Medical Malpractice

Amputation Malpractice

2009-10-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

If a medical error has resulted in the amputation of an arm, hand, finger, leg, foot or toe, you may have grounds for an amputation malpractice lawsuit. Our lawyers have recovered millions for amputation victims. For a free case review, please contact Pritzker Olsen Attorneys.

How Much is My Amputation Malpractice Case Worth?

Amputation compensation can include amounts for past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost suffering. Amputation pain and suffering can include physical pain, emotional distress, disability, disfigurement and loss of quality of life.

The amount of compensation in an amputation malpractice case depends on the facts of the case, including the age, occupation and lifestyle of the amputation victim. An amputation lawyer at Pritzker Olsen can discuss an amputation lawsuit with you in more detail.

Who Can I Sue?

If your amputation was caused by the negligence of a doctor, nurse, pharmacist or other medical professional, you may be able to sue several parties. In many cases that we handle, we pursue claims against a hospital and a doctor.

When is an Amputation Caused by Malpractice?

There are many possible scenarios. Yours may be one we have not handled yet, but below are some examples:

A leg has to be amputated because a surgical sponge was left in a leg.
Post-operative blood clots are not treated, and both legs have to be amputated below the knee.
The wrong arm is surgically removed (arm amputation lawsuit).
A misdiagnosed knee infection spreads and becomes life-threatening, requiring the leg to be amputated above the knee.
A wrongly-administered medication (usually the wrong dose or the wrong method of administration) causes serious injury, resulting in an amputation.

FREE CONSULTATION WITH AN AMPUTATION LAWYER >>

Wrong Medication Lawsuit: Prostin E2

2009-09-10T12:55:00.000-07:00

A nurse at a Florida hospital gave a pregnant woman on bed rest the wrong medication. Instead of giving her medication to prevent delivery of the baby, they gave her Prostin E2, a medication used to expel uterine contents after a miscarriage and to induce labor.

The woman gave birth at less than 6 months gestation to a little girl who suffered severe brain damage.

The parents now have medical bills over 3.5 million dollars.

This family should be compensated, and a lawsuit has been filed against the hospital and others.

“I am a medical malpractice lawyer, but I am also a safety advocate. This case highlights the need for hospitals to take more measures to ensure that medication errors do not happen, not ever,” stated Attorney Fred Pritzker. “Every medication error case we have handled could have been easily prevented.”

“As the country is debating the need for health care reform, we need to insist on hospitals using technology from the time a prescription is written until it is administered to a patient to prevent misunderstanding. Also, nurses, pharmacists, and other medical professionals administering medications need to be adequately trained to check and double check to make sure the correct dose of the correct medication is being admininistered,” continued Pritzker.

Attorney Fred Pritzker has recovered millions for medical malpractice victims. He has appeared on the CBS News and on Fox’s “Geraldo Live.” He has also been interviewed by The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Lawyers USA and others.
Mr. Pritzker is listed in the current edition of The Best Lawyers in America. To contact Attorney Fred Pritzker, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our online form for a free consultation.

Posted September 2009.

Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death

2009-08-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

If you have lost a loved one to medical malpractice, you are not alone. 200,000 people in the United States will die this year from preventable medical errors and hospital infections, according to a report by the Hearst Corporation entitled, "Dead by Mistake."

Our lawyers represent families in medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuits. Our experience has been that the following scenarios are far more common than they should be:

Surgery in the wrong part of the body. For example, removing the wrong kidney, removing fat instead of a cancerous tumor, removing the wrong section of the colon for a patient with severe diverticulosis and replacing the wrong heart valve are all considered surgeon malpractice.
Medication error. Medication error is a huge problem on every level. Doctors make mistakes with prescriptions. Pharmacies give patients the wrong dose or wrong medication. Nurses in hospitals give patients the wrong dose or wrong medication.
Hospital infections. Many lawyers won't touch hospital infection cases because they can be hard to prove, but we have recovered compensation for patients who contracted infections after surgery.

To contact a lawyer at Pritzker Olsen about a medical malpractice wrongful death, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our free consultation form. We are not paid unless you are.

Rose Medical Hepatitis Outbreak and Victim Compensation

2009-07-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

At least 11 cases of hepatitis C have been linked to a former employee of HealthOne Rose Medical Center in Denver, Colorado. The employee, Kristen Diane Parker, allegedly injected herself with painkillers, including fentanyl, meant for patients, then filled the used syringes with saline solution. She allegedly knew at the time that she was infected.

Hepatitis C is a contagious liver disease that can cause serious illness. It can take many years, but over time, a person with hepatitis C can develop the following:

* liver cancer
* liver failure or
* cirrhosis (irreversible and potentially fatal scarring of the liver).

A hepatitis C diagnosis drastically changes the quality of a person's life and is a death sentence for many. Compensation for hepatitis C victims should include amounts for future medical bills, pain and suffering, disability and loss of quality of life. Contact our lawyers about compensation for hepatitis C victims.

Ms. Parker worked at Rose Medical Center from October 2008 to April of 2009. She then worked at Audubon Surgery Center from May 2009 until her arrest by federal agents in June of 2009. No cases of hepatitis C have been linked to Audubon Surgery Center to date.

Rose Medical has notified 4,700 patients that they may have been infected with hepatitis C. Audubon Surgery Center notified 900.

If you have been diagnosed with hepatitis C, you should not sign anything before contacting an attorney. Our law firm has hepatitis litigation experience. To contact us, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our free consultation form.

Cardiac Lead Extraction Malpractice

2009-04-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

PritzkerOlsen, P.A. is actively investigating possible claims of medical malpractice in the surgical removal of leads for implantable cardiac devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators.

It is a frequent occurrence for heart leads to eventually wear out or fail. Therefore, a physician must decide whether to remove the old lead before placing a new lead or simply leave the old lead in place. Removal of an old lead is a very difficult and challenging procedure because the lead may have become overgrown with fibrous tissue and therefore stuck inside a major blood vessel. Extracting the lead can be dangerous but leaving it in place can make it more difficult to remove later because of the growth of fibrous tissue.

Removing a lead is typically challenging because of the growth of this fibrous tissue. Therefore, it is important that a physician be well trained. The Heart Rhythm Society, a group representing doctors who implant heart devices, plans to issue guidelines about lead extractions later this year. The Society is expected to urge doctors to perform at least 30 removals under the supervision of an experienced extraction surgeon before operating solo. This is because there is a very long and difficult “learning curve” for the removal of these devices which is often done with laser. This is known as “laser lead extraction.”

Common manufacturers are Medtronic, St. Jude, and Boston Scientific. One of the most common leads is the Sprint Fidelis lead manufactured by Medtronic.

If you or a loved one have been the victim of complications during a cardiac lead extraction, please contact Elliot Olsen or Fred Pritzker for a free consultation: 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our free consultation form.

CONTACT OUR LAW FIRM ABOUT PATIENT COMPENSATION FOR
CARDIAC LEAD EXTRACTION MALPRACTICE >

News Articles:

Barry Meier, Removing Medtronic Heart Cables is Hard Choice, New York Times, April 6, 2009.
Barry Meier, Medtronic Links Device for Heart to 13 Deaths, New York Times, March 13, 2009.
Barry Meier, Medtronic Dispute Shows Need for Device Registry, New York Times, February 26, 2009.
Barry Meier, Study Finds More Failure of Heart Device, New York Times, February 23, 2009.
Barry Meier, Lawmakers Seek Right to Return Right to Sue Device Makers, New York Times, February 20, 2009.

Morphine Overdose: Nurse Malpractice Gives Baby Wrong Dose of Morphine

2009-03-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

A baby at Boston Medical Center was administered the wrong dose of morphine and became ill, according to the Boston Herald. According to the story, the father of the baby was told that a nurse had accidentally “overdosed” the baby with morphine. Boston Medical Center issued a statement acknowledging a medication error involving an infant March 14.

When a nurse administers the wrong dose of a medication, it is negligence—nurse malpractice.

In nurse malpractice cases, the hospital is generally sued because it is legally responsible for work-related negligent behavior of hospital nurses. This is important, because the hospital has the resources and insurance coverage necessary to adequately compensate the injured patient.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of nurse malpractice, contact our law firm and tell us your story. If you decide to hire us, we will thoroughly investigate your case, hire necessary medical experts and take all measures necessary to help you obtain the compensation you deserve.

To contact a lawyer at PritzkerOlsen, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll free) or submit our free consultation form.

Keywords: Nurse malpractice, lawyer for morphine overdose, hospital malpractice, wrong dose of morphine.

Reference: Jessica Fargen, Baby medical mixup: Newborn OK after morphine gaffe at Boston Medical Center, Boston Herald, March 20, 2009.

Pain Medication Overdose and Other Medication Errors at Children's Hospitals - Medical Malpractice

2008-04-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

A recent study published in Pediatrics reviewed 960 randomly selected charts from 12 children's hospitals. The study found 107 unique adverse drug events, which, broken down, included 11.1 adverse drug events per 100 patients, 15.7 per 1000 patient-days, and 1.23 per 1000 medication doses.

According to the study, “Twenty-two percent of all adverse drug events were deemed preventable, 17.8% could have been identified earlier, and 16.8% could have been mitigated more effectively. The most common medication classes causing adverse drug events were opioids/ analgesics (51%) and antibiotics, and the most common stages of the medication management process associated with preventable adverse drug events were monitoring and prescribing/ordering.” The highest rate of adverse drug events per patient occurred in the hematology/oncology units.

Opioid analgesics include morphine, codeine, fentanyl and other pain medications. The risk is pain medication overdose. There are several reasons for this including:

The increased difficulty of calculating dosages of pain medication for children
Failure to adequately monitor the patient
The dangerous nature of these medications

These are extremely dangerous drugs and a small error in administration of these drugs can result in serious injury or death. There are also situations where the pain medication has adulterations or other defects that cause injury. For example, in the last few months, FDA has announced a number of recalls and health alerts involving fentanyl.

If your child experienced serious injury or death after being administered a pain medication or any medication in a hospital, you should contact a medical malpractice lawyer immediately. To contact attorney Fred Pritzker, managing attorney for our medical malpractice cases, for information on medication overdose lawsuits, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free) or submit our free case consultation form.

Article: "Development, Testing, and Findings of a Pediatric-Focused Trigger Tool to Identify Medication-Related Harm in US Children's Hospitals,"Glenn S. Takata, MDa,b, Wilbert Mason, MD, MPHc, Carol Taketomo, PharmDe, Tina Logsdon, MSf and Paul J. Sharek, MD, MPHg, PEDIATRICS, Vol. 121 No. 4, April 2008, pp. e927-e935.

Children Receiving Inadequate Medical Care - Medical Malpractice

2008-04-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

A recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine assessed the extent to which care processes recommended for pediatric outpatients are delivered by analyzing the medical records of 1536 children. The results were not encouraging:

On average, according to data in the medical records, children in the study received 46.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 44.5 to 48.4) of the indicated care. They received 67.6% (95% CI, 63.9 to 71.3) of the indicated care for acute medical problems, 53.4% (95% CI, 50.0 to 56.8) of the indicated care for chronic medical conditions, and 40.7% (95% CI, 38.1 to 43.4) of the indicated preventive care.

Quality varied according to the clinical area, with the rate of adherence to indicated care ranging from 92.0% (95% CI, 89.9 to 94.1) for upper respiratory tract infections to 34.5% (95% CI, 31.0 to 37.9) for preventive services for adolescents.
Deficits in the quality of care provided to children appear to be similar in magnitude to those previously reported for adults. Strategies to reduce these apparent deficits are needed. (Quote from below-referenced article, "The Quality of Ambulatory Care Delivered to Children in the United States")

Poor medical care for children is unacceptable. Now that we know children are at risk, we need to find why their care is not adequate and fix the problems. Continuing medical education, a requirement for maintaining a medical license, should have mandatory courses on juvenile health. Also, agreed-upon basic guidelines for care need to be established, and federal and state governments need to make sure this basic care is paid for by public or private insurance.
For a number of reasons it is in our country’s best interests to care for our children. For those who can’t think beyond their pocketbook, adequate medical care for our children now will prevent future medical expenses when they become adults.

If you suspect that your child received inadequate medical care and was seriously injured as a result, please contact a medical malpractice attorney at Pritzker | Olsen. Attorneys Fred Pritzker and Elliot Olsen have been named “Super Lawyers” by Law & Politics magazine. For a free consultation, call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free) or submit our free case consultation form.

Article: "The Quality of Ambulatory Care Delivered to Children in the United States,"
Rita Mangione-Smith, M.D., M.P.H., Alison H. DeCristofaro, M.P.H., Claude M. Setodji, Ph.D., Joan Keesey, B.A., David J. Klein, M.S., John L. Adams, Ph.D., Mark A. Schuster, M.D., Ph.D., and Elizabeth A. McGlynn, Ph.D., The New England Journal of Medicine, October 11, 2007, Volume 257: 1515-1523.

Methodist Hospital Removes Wrong Kidney

2008-03-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, reported that it removed a healthy kidney from a patient instead of the patient’s cancerous kidney.

The hospital did not notice that the mistake until a day after the surgery when a pathologist noticed the kidney taken from the patient was healthy.

Minnesota law requires hospitals to report adverse health events, including “wrong-site” surgeries (Minn. Stat. Section 144.7065, Subdivision 2 (1)). Last year, 24 wrong-site surgeries were reported to the Minnesota Department of Health in accordance with this law.

In the four-and-a-half years that state as been assembling data, "I don't know if we've ever had a wrong organ removal," said Diane Rydrych, assistant director of the state's division of health policy.

Ryrdrych says most hospitals have safety measures in place to prevent wrong-site surgery, including marking body parts to be operated on in advance of surgery and requiring a "time out" in the operating room to give surgical staff a chance to double check documentation and voice any concerns.

"I would say that these events are always preventable or almost always preventable" said Rydrych. (KARE 11 interview)

Certainly, this tragic loss of a healthy kidney could have been prevented. To contact a surgery malpractice lawyer at our law firm, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900, email Fred Pritzker, or submit the firm’s free case consultation form.

Posted March 2008.

Methadone Overdose - Medical Malpractice

2008-03-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

Methadone is a strong opioid-based pain medication. According to Pain Treatment Topics (www.pain-topics.org), methadone overdoses and deaths have increased. Some of these incidences are associated with medical malpractice. Possible problems may be:

Prescribing the wrong dosage of methadone
Prescribing methadone without taking into consideration other medications the patient is taking and how those medication will interact with the methadone
Methadone overdose due to nurse error or the error of another medical professional

Death or serious injury due to methadone overdose should be discussed with an experienced medical malpractice attorney.

Posted March 2008.

Septic Arthritis: Malpractice Lawsuit

2008-02-19T22:19:00.000-08:00

Pritzker | Olsen attorneys Fred Pritzker and Elliot Olsen recently secured a $950,000 recovery on behalf of a young man who developed septic arthritis eight days following knee surgery. The suit alleged that the doctors responsible for his care failed to recognize, test and treat his knee infection. Experts retained on behalf of the young man offered evidence that the doctors failed to diagnose septic arthritis, failed to perform arthrocentesis, failed to open the knee capsule and drain out and remove infected fluid and tissue and failed to place the patient on IV antibiotics.

Our client later required massive skin grafting to cover the large leg wound that resulted from the infection. As a result of the damage to the articular cartilage in his knee, the young man will experience pain and increasing disability that will lead to extensive future treatment including knee replacement and perhaps above-the-knee amputation. Read more about the recovery for failure to diagnose septic arthritis.

Posted February 2008.

Look-Alike and Sound-Alike Drugs Cause Mix-Ups

2008-02-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

The 8th annual MEDMARX® Data Report released today by the U.S. Pharmacopia (USP) states that medication mix-ups are on the rise due to a proliferation of drugs with similar names and/or packaging. In fact, from 2003 – 2006, more than 1,400 commonly used drugs were involved in errors linked to drug names (brand and generic) that look alike or sound alike.
According to findings in the MEDMARX report, 1.4% of the errors resulted in patient harm, including seven errors that may have caused or contributed to patient deaths. However, due to widespread underreporting of incidents, the study's authors believe that the number of adverse events resulting from look-alike/sound-alike errors is actually understated.

"Errors resulting from look-alike/sound-alike drugs are a problem that spans the entire health care system," said Darrell Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D., chief science officer, USP. "By recording and communicating not only the name of the drug, but also what it is being used for, prescribers, pharmacists and consumers can work together to dramatically reduce these types of medication errors."

According to the USP:

Consumers picking up prescriptions should check the indication for use appearing
on the drug's label or ask their pharmacist for this information. If the
indication given by the pharmacy is different from what the prescriber said the
medication is for, that is a red flag for the consumer to ask questions.
Consumers should also exercise their right to receive counseling from the
pharmacist every time they begin a new medication to ensure they know the name
of the drug and its pronunciation, what it is and how to take it.

Recently, several hospitals have administered heparin overdoses to infants due to a look-alike medication error. Read more about heparin overdoses.

To contact PritzkerOlsen regarding a medication error, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm's free consultation form.

Does Handwashing with Gel in Hospitals Prevent Infection

2008-01-31T20:43:00.000-08:00

It has long been thought proficient hand-washing in hospitals was the most important aspect to controlling the spread of infection. It is also common practice for doctors and nurses in a hurry to use alcohol-based hand gels rather than conventional soap and water. Dr. Mark Rupp at the University of Nebraska Medical Center put these practices to the test.

Rupp observed hygiene practices in two intensive care units over two years to compile his data. According to The New York Times:

More gel dispensers were put in the units, and usage rose from 37 percent to 68 percent in one unit and from 38 percent to 69 percent in the other. Compliance for hand washing of any kind in most hospitals is estimated to be about 40 percent, according to experts, although some hospitals do better.

Bacteria samples taken every two months showed that health workers’ hands were cleaner when using the hand gel. However, the rates of infections in the ICUs did not show any clear relationship with the rate of hand gel usage. One unit also showed an increase in infections.

Rupp stated that better hand washing does not play a large enough role to cut down on infection. He said, “Hand hygiene is still important, but it’s not a panacea.” Rupp suggest other ways to help cut down on infection, including a better cleaning of hospital units, proper insertion and maintenance of catheters, and having doctors only prescribe antibiotics when necessary. He also called for hospital workers to cease wearing rings and to trim fingernails shorter than CDC recommendations (quarter of an inch).

Minnesota Adverse Health Events Report

2008-01-17T22:05:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2008 – The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has put out its fourth annual report on preventable adverse health events in Minnesota hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and regional treatment centers. The report summarizes the number and types of events that occurred between October 7, 2006, and October 6, 2007, in the 197 facilities covered by the adverse health events law. During that period, 125 adverse events were reported by 38 hospitals and four surgical centers, and 13 deaths and 10 serious disabilities resulted from the events.

Preventable adverse events include such things as pressure ulcers, retained objects after surgery, wrong-site surgeries, wrong procedures, death or serious disability from a medication error, and death from a fall. The most frequent events noted in this year’s report were stage three or four pressure ulcers (43), wrong site surgery (24), and a foreign object left in a patient after surgery (25).

“We must never lose sight of the fact that every adverse event had an impact on a patient and their family,” said Minnesota Commissioner of Health Dr. Sanne Magnan. “Our reporting system, however, is revealing important results. Minnesota hospitals and surgical centers continue to develop and improve strategies to identify, analyze and prevent adverse events. The knowledge gained from this process is helping to improve the overall safety of care in Minnesota.”

In addition to reporting individual events, facilities are required to report on the underlying causes of each event and the corrective actions being taken to prevent similar events from happening in the future. This reporting system provides a forum for sharing key findings with hospitals and surgical centers across the state so they can learn from one another. Generalized information from the adverse health events reporting system is also shared with facilities through newsletters highlighting best practices, safety alerts and presentations throughout the year.

Minnesota hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and regional treatment centers to report to MDH whenever any of 27 events occurred. The National Quality Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based health care standards-setting organization, created this list of adverse events in 2002 at the request of the federal government. This followed an Institute of Medicine report estimating that medical errors in hospitals cause 44,000 to 98,000 deaths every year in the United States. During the 2007 legislative session, the reporting law was modified to add a 28th event and to broaden the definition of other reportable events; these changes will be reflected in the 2009 report.

Diane Rydrych, assistant director of the MDH Division of Health Policy, said that consumers should use the information in the report to become more involved in their health care. “There are a growing number of tools that will help consumers become more involved in their health care,” Rydrych said. “By reviewing the information in the adverse health events report, consumers can have better conversations with their providers about steps they are taking to ensure safe, high-quality care.” Rydrych noted that a consumer guide to adverse health events is available on the MDH Web site.

Commissioner Magnan added that it is difficult to compare facilities using the numbers in the report because the reported errors are a small fraction of all the procedures and admissions in Minnesota hospitals and surgery centers. “Focusing only on the numbers doesn’t tell the whole story,” Magnan said. “What’s more important are the new insights we’re gaining on how errors happen and how they can be prevented.”

A full copy of the adverse health events report and additional information can be found on MDH’s Adverse Health Events Web page, at www.health.state.mn.us/patientsafety.

Nursing Home Medication Error

2007-12-27T11:20:00.000-08:00

The elderly residing in nursing homes are often totally dependent on their caretakers. This includes depending on them to administer necessary medications correctly. According to a story in The News Observer, about one third of the nursing home penalties in North Carolina involve medication errors:

Mistakes in prescribing, ordering and dispensing medicine top the list of complaints to state adult care homes.
Residents take as many as 10 medicines a day, and medication aides in adult-care homes across North Carolina must make sure the correct dose of medicine gets to the the right person at the right time. Since 2001, the state has documented the deaths of six residents in cases involving medication errors.
Roughly a third of state penalties -- the most serious are types A and B -- against adult-care homes have involved medication mismanagement during the past year and a half, since the state established a public database of sanctions.
Dealing with the number and consequences of medication errors will require more education for front-line employees and better means of analyzing how errors are made, experts on aging say.
"Good training for both the people who administer the drugs and people who monitor drugs is really imperative," said Thomas Konrad, a senior researcher at the UNC-Chapel Hill Institute on Aging. "These places that are getting type B or type A penalties, it's generally a serious error."

Nursing home medication errors are prolific in every state. If your parent has suffered harm after a nursing home administered the wrong medication or the wrong dose of a medication, please contact us. We are a national law firm with experience with medication error claims. To contact the firm, call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm's free case consultation form.

Posted December 2007.

Heparin Overdose a Known Risk

2007-11-26T12:22:00.000-08:00

URGENT HEPARIN OVERDOSE INFORMATION: Actor Dennis Quaid's newborn twins were reportedly the victims of a medical error involving an overdose of Heparin while at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California. The twins and one other infant were reportedly given 1,000 times the intended dose of Heparin—the 10,000 units/mL vial of Heparin instead of the 10 units/mL vial. In 2006, three infants died after the same mistake was made in an Indiana hospital. The two Heparin products both had blue labeling:

These deaths prompted the FDA to notify health professionals of the potential for life-threatening medication errors involving the two Heparin products:

Heparin Sodium Injection 10,000 units/mL
HEP-LOCK U/P 10 units/mL

Even after the FDA warned hospitals of this potential for error, Heparin overdoses are still occurring. Pritzker | Olsen, a nationally-recognized product liability law firm, is accepting cases involving injury and death as a result of a Heparin overdose. If your child has been injured or has died after the receiving Heparin, you may have a case against the manufacturer of the Heparin product, the hospital where the medication error occurred (in this case Cedars-Sinai Medical Center), and others. For Heparin overdose lawsuit information, contact PritzkerOlsen toll free at 1-888-377-8900 or fill out the firm's online consultation form located on the right-hand side of this page.

Attorney Fred Pritzker has over 30 years of product liability and medical malpractice lawasuit experience and has recovered millions for clients. In addition to his many other accomplishments, he is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and a Certified Trial Specialist. In recognition of his accomplishments, he has been selected by other lawyers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America. PritzkerOlsen is a national law firm and represents clients throughout the United States.

Posted November 2007.

Medication Errors: Drug Labels Used for Clinical Trials

2007-11-15T11:59:00.000-08:00

The way drug manufacturers label drugs used for clinical trials (“investigational drugs”) can lead to medication errors. The following is from the November 2007 Institute for Safe Medication Practices newsletter:

Many investigational drugs are labeled using a very small font size; in most cases, a magnifying glass is needed to read the information (see Figure 2 in the PDF version of the newsletter). The same font size is often used throughout the label, and there is little use of bold type, color, tall-man letters, or other strategies to help differentiate products. Thus, drug packages look remarkably similar, which can lead to confirmation bias when products are selected from the shelf.
The labels may not include the drug strength or concentration, even if there are multiple drug strengths/concentrations in use.
If the drug is involved in an international study, the directions may be printed in two or more languages on the same label. Labels may also include error-prone abbreviations or dose designations (e.g., 5IU, which looks like 51 Units, or trailing zeros [1.0 mg]).

If you are taking an investigational drug (a drug that is part of a drug trial or clinical trial) and there are adverse affects, you need to contact an attorney immediately. If you retain our law firm to represent you, one of our experienced lawyers will review your medical records and other records relating to the clinical trial to determine if you have a case against the company sponsoring the clinical trial and others. To contact PritzkerOlsen, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm’s online consultation form found at the top-right corner of this page.

Medication Errors: Drug Names Used for Drug Trials

2007-11-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

The way drug manufacturers identify drugs used for drug trials (“investigational drugs”) can lead to medication errors:

If investigational drugs are identified using a number preceded by an abbreviation of the sponsoring company’s name (e.g., BMS104579 for a drug sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb), organizations that participate in multiple drug trials sponsored by the same company could confuse one drug with another sponsored by that company.
If a letter/number designation on an investigational drug is too long (some are up to 25 characters long) or are described with multiple words, pharmacies may be forced to truncate the code name due to field size limitations.
If a letter-number-code (see above) is used and then the investigational drug gets a generic or common name, the code name may remain on the product label while the research team refers to the drug by its new generic name. This could cause confusion on the part of the person administering the medication.
If the sponsoring company is part of a merger or the sponsoring company or the product is sold, the code name could change—the abbreviation at the beginning of the code might change to the abbreviation of the new sponsoring company.

If you are taking an investigational drug (a drug that is part of a drug trial or clinical trial) and there are adverse affects, you need to contact an attorney immediately. Drug companies are not going to be forthcoming with medical records and other information. It will take what is called “discovery” to get the records needed to determine if there was a medication error. If there was a medication error, you have the right to sue all responsible parties for compensation. Please contact a medical error litigation attorney at PritzkerOlsen for a free consultation. Our toll-free number is 1-888-377-8900. If you call after hours, please leave a message for the on-call attorney, who will return your call as soon as possible, usually within a few hours.

Information in the November 2007 Institute for Safe Medication Practices newsletter was used for this article.

Medication Error: Insulin-Heparin Mix-up

2007-11-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

Insulin-heparin mix-ups have been reported in U.S. hospitals. What happens is nurses grab a vial of insulin thinking it is heparin and add it to an I.V. solution. As reported in the November issue of Nursing, in at least 2 cases infants died after receiving insulin mistakenly added to parenteral nutrition (PN) infusions.

When an infant is given insulin instead of heparin, the baby may experience hypoglycemia, also called low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia occurs when a person's blood glucose (blood sugar) level drops too low to provide enough energy for the person's body's activities. Severe hypoglycemia can cause an infant to lose consciousness.

We encourage parents to be advocates for their hospitalized children. This includes knowing what medications the child is supposed to be getting and making sure that the child is indeed getting those medications in the correct dosages.

However, when something like the insulin-heparin medication error happens, parents need to understand that it is not their fault. It is the hospital’s responsibility to give patients the correct medication. Because evidence in a medication error case needs to be quickly gathered and preserved, it is important to contact a lawyer as soon as possible. To contact a lawyer at PritzkerOlsen, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm’s online consultation form on the right-hand corner of this page.

Reference: Michael R. Cohen, "High-alert mix-up," Nursing (November 2007), Volume 37, No. 11: 12.

Neurosurgery on Wrong Side of Head

2007-10-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

A Rhode Island neurosurgeon operated on the wrong side of a patient’s head, and the doctor is still practicing neurosurgery with no restrictions. According to a story in The Providence Journal:

On July 30, an 86-year-old man came to Rhode Island Hospital three days after a fall. He was found to have bleeding on the brain, and as he started to do poorly in the emergency room, he was transferred to the operating room for emergency surgery. Neither the patient’s medical history nor the consent form specified which side needed the surgery. When a nurse pointed out that the information was missing, Harrington filled in the blanks, relying on his memory rather than consulting the CT scan.

He cut open the wrong side. As soon as he realized the error, he operated on the correct side. The patient died a few days later, but the medical examiner has yet to determine whether the surgical error contributed to his death.

. . . In Harrington’s case, it happened more than once. In September 2006, he also operated on the wrong side of a patient’s head at Roger Williams Medical Center, but the Health Department did not sanction him because of mitigating circumstances.

If you or a family member has had surgery done on the wrong side of the body, you need legal representation to get just compensation for the injuries. Contact the law firm of PritzkerOlsen toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm's online consultation form. The firm also represents families of patients who have died due to a medical error.

Source: Felice J. Freyer, "Doctor to blame in wrong-side surgery, panel says," The Providence Journal, October 14, 2007.

Neurosurgical Error Statistics

2007-10-19T05:17:00.000-07:00

Surgical errors are common and can lead to serious injury or death. In an article in the medical journal Neurosurgery that reported on a study of 1108 elective neurosurgical procedures, a neurosurgeon recorded 2684 errors in 87.1% of the cases. 22.6% of the errors were considered major. 78.5% of the errors were deemed preventable.

The number of recorded major errors in these cases is staggering. During 1108 elective (not necessary) neurosurgical procedures, there were 606 major errors. When major surgical errors lead to serious injury, patients are usually faced with additional medical expenses and loss of income due to the need to take time off of work or the loss of a job. There are also pain and suffering and emotional distress issues. Compensation for these “damages” is called “compensatory damages.”

In neurosurgery error cases, it is important to have a medical malpractice attorney who has had experience with highly complex medical cases. In many cases, hospitals and surgeons will not admit the error, and it will be up to the attorney to prove the error, that it led to the injuries, and that the patient should be fairly compensated for all past and future damages. Even if an error is admitted, the attorneys for the hospitals and doctors will make every argument possible to avoid liability (having to compensate the patient).

To contact a medical malpractice attorney at Pritzker | Olsen, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm’s online consultation form.

Source: S. Stone and M. Bernstein, “Prospective error recording in surgery: an analysis of 1108 elective neurosurgical cases,” Neurosurgery, June 2007, 60 (6): 1075-80; discussion 1080-82.

Error During Hospital Admittance Results in Medication Overdose

2007-10-19T05:15:00.000-07:00

Medication error cases often involve errors during admittance to a hospital that lead to the administration of dangerous, sometimes fatal, doses of medication. In a recent case, a 10-year-old patient at Memorial Hermann Baptist Behavioral Health Center in Texas was given twice the recommended dosage of lithium carbonate. The medication error allegedly began with an admitting nurse incorrectly reporting the amount the patient had been prescribed and continued with doctors and other hospital personnel not catching the mistake. The young boy quickly suffered serious, permanent injury due to lithium carbonate overdose.

Here is a run down of some of the medical malpractice claims that can arise when a hospital gives a patient an overdose of a medication:

Failure to take a proper history of current medications
Failure to verify dosage of medications
Failure to check for proper pediatric dosage
Failing to assess proper dosage for patient by body weight
Failure to have adequate policies and procedures in place to prevent medication overdose
Failure to note and/or report responses to medication
Failure to be aware of symptoms of a medication overdose
Failure to timely diagnose an overdose of medication
Failure to treat an overdose of medication

To contact a medical malpractice attorney at Pritzker | Olsen, please call toll-free at 1-888-377-8900 or submit the firm’s online consultation form.

Sources: Court Case No. E180-497 filed in SE Texas and David Yates, “Suit alleges hospital oblivious to boy's lithium overdose,” South East Texas Record, October 15, 2007.