Articles Posted in Medical Malpractice

It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the San Jose area, such as Kaiser Permanente, Regional Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, or O’Connor Hospital.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

Plaintiff’s counsel argued that the VP shunt was not worked up at admission because of miscommunication. The lawyers also argued that the neurosurgeon performed the craniectomy instead of addressing the possible VP shunt malfunction. Despite evidence of increased intracranial pressure caused by excessive CSF, the neurosurgeon opened the “drum tight dura” and a portion of the child’s brain stem herniated through the incision under considerable force.

The health care providers did not bill for the majority of services that the teen required post-surgery during his hospitalization. The health care liens were settled for $80,000.

The plaintiff experienced developmental delays, microcephaly and periodic seizures prior to the incident. At the time of the incident, he was receiving special education classes. He was functioning on a first-to-second-grade level. He was fluent in Spanish and English, very sociable and interacted appropriately with his peers, according to plaintiff’s counsel. He was independent in dressing, bathing, preparing simple meals, obtaining his own drinks, and feeding himself.

The child’s wage loss contentions were limited due to his level of pre-occurrence cognitive deficiencies.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the area, such as Kaiser Permanente, UC Davis Medical Center, Mercy, Methodist, or Sutter.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

Summary of Facts:

Nevins filed a lawsuit against Sacramento health in the Sacramento County Superior Court. The plaintiff alleged Sacramento health and its employees were negligent and violated the standard of care. The plaintiff alleged Oliver acted within the scope of his employment when he performed the procedure.

The plaintiff sought damages for her medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, lost earnings and loss of earning capacity.

The defendant denied the allegations of negligence and asserted the plaintiff’s failure to mitigate her damages as an affirmative defense. Sacramento health claimed Nevins’s hypoglossal nerve was in an unexpected anatomical position never before encountered by Oliver or reported in the medical literature. It further claimed Oliver immediately disclosed to the plaintiff after the surgery that he had cut her hypoglossal nerve and apologized for the incident.

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The following blog is provided as an example of a Kaiser medical malpractice lawsuit to aid potential clients in how a lawsuit is examined and conduced. It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the area, such as UC Davis Medical Center, Mercy, Methodist, or Sutter.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

TEXT:
CASE INFORMATION
FACTS/CONTENTIONS

According to Plaintiff: Plaintiffs claimed that defendants failed to clip a ruptured aneurysm and monitor plaintiff patient’s condition in a skilled nursing facility. The plaintiffs were John Doe, 51, and his wife, Jane Doe, 48. The defendants were Kaiser Foundation Hospital and Kaiser-related entities. John Doe suffered a right superior cerebellar artery aneurysm on August 29, 1999. On October 16, 1999 he suffered a re-bleed of the aneurysm while residing in a skilled nursing facility. He now requires full-time care and is confined to Alta Bates Herrick Hospital where he is essentially bed-ridden.

Plaintiff patient was in good health until August 1999. He experienced some headaches which seemed to resolve. On August 29, however, the headaches were so severe that he reported to the emergency room at the Sacramento Hospital. While in the emergency room, he vomited, had a seizure and became unresponsive. He was intubated immediately. He was diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, likely due to an aneurysm, and acute hydrocephalus. He was transferred by helicopter to Kaiser Sacramento, where he came under the care of respondents.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the San Jose area, such as Kaiser Permanente, Regional Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, or O’Connor Hospital.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

INJURIES: Catastrophic brain stem injury was reportedly caused by primary trauma associated with the herniation and massive subsequent hemorrhage. The teen is in a persistent vegetative state with a tracheotomy. He is dependent on a gastrostomy tube for nutrition and requires round-the-clock attendant care. Plaintiff experts calculated his monthly care costs to be $50,000.

Facts:

In April 2006, the plaintiff, a 13-year-old fifth-grader, presented to health care providers with complaints of persistent headaches for four days. Based upon a CT scan and the clinical presentation, the attending pediatric neurologist suspected that the headaches were due to increased intracranial pressure caused by a build up of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) probably due to a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt malfunction.

The plaintiff was born with hydrocephaly, a condition occurring secondarily to obstruction of the CSF pathways in the brain and accompanied by an accumulation of CSF within the skull. He had a VP shunt inserted, which drained CSF from the brain to the gut, decreasing and stabilizing intracranial pressure. The VP shunt was controlled by a pressure valve, which opens the shunt when excess CSF causes increased intracranial pressure. It is common for CSF to form clots, causing the shunt to malfunction.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the area, such as Kaiser Permanente, UC Davis Medical Center, Mercy, Methodist, or Sutter.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

Summary of Facts:

Mary Nevins said she was trained as a nurse but later began a career as a gala auctioneer, eventually becoming one of the best auctioneers in the Northwest.

She reportedly underwent a body scan in 2006 which revealed a right carotid artery significantly blocked with plaque. Nevins said she went to a Sacramento health facility to confirm her artery was blocked and determine what treatment was required. Sacramento health physicians reportedly confirmed that her artery was blocked and recommended a carotid endarterectomy.

Sam Oliver, MD, a vascular surgeon employed by Sacramento health, performed Nevins’s carotid endarterectomy June 12, 2006. Oliver reportedly used ultrasound to confirm the location of Nevins’s carotid bifurcation. Nevins said Oliver ligated and cut various branches of her facial vein to secure access to the internal carotid artery. Nevins claimed that while Oliver was ligating and cutting branches of her facial vein, he mistakenly cut her hypoglossal nerve.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a medical malpractice case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court. It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the area, such as Kaiser Permanente, UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco General, California Pacific Medical Center, or St. Francis Memorial Hospital.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury case and its proceedings.)

Plaintiffs’ experts contended that Plaintiff should have been referred earlier for a complete workup, and that the nurse practitioner had a duty to take the culture result very seriously in light of Plaintiff’s history of symptoms. In addition, Plaintiffs contended that the nurse practitioner should have taken the time to look up Streptococcus Viridans. Had the nurse practitioner done so, she would have found that it is not found on the skin. She would also have learned that it is the most common organism causing sub-acute endocarditis, and the Plaintiff had been experiencing all the classic symptoms of that condition.

As is true with most cases involving a negligent delay in diagnosis, the Defendent contended that Plaintiff was largely responsible for the delay, particularly since she had a nursing background; and that any negligence on the part of the health care provider occurred too late in the process to make that much of a difference. What made causation in this case somewhat more challenging was that Plaintiff’s more serious long-term injuries, including embolic brain injury, materialized more than two (2) weeks after she had began taking the appropriate IV antibiotics. Plaintiffs’ causation experts maintained that Streptococcus Viridans is readily treatable; however, the multiple trials of inadequate antibiotics only moderated the symptoms without killing the organism. Consequently, the negligent delay in referral enabled the bacteria to build up on her aortic valve, and to form a biofilm barrier that inhibited the effectiveness of the IV antibiotics and her body’s natural defenses.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the San Jose area, such as Kaiser Permanente, Regional Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, or O’Connor Hospital.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

Plaintiff then underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy with Taxol, Adriamycin, and Cytoxan. She underwent bilateral mastectomies on January 4, 2009. A residual tumor measuring 5.5 cm was found in the upper outer quadrant of the right breast. Axillary node sampling revealed five metastatic nodes.

In May 2010, plaintiff was diagnosed with metastatic disease to the lung, liver, and bone. This represents incurable Stage IV disease.

Plaintiffs alleged that the June 30, 2006 mammogram showed a new density in the right superior breast on the MLO study. They contended that this finding should have been appreciated, that the mammogram should have been read as a BIRADS 0, and further imaging studies should have been conducted. Plaintiffs argued that had this been accomplished, it was medically probable that the diagnosis would have been made in July 2006 rather than July 2008. Plaintiffs further alleged that, had the diagnosis been made in July 2006, with the same chemotherapy as she received in 2008, her likelihood of cure would have been upwards of 70 percent.

The defense contended that the June 30, 2006 mammogram was properly read. They further contended that plaintiff was herself at fault for not obtaining a mammogram in June 2007, as instructed. Had she been compliant, her cancer would have been diagnosed based on a June 2007 mammogram and her cancer was curable at that time.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the area, such as Kaiser Permanente, UC Davis Medical Center, Mercy, Methodist, or Sutter.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

Individually and on Naomi’s behalf, Martinez sued Salmon and Bakings Medical, saying that they should immediately have treated the child or consulted a pediatric infectious disease specialist.

The following blog entry is written to illustrate an example of a medical malpractice case. Reviewing this kind of lawsuit should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court. It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the area, such as Kaiser Permanente, UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco General, California Pacific Medical Center, or St. Francis Memorial Hospital.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury case and its proceedings.)

The results of the blood workup would be reported to her primary care provider within three days. Three days later, Plaintiff went to her clinic, along with her whole family, to find out what those tests showed and to see whether it was okay to go on their vacation. Her symptoms were continuing, but now she complained of a swollen tender sternum. The nurse practitioner looked through the results of the tests and saw that the laboratory found two out of two bottles positive for Streptococcus Viridans. According to Plaintiff and her ten-year-old son, the nurse practitioner commented words to the effect, “Oh, by the way, they found some Strep in the tests, but that must be a skin contaminant. Go on your vacation, have a great time, and when you come back if you are still feeling ill, then you can have more blood work done.”
In the meantime, the nurse practitioner gave Plaintiff another Z-pak, just in case she still had a lingering low-grade infection, another prescription for Maxalt and a prescription for percocet for pain. The nurse practitioner testified in her deposition that she suggested that Plaintiff could stop by the hospital for a blood test on the way to her family vacation. Plaintiff denied that the nurse practitioner made such a suggestion, and there was nothing in the nurse’s notes to that effect. Again, the Z-pak provided only temporary relief of Plaintiff’s symptoms. Her family cut short their vacation and she returned once more to the clinic only to be prescribed another ineffectual antibiotic.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

Continue Reading ›

It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the San Jose area, such as Kaiser Permanente, Regional Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, or O’Connor Hospital.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

CASE INFORMATION

According to Plaintiff: Plaintiff, currently a 42-year-old accountant at a bank, underwent a mammogram on June 30, 2006 read by defendant radiologist. The study was interpreted as a BI-RADS 1, within normal limits. She was instructed to return for an additional screening mammogram one year later, but did not.

Plaintiff next underwent a screening mammogram on April 5, 2008. That study was read as showing a density in the right upper breast on the MLO view only. The report stated that the density had increased in size from the 2007 study. The study was read as BIRADS 0, additional studies needed. Plaintiff then underwent a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound on April 20, 2008. These studies were interpreted by defendant as benign, BI-RADS III, follow up in four months requested.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.

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