Philadelphia Top Injury Lawyer Blog

In a Pennsylvania medical malpractice suit, the family of a man who died of an esophageal rupture recovered $1.08 million. Michael Scarpa arrived at the Tyler Memorial Hospital emergency room in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania near Scranton with chest pains and severe vomiting. In the ER, the 55-year-old man was tested for infrapulmonary effusion, or fluid in the pulmonary cavity. ER physician Dr. Daniel Costner judged the tests negative and sent Scarpa home. Two days later, Scarpa collapsed and died. After Scarpa's death, investigation found that a second doctor had reviewed Scarpa's test results and believed they did show infrapulmonary effusion. The delayed diagnosis cost Scarpa his life.

Personal injury attorneys for the Scarpa family sued the hospital and doctors on a medical malpractice claim. Attorneys argued that Scarpa might have lived had physicians followed hospital policy on reading x-rays and inquired about Scarpa's previous esophageal surgery.

At the conclusion of the Pennsylvania medical malpractice trial, a jury found for the Scarpa family, awarding them $1.2 million. The court found the hospital and two doctors 90$ liable for Scarpa's death and Scarpa 10% liable for failing to reveal his prior esophageal surgery, reducing the award to $1.08 million.

Patients and their families suffer when doctors and hospitals fail to correctly diagnose diseases or injuries. In Philadelphia's backyard, the Scarpa family lost a father and husband because doctors failed to confer properly, delaying correct diagnosis until it was too late. Philadelphia medical malpractice suits are complex. Success can hang on easily overlooked critical information or testimony by trained medical experts. Philadelphia medical malpractice claims require expert investigation and evaluation by experienced Philadelphia personal injury attorneys who specialize in medical malpractice cases.

We all buy and use popular products that have been advertised as beneficial, fun or helpful in some way. What happens when the trusted manufacturer is really selling us a defective product that has dangerous and harmful side-effects, or malfunctions in a way that can cause bodily harm?

For example, the anti-smoking drug Chantix, which is made by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, has been linked to an increased risk of suicides, suicide attempts, aggressive and unusual behavior. Clearly smokers who are just trying to quit their addiction should not have to pay with all sorts of psychological problems that can result in injury or loss of life for themselves or others.

Women who are taking birth-control pills like Yasmin and Yaz, also produced by pharmaceutical heavy-weight Bayer, may increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, deep vein thrombosis, (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), gallbladder disease, death and other serious injuries. When they choose Yasmin they had no idea that they could end up in the hospital.

Outdoor enthusiasts who simply want to go for some off-road adventure could end up under their ATV. If they are riding a Yamaha Rhino, a side-by-side, four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle which has been found to be prone to rollover, even when it is operated safely at reasonable speeds, their outing might not turn out to be a "real picnic". Users have suffered severe and life-threatening injuries when their arms and legs were crushed under the weight of the ATV.

People taking the antibiotic Levaquin might suffer significant pain and disability. The drug which is manufactured by Johnson & Johnson has been associated with side effects that could increase risk of tendon ruptures and permanent damage of the tendon. Talk about "adding insult to injury", the sick person was trying to get better and all of a sudden they can barely walk.

If you suspect that the product you are using has caused you any type of harm, you should be talking to a qualified Philadelphia personal injury attorney about your options.

We are so used to the nearly miraculous things that modern medicine can accomplish that we often forget there are risks in even the simplest procedures. Philadelphia parents were shocked to hear that a healthy 6-year-old boy died in the dentist's chair this week. Jacobi Hill died following anesthesia for a routine procedure to cap several teeth. The Virginia first grader went into cardiac arrest at the Virginia Commonwealth University dental clinic and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Crystal Lewis, the young boy's mother, said her son had asthma but had been approved by his pediatrician for the dental procedure. The cause of death is unknown and under investigation.

Doctors, dentists and other medical professionals are not omnipotent. They are human, and humans make mistakes. While not all mistakes constitute medical malpractice, when a medical professional's error or negligence results in personal injury to a patient, medical malpractice may have occurred. Philadelphia patients may suffer serious, sometimes fatal or life-changing personal injuries due to an incorrect diagnosis or improper treatment. Specific tests may not have been ordered or the correct medication may not have been prescribed. An incorrect dosage or the wrong medicine may have been administered. Hospital staff may fail to follow a doctor's orders or may omit critical steps in standard care protocols. Many things can go wrong.

Modern medicine and medical care are such complex procedures that numerous avenues may have to be investigated by Philadelphia medical malpractice attorneys before responsibility can be assigned in a medical malpractice case. Care for a single Philadelphia patient can include the primary care physician, emergency room staff, nurses, hospital workers, medical device technicians, laboratories, operating room facilities, pharmacists, physical therapists, and more. A breakdown or omission at any point in this complex system can have devastating effects for Philadelphia medical patients. If you have been injured by suspected medical malpractice, contact a Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney for a free case evaluation.

New research indicates that when nurses care for fewer patients, patients are less likely to die. When hospitals in Philadelphia and other cities across the country fail to limit the workloads of their nursing staffs, medical errors and the possibility of medical malpractice issues increase noticeably. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that smaller nurse workloads resulted in fewer medical errors and improved patient care after California enacted its controversial 2004 law limiting the number of surgical patients a nurse may care for at one time to five. Had Pennsylvania enacted a similar law, 10.6% of the surgical patients treated between 2005 and 2006 would not have died.

California is the only state that enforces minimum nurse-patient ratios, although 18 other states, including Pennsylvania, are considering similar laws. The National Nurses Organizing Committee has lobbied nationwide for standardized nurse-patient ratios of one nurse for four patients. Proponents argue that lower nurse workloads improve the quality of patient care, decrease medical error rates and decrease the spread of drug-resistant infections. Surveys of California nurses who care for an average two fewer patients than Philadelphia nurses also report higher job satisfaction and less burnout.

Many Philadelphia hospitals and nursing homes have standards regarding the number of registered nurses and other medical care personnel that should be assigned to each unit or floor or shift. But the economy has forced many hospitals and nursing homes to cut nursing staff, and the national nursing shortage has also forced an increase in nurse-patient ratios. Pennsylvania is already short 16,000 nurses, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, which estimates that the nursing vacancy rate in the state will rise to 41% by 2020,

Hospitals and nursing homes can be held accountable when they fail to provide adequate medical care to patients or when inadequate care results in medical malpractice errors. A Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney can provide additional information.

What is your hand worth? Is your right hand worth more than your left hand? You can function with one hand, but what if you earn your living by typing on a computer keyboard? Can you still provide for your family if you only have the use of one hand? Will your employer fire you if you can't produce at the same rate as someone with two functioning hands? No one in Philadelphia likes to think about these things, but people lose a hand or the use of a hand or other body part every day in tragic construction accidents, car accidents, truck accidents and motorcycle accidents.

Insurance companies that insure Philadelphia businesses and residents spend thousands of hours pouring over statistics to arrive at the cost of a limb or an eye or a person's ability to sit or stand or walk. Using complicated calculations, insurance companies decide what they will pay the victim of a Philadelphia personal injury accident if the person loses a body part or the use of a limb or if he loses the ability to perform a basic human function such as walking.

Insurance companies tend to be one size fits all. Without a legal push, they are generally unwilling to factor in the importance of lost function to the individual and his family. Without a legal push, insurance companies are usually uninterested in how the loss will impact the individual's personal and family life. Without a legal push, they are often indifferent to how loss of use will affect an individual's ability to support himself and his family now and into the future. Experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyers supply that push.

Philadelphia personal injury attorneys fight for the rights and needs of Philadelphia personal injury accident victims. If you are the victim of an accident, don't accept the insurance company's offered settlement without first talking to an experienced Philadelphia personal injury lawyer.

When they check into a Philadelphia hospital, people expect the treatment they receive to make them better. But sometimes patients are exposed to virulent bacteria during the course of treatment that can not only make them sicker, it can kill them. C. diff is the latest infectious bacteria to pose a medical malpractice threat to patients in Philadelphia hospitals and nursing homes. The spread of dangerous C. diff bacteria is a problem not just in Philadelphia but in hospital and health care facilities nationwide.

Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a common cause of bacterial colon infections linked to antibiotic use. Antibiotics interfere with the normal bacteria in the bowel, allowing the growth of C. diff. Because most patients who contract C. diff exhibit no symptoms, the infection is difficult to diagnose, often delaying appropriate treatment.

According to a recent report, C. diff has surpassed MRSA, a deadly drug-resistant staph infection, as the most common infection contracted in hospitals and nursing homes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6,432 Americans died from C. diff in 2007, the most recent figures available. That's more than an 800% increase from 2006 when 793 Americans died from C. diff. The rapid increase and spread of C. diff in Philadelphia and other U.S. hospitals and nursing homes has public health officials on high alert. Of considerable concern is the increasing virulence of this bacterial infection.

CDC audits of infection prevention programs have shown marked decrease in the incidence of C. diff when hospitals increased vigilance about staff hand washing, surface cleaning and the isolation of infected patients. If you or someone you love has been the victim of hospital negligence and been exposed to C. diff, an experienced medical malpractice attorney can review your case and inform you of your legal rights.

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.