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Many serious injuries and deaths occur in hospitals because of medical negligence and medical malpractice.  In fact, the National Institute of Health places the number of deaths by medical malpractice each year around 225,000, placing it as the third leading cause of death in the United States, just after heart attacks and cancer.  This alarming number doesn't even take into account how many people are seriously injured each year because of medical negligence.   

Many factors are responsible for hospital negligence, including surgery mistakes, anesthesia mistakes, miscommunication between doctors and nurses, failure to diagnose a problem, misdiagnosis of a problem, or failure to provide timely medical care to a patient desperately in need of medical help.  Sometimes patients in the emergency rooms are kept waiting so long that a serious medical problem turns into a severe medical emergency. Situations like this can lead to hospital negligence where the services of a hospital negligence lawyer may be required.

Hospital negligence is also the result of medical staff who may be sleep deprived, overworked, or not properly trained to handle various medical problems, or medical emergencies.  If a hospital is understaffed, the risk for hospital negligence increases.  For example, in September 2012, a cancer patient died from medical negligence in the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland due to an improperly trained replacement nurse accidentally administering a nutritional supplement into the patient's catheter, which was set up for delivering medicine into the blood stream instead.

Negligence in hospitals may even go unnoticed as a patient enters the hospital with a particular problem, but the doctor's negligence ends up causing an entirely new problem.  The doctor may simply place the blame on the new problem with the original problem, saying the original problem escalated into the new problem; therefore avoiding the responsibility for causing the negligent act.  In this type of situation, an experienced medical malpractice lawyer, especially one who is also a licensed physician such as Dr. Bruce Fagel, will be able to examine the medical records and prove the doctor's negligence was in fact the cause of the severe medical condition.

An additional complication involving hospital negligence and doctor negligence is doctors are usually not employees of the hospital, but instead, independent contractors.  This creates an additional veil of protection for the hospitals from medical malpractice lawsuits.  Therefore in a medical malpractice lawsuit, the victim of medical negligence must name the doctors involved with the negligence as well as the hospital.

If you or a family member suffered serious injuries as a result of doctor negligence, hospital negligence, or the negligence of any medical professional, you may have a case for medical malpractice.  Contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates right away for a free consultation.

Most medical negligence and medical malpractice claims in the U.S. are initiated against doctors and hospitals.  In order for a medical malpractice claim to be successful, the plaintiff initiating the claim must prove four elements:

• A duty of care was owed by the physician
• The physician violated the standard of care
• The patient suffered a compensable injury
• The injury was caused in fact and proximately by the conduct

Doctors, nurses, medical personnel, and hospitals owe a duty of care to the patients that seek treatment.  When medical professionals deviate from the accepted medical standard of care, then medical negligence may occur.

Although on the surface it appears simple enough, if a doctor, nurse, or medical facility causes serious harm to a patient, the patient or their family, simply initiates a lawsuit and the medical personnel or facility responsible pays the damages and the case is settled.  However, medical malpractice cases are far more complicated than this.  For example, medical malpractice cases require medical experts which are necessary to prove liability and damages.  The costs for obtaining these medical experts can cost over $200,000 before the trial even begins.  The defense will obviously be investing a great deal of money into obtaining their own medical experts to challenge the experts the victim's lawyer produces.

Another complication with medical malpractice cases involves causation.  Even though the victim suffered serious injuries through the medical negligence of a doctor, the doctor may blame the injury on another factor unrelated to the doctor's negligence.  The doctor may blame the age, physical condition, or another medical problem on the patient, rather than the doctor's own negligence.  This requires the victim's attorney to not only find the evidence of the doctor's negligence, but to prove it to a jury as well. If the case does not go to trial, then the victim's attorney must convince the defense attorney that the evidence and the case are sufficient to convince a jury of the negligence.

If medical malpractice cases weren't complicated enough, regarding medical negligence in a hospital setting, it is important to know that most doctors are not employees of the hospital but rather independent contractors.  This creates an additional shield of protection for the hospitals against lawsuits.  Naming the doctors or nurses in a medical negligence lawsuit in addition to the hospital may be necessary to ensure everyone responsible for the medical malpractice is part of the lawsuit.

Due to the enormous resources necessary to take a medical malpractice case forward, and the complexity of a medical malpractice case, it is critical a victim of medical malpractice retains a highly qualified medical malpractice lawyer.  It is also important that a victim of medical malpractice researches this medical malpractice attorney to make sure he or she has a strong track record winning cases in the type of area the victim is involved with.  For example, if the victim of medical malpractice is a child suffering a severe birth injury, then the medical malpractice attorney retained must have a strong track record of winning cases and settlements involving birth injuries. 

In order to demonstrate medical malpractice has occurred, it is important to show the connection between the negligent care and the patient's injury or death.  This is where obtaining the services of a leading medical malpractice attorney who understands medicine and how hospitals work, is critical to winning a case or obtaining a settlement favorable to the victim. 

In addition to being one of the best medical malpractice lawyers in the country, Dr. Bruce Fagel is also a licensed medical doctor, with over 10 years experience working in emergency medicine in hospital settings.  This powerful combination has given Dr. Fagel the ability to detect where medical negligence or medical malpractice has occurred, even being able to personally decipher complex medical records to see if medical malpractice occurred.  In fact, sometimes doctors avoid putting necessary information in medical records to help protect themselves from lawsuits.  This is where a strong background in medicine helps give Dr. Fagel an edge in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

After heart attacks and cancer, death from medical malpractice has become the third leading cause of death in the United States, according to the National Institute of Health.  In fact nearly 225,000 people die each year from medical malpractice and many people are seriously injured as well.  If you or someone you care about has been the victim of medical malpractice, you probably have many questions, including what should you look for when researching a medical malpractice attorney.

Experience - many lawyers handle a variety of cases, medical malpractice merely being one of the categories.  Medical malpractice cases are the most complex type of cases, requiring extensive expertise and experience.  

Dr. Bruce Fagel handles only medical malpractice cases and has tried and settled more medical malpractice cases on behalf of injured victims than any other attorney in California.

Track Record - obtaining the largest settlement possible in a medical malpractice case requires that the defendant's doctor or hospital insurance carrier respects and fears your attorney.  This respect and fear comes from the experience and ability of the attorney in taking medical malpractice cases to trial and winning these cases.

Dr. Bruce Fagel has successfully tried cases in more than 25 different counties in California and is well known and respected by the attorneys who represent doctors and hospitals.  He is even asked to speak at meetings of defense attorneys, hospitals, and insurance companies.

Knowledge - all medical malpractice cases require evidence from medical experts to prove negligence and causation.  Often medical malpractice cases are lost at trial because defense attorneys are able to use their medical experts to confuse a jury or the plaintiff attorney is not able to explain a case to a jury.

Dr. Bruce Fagel is a licensed medical doctor who practiced emergency room medicine for 10 years before becoming a leading medical malpractice attorney.  He has spent the last 30 years pursuing complex medical malpractice cases for injured victims and their families.  As a physician, he understands the complexities of a medical malpractice case and is able to prevent doctors and medical experts from trying to use complicated medical terminology to confuse a jury.  He knows how to cross examine the defense experts because he understands the medical language.

Ability to fund the case - medical malpractice cases are among the most expensive types of personal injury cases, mainly because of the cost of medical experts that are necessary for proving liability and damages.  The cost of obtaining experts for medical malpractice cases can easily exceed $200,000 or more before trial.  Many attorneys are unable to advance such a large sum of money and some even ask the clients to pay the costs as the case progresses.

Dr. Bruce Fagel advances all the costs for the cases he handles.  There is no out of pocket cost to the client.

What do past clients think about the attorney - one of the best measures of success for any attorney is the opinions of prior satisfied clients who have had medical malpractice cases similar to yours.  Ask any attorney you meet with to provide you a list of prior clients.  If the attorney is unable to provide you with the list, he or she probably does not have the level of experience or the proven track record of success that you need for your case.

If you believe you or a family member was the victim of medical negligence, you may have a case for medical malpractice.  Contact the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates at 1-800-541-9376 today for a free consultation.  

End of life care or turning off life support for a loved one is a subject nobody wants to face.  This is probably one of the most difficult and heart-breaking decisions that millions of people have to confront when a loved one is critically injured and not responding to medical treatment.  Unfortunately life is filled with risks and a variety of situations can cause a loved one to be placed on life support, including complications resulting from surgery, anesthesia problems during or after surgery, a dangerous accident, or a child born with birth injuries resulting in severe brain damage.

A loved one placed on life support who is not responding to medical treatment places the family members in a very heart-wrenching and uncomfortable position, deciding if and when to turn off life support or end life care.  Another complication may arise if the doctor or medical staff advises the family that they should remove the family member from life support.  In a situation like this, people would rarely ever question the doctor's motives and simply be thinking the doctor believes there is nothing that can be done to save the patient or continue life support much longer. In fact, they may think the doctor is purely thinking of ending the suffering the patient may be going through.

However, there may be more to a doctor's recommendation than merely thinking of the patient or family's best interests.  For example, in California, the law places a maximum cap on how much a family can collect for wrongful death from medical negligence for non-economic damages at $250,000.  Therefore if a doctor or medical professional negligently caused a patient to fall into a coma, with no immediate recovery foreseen, or a very costly recovery foreseen, it could cost the hospital or medical facility millions of dollars to keep the patient alive and provide medical care.  However, if the patient died, it would only cost the medical facility $250,000.  This is information every family needs to be made aware of when deciding what is truly in the best interest of their loved one and everyone involved.  Before rushing to a decision, consider doing your research, seeking a second opinion, even seeking legal consultation from a medical malpractice attorney who is also a licensed medical doctor, such as Dr. Bruce G. Fagel.  Dr. Fagel will provide you with an independent opinion that will shed truth on the matter and allow you to make up your own mind without the influence of someone who may be biased or not serving your best interests.

Our law firm has handled many medical malpractice cases involving situations like this, and with a background as a licensed medical doctor, including practicing emergency room medicine for over 10 years, I have experience in evaluating situations like this and helping clients determine if medical negligence was the cause of the injury.  If you believe a family member was critically injured by medical negligence, call us for a free consultation to find out about your legal rights, including your right to be compensated for medical care for your loved one for as long as they need medical help.     

The Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act or MICRA was enacted in 1975 by pressure from doctors in California wanting to limit the amount of damages victims of medical malpractice could obtain from lawsuits.  This limits the amount of money a victim of medical malpractice in California can obtain for non-economic damages, including emotional distress and pain and suffering to $250,000.  Since its introduction, tens of thousands of patients injured by preventable medical errors have been denied just compensation for their injuries.  

Although this creates a challenge for victims of medical malpractice, there are still additional resources available.  And while MICRA creates a difficult challenge for victims of medical malpractice in California, there are other states that are far more excessive with their limitations on damages.  For example, Virginia limits the total amount a victim of medical malpractice can recover for economic, non-economic, and punitive damages to $2 million.  Indiana limits the total amount for economic and non-economic damages to $1.25 million.  If a birth injury victim in California was awarded $7 million for economic damages, that same victim in Indiana would only receive $1.25 million to cover the same damages.   

Although non-economic damages in California are limited to $250,000 for medical malpractice victims, there is no cap on economic damages.  Economic damages include a lifetime calculation of lost wages and medical care for the victim of medical malpractice.  If a child suffers a severe and permanent birth injury such as cerebral palsy, although MICRA limits his or her non-economic damages to $250,000, there are still economic damages that must be calculated.  How much does it take to provide medical care for this individual for the rest of his or her life? Does this victim require a full time care giver?  How much lost wages would this victim be expected to lose for a lifetime of being out of work?

The cost of living has gone up dramatically since 1975 and while the $250,000 for non-economic damages has substantially decreased in value when factoring in the cost of living, the cost of medical care has increased dramatically, so the economic damages produce sizable damages for victims of medical malpractice.  

Taking the cerebral palsy birth injury example from above, this victim will likely need full time medical care and resources for the rest of his or her lifetime.  Full time medical care may require a full time care giver to handle daily routines including getting dressed, bathing, and feeding.  Also, medication, therapy, and doctor visits will likely be required.  The amount of medical care and resources necessary to take care of a severe cerebral palsy birth injury victim may cost millions of dollars over the victim's lifetime.  There is also the amount of lost wages the victim will lose over a lifetime and this must be factored into the economic damages as well.  Economic damages are the reasons why a medical malpractice victim may recover damages into the millions when MICRA places non-economic damages at a maximum of $250,000.   

If you or someone you love has been the victim of medical malpractice, you should immediately consult with a medical malpractice lawyer who is also a licensed physician, such as Dr. Bruce G. Fagel.  The consultation is free and if we take on your case, there is no fee unless we win your case.  

Each year cancer diagnosis delays or cancer misdiagnosis, leads to enormous suffering and wrongful deaths for thousands of Americans and their families. Cancer is the uncontrollable growth of abnormal cells and can occur anywhere in the body.  These cells can either be cured or they will lead to the eventual death of the patient.  While normal cells multiply when the body has a need for them and then die when the body no longer has a need for them, cancer happens when the growth of cells in the body is uncontrollable and the cells begin to divide too quickly.  Cancer cells also do not die when the body requires them to die.

Early detection for many forms of cancer is critical to improving a patient's survival rate.  With the improvements in cancer treatment over the past couple decades, those with certain types of cancers have a dramatically improved chance of recovery if the cancers are detected and treated early.  The types of cancers that have a good chance of being treated, if treated early in the stages, include colon cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, and non-small cell cancers.  However, some cancers have a poor chance of recovery no matter what stage the cancer is detected.  These types of cancers include small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and ovarian cancer.

Proper cancer diagnosis and early detection are critical to helping the patient live a longer and healthier life.  If a doctor fails to diagnose cancer in its early stages, confuses the cancer for another medical condition, or even fails to diagnose the cancer at all, can lead to the spreading of the cancer to other parts of the body and the eventual death of the patient.   

If a cancer misdiagnosis by a doctor for a treatable cancer leads to serious injuries to the patient or death, a medical negligence or medical malpractice lawsuit may be initiated. One critical element in a medical malpractice lawsuit involving cancer is proving that the doctor should have diagnosed the cancer at the early stage and provided proper treatment, preventing the cancer from causing severe damage to the patient.  If the cancer was a type where early treatment would not have made a significant difference, then a medical negligence or medical malpractice lawsuit would likely not be feasible.

Dr. Bruce Fagel has extensive experience dealing with cancer misdiagnosis and delay in diagnosis cases.  In addition to being a top medical malpractice lawyer, Dr. Fagel is also a licensed physician, and has over 10 years emergency room experience.  This extensive combination of experience allows Dr. Fagel to probe medical records and understand if there is a case for medical malpractice.  

There are many advantages to retaining the services of an attorney who is also a physician.  One area that is particularly useful is with the deposition. A deposition is basically a formal question and answer process where we ask questions of a doctor or nurse about what happened beyond what is written in the medical records.  The deposition allows us to probe into the thoughts of the medical staff and find out what their reasons were for doing things the way they did. 

As a physician, I know what the answers from doctors, nurses, and medical staff should be, so consequently when doctors go off on a tangent and begin answering questions with a lot of medical jargon, I am able to cut through it. I am able to get to the specifics of what happened and why things occurred that should not have occurred if normal care was utilized and the standard of care was appropriate in a particular case.  This becomes especially important when we get into issues about the medical cause of specific problems; doctors have a tendency to confuse the issues by answering in different ways.  So as a physician I'm able to basically ask them very specific questions and follow their train of thought wherever they are going and get the most information relevant to winning the case.

Another area where clients benefit from having a lawyer who is also a licensed medical doctor is with the medical records.  Before an attorney can take on a case, he or she must determine if the case will likely be successful, whether tried in front of a jury, or settled prior to trial.  Most of the evidence that is crucial to winning the case will be located in the medical records.  It is critical that the attorney who handles your medical malpractice case, be extremely knowledgeable about both medical malpractice law and the medical field.  This is why I maintain my medical license after practicing emergency room medicine for over 10 years. I find that having a strong medical background provides me with a strategic advantage when dealing with doctors and medical staff.  At the Law Offices of Dr. Bruce G. Fagel & Associates, medical malpractice is all we do.  We want to make sure we are the most knowledgeable source in one area, and one area only, medical malpractice. 

Diagnostic physicians, who rely on diagnostic tests, need to inform referring clinicians when test results produce urgent or unexpected findings.  Test communication failures for diagnostic testing are placing physicians at an increased risk of medical malpractice claims, as reflected in an article selected as the "CME Activity of the Month" in the most recent edition of Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR).

During the past decade, clinicians have dramatically increased their orders for diagnostic examinations.  During the period between 1996 and 2003, there has been an increase by approximately 40% for malpractice payments related to diagnosis.  This problem was reflected in the article by Brian D. Gale, MD, MBA, assistant professor of radiology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn.  

During the period of 1991 to 2009, National Practitioner Data Bank data showed communication failure awards was responsible for an increasing proportion of total United States malpractice awards for providers.  The proportion jumped from .93% in 1991 to 2.31% in 2009.  The total indemnity payout for all medical specialties claims dramatically rose from $21.7 million in 1991 to an alarming $91 million in 2010.  This averages out to a $4.67 million increase annually.  Factors that contributed to the communication failures included long turnaround time, delays in reporting findings, and failure of the patients and physicians to receive the results.

There is hope for improvement however.  Dr. Brian Gale suggests that using semi-automated critical test result management systems may help to improve the patient safety and work flow, improve the notification reliability for everyone in the loop, and provide legal documentation.  Dr. Gale suggests healthcare organizations need to have a clear set of policies in place to address reportable test results, to make sure patients and referring providers are notified and followed up with.

As more knowledge surfaces regarding cancer screenings, expert groups are recommending less frequent screenings for prostate, breast, and cervical cancers. It appears from numerous clinical trial studies and analysis of medical data that previous recommendations such as annual Pap tests for women be less frequent, in the case of Pap tests, every three years instead.

Studies are showing that not only may testing too frequently for cancer potentially cause harm to patients, it also appears to be a financial burden to the health care system.  However, some doctors are walking the fine-line between saving money and risking a lawsuit for failure to detect a treatable cancer in time.

An article in the NYTimes.com titled, "Considering When It Might Be Best Not to Know About Cancer" breaks down new screening recommendations from expert medical groups:

• Women in their 40's do not appear to benefit from mammograms
• Women ages 50 to 74 should have mammograms every two years, instead of every year
• P.S.A. screening test for prostate cancer does not save lives and causes enormous harm
• Pap tests for women for cervical cancer should be every three years, instead of every year

Expert medical groups are now questioning if prostate cancer screenings are saving any lives at all.  These groups fear that the screening often leads to disabling treatments for men, who really didn't need to treat the cancer in the first place.

A mammography study revealed that out of 138,000 cancers detected in women each year, somewhere between 120,000 to 134,000 of these cancers are already lethal and beyond being treatable or the cancers will grow slowly and not need to be treated at all.

Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer with the American Cancer Society states, "Screening is always a double-edged sword.  We need to be more cautious in our advocacy of these screening tests." However, many doctors and specialists, such as urologists, radiologists, and oncologists believe screening is necessary to detect and treat cancer early.  Questions are also arising whether this subject is coming up simply due to costs and the modern healthcare crisis.

Regarding costs, The New England Journal of Medicine posted an article concluding $5.2 million must be spent on screening to prevent one prostate cancer death. Estimates are this amount is actually higher than that.  This brings up the issue of how much to spend in order to save lives.  It also creates a dilemma for doctors who will have a difficult time explaining the new guidelines to patients.  Some doctors may make recommendations based on their own beliefs and the wishes of the patient's for more screening.  Also, as more cancers are being determined not to be treatable, or not be a threat, the issue of cancer screening has become even more complicated; likely leaving many patients wondering when and if they should be screened.

Several hundred USC University Hospital workers went on strike Wednesday, picketing outside the Keck Medical Center of USC.  Workers who went on strike include certified nursing assistants, X-ray technicians, and housekeeping staff.

The National Union of Healthcare representing the workers state they have been in negotiations with the hospital for over a year.  The union is demanding the workers have a better say in how the hospital is staffed. The union claims there is a serious short-staffing problem, a one year freeze in wages, and the workers are excluded from the university's tuition and retirement benefits plan.  There are additional issues as well.  A respiratory technician, Noemi Aguirre stated, "we have a lot of units where we are just plain short-staffed and they haven't addressed those issues for us." Aguirre also commented, "One sticking point deals with patient care committees, which are set up by union workers so they have a voice in patient care."

The National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles will address the workers demands later this month.  Hospital spokesman Mitch Treem stated, "While we are unable to discuss the specifics of our proposal publicly, we can say that our NUHW employees are among the highest paid in the region."

With the recent hospital worker strikes, including the 34 hospitals in Northern California, mistakes can be made. One such tragedy occurred during the recent nursing strike at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, where a cancer patient died after a temporary replacement nurse mistakenly administered the wrong medication to the patient.  Dr. Bruce G. Fagel, a licensed medical doctor and medical malpractice attorney was quoted by the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times, September 26, 2011, "having replacement or temporary nurses working in hospitals for extended periods increases the risk of medical mistakes that harm patients."