Ohio Medical Negligence Lawyers Wrong site surgeries are all too common despite efforts to minimize their occurrence through a standardized “time out” before surgery. The use of a timeout to identify the patient by name, date of birth, procedure, anatomy (including marking the site and side if applicable), patient position, relevant radiology result, antibiotic administration [...]
Medical Malpractice Lawyer, Cleveland OH Surgical fires occur with some frequency in Ohio hospitals and surgery centers. Surgical fires are common enough that the Joint Commission, an independent, nonprofit organization that sets safety standards and accredits hospitals, published a Sentinel Alert in 2003 titled “Preventing Surgical Fires.” Despite that, in 2012, the FDA published another [...]
A surgical error may carry serious consequences. However, what happens when a patient develops a complication of surgery and later learns that the surgery was unnecessary in the first place? This scenario is more common than you may think. We have seen aggressive promotion of lucrative surgeries even when the indication to perform the surgery [...]
The risk of surgical errors is no greater at outpatient surgery centers than full-service hospitals for most patients. However, certain patients may face increased risk when undergoing surgery at one of these facilities, as the case of Joan Rivers illustrates. Yesterday, I wrote about news accounts relating the cause of Joan Rivers' death. I suspect we will be [...]
Surgical errors are a frequent source of medical malpractice claims in Ohio. Urologic Care reports this month that the incidence of wrongful death associated with common urologic procedures increased significantly over a 12-year study period. The increase in preventable deaths coincided with a shift of more procedures to outpatient surgery centers. It appears that, once again, profits are getting [...]
Surgical errors arising out bariatric surgery can occur before, during or after the procedure. Medical negligence may occur before surgery based on the poor patient selection. Patients who undergo bariatric surgery must be carefully screened to assess their physical and mental fitness to undergo major surgery that results in dramatic lifestyle alteration. As important as [...]
Surgical errors may result from the decision to perform unnecessary surgery. A recent study performed by the Mayo Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery reports that thyroidectomy -- surgical removal of the thyroid gland -- is often performed unnecessarily. According to the Mayo Center, surgical removal of the thyroid has more than tripled in the [...]
Surgical errors using laser technology are on the rise, according to an article appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association - Dermatology (JAMA-Dermatology). The article notes that the number of medical malpractice claims arising out of use of lasers for dermatological procedures has skyrocketed in recent years, due to expansive use of this technology, [...]
Surgical errors are often preventable. Clearly, wrong side surgeries are preventable. In 2002, the National Quality Forum published a list of 28 Serious Reportable Events (SREs) "to increase public accountability and consumer access to critical information about healthcare performance." The list includes a number of common preventable surgical errors, including wrong site surgery (e.g., an operation performed [...]
Surgical errors occur with alarming frequency. The journal Surgery recently reported a survey of one particularly disturbing category of surgical error -- so-called "never events." Never events were so named because, pursuant to a list created by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, these events should never occur. In the surgical context, never events include wrong-site surgery [...]