Posts Tagged ‘ medical malpractice ’

Botched Procedure: When Corrective Surgery Doesn’t Correct

April 5th, 2011. By LucyC

What would you do if you couldn’t fully close your eyes? Personally, I can’t imagine how awful that would be. And what if this condition was a result of surgery—surgery that was meant to correct an existing problem? 

These days, the news is full of ‘bad plastic surgery’ stories, complete with some pretty horrifying images. In the case of New Jersey resident, Marilyn Leisz, the outcome is particularly tragic, and resulted in her suing her plastic surgeon for medical malpractice. 

The back story is that six years ago Leisz had a condition known as ptosis which weakens the eyelids, eventually causing them to droop. Having tried for years to correct the condition, she eventually decided to go the cosmetic surgery route and in 2000 had her first eyelift. All went well. In 2005 she had a second eyelift. But shortly after this surgery Leisz began to grow concerned because she noticed the development of small bumps along the creases of her eyelids. She became concerned about her vision. 

So Leisz consulted with a new plastic surgeon (Dr. Paul Parker), who recommended trying a scar removal product before embarking on more surgery. She tried the product and it didn’t work. Then, in consultation with her new surgeon, she underwent a procedure called blepharoplasty in which the excess tissue and fat is removed from around the eye. That’s when things started to go horribly wrong. 

According to a story on MSNBC.com, Leisz said was led to believe the procedure was minor and that there shouldn’t be any problems. If anything—it should give her a more youthful appearance. 

We all know where this is going. Following the surgery, Leisz found she couldn’t close her eyes completely. This resulted in her eyes burning, and her tear ducts not functioning as they were supposed to. Her surgeon allegedly told her this was part of the healing process. But when that healing process turned out to be never-ending, she sought the opinion of another plastic surgeon. He must have confirmed her worst fears—telling her she should never have undergone the blepharoplasty which this doctor testified to in court. Reportedly, Leisz has undergone a total of 30 surgeries, which have enabled her to partially close her eyes. 

She did sue the surgeon who performed the blepharoplasty, and was recently awarded $115,000. In fact they found that the surgeon had deviated from the accepted standard of care in this instance. 

While she said she is glad she had her day in court, the fact is Leisz’s ordeal is far from over. She has to use a special gel and vaporizer to keep her eyes moist, and she has to sleep with a mask at night to prevent her from scratching her corneas. 

Leisz told TODAY’s Ann Curry “To take a shower, I have to put gel into my eyes so the water and the soap doesn’t get into my eyes. Then by the time the shower is done, the gel’s washed out.” Worse, she lives with the fear of infection, glaucoma, corneal ulcers and blindness which could result from her medication.

In the MSNBC story, Leisz said her life has been thrown into shambles. “I feel like my whole life has been stolen from me,” she told NBC News. “Your eyesight affects everything that you do.”

Tags: cosmetic surgery, Dr Paul Parker, Elective Surgery, marilyn leisz, medical malpractice, plastic surgery, ptosis
Posted in Drugs/Medical | No Comments »

Tenet Healthcare Katrina Class Action at Tentative Settlement

March 28th, 2011. By LucyC

Six years later and counting—the mess from Hurricane Katrina drags on. This month, one of America’s largest health care corporations was due to go to court over allegations that it is responsible for deaths and injuries at a hospital in the Big Easy during the hurricane. 

However, in the middle of jury selection last week, Tenet Health/Memorial Medical Center reached a tentative settlement—the details of which will not be disclosed until it has received final court approval. 

The class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of people who were essentially marooned at the Memorial Medical Center during the storm of the century. It alleges that the hospital had insufficient electrical back-up in place to deal with the events, as well as failed plans for patient care and evacuation, which resulted in death and in injuries. The hospital sheltered about 1,800 people during the hurricane. 

Memorial hospital was owned by Tenet Healthcare Corporation, but has since been sold, along with the company’s other Louisiana hospitals, interestingly. At the time, Tenet reportedly did not have an emergency command system set up to deal with the catastrophe —but instead instigated a plan during the hurricane. While officials at Tenet lobbied to get federal rescuers to help out—and who ultimately did not—the company, realizing it was on its own, spent something like $1 million Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana, medical malpractice, Memorial Medical Center, Tenet Health
Posted in Class Action, Drugs/Medical, Personal Injury | No Comments »

Medical Malpractice: It Takes Two, Baby

March 24th, 2011. By Kristine B

If you’ve ever watched any of the seemingly endless supply of medical dramas on television (Grey’s Anatomy, House, Private Practice…) you’ve probably heard the phrase “medical malpractice”—or some variation of it—tossed about threateningly. It’s also a popular plot twist in soap operas—General Hospital fans will recall Dr. Patrick Drake (and his half-brother, Matt) being sued for malpractice. 

Great as it may be for adding intrigue to a plotline, medical malpractice—or at least the true meaning of it—tends to get lost and twisted in the drama. So this week, Pleading Ignorance shines a light on what medical malpractice, otherwise affectionately known as “med mal”, is…

Let’s start with the more technical version: medical malpractice is either an act or failure to act on the part of a health care provider, where that act or omission deviates from reasonable standards of care in the field and causes harm to the patient. Got that? Basically, medical malpractice has two parts. First, the negligence and second, the harm to the patient.

1. Medical Malpractice: The Negligence

The negligence part of medical malpractice is the first part of the explanation above. Negligence is any act or failure to act by a medical professional where the care provided does not meet generally accepted standards of practice. So, what does that mean? It means that person providing the health care—a doctor, nurse, dentist or any health care professional—does not provide care that meets accepted standards.

That’s important, because there’s a difference between a medical professional being negligent and a medical professional who has done all he can to help a patient but still can’t find the answers.

Say a patient, we’ll call her Sarah, goes to the doctor with a variety of symptoms. Dr. A runs test after test, has follow-up visits, consults with other doctors and still can’t determine the cause of Sarah’s problems. Finally, after a long process, Dr. A determines that Sarah has cancer and the cancer has progressed too far to be operable. Dr. A is not necessarily guilty of medical malpractice because he has met an accepted standard of care by sending Sarah for tests, scheduling follow-up appointments and so on.

Now, say Sarah goes to Dr. B. Dr. B listens to Sarah for a while but ultimately decides that her pain is in her head. So he sends her home without requesting any tests and does not offer to follow up with her. Sarah repeatedly sees Dr. B with the same complaints, but is always dismissed by the doctor. Eventually, a different doctor diagnoses Sarah with cancer, but by then the cancer is not treatable. Dr. B may be guilty of medical malpractice for not meeting a reasonable standard of care in Sarah’s situation.

Whether or not a doctor is negligent depends on whether a reasonably competent doctor who has Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: medical malpractice
Posted in Drugs/Medical, Pleading Ignorance | 3 Comments »

From Medical Misdiagnosis to Sexual Assault of a Minor – the Story of Michelle Francoeur

February 8th, 2011. By LucyC

Have you heard of Michelle Francoeur? A teacher in small-town Canada recently found not criminally responsible for sexual assault of a minor due to mental illness—mental illness that was misdiagnosed and mistreated, as it turned out. Francoeur’s story may not have been front and center in main stream media—but it reads like a best-seller.

In 2008, the then 37-year old teacher of kindergarten through grade nine and mother of two young children began experiencing health problems. So she went to her doctor, and was subsequently diagnosed with depression. She was prescribed an antidepressant medication known as Effexor or venlafaxine. And this is when her problems began.

During the next few months Francoeur’s behaviour underwent a ‘radical change’. For example, she began drinking alcohol excessively, spent money carelessly, went days without sleeping, failed to eat regularly, and consequently suffered significant weight loss, and talked excessively. Worse, the jury that recently heard her case was told by Francoeur’s defense lawyer, she began taking shortcuts in caring for her two daughters aged five and seven.

And at some point over the next few months she began a series of sexual encounters with a 15-year old ex-student. This marked lack in judgement resulted in her being charged with sexual assault. And presumably, the loss of her job, and income.

As it turned out, the boy initiated the relationship with Francoeur—if you can call it that—by sending her a ‘flirtatious’ text message. That led to several ‘sexual encounters,’ between them before the boy’s parents cottoned on.

During this period, Francoeur’s family members had become very concerned about her behavior, and contacted Francoeur’s doctor, by letter. Somewhere, somehow, this must have led to a revisitation of the original diagnosis, because Michelle was re-assessed and subsequently diagnosed with bipolar disorder. And this is key, because the medication she was prescribed—Effexor—is known to escalate the “manic” phase experienced by people with bipolar disorder. The manic phase is characterized by extreme feelings of elation, euphoria, racing thoughts, inability to sleep and difficulty appreciating consequences.

Francoeur’s lawyer, Aaron Fox, summed up the situation pretty well, when he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation “It was a “very tragic circumstance…It was a lady who has an underlying condition which was misdiagnosed and received medication that really had a catastrophic effect on her.”

Problem is, even though Francoeur’s been acquitted, damage has been done, to her reputation, her self esteem, and very possibly her career as a teacher. Certainly, going back to teaching in the town of Shell Lake, Saskatchewan, with a reported population of less than 200, could pose some problems.

All this from a misdiagnosis which led to a disastrous choice of medication in her circumstance.

Needless to say, Francoeur’s story raises a number of concerns, such as how many others may have been misdiagnosed like Michelle, and suffering as a consequence? Was Francoeur warned of the possible adverse effects of the drug?

And what about the physician—does his misdiagnosis constitute medical malpractice? Just how much responsibility does he or she bear in all this? After all, this entire situation may have been avoided had she not been prescribed an incorrect medication.

Answers may be forthcoming—or not. It all depends on what, if anything, Francoeur decides to do. For now, she must be quite relieved to have her name cleared, to be out of the spotlight—and most importantly—know she has been correctly diagnosed and appropriately treated, so she can get on with her life and redefining ‘normal’.

Tags: Antidepressant, Effexor, effexor-heart-birth-defects, medical malpractice
Posted in Drugs/Medical | 7 Comments »

The Risk of Sleepy Surgeons

January 11th, 2011. By Hunter West

There was a study recently that demonstrated sleepy drivers were just as careless, just as accident-prone and just as dangerous as people who were driving drunk. Sleep deprivation, the researchers found, was just as much an impairment as being high on alcohol. 

So what about doctors? What about surgeons? 

An editorial that came out December 30^th in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) makes that same point for medical professionals. To wit, sleepy doctors are potentially as impaired as drunken doctors. 

It’s something, as patients, we never think about. But think about it—how many times have you been caught yawning on the job? How many times have you nodded off at the computer? How many times have you had to pull over while driving endless miles along a highway, in order to catch a bit of rest because you feel yourself nodding off? 

Should we not assume that surgeons are capable of the same sleepiness? 

The concern is certainly warranted, according to the authors of the NEJM editorial. And one can certainly understand the issue. As an example, a surgeon who has not slept all night following emergency bowel surgery throughout the wee hours is seen scrubbing up for an elective colostomy at nine the following morning. 

Pretty scary thought, huh? 

The editorial authors say that sleepy surgeons should not be allowed to operate without a patient’s Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: medical malpractice, NEJM, Sleep, Surgeon
Posted in Drugs/Medical, Emerging Issues | No Comments »