Articles Posted in Medical Malpractice

There are very few relationships that are more sacred and more demanding of our trust than those between us and our doctors. Our doctors often know more about us than our closest friends, and they are the ones who we turn to when we need answers about our health and well-being. But what happens when our doctors fail us?

Few of us can imagine the nightmare of losing our mobility and becoming paralyzed, but that is exactly what happened to a 14-year-old girl who entered Birmingham Children’s Hospital for a relatively minor surgery and left as a paraplegic.

According to an article from Fox News, Sophie Tyler was admitted to the hospital to have gallstones removed. In order to keep her from feeling pain during the surgery, she was given an epidural anesthetic. However, the hospital staff failed to remove the epidural for 48 hours following insertion. During those 48 hours, Sophie suffered increasing numbness in her feet and legs, and she even told the hospital staff of her symptoms, but no one realized what was causing the numbness until it was too late. The anesthetic entered her spinal cord and caused permanent damage that will leave Sophie paralyzed from the waist down for the remainder of her life.

Doctors are some of the most well-respected members of our communities. They are usually highly trained, caring, and competent people. We can probably all think of a great doctor that helped us or a loved one get through a difficult period in our lives. Unfortunately, just like in any other profession or occupation, not all doctors are as competent and capable as we would like them to be. Sometimes, they make mistakes and commit medical malpractice. Unfortunately, new reports indicate that some area doctors make a lot of mistakes and the California medical board—the state agency that is supposed to make sure our doctors are competent—fails to take appropriate disciplinary action.

This is all according to a report released by the Washington D.C.-based public interest group, Public Citizen. The contents of the report should be troubling to all area residents who would like to avoid becoming a San Diego medical malpractice victim. The most significant findings of the report were that the California state medical board failed to file a disciplinary action against more than 700 physicians who were disciplined by hospitals for wrongdoing. Thirty-five percent of those physicians were repeat offenders. In addition, the report classified more than 102 doctors as being an “immediate threat to health or safety” of patients. Only 118 other doctors in the entire United States were given this label, meaning that California has almost half of all dangerous doctors.

The mistakes cited by the report were numerous. They include faulty diagnosis and treatment of patients, failing to remove medical devices and instruments from patients after surgery, and personal problems of the doctor interfering with his or her work.

According to the report, the reasons for this terrible state of affairs are obvious. First, the California review board lacks the funds it needs to go after doctors who deserve discipline. Second, the board has a slow rate of processing disciplining actions, ranking 35th in the nation on that measure. According to the report, it takes more than 400 days for the average disciplinary action to be investigated. In the meantime, doctors continue to practice, regardless of their competence level or the risk they pose to patients.

According to Public Citizen, the poor condition of doctor oversight is nothing new for California. In 2005, a report by the California Medical Board Enforcement Program made a series of recommendations to improve doctor oversight, most of which have not been implemented. The state has a very poor record with respect to disciplining its doctors, who will undoubtedly be left free to practice and commit potentially costly errors. Until the California medical board improves its oversight of doctor mistakes, it will be up to California medical malpractice attorneys to fill the gap and hold doctors accountable for the harm they cause patients when they make serious mistakes.

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All patients place immense trust in their medical professional when they visit them for help identifying or treating a medical problem. With that trust comes a responsibility on the part of the medical staff members—from doctors and dentists to nurses and nurse’s assistants—to conduct themselves in a reasonably prudent manner under the circumstances. Medical patients cannot always expect perfection, because medical conditions always involve a certain level of risk. However, patients do have a right to expect that the professional will perform just as other reasonable medical employees would. When a doctor in our area fails to provide that level of care, then the victims need to consider filing a San Diego medical malpractice lawsuit.

Depending on the specific situation there are different rules that apply when it comes to California medical malpractice cases. Various legal doctrines exist that dictate when lawsuits have to be filed, where the case must be tried, and who can file a lawsuit (i.e. a parent on behalf of an injured child). Of course, understanding and identifying these issues in our area is a crucial role played by a San Diego medical malpractice attorney. A lawyer familiar with this area of the law should be able to listen to the facts of a new client’s situation and shortly thereafter develop a good understanding of the how the legal rules are applicable in that particular case.

The attorney can explain if there are any special doctrines that apply. For example, the “Feres Doctrine” is a well-known legal rule in the medical malpractice field which many observers find to be misguided. The 60-year old legal precedent holds that the U.S. government cannot be held liable for medical malpractice committed against an armed forces service member while on duty. If the doctrine is applicable in a specific case, an attorney should explain that to a potential client. However, it is also vital for the nuances of the rule to be understood which may allow victims to recover. In this case, while the Feres Doctrine bars suits from service members suing for medical negligence, military dependents are allowed to proceed with these suits. Therefore, when the husband or wife of a service member is harmed by the mistakes of a military medical employee they can file a civil suit and seek compensation for their losses.

The California Department of Public Health fined three San Diego area hospitals for making mistakes that could cause “death or serious injury.” The implicated hospitals are Grossmont Hospital, Sharp Memorial Hospital, and UCSD Medical Center.

According to the Union Tribune, Grossmont hospital received a $50,000 fine for marking the wrong side of the head of a 93 year old, who was undergoing brain surgery. Before the mistake was realized, part of the man’s skull had been removed and the brain exposed. The mistake was corrected during surgery, and the surgery completed without further incident.

Sharp Memorial Hospital was also fined $50,000 for failing to follow surgical protocols. There, a sponge was left inside the body of a 69-year-old woman who underwent heart surgery. UCSD Medical Center was also fined for failing to follow surgical procedures, resulting in a second surgery on the patient to remove a foreign object. The UCSD surgery was performed by a first-year intern.