Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice Blog

The quality and reliability of the medical devices used in surgery can greatly alter a patient’s chances of success and recovery. According to a recent report from Stericycle, a global, business-to-business services company that manages recall challenges, during the second quarter of 2017, Class I level medical device recalls were up 88 percent. The major problems observed among the 15 serious medical device recalls were quality issues that involved device part malfunctions. Quality, of course, is significant. That is because it can encompass a wide array of problems, such as failure to establish durability, the approval of products before they were ready, and poor quality of components. A Class I recall is the most serious type of recall because it » Read More

Birth-related medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional negligently causes injury to an unborn baby or mother during the delivery process. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that medical errors are the third leading cause of fatality. According to Childbirth Connection (CC), a nonprofit advocacy organization, approximately 40,000 mothers and babies are negligently injured each year in the United States, but only about two percent of victims sue for medical malpractice. There are several reasons why filing a lawsuit may be the best course of action for victims of medical malpractice. Settlement or Discovery Doctors are held to the medical standard of care, meaning they must exercise the degree of care and skill » Read More

A new study recently published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies found that hospitals with a low number of registered nurses on staff have a higher rate of patient mortalities. The international study was conducted by researchers at the University of Southampton, who also analyzed data from a previous RN4CAST study that included hospitals in nine European countries. The study confirmed the long-suspected link that a shortage of nursing staff in hospitals increases patient mortality. Basically, a shortage of nurses on staff results in an increase of nursing tasks left undone. Patients suffer the negative and often deadly effects of these incidents. In fact, researchers found that there is a 16 percent increase in the incidence of fatality among » Read More

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines mandate that reusable medical equipment, such as stethoscopes, must be disinfected between patients. Even so, a recent study discovered that healthcare providers rarely perform the necessary hygiene. Frighteningly, failure to disinfect stethoscopes and other commonly used tools can lead to patient infections. In fact, pathogens that have been cultured from stethoscopes include Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Clostridium difficile, and vancomycin-resistant enterococci. A recent Swiss study found that stethoscopes could transmit potentially resistant bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which can be fatal. Stethoscopes are used repeatedly throughout the day, and so they have the potential to spread infection from one patient to another. This could constitute a serious patient safety issue. Stethoscopes » Read More

Hospitals are big businesses, employing thousands of workers that must provide a standard of care that keeps patients safe while offering qualified medical services.  A hospital requires the services of many professionals, from doctors and nurses, to medical assistants and technologists, and support staff such as clerical, janitorial, and maintenance. Though each employee has a different level of responsibility, all staff must work together to ensure patient safety. One area that is crucial to the success and reputation of a hospital is credentialing. Credentials prove the qualifications of a medical professional, and help hospitals make sound decisions on who they allow to practice medicine in their facility. Failure to check credentials and require careful inspection on maintaining credentials for doctors » Read More

The amount of opioid prescriptions in the United States has been steadily declining each year since 2010. According to a report recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of opioids prescribed varies across the country, with some areas having substantially higher numbers of prescriptions than others. Some county-level characteristics were associated with higher amounts of opioid prescriptions, including: larger percentages of non-Hispanic whites, higher rates of unemployment, lack of insurance or Medicaid enrollment, lower educational attainment, and a higher number of physicians per capita. Despite efforts to fight the opioid epidemic, the number of opioids prescribed in 2015 was still three times as high as in 1999, according to the CDC report. New Jersey » Read More