Surgical Error at Hospital for Special Surgery Results in Young Girl Going Blind
Known as one of the best hospitals in New York City, the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is considered a leading orthopedic, rheumatology, and neurological care facility. Unfortunately, medical malpractice can still occur in medical centers with such stellar reputations, as evidenced by Bethany Flanders and her filing of a medical malpractice lawsuit against one of the hospital’s doctors.
When Bethany Sanders was 13 years old, she underwent spinal surgery to help treat her serious scoliosis. Despite being doubled over and barely able to walk, Bethany could still see and had normal vision before undergoing the seven-hour operation; however, Bethany came out of the surgery unable to see – a possible surgical side-effect that surgeon Oheneba Boachie-Adjei failed to disclose to her and her family. Additionally, the informed consent form required for such a surgery was never presented to Bethany and her parents, nor was it signed.
One of New York University Langone Medical Center’s Own Doctor’s Sues for Medical Malpractice
When the terms “medical malpractice” and “medical malpractice lawsuit” are mentioned, visions of patients and their families suffering needlessly are the first that come to mind. However, fellow doctors are just as vulnerable to medical malpractice at the hands of their colleagues.
In 2014, Steven Stuchin, a renowned orthopedic surgeon, became a victim of New York University Langone Medical Center, when he was forced to undergo a battery of assessments, including neurological testing, in a bid to dismiss him from his position. Stuchin, who was 66 years old at the time, had a “stellar” reputation as an experienced doctor at NYU’s Langone Hospital for Joint Diseases and as an associate NYU professor. He claims that he was treated like an “old bag of bones” after two higher-ups decided that he was too old to continue working, despite there being no valid reason.
Montefiore Medical Center and Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
With more than 1,490 beds and multiple facilities in Bronx residential neighborhoods, Montefiore Medical Center boasts a large presence in NYC. It completes approximately 15,532 inpatient and 13,431 outpatient surgeries each year and is among 38 academic medical centers nationwide to be awarded a prestigious Clinical and Translational Science Award by the National Institutes of Health. However, like all medical institutions, the center is not immune to incidences of medical malpractice, and several medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed against the center in recent years.
Failure to Diagnose Hydrocephalus is a Real Risk For Your Baby in The Bronx, New York
Hydrocephalus, also known as “water on the brain”, is a condition that occurs when there is an excess of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This fluid surrounds the brain and spinal cord in the human body and when in excess, it can cause spaces in between the brain, called ventricles, to enlarge. This can cause undue and dangerous pressure on brain tissues, and may even result in destroying them completely. Excessive pressure on the brain tissues must be taken very seriously because it can lead to multiple health problems and if left, unattended, may even cause death. Hydrocephalus can be acquired (from a disease or head injury after birth) or be congenital (present at birth). Congenital hydrocephalus can be caused by a number of events that affect fetal development. It may also be the result of a genetic defect. Failure to diagnose this condition by Bronx, New York physicians may clearly be a case of medical negligence.
Who can Develop Hydrocephalus?
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.
Surgical Error Causes Boy to Have Surgery on Both Eyes
In 2011, a four-year-old boy named Jesse Matlock received corrective eye surgery on the incorrect eye. Afterward, his parents were forced to take him to another specialist when it was discovered that Jesse’s surgeon, upon realizing her mistake, quickly operated on the correct eye as well.
Tasha Gaul, Jesse’s mother, revealed that it was uncertain whether there would be permanent damage to Jesse’s previously healthy eye.
The reason for the surgery was due to Jesse’s wandering right eye. The procedure of the surgery was to weaken the muscle at the bottom of Jesse’s right eye since the uneven strength of that muscle was causing his eye to wander. However, it was only after the procedure was completed on the left eye that the surgeon realized she had operated on the wrong eye. She sent a nurse out to inform Jesse’s parents that she was going to operate on both eyes, and the nurse quickly returned to the operating room before they could make any inquiries.
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:
Hospital Negligence and Hospital Infections
Though cases of hospital negligence and malpractice are not as common as other types of medical malpractice, hospitals have a responsibility to both their staff and their patients to provide the best quality and standards of care, as well as a safe and hygienic environment.
Hospitals are required to have several policies and protocols in place, one of which being the hospital’s stance and procedure related to infection control. It is the duty of the hospital to not only establish these protocols but to monitor them consistently to ensure that they are being adhered to. Not doing so can lead to patient injury or even death.
It was reported that an estimated 1.7 million cases of hospital-acquired infections occurred in the United States in 20
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.