May 2011 Archives

A 1950s Supreme Court ruling that essentially protects the U.S. military from medical malpractice claims is being challenged by military families and veterans.

The ruling, known as the Feres Doctrine, puts injuries acquired as a result of medical error and malpractice on the same level as a battlefield wound.

The outcry against this ruling has resurfaced following the death a noncommissioned officer, whose death was caused after a nurse mistakenly inserted a breathing tube down his esophagus rather than his trachea.

The nurse's error caused the 25-year-old officer's brain to be deprived of oxygen, and three months later his family had to make the difficult decision to remove him from life support.

The young officer was hospitalized for what should have been a 'routine appendectomy' at a military medical facility in California.

The nurse who made the medical mistake admitted to her error and eventually gave up her license to practice in the State of California. The family of the deceased officer attempted to file a medical malpractice claim, but it was quickly denied due to the Feres Doctrine.

The family appealed the decision, but the 61-year-old doctrine must be overturned before any legal action in this case and other military medical malpractice cases can be considered.

Support for change the law has come from veterans groups and military officers, and one U.S. Supreme Court justice has criticized the law, stating that it deserves "the almost universal criticism it has received."

A 4-year-old boy in Washington is recovering after a surgeon, who was to perform corrective surgery on the child's right eye, made a mistake and operated on the child's left eye.

Parents say that the surgeon went on to operate on the correct eye without notifying them that a mistake had been made.

The four-year-old had been frequently visiting a specialist in Oregon after his family discovered he had a wondering right eye. The surgical procedure was supposed to weaken the muscle under the child's right eye because the strength of the muscle was believed to be the cause of the wondering eye.

The surgeon did not realize that she operated on the child's left eye instead of his right eye until after the surgery had been completed.

She claims that the actions of a nurse in the operating room caused her to lose her sense of direction, claiming that a mark indicating which eye required the operation was accidentally covered up during pre-operating preparation.

The family says that on the day of the operation, a nurse came out of the operating room at around the time that the child was scheduled to be in the recovery room. The nurse informed the family that they would be operating on both eyes.

The child's parents say that nurses and hospital staff never informed the family that the medical error had been made and because of that, the family believed that they were attempting to cover up the mistake.

The child has a wondering left eye and still has a wondering right eye following the directions. He has normal vision, but his condition requires daily use of eye drops and sunglasses for protection.

Doctor and hospital errors such as this that result in injury are a form of medical malpractice. If you believe that you or a family member have been a victim of medical malpractice, contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates. Call us toll-free at 1-800-541-9376 for your free consultation, or click here to visit our website for more information.

In a recent Los Angeles Times article, the state of California's medical regulation system is brought into question. A series of budget cuts and loss of staff have left the Medical Board of California without much of an ability to enforce laws for doctor licensing and discipline.

California's medical board is responsible for taking measures to ensure patient safety. The board is supposed to investigate complaints that patients file against doctors, and they are also responsible for disciplining underperforming doctors with probation, license revocations, or forcing doctors to close their doors.

Public Citizen, a Washington, D.C.-based consumer group, ranks the medical boards for each state. In 2009, the organization ranked the Medical Board of California at 41st, falling from 22nd the previous year and earning the title of one of the largest plunges among the 50 states.

Even an internal review of the board found that disciplinary action had dropped by as much as 22 percent. It also showed that the average time it took for the completion of an investigation was over 400 days after the initial filing of the complaint.

With the sharp decline in disciplinary actions and the lengthy amount of time of investigations, California doctors who are potentially dangerous could still be practicing.

The Medical Board of California is severely understaffed, with its current small staff working as best as it can with the few resources that they have. Governor Schwarzenegger took $6 million in funding from the board to help with the state's budget during his administration. Appeals by the board to protest that action along with hiring freezes were frequently turned down.

The duty of demanding necessary resources to ensure doctor discipline and patient safety is left entirely up to the board, as the board's budget continues to dwindle.

With limited regulation comes the risk of medical malpractice. If you believe that you have been the victim of doctor or hospital malpractice, contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates. Call us toll-free at 1-800-541-9376 for a free consultation or click here to visit our website.

A new regulation issued by the Obama administration will reward hospitals that provide superior care as a part of an initiative to change the way the United States government funds healthcare.

With the new initiative, Medicare will pay more to those hospitals that receive high scores on a list of criteria used to measure the quality of patient care, and less will be paid to the hospitals who fail to meet acceptable scores based on the new scale of measurement.

For most U.S. hospitals, basing compensation on performance and quality of care is very new, as Medicare has never regularly used such an initiative. Experts insist that this type of initiative is essential in order to ensure quality healthcare and control healthcare costs.

The hospitals who do not meet the benchmarks set by the initiative will risk losing around one percent of what would normally be paid to them by Medicare in 2013. Hospitals receive over $150 billion in Medicare payments yearly, making the one percent loss seem minimal, but officials say that as more initiatives to improve patient care are put in to place the stakes will increase.

Medicare currently pays for healthcare for 50 million disabled and elderly Americans, and in 2009, they were responsible for paying for over 12 million hospitalizations. Many of these hospitalizations, evidence suggests, resulted in patients being readmitted into hospitals and receiving less than superior care.

A recent report showed that nearly 1 in 3 patients experience adversity during hospitalization such as medication and surgical errors. Such occurrences can drive up the costs for patients as they often result in the need for more medical care.

With the Obama administration's new initiative, a report card system will be created which will track hospitals' performance and patient satisfaction.

Doctor mistakes, medication errors, and surgical errors can often lead to serious consequences. If you believe that you have been a victim of this type of medical malpractice, contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates.

Call us toll free at 1-800-541-9376 for a free legal consultation or click here to visit or website.