http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/new_york_medical_malpractice Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:07:05 -0800 pixel-app en http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/15407 Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/15407 death of a six-year-old Mastic Beach boy last September, the Stony Brook University Medical Center is implementing a pediatric early warning system in its emergency department.  Children now being treated in the Stony Brook University Medical Center’s emergency department are now evaluated by this system.

Earlier this month, the state Department of Health cited Stony Brook University Medical Center for not correctly diagnosing William Gonzalez, the six-year-old boy.  William died from heart complications on September 11, 2007, after it was discovered, too late, that he had an enlarged heart.  The state cited Stony Brook University Medical Center for its failure to consider other causes for the boy's symptoms.  The prior month, William's parents took him to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital when he began vomiting, was tired, and was unable to keep food down.  He was diagnosed with reflux at Brookhaven Memorial and was referred to Stony Brook.  William was seen at Stony Brook three times and each time he was seen, was treated reflux.

In its correction plan, which the state accepted October 20, Stony Brook said it initiated a process known as the "Watchful Eye Algorithm" in its emergency department.  "This algorithm of Pediatric Early Warning Scores (PEWS), adapted from Cincinnati Children's Hospital, is a method of categorically assessing and addressing patient status ... to treat those patients at risk of significant clinical deterioration," the plan said.

The PEWS system measures breathing, heart rate, pulse and behavior, according to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Website.  Also, nurses regularly check patients to update their score.  If a child's score increases, doctors are called.

William's father, Daniel Gonzalez, said he was pleased by the plan, "especially if my son's death at Stony Brook was not in vain and if this hopefully will not let another child or adult die."

In a prepared statement, hospital spokeswoman Lauren Sheprow said, "Clearly this case was a tragedy, and we express our deepest sympathies to the Gonzalez family.  We initiated a review of this case a year ago in September, and actions were already in place well before the plan of correction was drafted."

Stony Brook University Medical Center was also cited by the health department because an abdominal X-ray four days before his death revealed that William's heart was enlarged.  The diagnosis of an enlarged heart suggests there should have been a follow-up chest X-ray, which would have shown an enlarged heart.  But, the state said, that step was never taken.

In the plan of correction, Stony Brook hospital maintained that "an enlarged cardiac silhouette is a common distortion on abdominal ... films ... Thus this finding is not alarming" and would not require "immediate physician notification."

 Regardless, Stony Brook hospital admitted that it now requires the radiology department to inform doctors if such a finding arises.

An enlarged heart may be due to damage such as heart attack, congestive heart failure, and dilated cardiomyopathy, whereas gastroesophageal reflux disease—GERD or acid reflux—is a condition in which the stomach’s liquid content regurgitates—backs up or refluxes—into the esophagus.

]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/15277 Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/15277
The class action lawsuit, filed by two former SLS Residential patients, alleges that they were subjected to physical and mental abuse.  The complaint, which was filed on behalf of all SLS patients, seeks  $75 million in compensatory damages, $150 million in punitive damages and an injunction that would bar SLS from further violating patients' rights.

The SLS class action lawsuit  alleges that staff illegally employed manual restraints and put patients in isolation rooms where they were physically and emotionally abused, subjected patients to nightly searches of their bodies and rooms, and denied patients the right to refuse treatment, leave the facility or phone family members.  The complaint also charges SLS with discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Act, and claims patients were targeted for mistreatment because they were mentally disabled.

Southern District Judge Stephen Robinson assessed SLS $35,000 in sanctions after he determined that 80 former patients  had been told by SLS therapists that their private medical records would be made public if they became plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit. In some cases, the therapists falsely told their former patients that the judge had actually ordered the publication of medical records.

At a hearing held by Judge Robinson on July 8, a therapist who had worked at SLS for two years testified that its Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Shawn Prichard, had called a meeting to discuss contacting the potential class action lawsuit plaintiffs and their families, and distributed a list of their names and phone numbers.

In addition to using threats to coerce  former patients into opting out of the class action lawsuit,  the callers contacted other institutions where some former SLS patients were being treated and tried to convince personnel at institutions to sign opt outs on their patients' behalf.

In levying sanctions against SLS, Judge Robinson called the defendant's conduct "egregious".   "Under the guise of caring for their former patients, the defendants sought to capitalize on the potential plaintiffs' vulnerability and discourage them from participating in the lawsuit." Judge Robinson said. "This conduct is astounding to the court."

In his decision, the judge held SLS management responsible for the conduct of the therapists.  "These calls were not the result of inadvertence, misplaced good intentions, or even the product of rogue employees who took it upon themselves to manipulate class members," Judge Robinson said. "Rather, it was a scheme designed and implemented by the very highest managers at SLS who are, not incidentally, named defendants in this lawsuit."

In addition to the $35,000 Judge Robinson voided all of the opt-outs signed by potential plaintiffs, and ordered corrective notices to be mailed. He also ordered all the defendants to cease contact with the potential plaintiffs.

The class action lawsuit is not the only legal battle that SLS Residential is facing right now.  Last week, SLS filed a lawsuit in the New York state Supreme Court seeking to reverse the revocation of its operating license by the state Office of Mental Health (OMH).  In 2006, OMH fined SLS Residential $110,000 for violations of the state Mental Hygiene Law and ordered that it stop admitting patients - and stop violating the rights of the patients it was treating.  The OMH said SLS Residential routinely restrained clients and kept them from making phone calls. It also found that staff would search patients, their rooms and packages sent to them.

In seeking to revoke its licenses, OMH alleged that SLS used illegal restraints on patients long after being told not to, that it administered sedatives to patients when they refused to take their medications and that it failed to report troubling incidents to the state, including patients behaving suicidally and complaining of abuse by staff.

]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/13852 Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/13852 medical mistakes made by a Physicians Assistant (PA) employed by the hospital.  The physician has claimed that the administration at Mercy Medical Center disciplined him after he contacted health officials about the patient deaths.  The ensuing investigation into the Mercy Medical Center deaths have many wondering if Mercy Medical Center is looking to profit by having non-MDs, like PAs, handle surgical procedures.

The New York State Department of Health recently confirmed to the New York Times that it was investigating Mercy Medical Center.  "We are investigating a series of deaths at Mercy Medical Center that raise questions about appropriate patient care and quality of care," Claudia Hutton, spokeswoman for the Health Department, responded.

The investigation at Mercy Medical Center was spurred by complaints from Anthony Colantonio, MD.  Colantonio alleges that a PA has improperly inserted catheters, chest tubes, and pacemakers into patients, resulting in the deaths of several people.  In one case, the PA placed a central venous line in the chest of a 19-year-old woman after she arrived at the ICU for breathing problems.  The PA punctured her lung and then inserted a chest tube in an effort to inflate the lung.  A chest surgeon was not called into correct the problem until 48 hours later. Despite surgery on the woman's collapsed lung, she died about 12 days later.  Another patient, a 65-year-old man, developed an infection from an improperly placed catheter and died last July.   A 64-year-old woman died in August, about two weeks after the attempted placement of a vein catheter.  The PA allegedly punctured her neck, filling it with blood.  In another case, a woman died a week ago after the PA "wrongly inserted" a pacemaker.

Colantonio complained to several health and law-enforcement agencies that the PA did not receive permission to insert the catheters.  Colantonio advised the state Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC), the Health Department’s disciplinary arm, that the PA practiced "with little or no supervision," used "poor judgment," and had "substandard technical skills."  Colantonio said for months he warned top medical officials at Mercy that the PA "was a disaster waiting to happen."  "In my opinion, those patients were assaulted," he said. In response, Mercy Medical Center brought Colantonio up on disciplinary charges, alleging he has "problems with interpersonal relationships" in the ICU and his complaints are "disruptive."

The PA involved was licensed in 1996 and worked at Mercy for nearly four years. A hospital spokesperson told the New York Times that “there have been no instances in which the actions of a physician assistant have been material to the death of a patient at Mercy."

PAs require a bachelor's degree, including two years of classroom and clinical training, and must pass a national certifying exam.  PAs are certified to perform many of the tasks an MD can, including taking medical histories, performing physical exams, and ordering and interpreting lab or X-ray tests.

Not all of the deaths at Mercy Medical Center have been related to the PA’s mistakes.  Recently, doctors at Mercy Medical Center told a young woman that cancer was detected in her left breast.  The woman underwent a double mastectomy on May 25th and died May 26th of complications from the surgery.  She did not have cancer; according to the State Department of Health.   Rather, Mercy Medical Center’s lab mixed up her test results. In October, the Health Department concluded Mercy Medical Center took proper “corrective action”.    

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1999 concluded that medical errors killed 44,000 to 98,000 people a year in the U.S.

]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/new_york_medical_malpractice Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/new_york_medical_malpractice New York Medical Malpractice Every year thousands of people are injured as a result of medical malpractice in New York State. Medical malpractice is negligence committed by a professional health care provider; a doctor, nurse, technician, dentist, or hospital or hospital worker-whose performance of duties departs from a standard of practice of those with similar training and experience, resulting in harm to a patient or patients.

Most medical malpractice actions are filed against doctors who have failed to use reasonable care to treat a loved one or yourself. The profession itself sets the standard for malpractice by its own custom and practice. Historically under the so-called "locality rule," a doctor was required only to possess and apply the knowledge and use the skill and care that is ordinarily used by reasonably well-qualified physicians in the locality, or similar localities, in which he or she practiced. But today the trend is toward abolishing such a rule in favor of a national standard of practice.

Medical malpractice suits arise under the following circumstances:

• Against a government agency that operates hospitals or provides specified medical care.
• Against a hospital for administering improper or overdoses of medication, negligent nursing care, inadequate sanitation, infection, or equipment failure.
• Against a physician, who in the general practice of medicine, deviate from the general accepted standards of practice in the community.
• Against a medical specialist who deviates from a nationally accepted standard of practice for specialists in that field of medicine.

Suits Against Physicians

In suits against the physicians, medical malpractice most commonly occurs under the following circumstances:

• The physician delayed diagnosis of a medical condition, or failed to diagnosis the patients medical condition altogether.
• The physician properly made the correct diagnosis, and then failed to properly treat the medical condition properly.
• The physician failed to perform a surgical procedure properly; or
• The physician fails to obtain the informed consent of the patient before performing a procedure or operation.
• Surgery on the wrong limb
• Misuse of a medical device or implant
• Incorrect reading of X-rays
• Birth trauma

If you or a loved one suffered and medical malpractice injury in New York State and were seriously injured, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified medical malpractice attorney.

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