Baltimore Personal Injury Lawyer - Medical Malpractice

Pain Pumps Risk Joint Injury, Chondrolysis in Patients

Courtney Mills — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:26:31 GMT

Drug delivery via a pain pump allows chronic pain patients to receive measured doses of pain medication through a catheter directly to the area surrounding the spinal cord or surgical site. Pain pump drug delivery utilizes a small pump surgically implanted under the skin near the abdomen to control chronic pain symptoms in patients who have already tried unsuccessfully to control pain with other types of analgesics.

The pain pump is especially designed for patients who suffer from spinal cord injury, cancer pain, joint pain, leg pain from the sciatic nerves that is uncontrolled by surgery, and other degenerative diseases that cause persistent, chronic pain. The pain pump delivers anesthetics such as lidocaine in high volumes to the surgical site to control pain. The pump includes a reservoir of medication and is about the size of a hockey puck.

Many patients using the pain pump who have had surgery to shoulder joints suffer from an extremely painful condition known as chondrolysis. Chondrolysis is characterized by a disintegration of the cartilage around the joint area. Patients who receive high doses of lidocaine directly into the shoulder joint usually experience problems with the cartilage surrounding the joint area. The cartilage surrounding the joint disintegrates in many pain pump patients receiving drug delivery to the joints, resulting in an extremely painful condition. Patients should exercise caution and weigh the risks and benefits when undertaking pain pump therapy.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Drugs, Medical Devices and Implants.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Courtney Mills

FDA Takes Action against Unapproved Hydrocodone Product Marketing

Courtney Mills — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:21:32 GMT

Federal regulators took the extraordinary step of announcing enforcement action against companies marketing unapproved prescription drug products containing hydrocodone, a widely abused opioid used primarily in concert with analgesics and over-the-counter cough suppressants.

The government has taken this action in the face of widespread popular abuse of hydrocodone formulations, as serious drug events, injury, and reports of death involving hydrocodone have dramatically risen over the past several years.

Industry groups for pharmaceuticals maintain that these hydrocodone cough syrups under fire are registered by the FDA but not vetted under the current approval process, and have been sold in pharmacies for decades. Nonetheless, companies marketing unapproved hydrocodone products have until year's end to stop marketing before action will be taken by government regulators.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Drugs, Medical Devices and Implants.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Courtney Mills

Sepsis: A Potentially Lethal Complication of Bacterial Infection

Steve Silverman — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 15:35:30 GMT

One of the most dangerous risks of contracting a serious bacterial infection is that the patient may develop sepsis--an overreaction by the immune system causing destructive inflammation throughout the body, often leading to heart and other organ failure and death. Even the best hospital intensive care units may be helpless to save patients stricken by severe sepsis. According to a 2003 study by Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sepsis killed 120,491 hospitalized people in 2000. The same study found cases of sepsis in the U.S. have risen dramatically in recent decades, nearly tripling from 82.7 cases out of every 100,000 Americans in 1979 to 240.4 cases per 100,000 in 2000. Shockingly, Muppets creator Jim Henson died of the disease in 1990 at age 53.

Epidemiologists blame this large increase on the explosive rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria caused by overuse of antibiotics as well as on the increasing numbers of people living with immune systems weakened by HIV, using immune-suppressive therapy for organ and bone marrow transplants, and receiving high-dose chemotherapy for cancer. Young children and elderly people are also at a higher risk for the condition because of their weaker immune systems.

Researchers have recently discovered that blocking the activity of a single enzyme known as aldose reductase can short-circuit sepsis, protecting heart function and greatly reducing sepsis deaths. These scientists have accomplished this feat using a chemical compound very similar to a diabetes drug already in stage three clinical trials in the United States, the final level of human experimentation before a drug is considered for federal licensing approval. If those diabetes trials prove successful and the drug is approved for use in diabetics, it's possible that such an "aldose reductase inhibitor" could be used by physicians relatively quickly for "off-label" emergency use against sepsis in humans, the scientists said. When a drug is approved for one human use, individual doctors may try it out against other conditions where it appears warranted. Until then, the onset of sepsis remains one of the most lethal, yet preventable, reactions to bacterial infections that are unfortunately so prevalent in hospitals today. If you or a member of your family have developed sepsis while in a hospital setting, you may have the right to take legal action. Please cotact us at 1-800-385-2243 or email us for a free consultation.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Silverman

Medication Errors: A Form of Medical Malpractice

Steve Silverman — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 13:55:13 GMT

According to a recent industry study from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, medication errors are among the most common medical errors, harming at least 1.5 million people every year. The extra medical costs of treating drug-related injuries occurring in hospitals alone conservatively amount to $3.5 billion a year, and this estimate does not take into account lost wages and productivity or additional health care costs, the report says.

The committee that wrote the report recommended a series of actions for patients, health care organizations, government agencies, and pharmaceutical companies. The recommendations include steps to increase communication and improve interactions between health care professionals and patients, as well as steps patients should take to protect themselves. The report also recommends the creation of new, consumer-friendly information resources through which patients can obtain objective, easy-to-understand drug information. In addition, it calls for all prescriptions to be written electronically by 2010 and suggests ways to improve the naming, labeling, and packaging of drugs to reduce confusion and prevent errors.

"The frequency of medication errors and preventable adverse drug events is cause for serious concern," said committee co-chair Linda R. Cronenwett, dean and professor, School of Nursing, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "We need a comprehensive approach to reducing these errors that involves not just health care organizations and federal agencies, but the industry and consumers as well," she said. Co-chair J. Lyle Bootman, dean and professor, College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona, Tucson, added, "Our recommendations boil down to ensuring that consumers are fully informed about how to take medications safely and achieve the desired results, and that health care providers have the tools and data necessary to prescribe, dispense, and administer drugs as safely as possible and to monitor for problems. The ultimate goal is to achieve the best care and outcomes for patients each time they take a medication."

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Silverman

Inexperienced Gastric Bypass Surgeons: Anticipated Spike in Litigation Claims

Steve Silverman — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 13:49:37 GMT

With thousands of obese Americans opting for gastric bypass surgery (bariatric surgery) a growing collection of research suggests that this increasingly popular operation can have a hidden risk: inexperienced surgeons. According to physicians who have tracked the results of their cases, patients of surgeons who have done fewer than 70-100 operations have complications more often and a greater chance of death from those complications than patients of more experienced doctors. These results are exacerbating worries that surgeons are rushing into the field without adequate training. Some hospitals allow surgeons to operate after one weekend seminar, during which they do a handful of cases under the guidance of a more experienced surgeon.

The fears over inadequate training and the resulting lawsuits mirrors the ripple effect that followed the onset of gallbladder removal surgeries in the 1990s. When surgeons began removing gallbladders laparoscopically in the early 1990s, hundreds of patients who had suffered complications from an operation long considered routine filed malpractice claims against their surgeons. Many of these doctors had not undergone much training. The surge in claims occurred three years after the first laparoscopic gallbladder removal, and malpractice specialists expect a similar spike in claims from bariatric surgery patients and their families.

Last fall, patients died after gastric bypass surgery in Boston, Providence, and Iowa. In at least the Boston and Providence cases, surgeons performed the operations laparoscopically. The chiefs of surgery at both hospitals involved said the surgeons were experienced, but subsequent investigation demonstrated otherwise. At Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, seven patients have died after gastric bypass surgery in the past two years, six of them in 2003. One surgeon involved in the cases voluntarily stopped performing the surgery.

If you or a loved were injured during gastric bypass surgery, please feel free to contact the firm directly to discuss your potential medical malpractice action at 1-800-385-2243.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Silverman

Medical Device Sales Representatives in the Operating Room: Source of Potential Litigation

Jamison White — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 16:21:23 GMT

In 1997, a 30-year-old woman died following a routine ambulatory surgical procedure to remove uterine fibroids. During the procedure, a new device was being utilized by the medical staff with the manufacturer's representative present in the operating room. The new device delivered 9000 milliliters of saline to the patient, with only 1,100 milliliters of output. The consequences were fatal and she died from the excessive infusion and absorption of saline. This incident garnered national notoriety because of the issues as to the propriety of the manufacturer's sales representative's presence in the operating room, and led to questions as to what role, if any, he played during the procedure. The public outrage over this incident led to both civil and criminal investigations, new legislation and new hospital policies on this issue.

Medical device manufacturers' representatives many times observe operating room procedures where their devices are being used. This may come in many forms: the sales representative may be in the operating room, observing the procedure or perhaps providing technical input to the surgeon; or the representative may visit the patient after the procedure to test the functioning of the device. Although this practice is still commonplace in hospitals across the country and may, at first glance, appear to benefit the patient, numerous concerns about a patient's privacy, informed consent and the unauthorized practice of medicine have arisen. Frequently, company representatives are present in the operating room and the patient either has no knowledge of that fact, or the patient has signed only a "general" consent, not one that advises the patient of the presence of the company representative. Because the operating room likely constitutes a private place, a plaintiff may have a cause of action for invasion of privacy by the mere presence in the operating room of a company representative, unless specific informed consent has been given.

Likewise, a company representative's presence in the operating room can also be construed as the unlawful practice of medicine. Each state defines the "practice of medicine." Whether or not the representative has violated the restrictions on the practice of medicine, is a question of fact. Did the sales representative use the medical tool during a surgical procedure? Did he provide advice and consultation to the physician during the procedure? Did the representative change the settings on the device mid-procedure in an effort to assist the physician? Or more simply, did he invade the profession by actions typically provided only by a trained and knowledgeable medical practitioner? The discovery that a sales representative performed these activities may give rise to liability against the sales representative, the device manufacturer, the physician/surgeon and the hospital or facility in which the procedure took place.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jamison White

Contributory Negligence Doctrine Bars Many Maryland Personal Injury Claims

Steve Silverman — Wed, 24 May 2006 13:56:52 GMT

Personal Injury law in Maryland is vastly different then other states due to the Doctrine of Contributory Negligence. Contributory negligence means that if a person is found to be 1% or more at fault, that person is 100% barred from making any recovery. For example, if you are the victim of a rear end collision and the judge or jury finds you contributed to the accident by stopping too quickly, you can not recover for any of your medical bills, lost wages or other damages.

Often in slip and fall cases, a Maryland plaintiff will be barred from recovery because a jury determines the plaintiff is partially at fault for not watching where she was going. This is the case even if the store owner left an oil spill on the floor for 5 hours and failed to warn the customers! Such unjust results can be devastating to an individual who accumulates hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and the defendant is mostly to blame.

The Contributory Negligence Doctrine is unique to Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and the District of Columbia. The net effect is that it invites litigation and clogs the court system because at-fault parties often believe that they can duck liability if they can show the defendant was 1% at-fault.

Because of the unique burden of proof required in Maryland, personally injury victims need too choose their attorney wisely and with great caution. Sadly, often the success of a case is determined by a very thin margin. For this reason, experience and trial skills are critical.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Silverman

Kennedy Gives Speech Opposing Medical Malpractice Legislation

Staff Writer — Wed, 10 May 2006 09:57:37 GMT

According to the Democratic Daily, on Monday Senator Kennedy gave an excellent speech outlining his opposition to medical malpractice reform. This opened "health week" in which the GOP is pushing tort reform. While the Senate defeated two bills to cap damages in medical malpractice cases, Republicans hope the proposals at least won support from conservative voters.

The senator's speech pointed out several reasons caps should not be placed on medical malpractice awards. Among them:

- victims may never receive awards the court has given them, including money to cover lost wages and medical bills
- abolishing joint and several liability may allow guilty health care providers to escape responsibility for compensating victims
- state laws allowing greater patient rights would be preempted by federal laws, but states would be allowed to pass more stringent laws restricting patient rights

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer