Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
The following blog entry is written from a defendant’s position as trial approaches. Reviewing this kind of briefing 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, U.C. Davis Medical Center, Mercy, Sutter, or any skilled nursing facility.
(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this wrongful death case and its proceedings.)
As will be discussed more fully below, and in the declaration of defendant’s expert, Dr. Stanley Choo, no act or omission on the part of Memorial Medical Center employees caused or contributed to any injury or damage to the plaintiffs’ decedent, Ms. Smith. The infection that occurred subsequent to Ms. Smith’s surgery is a known risk of the procedure and a risk that can occur in the absence of negligence. For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
Further, as is set forth in the declaration of Deborah Wong, infection control officer for Memorial Medical Center, in November 2008, the Department of Health conducted an intensive investigation into Pseudomonas infections at Memorial Medical Center based on a slightly increased rate of Pseudomonas infections which occurred in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (the NICU). The Department of Public Health determined that none of the adult patients infected with Pseudomonas at Memorial Medical Center in November and December 2008 were infected with the same strain of Pseudomonas that occurred in the NICU. Therefore, Ms. Smith’s Pseudomonas infection was not related to the “outbreak” of Pseudomonas in the NICU in 2008, as alleged by the plaintiffs in this case.
Additionally, in its investigation, the Department of Public Health reviewed and analyzed infection rates at Memorial Medical Center’s NICU, as well as the entire facility and compared it to infection rates of Pseudomonas infections at other hospitals in the community. Memorial Medical Center’s infection rates in both the NICU and the general hospital were lower than the other hospitals in the community.
Plaintiff has no evidence that any act or omission by Memorial Medical Center caused or contributed to the death of Ms. Smith at University Memorial Hospital in January of 2009. Accordingly, summary judgment should be granted in favor of defendant. (See Part 3 of 10.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.