Exchange Ambulances, Bay Shore’s Southside Hospital, and Cohen Children’s Medical Centre All Responsible for Infant’s Death
In January 2014, parents Sara and Padraig Keenan entered into a nightmare when their 3-month-old daughter was found in her crib choking after being breastfed.
The couple was hosting a houseguest who worked as an EMT and who was able to revive the baby girl and got her breathing again. Frantically, the parents called 911 and emergency medical technicians from Exchange Ambulances were sent to their home.
The family could never have foreseen the terrible string of events that were about to occur.
Man Sues Brookdale Hospital Over Grandmother’s Wrongful Death
In 2008, Brookdale University Hospital was at the center of one man’s grief when it was revealed that his grandmother had died as a result of poor treatment and neglect by the hospital and medical center personnel.
When filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, Thomas Stephens revealed that Brookdale personnel’s mistakes and carelessness caused the wrongful death of his grandmother, Nora Stephens, who ultimately died from complications caused by pressure ulcers.
Nora developed pressure ulcers on her skin during her stay at Brookdale, yet these were not treated, and the stage four ulcers worsened and became so severe that she suffered from a blood infection followed by gangrene in both of her feet.
Comedian Dana Carvey Sues Cardiac Surgeon for Life-Threatening Surgical Error
In 1998, a famous comedian called Dana Carvey, made the difficult decision to undergo a double bypass surgery to clear a blocked artery – a decision that he would later come to regret.
According to Carvey, his family has a history of high cholesterol, and he had previously undergone three unsuccessful angioplasties in 1997 to try and alleviate the problems he had been experiencing from the complications that this had caused. In Carvey’s own words, “doctors convinced [him] that surgery was an effective way to resolve the recurring blockage of [his] arteries,” and he decided to undergo open-heart surgery so that he could continue with his life and career unimpeded.
Jessie Trice Community Health Center Patient is Awarded $33.8 Million in Damages for Pregnancy-Related Medical Malpractice
In 2013, a Miami Gardens family was awarded $33.8 million in damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor and a nurse whose actions led to their newborn baby boy suffering irreversible brain damage.
The incident occurred in the Jessie Trice Community Health Center when Marla Dixon, who was 19 years old at the time, was denied a Cesarean section by Dr. Ata Atogho and an assisting nurse despite her unborn child having a slowed heart rate. According to reports, Dr. Atogho did not acknowledge this slowed heart rate and left Dixon in order to conduct another delivery. Worse, he was seen speaking on his cellphone throughout the ordeal.
Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center Pays $4.5 million in Doctor Error Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
In West Palm Beach, Florida, a couple filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor and an ultrasound technician for what they believe constitutes as medical negligence.
What should have been a joyous occasion marking the birth of their child quickly turned sour when the couple realized that their son had been born with no arms and only one leg. Closer medical examination revealed that the baby’s disabilities were extensive, with the parents even going as far as labeling them as “horrific.”
Nursing Negligence Almost Killed Famous Actor Dennis Quaid’s Twin Children
On November 18, 2013, famous actor Dennis Quaid and his wife Kimberley Quaid welcomed their twins into the world via surrogacy at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Unfortunately, the twins were premature and had to stay in the hospital for treatment because they had both acquired staph infections.
Quaid called the hospital around 21:00 that night to check after the twins. The nurse who took the call told him that “they’re just fine.” What Quaid didn’t know was that nurses had noticed blood oozing from the intravenous site on the arm of one of the twins and a spot on her heel. It turns out that the nurses had mistakenly given the twins 1,000 times the recommended dose of the blood thinner heparin but hadn’t told Quaid of that when he called. Hospital staff scrambled to reverse the effects of the heparin throughout the night but still failed to notify Quaid or his wife of the situation.
What is Failure to Diagnose?
Failure to diagnose is a kind of diagnostic error that is caused by your doctor being negligent in treating you. If your doctor doesn’t take the necessary steps to determine what illness you have, then you are at risk of sustaining an injury or disability; in fact, some people have even lost their lives due to a doctor’s failure to diagnose. Ultimately, failure to diagnose leads to you receiving delayed or incorrect treatment, or no treatment at all.
Anesthesiologists and Anesthesia Errors
In 2015, Medscape wrote a medical malpractice report regarding the major reasons why anesthesiologists get sued. Unfortunately, anesthesia errors are a common feature in medical malpractice, and they can also be the most deadly. In fact, most anesthesiologists will face a lawsuit during their career.
When asked what the nature of their medical malpractice lawsuits entailed, anesthesiologists revealed that they occurred for the following reasons:
Medical Devices and Birth Injuries
When people think of medical malpractice, they often only think about the doctors involved and the level of human error that they display. However, there are plenty of occasions whereby medical malpractice is caused by defective medical products and devices. Sadly, these can cause significant injury to you and/or your child during birth which isn’t always reversible.
Medical Error Leads to Toxic Kidney Transplant
In 2013, a man from Maryland died after contracting rabies from an infected kidney that he received as a transplant in 2011. This is only the second time that rabies has been transmitted through a donated organ in the US. Rabies is extremely rare in the US – causing only 1 to 3 deaths a year. Additionally, signs and symptoms of rabies usually appear within a month or two after initial infection, so the fact that the man’s symptoms appeared over a year after his transplant was something that steered doctors away from a rabies diagnosis.
According to reports, the kidney donor, a 20-year-old Air Force airman, died of encephalitis, however, doctors could find no reason for this. In fact, they believed he may have been poisoned, so they did a full medical work-up and tested for everything they could think of in order to try and determine the cause of his encephalitis. They didn’t think to check for rabies and declared his organs and tissues safe for transplantation – a major medical error on their part.