.  Although the family was offered an $8 million settlement in 2009, attorney

01 oct

Last week, Florida’s House of Representatives approved a business-backed bill that will shift the state’s test for the admissibility of expert witness testimony from the Frye standard to the Daubert standard.  Approximately 28 other states and the federal courts use this tougher standard, which critics say would pose a challenge for patients who pursue medical

01 oct

One of the largest medical malpractice cases in Maryland’s history was settled earlier this month for a confidential amount.  Nearly 250 patients have settled their civil lawsuits against Dr. Mark Midei and Catholic Health Initiatives, the company who owned St. Joseph’s, accusing the cardiologist of implanting unnecessary heart stents in them.  According to The Baltimore

01 oct

This week, the Georgia Supreme Court heard a medical malpractice case involving the death of 15-year-old Shaquille Johnson.  Shaquille Johnson’s death was caused by blood clots in his lungs, which his attorneys argue were missed due to improper testing. The Albany Herald reports that Thelma and Sheldon Johnson sued the attending emergency room physician, Dr.

01 oct

A new medical malpractice law in Florida is drawing criticism from many groups who allege the new law violates the privacy rights established in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Bloomberg Business Week reports. On July 1, the day Senate Bill 1792 went into effect, five trial attorneys filed lawsuits against healthcare providers. 

01 oct

Zannos Grekos, a cardiologist whose license was revoked by the Florida State Board of Medicine in April after he was found to have committed medical malpractice following the death of a patient, is appealing his case. The case, Zannos Grekos M.D. v. Department of Health, was filed last month with the First District Court of

01 oct

Last year, The Missouri Supreme Court struck down a legislative cap set on the amount awardable for “pain and suffering” in medical malpractice suits, ruling that the cap violated a patient’s right to a jury trial, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The cap was originally set at $350,000 and was established in 2005. Recently,

01 oct

The cap for non-economic damages in California medical malpractice cases is set at $250,000, and it’s been that way since the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) was first passed in 1975. The Consumer Watchdog advocacy group, along with a man whose two children died after a drugged driver crashed into them, wants to lift

01 oct

A four-day medical malpractice trial in Pennsylvania concluded with the jury awarding a man from Hatsboro, Pennsylvania $4 million. The man had brought the case against his physician when he received nerve damage from a procedure performed in his physician’s office. The decision is unique in that it is the first medical malpractice verdict in

27 sep

Four recent medical malpractice lawsuits – whose original incidents date back as far as six years – have been decided in favor of the plaintiffs. Loss of Husband to Bad Diagnosis An Alabama woman who lost her husband in 2008 was awarded $4 million by a jury in Walker County. Donna Hallmark claimed in her

26 sep

Voters in California are going to be the latest decision makers in a long and contentious argument over pain and suffering awards tied to medical malpractice. In California, pain and suffering awards (also called non-economic awards) have been capped at $250,000 for almost four decades in medical malpractice cases. A recently-qualified state ballot initiative (Proposition

26 sep

With thousands of lawsuits still cuing up for the foreseeable future, makers of mesh vaginal implants have recently suffered serious setbacks in the courtroom. Boston Scientific was ordered to pay a Texas woman more than $70 million after a device left her with permanent damages. The same week, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay

08 sep

As the shock of comedienne Joan Rivers’ death continues to swirl, a new conversation has begun to take a prominent place in the conversation: Was Rivers the victim of medical malpractice? Speculation about what happened in New York City’s Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic is all over the map with the media, the public and attorneys weighing