OB-GYN Ordered to Pay $3,000,000 in Birth Injury Lawsuit
In September 2017, a Superior Court jury issued a $3 million dollar verdict against a Dover OB-GYN who was accused of causing permanent nerve damage and paralysis to a newborn’s right arm by forcefully pulling the baby out by his head during delivery.
Though the incident happened in 2008, the baby’s mother did not file a medical malpractice lawsuit until 2014 in New Castle County Superior Court, Delaware. According to court documents, Peter Wong – the OB-GYN involved in the delivery – pulled too hard on the baby’s head and neck while trying to dislodge the baby’s stuck shoulder. Monica Broughton, the child’s mother, stated that Peter Wong did not disclose the risks associated with the procedure to her beforehand.
During the trial, Peter Wong argued that he had not been medically negligent and that the baby’s injuries were as a result of the maternal forces of labor.
Hartman vs Pfizer Wrongful Death Lawsuit
One of the most famous wrongful death lawsuits is the Hartman versus Pfizer Hollywood lawsuit which occurred in the early 1990s.
In 1998, Phil Hartman, a well-known comedian and Saturday Night Live actor, was shot and killed by his wife, Brynn, who then turned the gun on herself and took her own life. What appeared to be a murder-suicide case soon turned into a wrongful death lawsuit, after Brynn’s brother sued Pfizer Pharmaceuticals which manufactured the anti-depressant Zoloft.
According to Brynn’s brother, Brynn had been prescribed Zoloft due to chronic panic attacks, low self-esteem, and depression. His argument is that the drug, which was very popular at the time, drove her to insanity which then caused her to shoot her husband and herself after a late-night argument.
Failure to Diagnose Caused Comedian, John Ritter’s Death
On the 11th of September, 2003, John Ritter, a well-known comedic actor on shows such as “Three’s Company” and “8 Simple Rules,” died as a result of an aortic dissection – also known as a tear in the inner layer of the aorta. This condition is fatal, as the aorta is the main blood vessel that transports blood away from your heart and to the rest of your body.
The signs and symptoms of aortic dissection and heart attack are very similar; thus doctors need to be stringent and follow all the necessary protocols to ensure that an accurate diagnosis is made.
Exhaustion is Leading to Nursing Negligence
According to a new report published in the Mail Online on 2 July 2019, a recent study of more than 1,000 nurses in the US found that the incidence of nursing negligence and medical errors has increased in recent years. The study indicated that this is largely due to exhausted nurses and nurse burnout.
Statistical analysis of the study’s results revealed the following:
Birth Injuries and Birth Trauma
Pregnancy and childbirth are two extremely complex medical conditions which require the care of experienced doctors. The reason for this is that there is much that can go wrong during pregnancy and childbirth, leading to birth injuries – some of which can be so severe that they are then classified as birth traumas.
Anesthesia Errors and Anesthesia Aspiration
Anesthesia is used for most medical procedures as a method of pain management. There are different types of anesthesia which are used for different medical procedures. This is dependent on the type of surgery and where on the body the surgery is taking place. The type of anesthesia used for major surgeries is called general anesthesia.
Risks of General Anesthesia
Due to the nature of major surgery and the medications involved, there are several risks associated with the use of general anesthesia which your doctor should discuss with you. Some major risks associated with general anesthesia include:
Burnout and Nursing Negligence
Nurse burnout is a physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion experienced by nurses which negatively affects patient outcomes and leads to job dissatisfaction. The number of nursing negligence lawsuits has increased due to nurse burnout, which is largely caused by organizational factors.
Nursing negligence is an unfortunate and often unavoidable consequence of nurse burnout. Stress, long working hours, infrequent breaks, and rotating shifts slow down reaction times, increases errors, and reduces motivation. All of these factors affect patient care.
Causes of Failure to Diagnose in Primary Care
A doctor’s failure to diagnose occurs when they are negligent or fail to take the necessary steps to determine the nature of your illness, which then causes you harm. The reason for this harm is because a doctor’s failure to diagnose can lead to incorrect or delayed treatment being administered or worse, no treatment is administered at all.
There are several factors that contribute to failure to diagnose within the primary healthcare system, with some being more prevalent than others. Such diagnostic errors include:
The Root Causes of Medical Errors
There are many causes of medical errors, something which is defined as a preventable adverse effect of medical care, whether it is evidently harmful to you or not.
Many people have suffered greatly due to medical errors. Some of these errors have occurred because there have been numerous factors involved, however, many of these errors have occurred because of medical malpractice and medical negligence and are thus viable cases for medical malpractice lawsuits.
Scalding Injuries in the Kitchen and Elsewhere in the Home
The term “burn injury” encompasses many different types of scenarios and situations. While some of these happen in public spaces, many of them happen in the private living spaces of the injury victims. There are also various types of burn injuries that individuals can sustain, some of which result in emergency scenarios, while others are routinely caused by mis-calibrations of equipment or home appliances. Can kitchen tap water become hot enough to burn? Of course it can. It’s simply a question of how boilers and water heaters are set up. People tend to immediately think of scalding as something that happens in bathtubs, but scalding water certainly can come out of any faucet. And leaving a young child alone in the kitchen for even a short time can lead to a scalding incident, particularly if the water systems themselves weren’t established by a technician or engineer who understands water temperature safety.