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.)

Immediately after injection, Serreno developed difficulty breathing, had a stroke and was then intubated. The central line was then placed on a pressure transducer, which indicated that it was arterially placed. The central line was then discontinued, and an MRI revealed that Serreno had a serious brain injury.

Serreno sued the County, which controlled ABC Regional and its county employees, accusing Emmerson of medical malpractice, specifically negligent injection.

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.)

On October 15 at 1:30 a.m., the patient began to push. At 2 a.m., the OB-GYN arrived, and at 3:14 a.m., the baby was delivered with APGAR scores of one at one minute, three at five minutes, and four at 10 minutes. The first blood gas showed significant metabolic acidosis with a pH level of 7.16 and a base excess of minus 20. Seizures were noted in the neo-natal ICU, and the baby was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

The infant, through her grandmother as guardian ad litem, sued the hospital, the OB-GYN and the nurses for medical malpractice. Her attorney asserted that the fetus was asphyxiating in utero and she should have been taken out via caesarean section hours before the natural birth.

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.)

TEXT:
CASE INFORMATION
FACTS/CONTENTIONS

According to Plaintiff: Plaintiff, a 52-year-old Operations Manager, presented at defendant Physician’s office on February 7, 2008 with pain in his left foot, due to having taken a misstep a day or so before. Plaintiff had Type-II diabetes and had been treating with defendant since June 2006 for diabetic foot care relating to his right foot.

On February 7, defendant diagnosed a Lisfranc fracture, with possible Charcot, placed him in a walking boot and sent him home, telling him to stay off the foot as much as possible.

On February 12, plaintiff returned on an urgent basis because of greatly increased pain in the foot. Defendant removed the walking boot and found a large blister covering the entire top of his foot. She drained and debrided the entire blister, creating a 2.5″ x 3.5″ open wound on the dorsum of the foot.

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

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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.)

CASE INFORMATION

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: Serreno experienced a right watershed infarct in his brain with a distribution involving the middle cerebral artery and left parietal, resulting in hemiplegia. The condition resulted in left-side bodily weakness and permanent left-side brain damage.

Facts:

On March 21, 2009, plaintiff, Bob Serreno, 33, an unemployed security guard, went to ABC Regional Medical Center in Sacramento with complaints of abdominal pain. He was admitted into the intensive care unit after being diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis. After having two different IVs inserted in his arm, a nurse paged first-year resident John Emmerson to place a central venous catheter in Serreno. Emmerson responded roughly one hour and 45 minutes later, and attempted to insert the central line. Emmerson was unable to do so, and opted to place the line in Serreno’s internal jugular vein, and believed he succeeded after checking for pulsatility and the color of the blood in the line.

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.)

On October 15, 2000, the plaintiff, a female infant, was born to a 19-year-old woman at a Sacramento hospital. Two days earlier, the mother was admitted to induced labor. She was experiencing a complicated third trimester due to maternal hypertension. An OB-GYN doctor prescribed the patient up to 25 milliunits of Pitocin an hour, and contractions began three hours later.

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.)

In sum, the facts presented at trial, which were not rebutted by any substantial evidence, showed that Plaintiff entered the hospital with an intact foot in which all the bones and joints, except for the navicular, were free of fractures and dislocations. The admitting x-ray established this. After a week of hospitalization under the exclusive care of Defendants, Plaintiff’s foot was destroyed with many fractures and joint dislocations. Trial testimony confirmed that any attempt to surgically repair Plaintiff’s foot carries a high risk of amputation.

Based on the evidence, Plaintiff, an elderly woman who must care for herself, personally suffered great physical and mental injuries, and financial loss due to those injuries. Future medical expenses, surgeries, and home care will be required to correct Plaintiff’s medical condition. As the evidence showed at trial, defendant, the Regents, is responsible for Plaintiff’s catastrophic injuries, and past and future physical and mental pain and suffering. For these reasons, the Court should grant Plaintiff a new trial based on the fact that there is insufficient evidence to support the verdict of the jury.

Conclusion

Based on the evidence presented at trial, each of the Plaintiff’s claims against defendant Regents was proven by a preponderance of the evidence. No other reasonable conclusion can be legally deductible from the evidence.

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.)

10. Plaintiff asserts that the jury failed to understand the medical issues here. The Charcot process is time limited, and during the acute phase the foot must be protected from bone fractures and joint dislocations by casting or booting. After the process quiets down and the bones harden again, when the cast is removed a properly treated foot is preserved in its original state, without injury. This is precisely why Plaintiff’s expert orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Lee, testified that in order to avoid the catastrophic injuries which Plaintiff now suffers, a foot presenting as Plaintiffs did must be casted or booted. This explanation, provided by Plaintiffs expert, was also uncontroverted.

In sum, the facts presented at trial, which were not rebutted by any substantial evidence, showed that Plaintiff entered the hospital with an intact foot in which all the bones and joints, except for the navicular, were free of fractures and dislocations. The admitting x-ray established this. After a week of hospitalization under the exclusive care of Defendants, Plaintiffs foot was destroyed with many fractures and joint dislocations. Trial testimony confirmed that any attempt to surgically repair Plaintiffs foot carries a high risk of amputation.

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 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.)

8. Based on the evidence at trial, including the testimony of the experts, and the x-rays, there can be no cause for Plaintiff’s injuries other than the negligent care she received during her May 2009 hospitalization at defendant Regents hospital. The admitting x-ray was misread, and the early acute phase of Charcot clearly visible in the navicular bone, was missed. Therefore, the medically necessary treatment of protecting the foot until the time limited Charcot process quieted down was not provided. Compounding these errors, Plaintiff was told by defendant doctors and other defendant Regents’ employees to walk the long corridor on an unprotected foot during the acute phase. With each step, more bones were breaking and joints were dislocating. These facts, supported by substantial testimony, were uncontroverted.

9. Plaintiff was under the exclusive care and control of defendants at the time of the injuries. There were no intervening causes. In this case, it is not possible to separate the negligence from the cause of Plaintiff’s injuries. It is apparent that the jury improperly speculated about some other unnamed and unknown cause that was not part of the evidence presented at trial.

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.)

7. Defendant’s expert radiologist, Dr. Greene, who opined that casting did not prevent injury once the breakage of bones started, was not a qualified expert in orthopedics. Additionally, she was a non-treating radiologist whose opinion was discredited at trial when she testified that she did not know, in forming her opinion, if the patients whose x-rays she reviewed had been casted. Consequently, her testimony is legally insufficient to rebut the testimony of Plaintiffs expert orthopedic surgeon.

8. Based on the evidence at trial, including the testimony of the experts, and the x-rays, there can be no cause for Plaintiffs injuries other than the negligent care she received during her May 2009 hospitalization at defendant Regents hospital. The admitting x-ray was misread, and the early acute phase of Charcot clearly visible in the navicular bone, was missed. Therefore, the medically necessary treatment of protecting the foot until the time limited Charcot process quieted down was not provided.

Compounding these errors, Plaintiff was told by defendant doctors and other defendant Regents’ employees to walk the long corridor on an unprotected foot during the acute phase. With each step, more bones were breaking and joints were dislocating. These facts, supported by substantial testimony, were uncontroverted.

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

Continue Reading ›