Philadelphia Top Injury Lawyer Blog

A hospital stay is fraught with worry and anxiety for both the patient and his or her family. But when a patient is discharged, there's a reasonable expectation that the patient is on the road to recovery and is being sent home with the medications and instructions that will promote full recovery. According to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund, a private New York research group, hospitals are not meeting expectations when they discharge patients and too many Philadelphia patients are winding up right back in the hospital as a result.

The Commonwealth Fund study found that preventable medical errors and negligent hospital discharge procedures forced more than 13,000 elderly and disabled of Pennsylvania patients to be readmitted within 30 days of hospital discharge. The two most common medical errors were sending patients home without required antibiotic prescriptions and not providing written post-hospital care instructions to patients at the time of discharge. Lack of follow up procedures to insure that patients were taking required medication and that they were correctly following post-hospitalization instructions was also cited as a frequent contributor to hospital readmission.

According to the Commonwealth Fund, preventable hospital mistakes cost Medicare and taxpayers approximately $12 billion each year. Medicare and several federal health care reform bills would tie hospital payments to readmission rates, paying less to hospitals that showed a higher incidence of patient readmission. In the Commonwealth Fund study, Pennsylvania hospitals showed a preventable readmission rate of 19.7%, at the high end of the national median.

The conditions most likely to require hospital readmission were: heart failure, pulmonary disease, pneumonia. cardiac stent placement and major hip or knee surgery. When Philadelphia hospital personnel fail to provide proper medication or patient care instructions at discharge, necessitating readmission, a case for medical malpractice can be made. Patients have been known to suffer serious personal injury complications and even die from these preventable medical errors.

Shopping for Philadelphia medical professionals these days isn't that different from shopping for a good auto mechanic. Both professions are populated by good and bad practitioners. The difference, of course, is that if your Philly auto mechanic does a bad job, you're merely annoyed. If your doctor does a bad job, you could suffer debilitating personal injury or die.

Like good auto mechanics, good doctors are usually found by word-of-mouth recommendations. Mechanics have the edge in that AAA ratings and Angie's List help assure Philadelphia customers that they'll receive satisfactory service. There's no Angie's List for the medical profession, but something similar is under construction.

The national Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank is being developed to alert Philadelphia hospitals and other members of the nation's medical community about disciplinary and professional actions taken against doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare workers. There are numerous cases where a physician or medical worker has left a hospital under the cloud of medical malpractice only to start practicing in a different hospital or community without penalty, his new employers and patients unaware of previous complaints. The national data bank is an attempt to plug this loophole and assure Philadelphia patients that they are receiving quality medical care.

The problem is that hospital and medical boards in Philadelphia and other cities are not reporting disciplinary actions to the data bank. ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism group, recently brought the problem to the attention of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Miscommunication between federal, state and local agencies is partly to blame. Delinquent agencies appear to be making an effort to update data bank reporting. Philadelphia malpractice lawyers believe the national data bank has the potential to reduce personal injuries from medical malpractice, reduce the potential for Philadelphia medical malpractice by denying problem doctors the opportunity to practice, and ensure that Philadelphians receive quality medical care.

While no medical malpractice suit has been filed and no charges of negligence or wrongful death have been made, the shocking death of powerful Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha following routine gallbladder surgery serves as a reminder of the many risks and potential opportunities for error during any surgical procedure, no matter how minor. At 77, Representative Murtha's age may have increased his risk; but even so, life-threatening complications from gallbladder surgery are exceedingly rare. More than half a million Americans have their gallbladders removed without incident every year. But, as with all surgical procedures, there are always risks.

As a doctor labors with laparoscopic instruments to pull a swollen, inflamed gallbladder through a tiny incision in the patient's abdomen, the doctor can mistakenly cut into the patient's intestine, liver or bile duct. If the hole is undiscovered, infection can set in. If the surgeon tears even the tiniest hole in the intestine during gallbladder surgery, massive, life-threatening infection can set in quickly as bacteria-laden waste from the intestine leaks into the sterile environment of the abdomen. This is apparently what happened to Representative Murtha. Although his family has refused to comment on his death, a family friend confided to reporters that when the Representative died he was battling a major infection caused by damage to his intestine during gallbladder surgery.

A surgical accident, even one that takes a life, does not always indicate negligence or medical malpractice. Each case is unique and must be carefully reviewed. Philadelphia personal injury lawyers with an expertise in medical malpractice have the knowledge and professional resources to thoroughly investigate the possibility of physician negligence or surgical error when patients are injured or die as a result of surgical complications. If you believe you or someone you love has been the victim of a surgical error or medical malpractice, an experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorney can review your case and apprise you of your legal options.

An improperly administered radiation treatment for throat cancer killed a 43-year-old New York City man just before Christmas 2007. Before he died, three overdoses of radiation left the man blind, deaf, severely burned, his mouth full of ulcers and his teeth falling out. Unable to swallow and in extreme pain, the man died of his injuries. It never should have happened and, certainly, the New York City hospital where the man went for treatment shouldn't have made the same radiation dosage error three times. A computer error was found to be at fault. Instead of directing a linear accelerator to target the man's throat cancer, the computer caused the machine to blast the man's brain stem and neck with lethal doses of high-energy radiation.

The potentially lethal danger of high-energy radiation treatments gone awry was revealed by The New York Times this week following an extensive investigation. The Times naturally found that radiation dosage accidents are common nationwide. Last June, more than 90 Philadelphia veterans were given incorrect doses of radiation during treatment for prostate cancer. Dr. John Feldmeier, a radiation oncologist at the University of Toledo, told the Times an estimated 1 in 20 patients is injured during radiation treatment.

Radiation is a standard treatment for cancer and one that is often highly effective. The Times pointed out that serious accidents are rare; however, medical radiation is being used increasingly frequently as a diagnostic and treatment tool. According to The Times, "The average lifetime dose of diagnostic radiation has increased sevenfold since 1980, and more than half of all cancer patients get radiation therapy."

While radiation therapy serves a helpful use in modern medicine, radiation accidents can inflict unbearable pain and result in death. If you or someone you care for has been the victim of a radiation accident, a Philadelphia personal injury attorney can investigate to see if medical malpractice or negligence has occurred.

It was the medical malpractice story that shocked Philadelphia and the nation. The lives of veterans stricken with prostate cancer were put at serious risk by botched radiation treatments performed at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center between 2003 and 2008. In testimony before a Senate committee last June, first the Department of Veterans Affairs, then the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were quick to deny responsibility for a problem that continued over six years. However, The Philadelphia Inquirer found documentation that the problem was not only known but ignored by both agencies.

Dubbed "the Philadelphia disaster" by the national press, the case linked a Philadelphia VA hospital physician to scores of radiation dosage errors during administration of radiation seed implantation (brachytherapy) in prostate cancer patients. At least 92 veterans were allegedly given incorrect radiation doses during the procedure. Despite admitting "missing his target," the physician, a radiation oncologist, denied blame. Many of the veterans incorrectly treated suffered additional medical problems as a result of their treatment. Several vets have seen their cancer worsen but because of their botched radiation treatments now have fewer treatment options, all of which will significantly diminish their quality of life.

Among the issues are:

• Why neither the doctor nor Philadelphia VA Medical Center notified patients of the possible risk that radioactive seeds introduced during prostate cancer treatment could migrate to other body sites and cause damage.


• Why the brachytherapy team continued to administer treatments even after they knew radiation doses were flawed, due in part to broken monitoring equipment.


• Why a physician who was making consistent errors was knowingly allowed to continue practicing at the hospital.

The Philadelphia VA Medical Center's brachytherapy program was eliminated in June 2008 when the problem came to public light. By the end of November 2009, 31 veterans and their spouses had filed personal injury medical malpractice claims against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs seeking a total of $58 million in damages for hospital radiation errors.

A 45-year-old Philadelphia nurse who was permanently disabled during a routine heart test was just awarded in excess of $5 million in a medical malpractice suit brought against the hospital and doctor. In America we understand that doctors cannot save every patient. We know that sometimes life-saving efforts are no match for the inevitability of death. We realize that medical science and technology aren't advanced enough to cure every ill. Surgery, catastrophic illness and severe personal injury accidents all carry risk. Risk may be part of life, but we certainly don't expect to be risking our lives when we go to our doctor for a simple, routine, diagnostic procedure.

Doctors are no more immune to mistakes than the rest of us, but when doctors make a mistake their patients can wind up paying for it for the rest of their lives. Medical errors are the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. Nearly 100,000 people die each year as the result of errors made by their doctors or other medical professionals; and thousands more are seriously injured, some irreparably so like the Philadelphia nurse.

"Nearly 15% of all patients are misdiagnosed, and half of those face serious harm, even death, because of the error," Dr. Jerome Groopman, a noted physician and medical author, said in the September/October 2008 issue of AARP magazine. Groopman noted that, surprisingly, only 20% of misdiagnosis errors are the result of technical problems; 80% are cognitive errors "due to mistakes in the mind of the doctor."

Doctors are not infallible. Medical mistakes happen every day. If you feel that you are the victim of a doctor's mistake, a Philadelphia medical malpractice personal injury lawyer can review your case to see if you are eligible for compensation.

Since introducing the antidepressant Paxil in 1993, British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline has paid nearly $1 billion to settle lawsuits, including $390 million for 450 suicides or suicide attempts connected to the drug and $200 million for Paxil addiction and birth defect cases. In October a Philadelphia jury awarded $2.5 million to Lyam Kilker's family. The 3-year-old boy was born with a heart defect caused when his mother took Paxil during her pregnancy. The Philadelphia personal injury verdict is expected to provoke additional Philadelphia medical malpractice birth defect suits against the beleaguered drug giant. Drug industry watchers have reported that mounting legal fees and award costs have forced GlaxoSmithKline to reduce its insurance coverage and shoulder greater liability for future legal suits in an attempt to contain costs.

Paxil is unusual in that it exhibits three significant medical problems -- suicide, birth defects and addiction. During its peak use in 2002, Paxil sales in the U.S. were $2.12 billion. Sales of Paxil have plummeted as personal injury cases have increased. U.S. sales of Paxil this year have been only $52 million through September. So far Paxil has settled 10 birth defect suits like the Philadelphia medical malpractice case. While GlaxoSmithKline has repeatedly denied or minimized its liability, the drug company has paid to settle numerous personal injury and medical malpractice law suits spurred by the adverse affects of Paxil. In 2005, the company agreed to add a suicide risk warning to Paxil medication boxes.

While Paxil may be unique in the breadth of its medical complications, it is only one of a growing number of new drugs that appear to pass initial testing protocols but over years of use are found to cause severe and often life-threatening medical problems. An experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney has the expertise and knowledge to research Philadelphia personal injury claims that result from prescription and over-the-counter drug use and determine whether medical malpractice has occurred.

The Western Pennsylvania woman never expected her 20th birthday celebration to end with the partial amputation of both her legs. It's a story to give you nightmares. Too much partying caused a young Uniontown, PA woman to drink herself unconscious while celebrating her 20th birthday with friends. The woman passed out with her legs tucked under her for some hours. She was taken to a Pittsburg hospital emergency room where doctors amputated both legs at the knee. Press reports said the woman has filed a malpractice suit against the hospital charging that her condition was not properly diagnosed and that hospital staff failed to make sufficient effort to restore circulation to her legs before amputating them. The hospital has declined to speak to the press.

This incident points out the potential difficulties of litigating medical malpractice claims in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia or any city in Pennsylvania. You can certainly identify with the young woman's anguish and anger at suffering such a horrific life-altering change, especially at such a young age. Proving whether or not medical malpractice occurred, however, takes astute investigation by an experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney and his expert investigative staff.

Philadelphia medical malpractice occurs when a patient is injured as a result of a doctor's incorrect diagnosis or improper treatment of that patient's medical condition. Failure by Philadelphia physicians, Philadelphia hospitals or Philadelphia medical personnel to perform specific tests in order to make a complete and thorough patient evaluation, failure to prescribe a certain type of medication or failure to perform certain medical procedures are some of the issues that must be investigated to determine whether medical malpractice has occurred. Not every Philadelphia patient injury is the result of medical malpractice. Sometimes medical error is clearly evident, but in most cases complex medical issues must be carefully evaluated by Philadelphia personal injury lawyers with an expertise in Philadelphia medical malpractice litigation before it is possible to determine whether medical malpractice occurred.

Last week's news stories read like an episode from Tales from the Crypt. For 23 years a Belgian man had been locked inside his paralyzed body. Wrongly diagnosed as comatose and being in a vegetative state after an auto accident when he was 20, the now 46-year-old man's mind continued to function normally. But that fully functioning mind was trapped in an unmoving body, leaving Ron Houben powerless to communicate his awareness and frustration to those who cared for him. He could see, hear, smell and feel people touch him, but Houben was unable to respond in any way.

Despite repeated diagnoses by doctors that his vegetative condition was hopeless, Houben's now vindicated family refused to let him die. The 23-year-old error was discovered three years ago during new research by Belgium's Coma Science Group but only made public last week. A PET scan of Houben's brain showed it to be functioning normally. Now diagnosed with "locked-in syndrome" in which people can think and reason but not move or speak, the Belgian is communicating by spelling words with the help of a speech therapist on a touch screen.

Some scientists, including University of Pennsylvania bioethics professor Arthur Caplan, remain skeptical of Houben's new communication abilities. Caplan told the Associated Press that after viewing a video of Houben communicating, he suspects that therapists may be guiding the man's finger in what is called facilitated communication.

In media interviews, Belgium's Coma Science Group study leader Steven Laureys said that wrongful diagnosis of patients with consciousness disorders is far too common. Philadelphia car accident lawyers who represent victims of catastrophic injuries, nursing home lawyers who work to protect the aged from stroke misdiagnosis and Philadelphia personal injury attorneys and medical malpractice lawyers are acutely aware of the potentially tragic repercussions when doctors misdiagnose patients who are unable to speak for themselves.

Medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Only heart disease and cancer kill more people than errors made by doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, pharmacists and other medical and health care professionals. Doctors and medical personnel are human and human beings make mistakes. Hospitals, doctors' offices, surgical centers and other medical settings have procedures to prevent errors from occurring; but errors do happen, despite the medical profession's efforts.

Medical errors cause an estimated 98,000 deaths in America each year according to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. An additional 1.5 million patients are harmed by medication errors. In fact, one in five Americans will be victimized by a medical error of some type as some point in their lifetime. Preventable patient injuries caused by medical mistakes cost Americans more than $30 billion every year.

The complexity of medicine is fraught with opportunities for errors that can cause irreparable harm to patients. Changes in treatment standards, drug names that sound alike, indecipherable handwriting on charts or prescriptions or a missed decimal point can have serious consequences for patients. Staff cutbacks initiated to offset decreasing hospital revenues due to the recession have placed even more strain on overworked nurses and health care workers. Inadequate staffing levels exacerbate fatigue increasing the likelihood of medical mistakes.

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Making the decision to place an elderly parent or incapacitated spouse in a nursing home is traumatic for both the patient and his family. Ideally, most people would prefer to remain in the comfort and familiar surroundings of their own home. Unfortunately, diminished physical abilities, broken bones or declining mental acuity may necessitate a level of care that can no longer be provided in the home. For most families, the only viable solution is a nursing home.

While many nursing homes have well-trained, dedicated staffs who provide excellent patient care, most are multi-billion dollar business run by huge corporations. Profitability and efficiency too often trump patient care. Overworked floor staffs may find it difficult to provide competent, caring patient care. A national shortage of health care workers can result in the hiring of poorly trained or poorly motivated nursing home personnel. The result can be patient neglect, abuse and tragedy.

Every year approximately 2.1 million older Americans are subjected to abuse or neglect. Reports indicate that 30% of nursing home facilities are cited for incidences of abuse by state agencies. Statistics may be far greater. Some studies indicate that for every reported incident of nursing home abuse, four to five incidents go unreported. Patients may be too intimidated to confide in their families, absent families may not be aware of abuse or neglect, and the 66% of nursing home residents who suffer from Alzheimer's disease, dementia or other mental impairment may be unable to communicate their fears.

Families should watch for signs of nursing home abuse, including bed or pressure sores, poor hygiene, sudden weight loss, multiple or repeated falls, bruises, signs of fear at the approach of nursing home staff. If a nursing home patient exhibits any of these signs, he may be a victim of nursing home abuse or neglect. Contact a nursing home lawyer immediately and speak to a malpractice attorney.