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.
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.
Actress Julie Andrews is a well-known and well-loved star in Hollywood. Made famous from leading roles in movies such as “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music,” Julie Andrews had a gifted singing voice which was her pride and joy. Sadly, an unfortunate case of medical malpractice in 1997 caused her to lose her singing voice and resulted in a medical malpractice lawsuit.
After consulting with two doctors at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital due to discomfort whilst singing, Julie Andrews found out that she had noncancerous nodules on her vocal cords. Whilst these nodules can generally be treated without surgery, Julie Andrews opted to have a throat operation in 1997 to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, the operation was botched, and she was left with hoarseness and permanent vocal cord damage. She could no longer sing on a professional level – something which had been the foundation upon which her livelihood and fame were built.
In the summer of 2018, six patients at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, developed a rare infection after they received injectable opioids diluted with tap water. This resulted in the patients developing bloodstream infections with Sphingomonas paucimobilis.
Thankfully, all of the patients were treated with antibiotics and no deaths resulted from the infections, though some patients later died from causes related to their cancer. However, the question still remained: how did a bacterium, which naturally lives in soil and water, find its way into the bloodstreams of these patients?
Wrongful death and medical malpractice are two terms that confuse many people. They’re very closely linked, with the key distinguishing feature being that as a result of a medical practitioner’s negligence, you or a family member dies a premature death. Examples of types of medical malpractice that lead to wrongful death include:
