California Medical Malpractice Law Blog

At The Endocrine Society’s 95th Annual meting held this past weekend in San Francisco, researchers revealed exciting new cerebral palsy findings. This research referred to as “whole body vibration therapy” (“WBVT”) has been shown to increase bone strength among adolescents who have cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a condition caused by brain damage at or around the time of birth. The condition can affect both an individual’s physical movements as well as his or her cognitive development. People who have cerebral palsy often have difficulty moving their limbs, affecting their ability to walk, their posture and their balance and coordination. Other symptoms may include delayed cognitive development, as well as abnormal hearing and eyesight.

Although not all of causes behind cerebral palsy are known, it has been linked to medical mistakes at birth that deprive an infant of oxygen. This may occur when a baby is exhibiting signs of fetal distress and a physician or other health professional fails to act quickly enough to remedy the situation such as by performing an immediate Cesarean Section. If you believe that your child may have suffered an injury at birth as the result of physician error, it is important to consult with a dedicated California birth injury attorney right away.

The new research provides hope to parents and patients who suffer from this debilitating condition. WBVT has been linked to increasing bone and muscle strength among people affected by cerebral palsy. Patients stand on a machine that moves the body. The movement creates pelvic tilting similar to that while walking.

After completing the therapy, research found that leg and spine bone-mineral density increased, as did muscle mass in the legs. Participants were also able to walk much further in a designated period of time after they completed the therapy than before.

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For many parents finding out that had your doctor diagnosed a medical condition sooner, your child’s outcome could have been better, adds additional anguish to an already difficult situation. This past week, the Minnesota State Supreme Court determined that a girl with muscle cancer could sue for damages from her doctor for not diagnosing the condition earlier, which reduced her chances of recovery.

Called the “loss of chance” doctrine, 23 states now allow patients to recover for delays in diagnosis that reduce a patient’s chances of getting better.

Typically, a doctor may be held liable for a delay in diagnosis or a failure to diagnose a condition if that failure leads to a patient’s serious personal injury or death. If you believe that you or a loved one has been injured as the result of a medical malpractice, it is important to consult with a knowledgeable California medical malpractice attorney right away.

The “loss chance doctrine” provides that a patient or his or her family in a wrongful death lawsuit may recover full damages if the patient had a 50% or greater chance of a better of recovery. If the patient’s chance of a better recovery was less than 50%, with a timely diagnosis, the patient may be allowed a proportional recovery.

In the Minnesota childhood cancer medical malpractice case, the family sued their pediatrician asserting that they had mentioned a suspicious lump on their newborn daughter’s buttock several times, but that the doctor failed to record the lump in the child's medical records until she was one year old. The lump was subsequently diagnosed as a rare muscle cancer. By the time diagnosis was made, the cancer had become incurable and is most likely fatal.

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Many times in the first few hours and days following an infant’s birth, his or her skin may have a yellowish appearance, signaling that the baby is suffering from jaundice as the result of an excess of bilirubin. Bilirubin is the substance left over after red cells break down, and is typically removed by the liver. Under normal circumstances, the mother’s liver removes the fetus’ bilirubin, and then after birth the newborn’s liver takes over. When an infant’s liver is not fully developed, it cannot remove the excess bilirubin and serious problems can occur.

The telltale signs of jaundice include yellow or orange skin, starting at the head and spreading to the toes. Other signs may be if a newborn is hard to wake up or won't wake up at all, is extremely fussy or won't breastfeed or suck from a bottle. When severe jaundice is not noticed or treated quickly and correctly by a pediatrician or other medical personnel, these health care providers may be guilty of medical malpractice. They can be held legally liable for their actions or failure to act.

If you believe your child suffered from jaundice and medical personnel failed to take the necessary steps, it is important that you consult with a knowledgeable California birth injury attorney right away. A dedicated San Francisco birth injury lawyer can begin an investigation into all of the factors surrounding a particular incident and help you recover the compensation you deserve.

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A recent medical malpractice op ed piece published in The New York Times reached a conclusion that many California medical malpractice attorneys already know – medical malpractice liability improves, rather than harms, patients’ safety. This conclusion supports the position that holding those medical providers responsible for the harm they have caused translates into improved patient care.

As reported in the OpEd piece written by Joanna C. Schwartz of the University of California, Los Angeles:

"Experts agree that the best way to reduce medical error is to gather and analyze information about past errors with an eye toward improving future care. But many believe that a major barrier to doing so is the medical malpractice tort system: the threat of being sued is believed to prevent the kind of transparency necessary to identify and learn from errors when they occur.

New evidence, however, contradicts the conventional wisdom that malpractice litigation compromises the patient safety movement’s call for transparency. In fact, the opposite appears to be occurring: the openness and transparency promoted by patient safety advocates appear to be influencing hospitals’ responses to litigation risk." [emphasis added]

The study surveyed hospital risk managers who were predisposed to be anti-litigation and found that surprisingly, medical malpractice lawsuits had many benefits. These benefits include:

• Hospitals becoming more open about lawsuits and medical malpractice including apologizing to patients and discussing medical mistakes with staff and trying to learn from medical errors;
• Hospital risk managers and patient-safety personnel taking information gleaned from medical malpractice lawsuits, such as birth injury cases, to identify and address errors;
• Risk managers learned about previously unknown errors such as delays in diagnosis and delayed treatments that typical hospital reporting doesn’t address;
• Because medical staff often under report errors, lawsuits may help provide a more complete picture; and
• Litigation can reveal useful details about safety and quality concerns.

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Despite what we’ve heard in the news – that medical malpractice payouts are behind the rising cost of health care – a recent study has once again shown that medical negligence lawsuits are not the main culprit behind the increase. A report published in the Journal for Healthcare Quality found that from 2004 to 2010, medical malpractice payouts exceeding $1 million added up to a total of $1.4 billion a year – far less than 1 percent of national medical expenditures.

Further, another common scapegoat for the rising costs – frivolous lawsuits – were not shown to be the root cause of health care cost surges. In fact, evidence that frivolous lawsuits are behind the increases just doesn’t exist. Rather successful medical malpractice lawsuits with verdicts and settlements over $1 million generally occur where an individual or family has suffered a catastrophic injury and is truly deserving of the award. This may occur where a child has suffered a birth injury or develops cerebral palsy as the result of a medical mistake at birth. In these situations, the family may be required to pay for a lifetime of medical care.

If you have questions about medical malpractice or birth injuries, it is important to consult with a top California birth injury attorney to determine your next steps.

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A recent article from the New York Times reported on the reasons behind most medical malpractice lawsuits. Surprisingly, a report compiled using the National Practitioner Data Bank found that the most medical negligence payouts were the result of diagnostic mistakes, not surgical errors, delivery mistakes or prescription overdoses as many might think.

According to the report, a break down in medical malpractice payments found that 28.6% of malpractice payments were attributed to diagnostic errors, with treatment errors and surgical mistakes accounting for the second and third highest payouts. Other types of medical errors resulting in medical malpractice payouts include birth injuries and other obstetrical errors, as well as medication, monitoring and anesthesia mistakes. If you believe that you or a loved one has been injured as the result of any type of medical error, it is important to consult with an experienced San Francisco medical malpractice attorney right away. A skilled California medical negligence lawyer can begin an investigation into the circumstances that caused or contributed to an incident and help you obtain the compensation you deserve.

According to the study published by BMJ Quality and Safety, diagnostic mistakes accounted for 33.8 percent of the disabilities and almost 40 percent of the deaths that resulted in malpractice payments.

One of the authors, Dr. David E. Newman-Toker, an associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins, noted that “this is a major health problem,” and that physicians, hospitals and insurers all need to contribute to fixing it. … There’s a lot of room for improvement,” he continued. “You can’t get the treatment right if you don’t get the diagnosis right.”

The study concluded: "Among malpractice claims, diagnostic errors appear to be the most common, most costly and most dangerous of medical mistakes. We found roughly equal numbers of lethal and non-lethal errors in our analysis, suggesting that the public health burden of diagnostic errors could be twice that previously estimated. Healthcare stakeholders should consider diagnostic safety a critical health policy issue."

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A recent tragic birth injury story reported on the life and death of a young boy from Florida. The boy died just days before his 3rd birthday as the result of a brain injury suffered at birth. According to reports, the boy was born at home with a midwife. During the delivery process, the mother began bleeding profusely and suffered a “placental abruption.” The midwife failed to call an ambulance or take the mother to the hospital. The child was born with a permanent brain injury and was unable to crawl, walk or talk during the time he survived.

As with any health care professional, midwives are expected to comply with a particular standard of care for the profession. When the failure to follow these standards results in harm, a midwife or other medical professional may be found responsible for medical malpractice. If you have questions about birth injuries or believe your child may half suffered due to the actions – or inaction – of a midwife it’s a good idea to consult with an experienced California birth injury lawyer right away. A knowledgeable California medical malpractice attorney can begin an investigation into all of the factors that may have caused or contributed to a birth trauma and help ensure your family gets the help it deserves.

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New research reveals that many states around the country still experience high rates of premature births. According to the 2012 March of Dimes’ Premature Birth Rate Report Card states such as Florida received “D” ratings as the result of close to 90,000 pre-term births occurring from 2009-2011. This makes up nearly 13% of the births in that state. California received a “B” rating, with 9.8% of all infants born before 37 weeks of gestation.

A premature birth can result in serious infections, jaundice, meningitis and pneumonia. It can cause brachial plexus injury, injuries to the brain, cerebral palsy, respiratory distress, and other cognitive delays.

Although in many instances, a pre-term birth may not be preventable, other times warning signs exist and a skilled physician or other health care professional can take steps to prevent this potentially dangerous situation from occurring. Failure to diagnose and resolve these factors through preventative actions, or misdiagnosing the symptoms, can both lead to an unnecessary premature birth.

Further, it is important to provide immediate specific attention and medical care after your baby is born to ensure you infant doesn’t suffer due to his or her early delivery. The failure to take the appropriate actions in either of these instances can have disastrous results and your physician may be found liable for medical malpractice.

If you believe your child may have been born prematurely unnecessarily or that your doctor or other health care professional failed to take the proper steps after your child was born to reduce the possibility of injury from premature birth, it is important to speak to a California premature delivery attorney right away. In many instances, you may be able to recover compensation that can help pay for a lifetime of medical care and therapy.

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Brachial plexus injuries are lesser known, yet fairly common birth injuries. Also known as Erb's Palsy, brachial plexus injuries are generally the result of the stretching of the nerves around the shoulder during birth, leading to paralysis or weakness in the arm. In these types of injuries, the bundle of nerves that travel from the spine through the shoulder are damaged, either by being stretched or severed. Brachial plexus injuries can be caused by extreme force being applied through the pulling of a newborn's arm or head during birth. In the case of a breech delivery, pressure on raised shoulders can also bring about this birth injury.

There are a number of risk factors linked to brachial plexus injuries including having a large baby, previous births where a brachial plexus injury occurred, slow dilation and gestational diabetes. While not all instances of brachial plexus injuries result from a medical error, many times this type of injury is preventable and is caused by excessive force used by the health care provider who delivered the baby.

Where the injury occurs as the result of medical malpractice, it may be possible to file a personal injury lawsuit. By filing a birth injury or medical malpractice lawsuit, you may be able to recover compensation to pay for medical expenses, including therapy, as well as other damages. For more information or if you believe your infant may have suffered a birth injury as the result of a medical error at birth, it’s a good idea to speak to a knowledgeable California birth injury lawyer right away.

Continue reading "University Researching New Ways To Help Infants Who Suffer Brachial Plexus Injuries " »

Exposure to certain chemicals can increase your child’s risk of being born with a chemical birth defect.

Chemical birth defects include such things as cleft lip or palate, missing or not fully developed organs, leukemia, limbs that are deformed or missing, cancer of the eye and an abnormal brain or spine.

Further, being exposed to certain chemicals while pregnant can bring about such defects in your newborn. Both men and women working in many high-risk occupations that are surrounded by dangerous chemicals may have an increased risk of having a child with such a defect. These professions include such things as dry cleaners, florists, mechanics, beauticians, x-ray technicians, printers and painters, as well as those that work around gasoline or electronic chip manufacturing plants.If you have questions about chemical birth defects or believe that your child may have been born with a birth defect as the result of exposure to a toxic substance, it is important to speak with an experienced California birth injury lawyer.

California’s environmental science agency has just announced that one chemical previously left off the list of dangerous chemicals - bisphenol A (BPA) - will now be added. BPA, a plastics softening chemical will now be characterized as a chemical that is highly risky and likely to cause birth defects. Several reports have linked BPA to reproductive toxicity. BPA has been found in common items such as water bottles and is linked to serious health conditions such as birth defects, cancer, behavioral changes, altered brain development and cardiovascular disease.

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Cerebral palsy is one of the more serious conditions related to difficulties at birth. It is often linked to oxygen deprivation before or during the birth process. Brain cooling – a technique where an infant’s body is cooled in a controlled environment – has been showed to lessen the severity of brain damage. When there are indications that a brain has occurred during the birth process, a special water-cooled cap or blanket is placed on the newborn to reduce the body temperature by a few degrees. It is critical that brain cooling begins within 6 hours of birth. Medical malpractice can not only cause your child to suffer a birth injury, but may also be implicated where doctors or other health professionals fail to use all available treatments where the need arises.

Methods such as cooling therapy have been introduced in many California hospitals and have become a widely accepted method of treating infants who have suffered a brain injury. If you have questions about cooling therapy or believe your child may have been harmed as the result of medical malpractice, it’s a good idea to consult with an experienced California birth injury attorney right away.

Due to the success of cooling therapies at hospitals and the increasing awareness that timely brain cooling can reduce the severity of brain damage, students at John Hopkins University have devised a “low-tech $40 unit" to provide protective cooling to hospitals that lack the resources to purchase the expensive equipment that can cost thousands of dollars.

The device, called the Cooling Cure, was created to lower a newborn's temperature by about 6 degrees Fahrenheit for three days, a treatment that has been shown to protect the child from brain damage, or lessen the severity of damage, if administered shortly after a loss of oxygen has occurred.

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Many California parents choose to stagger the timing and number of vaccines given to their children, often citing concerns about the risk of developing autism. In fact, according to a recent birth injury study, about one-third of parents are concerned about unsubstantiated claims that vaccines can cause autism. However, a recent study performed by the Institute of Medicine has found no causal relationship between vaccines and this developmental disorder.

The study published in the Journal of Pediatrics found no link between the typically recommended vaccine schedule and autism, and that spreading out vaccinations rather than immunizing infants at 2, 4 and 6 months visits doesn’t provide any benefit in preventing this disorder.

However, while research hasn’t found a link between immunizations and autism, other birth injuries and developmental disorders – such as cerebral palsy - have been linked to actions taken by physicians or other medical staff near or at the time of birth. If your child has suffered a birth injury and you have questions, it is important to consult with an experienced California birth injury attorney right away. A skilled San Francisco birth injury lawyer can begin an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a birth injury and help your family through this difficult time.

While by no means are all birth injuries and developmental delays caused by medical malpractice or negligence, many conditions and injuries can be avoided. The failure to follow the standard of care and take the necessary actions to avoid preventable birth injuries may be considered medical malpractice. Where medical malpractice leads to a birth injury, it may be possible to recover the compensation necessary to pay for a lifetime of care.

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