Medical Malpractice Law Blog

Heart Attack Verdict in California

An example of a misdiagnosis of heart condition and the resulting verdict. 

Jun. 3--Daniel Bettencourt was 49 when he suffered a fatal heart attack while working as a manual laborer at E.&J. Gallo Winery on Jan. 15, 2003.

An autopsy determined that the Modesto man had more than 90 percent blockage in an artery that supplies blood to the left side of the heart.

Last week, a jury found that Gould Medical Group doctors had failed to diagnose Bettencourt's heart condition. 

The verdict, supported by 11 of the 12 jurors following a civil trial in Stanislaus County Superior Court, awarded $878,257 to his widow, Peggy Bettencourt. Because Gould turned down a settlement offer last year, the medical group may have to pay interest and legal costs, bringing the judgment to almost $1 million.

Stockton attorney Stewart Tabak, who represents Bettencourt, said there were two key issues in the case: A Gould cardiologist failed to order a coronary angiograph test for Daniel Bettencourt to look for artery blockage and disregarded a family history of heart disease. Bettencourt's mother had bypass surgery in her 50s, Tabak said.

"This young man gave repeated red flags that something serious was going on," he said. "Regrettably, he fell through the cracks and he was allowed to die."

For the rest of the article, please go to the source below.

Source:  www.redorbit.com

US Senate Fights About Capping Malpractice Recoveries-- AGAIN

Ian Malone was born with a severe brain injury because the obstetrician gave his mother a drug that had not been approved for inducing labor. His parents settled their legal claim for $2 million.

The injury that left Ian unable to swallow or raise his head until he died from pneumonia at age 4 is Exhibit A for opponents of a measure, already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, that would limit medical malpractice awards for pain and suffering to $250,000.

Supporters of the limit, meanwhile, cite equally wrenching examples of physicians driven from their practices by skyrocketing insurance premiums, leaving their patients adrift.

The dueling anecdotes were the backdrop for crucial votes Monday on a pair of Senate bills that are variations on the limit passed in the House.

One measure would permit patients to recover $250,000 for each defendant and as much as $750,000 if multiple health providers were held liable; the second would impose the $250,000 limit for obstetricians only. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Senate Democrat, predicted that Republicans, who control the Senate 55-45, would not muster the support of 60 senators needed to approve bringing the measure to the floor for a vote.

The deadlock underscores the lack of a clear solution to compensate legitimate victims of medical mistakes while curbing rising premiums, said Kenneth Abraham, who teaches personal injury law at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Read the full story at the following Link

Source:  International Herald Tribune

Is HPV connected to Skin Cancer too?

HPV (Human papillomavirus)  has long been connected with increasing the risk of cervical cancer.  A report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that was released on March 15th links HPV to squamous cell carcinoma.

NEW YORK MAR 14, 2006 (Reuters Health) - Human papillomavirus (HPV) types from the genus beta appear to play a role in the pathogenesis of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute for March 15th.

HPV infection has been strongly linked to several epithelial cancers, but whether such infections are involved in the etiology of keratinocyte malignancies is unclear, lead author Dr. Margaret R. Karagas, from the Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and colleagues note.

...

"It is becoming increasingly evident that HPV acts as a carcinogen in malignancies other than cervical cancer," the authors conclude.  "Although sun exposure and sun sensitivity are the major risk factors for keratinocyte cancers, our data support a role of HPV, particularly beta HPVs, in the development of squamous cell carcinoma."

Source:  Women's Cancer Network

Cervical Cancer is Preventable

From the Lansing State Journal, an article describing how cervical cancer is preventable.

Health Department says Cervical Cancer is Preventable

Source:  Lansing State Journal through Yahoo News

New moles more dangerous on older people

Melbourne researchers have found new moles on older people's skin are 30 times more likely to be cancerous than on young people.

The Victorian Melanoma Service study revealed that people over the age of 50 had to be vigilant about protecting themselves against skin cancer.

As well as the findings about new moles, the study found moles that changed in appearance on older patients were seven times more likely to be melanomas.

Source:  Austrailian Broadcasting Association

Melanoma news

Found this article on some research being done on Melanoma.  This relates to a mechanism that promotes aggressive melanoma cells to metastasize.  The point here is that if you can find the process by which the cells metastasize, then you possibly can break the chain and maybe find a way to treat or slow the spread of disease.

Link:  ScienceDaily.com

HPV and cervical cancer--Vaccine

HPV (human papillomavirus) is a known precursor to cervical cancer.  This is why so much effort has been put into possibly finding a vaccine that would prevent women from contracting HPV.  Recently Merck released some findings from a study indicating that a vaccine they have been working on had great results in preventing women from contracting HPV.

Why are we talking about this here you might ask?  Well, cervical cancer can be misdiagnosed and that leads to malpractice cases.  Generally the case is against the person who did not read the pathology slides correctly.

So, a vaccine that might prevent large numbers of women from ever having this disease is huge.  It's a benefit across the board.  Here's what USA Today and Forbes had to say about this vaccine.

USAToday.com

Forbes.com

Now that's a bombshell...

In a trial in Pennsylvania involving the misdiagnosis of a child's bowel obstruction, the risk manager of a hospital testified that she provided altered documents to the plaintiff's lawyer.

The chief executive officer and another top official of a city hospital knowingly gave dozens of altered documents to plaintiffs' attorneys in a medical malpractice case, according to court testimony.

Ann Marie Zimmerman, risk manager of Mercy Hospital, testified that she provided 67 altered documents at the direction of a hospital attorney, even though she, the attorney and CEO James May knew the documents had information deleted from them.

Not a good position for the Hospital.  Even if the judge directs the jury to ignore the information, it is going to leave a bad impression about that hospital with the jury.

Source:  Mcall.com

Emergency Rooms and Pulmonary Embolism

2/3 of pulmonary embolism cases are misdiagnosed. Over 600,000 cases of pulmonary embolism occur every year and only 1/3 are ever diagnosed correctly.   The problem with missing this diagnosis is that your chances of surviving a second pulmonary embolism are very low.

Symptoms:

• Shortness of breath (dyspnea)
• Chest pain
• Some sort of shock (sometimes low blood pressure)
• Syncope (fainting)

Diagnostic tests used to find Pulmonary Embolism:

• Chest x-ray
• Sometimes you will see the doctors rule out a DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis)
• Blood gases to check for oxygen levels

MRSA in Canada

I've noted some articles and blogs relating to the rise of hospital-acquired infections in the UK, but now here is one close to home.  This information relates to the rise or MRSA in Canada.

The incidence of hospital-acquired MRSA has increased tenfold in less than a decade. Since 2003, C. difficile has killed more than 600 people in Quebec alone, most of them elderly or very sick patients. In all, the statistics show 250,000 Canadians are getting sick from preventable infections every year. Such infections kill more North Americans annually than breast cancer, traffic accidents and AIDS combined. Many fatal infections preventable: official Despite the wake-up call that SARS gave to the Toronto area in 2003, Niagara public health officer Dr. Douglas Sidar says infection control still does not receive enough attention in Canada's hospitals. "People die from these infections – which technically, almost certainly, in many instances can be prevented," said Sidar. He thinks hospitals must wake up to the need for proper infection control – including nurses who know how to recognize the signs of an infection and enough cleaning staff to keep commonly touched surfaces free of bacterial contamination.

Sources:  MRSA Blog,  www.Gwinnetdailyonline.com