Bariatric surgery (also called "weight-loss surgery" or "obesity surgery") is a common source of medical negligence claims in Ohio. The surgery is very dangerous, with a complication rate estimated to be as high as 40%. However, when the growing and desperate population of obese patients meet physicians who are vying to perform this lucrative procedure, risks can be understated. Medical negligence claims [...]
At Mishkind Kulwicki Law, with our many years of experience as healthcare advocates in Ohio, we are often the first ones to learn about dangers associated with new medical practices and technologies. By virtue of our role as injury lawyers, having a special interest in medical negligence cases, we get called when things go wrong. Recently, we have reviewed a number of [...]
Clostridium difficile, or C. Diff., infections arise almost exclusively in the healthcare setting, a recent study finds. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 95% of C. Diff. infections arise in the healthcare settings, such as hospitals and nursing homes. The CDC specifically recognized that such facilities need to improve their infection [...]
Recent medical studies show that spinal cord monitoring during spinal surgery and aorta repair surgery can prevent some avoidable spinal cord injuries from those surgeries, such as paraplegia and quadriplegia. Monitoring is done using equipment, similar to an EEG, that monitors changes in sensory and electrical impulses that herald spinal cord compromise. Once alerted to impending problems, physicians can take [...]
The use of dirty surgical tools -- scalpels, trocars and other instruments contaminated with bodily fluids or tissues -- is an obvious source of hospital infection. A new study suggests that this problem is more widespread than previously thought. Read more here: http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/22/10471434-today-investigates-dirty-surgical-instruments-a-problem-in-the-or. Worse yet, surgeons and hospitals are essentially unregulated when it comes to these foul [...]
We have long known that inadequate nursing staffing leads to nursing negligence. The bottom line is that when hospitals cut nursing staffing to save a buck, patient safety suffers. In such a setting, errors, from inadequate monitoring to medication errors, propagate. However, the powerful hospital lobby has successfully prevented legislation that sets safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in [...]
Clostridium difficile, or C. Diff., is an intestinal infection that is considered to be nosocomial or hospital-acquired. At Mishkind Kulwicki Law, we are receiving more inquiries regarding cases arising out of healthcare providers' delay in diagnosing and treating this disease, resulting in fatality or loss of bowel. The disease is spread by orofecal transmission facilitated by ineffective hospital or [...]
Are hospital-acquired infections a major health concern? Answer YES!! Is there enough being done to protect you from infection? Answer NO!! Why are so many adverse events like hospital-acquired infections not being prevented. You go into the hospital for one thing and assume you will be kept safe from harmful bacteria, yet so often infections [...]
Informed Consent: Man Sues Doctor for Amputating His Penis Can a doctor decide to remove an organ or limb if he/she feels it will save a patient's life? Can a doctor exceed the authority granted to him in a signed informed consent and perform a different or more invasive procedure than the operation that the patient [...]
When a patient says he signed or gave his informed consent, what does that mean? Does it mean that the patient does not have the right to sue if the doctor is negligent and causes injury? A patient may sign a document indicating that he was advised of the material risks, benefits and alternative to [...]