April 2011 Archives

A nurse at a New Mexico nursing home is facing felony and misdemeanor charges after allegations of abuse and neglect against elderly residents.

The nurse has been charged with abuse resulting in physical harm or great psychological harm, a fourth-degree felony, as well as a misdemeanor charge of abuse of a resident.

Witnesses say that the nurse physically abused two residents of the nursing home. He allegedly yanked the arm of a resident as he escorted her to her room, resulting in the fracturing of the 82-year0old resident's arm. Another patient says that the nurse squeezed her arms against her wheelchair's armrests.

The 82-year-old whose arm was grabbed by the nurse suffered from bruises on her wrist and a swollen thumb in addition to a forearm fracture on her right arm. The nurse was apparently upset at the elderly resident after she allegedly hit him in the face as he attempted to escort her back to her room.

Court records say that the nurse physically carried her to her room in what witnesses say was an "angry manner," and that he grabbed the elderly resident by her cheeks and positioned her face in such a way so that the resident was forced to look into his eyes.

The nurse was place on an unpaid suspension for three days, until the nursing home ultimately decided to fire him. He insists that he was defending himself against the resident and told police that he only gently carried the resident to her room.

A housekeeper on staff at the nursing facility says that she witnessed Lee screaming at residents on multiple occasions but says that she was too afraid of the nurse to report the behavior to the nursing home's administrators.

The nursing home maintains that the facility has no history of resident abuse and that extensive background checks are performed on all employees. At the time of his hiring, nothing was found on the record of the nurse.

Abuse of residents in nursing homes occurs all too often. Nursing home negligence and abuse should never go unreported. If you believe a loved one has been the victim of abuse or negligence in a nursing facility, contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates. Call us toll free at 800-541-9376 for a free legal consultation or click here to visit our website.

A Pennsylvania jury has awarded a husband $2 million in damages in a medical malpractice case.

The verdict comes after the husband sued a local gynecologist for medical malpractice, claiming that the cancer his wife suffered from was a result of the doctor's negligence.

The plaintiff's wife had suffered from ovarian cancer. She once survived the disease in 2004, but during a lengthy and intense surgery, her doctor failed to remove her fallopian tube and left ovary. This, according to the lawsuit, increased the chances of the cancer returning.

The plaintiff says that his wife was never told by her doctor that the left ovary remained in her body, and a pathology report was produced showing no trace of the ovary. The plaintiff and his lawyers claim that this lack of information prevented the woman from seeking a second opinion or requesting an additional surgery.

The cancer returned, and the plaintiff's wife suffered for three years. In the summer 2008, she died as a result of the ovarian cancer. Lawyers for the plaintiff described her death as "avoidable."

The plaintiff testified that his wife aggressively fought to survive her second battle with ovarian cancer. She and her husband frequently spent time in Massachusetts exploring experimental medicine and other treatments. The frequent travel eventually cost the plaintiff his job.

If you or a loved one have been the victim of medical malpractice or wrongful death, contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates. For a free legal consultation, call us toll free at 1-800-541-9376 or click here to visit our website.

The director of a nursing home in Illinois is facing criminal neglect and other charges after it was discovered that one of the elderly residents of the nursing home had died of a morphine overdose despite the fact that morphine had never been prescribed to him.

The 84-year-old nursing home patient had suffered from Alzheimer's and an enlarged heart at the time of his death; however, an autopsy report later showed that in fact morphine had killed the elderly man and that none of his illnesses led to his death.

The pathologist who performed the autopsy said that it was clear that the death was a result of morphine intoxication. The director of the nursing home is accused of allowing employees of the nursing facility to administer morphine to patients and at alarmingly large levels.

The nursing home director has been charged with criminal neglect and obstruction. The charges came following an investigation into six mysterious patient deaths that occurred at the nursing home back in 2006.

According to prosecutors, the director of the nursing home was aware that one of the employees had been administering excessive amounts of morphine to patients but failed to do anything about it. Employees testified that the director called the employee the "Angel of Death."

Neither the director nor the employee who actually administered the morphine has been charged directly in the six mysterious deaths.

The cause of death for the 84-year-old man was not expected considering that no prescription for morphine had been found on any of his records. It was not until after his body was exhumed and an additional autopsy was performed that the traces of morphine were found in his system.

If convicted of the charges, the director of the nursing home could face up to three years in prison.

Stories such as these are very disturbing, especially to those who trust the care of their loved ones to these facilities. If you believe that a loved one has been the victim of neglect or abuse in a nursing home, please contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates. Call us toll-free at 1-800-541-9376 or click here to visit our website.

The White House has announced a new initiative designed to reduce the number of medical errors in America's hospitals and medical care facilities. The Obama administration hopes to partner with advocators for patients' rights, health insurers, and hospitals with the goal of putting an end to frequent medical errors, which are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans yearly.

The new initiative is being fueled by funds from the healthcare overhaul, which President Obama signed last year. The program aims to create a 40 percent decrease in the number of preventable injuries and infections caused by medical error. Also, the program hopes that by promoting better care among patients after hospitalization, the number of readmissions to hospitals can be cut by 20 percent.

America's hospitals are not safe as often believed. Fear and concern about diseases and infections acquired during hospitalization at many health care facilities has mounted over the last decade. A recent survey found that about 1 out of every 3 patients at health care facilities suffered some type of adversity such as being given the incorrect medication.

Improvements in health care and more emphasis on the reduction of medical errors has occurred at many of the nation's top hospitals; however, many believe that much more work is needed.

The White House plans to spend $500 million, in the form of grants, to organizations that will work with medical care facilities in order to create programs that will promote better care of patients following hospitalization. Studies have proven that the time immediately after a patient is discharged from the hospital is a crucial time in the prevention of any complications that could cause readmission into a medical care facility.

The Obama administration plans to spend another $500 million on testing different models aimed at reducing medical errors such as birth injuries.

Errors made by doctors and medical staff are a type of medical malpractice. If you believe that you have been a victim of medical malpractice, contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates for a free consultation. Call us toll-free at 800-541-9376 or click here to visit our website.

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that an Ohio woman can go forward with her medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor who she says failed to detect a large breast mass. Failure to detect the mass early led to heavier treatment as well as mental and emotional distress.

Ohio's Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the 73-year-old Lonna Loudin can pursue her lawsuit against the doctor. The court says that the growth of cancer is a physical injury and can be used to seek emotional distress damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Loudin's attorney insists that the case of a patient who followed through with recommended frequent medical visits whose doctor failed to accept the responsibility for a misdiagnosis. According to the Beacon Journal, Loudin's attorney says that, "Women who rely upon annual mammography for cancer screening ought to be able to hold radiologists accountable when they're wrong, and they tried to avoid responsibility here."

According to the lawsuit, Loudin had been receiving annual mammograms since 1997. In 2003, her doctor did not discover a mass that had developed on her left breast. Loudin's attorney says that the mass had been on her breast for years. It wasn't until Loudin completed a self-examination in 2004 which revealed the lump in her breast.

Because of the lump, Loudin had to begin radiation and chemotherapy treatments and several lymph nodes required removal. The cancer spread and her chances of survival were lessened because of the late detection, Loudin's attorney claims. Loudin seeks over $25,000 in damages in the lawsuit.

If you have been a victim of medical malpractice, contact the Law Offices of Bruce G. Fagel & Associates. Call us toll free at 800-541-9376 or click here to visit our website.

A Houston family is filing a medical malpractice lawsuit against a local nursing home following the death of an elderly loved one who was under care at the facility.

The family says that the nursing home's negligence and abuse led to the death of 76-year-old Sandra Campion. Previous reports alleged that Campion had been attacked by an employee at the facility, but the injuries from that allaged attack are not what ultimately caused Campion's death.

According to the lawsuit, Campion had a large, deep bedsore on her back. The bedsore caused a blood infection which led to her death. The family believes that negligence was to blame for the bedsore, claiming that staff at the nursing home failed to turn her properly during he sleep which ultimately led to the bedsore.

Just one month prior to her death, Campion was allegedly abused by a nursing home staff member. The employee allegedly tried to choke Campion, and was arrested and given a charge of felony injury to an elderly person.

The family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Texas nursing home while authorities continue to investigate the nursing home facility, which has not issued any statement regarding Campion's death or the alleged assault against her by a nursing home employee.

Negligence and abuse against the elderly such as what occurred in this case is an unfortunate reality in many of our country's nursing homes. If you believe a loved one is the victim of nursing home negligence, contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel. Call us toll-free at 1-800-541-9376 or click here to visit us online.

A Massachussets medical facility is being sued in a medical malpractice lawsuit after admitting an error that led to the death of an elderly woman.

Geraldine Oswald, who was 76-years-old, died in November 2010 after a hospital staff member gave her an excessive dosage of blood-thinning medication. After the hospital admitted their erorr, the deceased patient's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

The dosage of the blood-thinning drug, known as Lepirudin, is believed to have been nearly 30 times larger than the dosage that was recommended. This medication error led to complications in the flow of her blood and led to internal bleeding.

The blood thinner was administered to the patient to prevent blood clots from developing; however, the dosage that the nurse administered had been miscalculated and no doctor was present to supervise as the medicine was administered, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that the elderly patient suffered from internal bleeding as a result of the overdosage for 12 hours before her death. The hospital has admitted that the error could have been prevented.

If you believe that you have been a victim of medical malpractice, contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce Fagel & Associates. Call us toll-free at 1-800-541-9376 or click here to visit our website.

A Chicago-based hospital is being sued after a couple claimed that the hospital's negligence lead to the death of their newborn.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the couple's 6-week old son, who was born prematurely, died at the Chicago-area hospital.

The couple has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the medical facility, saying that the negligent care by the hospital's staff led to their child's death.

The lawsuit claims that the prematurely-born child was making "good progress." A pharmacy technician at the hospital made an error when filling a doctor's prescription for IV fluid. The lawsuit also states that the erroneous bag of IV fluid was initially labeled as containing high levels of sodium; however, at some point another label was placed over the high-sodium warning before a nurse administered the IV to the child.

Because the second label stated an amount of sodium that matched the exact amount of sodium that the doctor initially requested, the nurse who administered the IV was not aware the fluid being administered actually contained levels of sodium much higher than what was requested.

As a result of this medical error, the lawsuit says, the families newborn died. The hospital released a statement to the press acknowledging that an error had been made.

Medical errors are a type of medical malpractice, and unfortunately can often lead to devastating results such as in this case. If you think you have been a victim of medical malpractice, call the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates. Visit our website at www.fagellaw.com, or call us toll-free at 1-800-541-9376.