In a shocking case of surgical malpractice, a doctor at a Riverside California hospital removed a patient’s only healthy kidney.  The man is now left with no kidneys after the diseased one was removed following discovery of the error.

A multitude of errors led up to the final grave mistake, including failure to follow safety protocol, failure to properly communicate with the patient, who speaks Spanish, and forcing the patient to sign a consent form essentially granting them permission to remove the wrong kidney.

Perhaps of most concern, though, is the fact that the doctor who performed the botched surgery did not even have privileges at that hospital to remove either kidney.

Once the medical error was discovered, the hospital then removed the patient’s diseased kidney, leaving him with no functioning kidneys.

Not surprisingly the California Department of Public Health has gotten involved and is actively investigating the incident.  If the hospital is penalized, it may face fines of up to $225,000.

Additionally, it’s pretty certain that there will be a surgical malpractice lawsuit forthcoming, although none has been reportedly filed as of yet.  But certainly the doctors involved in this tragic error should be held accountable for their gross negligence.

The verdict is in in the non-jury surgical malpractice lawsuit filed by 56 year old Kathleen Garrett, who claimed orthopedic surgeon Dr. Joseph “Asa” Bennett was negligent when he severed a nerve in her arm during elbow surgery.  She was awarded $285,000, a little more than half of the $500,000 she requested.

Garrett’s injury originated back in 1990 after a fall from a horse, and the damage to her joint got progressively worse over the years.  In 2005 she consulted with Dr. Bennett who recommended removal of bone fragments.

The surgery was performed with an arthroscopic lens and lasted nearly three hours.  According to court documents, however, inflamed tissue in the joint prevented Dr. Bennett from getting a clear view.  This, according to an expert witness for the plaintiff, is where the medical negligence came into play.

Dr. Edward Season testified that in his opinion, Dr. Bennett should have switched from arthroscopic surgery to open surgery no later than an hour into the procedure because of the inability to properly view the joint.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case and Dr. Bennett mistakenly cut Garrett’s radial nerve.

As a result of the medical error, Garrett has lost movement in her left wrist and hand.  It has affected her ability to work and she claims emotional damage as well.  Dr. Bennett admitted to severing the nerve, but claimed it was not negligence.  The judge overseeing the trial disagreed and ruled in favor of the plaintiff.

The hospital where the surgery took place is requesting a new trial.

Dr. Thomas Laney of Seattle is being accused by the State Medical Agency of surgical malpractice for an alleged botched breast augmentation as well as liposuction on a teenage girl.  He is also being accused of unprofessional conduct because of the patient’s age.

The unnamed patient was just 15 years old at the time of the procedures, and sought treatment from the surgeon to reduce the large size of her breasts, which she claimed interfered with her athletic activities and caused her pain.  She also requested liposuction for weight loss purposes.

According to the lawsuit filed by the girl’s family, which has since been settled, the doctor didn’t perform the breast reduction properly, putting her nipples back in the wrong place and leaving her breasts with an “unnatural appearance”.

The Washington Medical Quality Assurance Commission is now getting involved, citing that the doctor did not have the proper education or training to perform the surgeries in question, and that he acted negligently by agreeing to perform liposuction on such a young patient.

Although there are no reports that the girl suffered any injury from the liposuction, it is a highly risky procedure which could have resulted in infection, tissue loss and even death.  Because of this, the Agency claims that Dr. Laney should have refused to perform the surgery and instead recommended a proper diet and exercise for weight loss.

This isn’t Laney’s first experience with medical malpractice accusations.  In fact, he has been sued at least 10 other times by patients or their families.  One such incident involved the death of a plastic surgery patient who ceased breathing while under anesthesia.

Amazingly, although he has been fined in the past, the medical board has yet to place any restrictions on Laney’s medical license, even given his track record.

He has requested a hearing in this particular case but no date has been scheduled yet.  In the meantime, he continues to practice medicine.

Academy Award nominated actor James Woods has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the 2006 death of his brother.  The amount of damages he is seeking has not yet been reported, however it is known that he filed the suit on behalf of his nephew in order to “seek justice”.

According to the lawsuit, 49 year old Michael Woods went into cardiac arrest while on a hospital gurney at Kent County Hospital in Rhode Island.  The suit claims that Woods did not receive appropriate or timely care and subsequently died as a result.

This is certainly not the first medical malpractice lawsuit brought by a celebrity, and is yet another example that they are by no means immune to the risks associated with medical treatment.  You may recall recent reports about Dennis Quaid, Kanye West and Ed McMahon all having their own unfortunate experiences with negligent physicians.

Remember - medical malpractice does not discriminate - it can happen to anyone at any time.  If you or someone you love has been a victim of a doctor’s negligence, talk it over with a medical attorney today.

It’s not too often that we hear about radiation malpractice in the news, but unfortunately it does happen.  In fact, it happened just recently to a California man while undergoing a CT scan.  The man has subsequently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Trevor Ree claims that a combination of faulty equipment and doctors’ negligence caused him to receive eight times the normal dose he should have received during a CT scan in December 2008.  In the days and weeks following, Ree’s hair and eyebrows began to fall out and he began experiencing red, flaky skin on his face and scalp.  He didn’t realize it at the time but these are all signs of radiation overdose.

Ree’s lawsuit also claims that about a month ago someone from the hospital contacted him and asked if he had experienced any negative side effects after the procedure.  He alleges that he was not told why they wanted to know and was never notified that he had received an overdose.

Some 206 patients are also named in the class action lawsuit because of their possible overexposure to the dangerous radiation.

Radiation therapy is used in different medical procedures utilizing a form of energy called ionizing radiation.  Although its purpose is typically to destroy bad cells such as those that are cancerous, it can also damage healthy cells so it should be used with the utmost caution to limit the patient’s exposure.

Overexposure or radiation overdose can cause a host of medical problems and almost always occurs at the hands of a negligent doctor.

If you think you may have received a dose of radiation that was too high, and have suffered subsequent injury or medical issues, it is a wise idea to contact a medical attorney immediately.  You may be a victim of radiation malpractice.

A record award by a New York jury was sent down last week in the case of a 25 year old woman who was left permanently disabled after a birth injury caused her cerebral palsy.

The mother of Tiffany Busone filed the medical malpractice lawsuit more than two decades ago against Bellevue Women’s Hospital.  Her lawsuit claimed that when doctors at the hospital resuscitated and intubated her infant daughter, they did so incorrectly causing her to go without oxygen.  She subsequently developed cerebral palsy and brain damage as a result of the oxygen deprivation.

Busone, now 25 years old, is confined to a wheelchair and has only limited communication.  She will require home health care for the rest of her life and will never be able to work.

Cerebral palsy is a brain injury that often occurs before or during birth that can leave the child with developmental problems, brain damage, decrease or complete loss of motor functions and other permanent injuries.  Often times the cause of a child’s cerebral palsy is a doctor’s negligence, as in this case.

The jury that heard the case found in favor of the plaintiffs, awarding them $20 million for Busone’s home health care needs, $21 million for past and future pain and suffering and additional amounts for medical expenses and loss of future earnings, totaling $43 million altogether.

The verdict was a long time coming for the Busone family, who has been fighting for justice on behalf of Tiffany since 1991.

A patient who was left sedated on the operating table while awaiting brain surgery has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against two NY doctors for their acts of negligence in failing to perform her surgery.

Last April, Jennifer Ronca was scheduled to undergo the second of a two part brain surgery by Dr. Paolo Bolognese.  Unbeknownst to her, the renowned brain surgeon had plans to leave town that same day.  He claims to have made an attempt to get another doctor to cover for him; however he left anyway without having confirmed that the other surgeon was available and agreeable to doing the procedure.

Adding insult to injury, the other neurosurgeon available at the time, Dr. Thomas Milhorat, declined to perform the surgery even though the patient was prepped and sedated for the procedure.

Ronca awoke to be told that no surgery had been performed.  She was essentially put under dangerous heavy anesthesia for nothing.

The New York department of health got involved shortly after the incident and both doctors were suspended for two weeks.  In addition, the hospital at which the surgery was supposed to take place, North Shore Hospital, has been fined for this and multiple other unrelated incidents, including wrong site surgery.  The hospital has been given until October to provide the state with a plan to correct these issues and pay back their fines.

Ronca’s medical malpractice lawsuit does not indicate how much she is seeking in damages, but in this case it will likely be more a case of punishing the doctors for their egregious acts than recovering money for pain and suffering.

Doctors have the duty to provide their patients with the highest standard of care.  In this case, both surgeons shirked their duties and left their patient high and dry.  They must be held accountable for their negligence.  Further information will be relayed when it becomes available.

Barry Lackro, one of the 116 veterans who received botched prostate cancer treatments under the care of Dr. Gary Kao at a VA medical center has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Kao recently admitted wrongdoing, stating that he “sometimes missed the mark” when implanting radioactive seeds into his patients.  The seeds are meant to be implanted into the prostate and treat the cancer, however Kao often implanted too few or too many seeds, and in some cases the seeds ended up in other organs.

The patients who were victims of Kao’s negligence were never told of the errors so they were unaware that the treatments they were receiving were much weaker than they were supposed to be.

In Lackro’s case, one of the radioactive implants ended up in his bladder causing him to suffer blood clots and other complications.  It is unclear how much he is seeking in damages, but it is certain that we will see many more medical malpractice cases filed against Kao in the near future.

Dr. Gary Kao, the Philadelphia Veterans Administration physician accused of botching the prostate cancer treatments he performed on dozens of patients has admitted wrongdoing.

Dr. Kao treated hundreds of men for prostate cancer, using brachytherapy, a procedure in which tiny radioactive seeds are implanted into the prostate to treat the disease. A recent investigation of the VA hospital found that 92 out of 116 patients treated there received incorrect doses of the seeds because they were implanted into nearby organs rather than the intended location.

Perhaps even more disturbing than the fact that he “sometimes missed his target”, as he put it, is the fact that Kao admitted under questioning that he failed to inform the patients when he made the errors nor notify them that they had received an incorrect dose as a result.

The brachytherapy program has been suspended at the VA hospital where Dr. Kao performed the botched treatments, and although he still maintains his medical license, he has stopped performing the surgeries and has taken a leave of absence as of last week.

It is unclear the number of medical malpractice cases that will come as a result of this doctor’s negligence, but it is certain that there will be many victims that he will have to answer to.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529544,00.html 

In a rare move, a Florida judge decided to throw out a jury’s verdict and grant Lisa Strong a new trial in her medical malpractice claim.  He felt the evidence was overwhelming in the case where a kidney stone was misdiagnosed causing a life threatening infection that resulted in amputation of all four of Strong’s limbs.

In September of 2003, Strong was at work when she started feeling ill.  She decided to go to the ER when her fever hit 106 degrees and she was having trouble walking.

Strong immediately informed the nurse treating her that she’d had a history of kidney stones and felt that she was experiencing another one.  But her concerns were ignored, and so was her kidney stone.  Left untreated for a month, the stone led to a deadly infection and septic shock which cut off the blood flow to her arms and legs.

When the infection first started to set in, Strong thought if she exercised she could get the circulation to her limbs back.  She was gravely mistaken.  A month after her first ER visit, doctors were forced to amputate all four of her limbs to save her life.

Ms. Strong sued the doctors for negligence but the jury ruled against her.  Judge Charles M. Greene disagreed, however, and reversed the jury’s decision.  He stated that the verdict was “contrary to the law and the manifest weight of the evidence”.

It’s extremely rare that a judge reverse a jury’s verdict.  In fact, it happens in less than a half a percent of cases.  Judge Greene clearly saw the impact that the misdiagnosis and other medical mistakes had on Ms. Strong’s life and felt it warranted justice.

Learn more about Lisa’s story at www.lisastrong.org.