Researchers at Duke University Medical Center recently announced the results of a large study about infections from surgery. According to the lead author of the study:

"We found that patients with surgical site infections due to MRSA were 35 times more likely to be readmitted and seven times more likely to die within 90 days compared to uninfected surgical patients."

"These patients also required more than three weeks of additional hospitalization and accrued more than $60,000 in additional charges."

MRSA infection is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, often called "staph." MRSA infections that occur in hospitals or other health care settings such as nursing homes and dialysis centers is commonly known as HA-MRSA, which stands for health care-associated MRSA.

MRSA usually starts as small red bumps that looks like pimples, boils or spider bites. These can quickly turn into deep, painful abscesses that require surgical draining. In some cases, the bacteria remain confined to the skin, but in other cases they can penetrate into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs.

This topic was the subject of an interesting book review that appeared in the NY Times.

According to this review, in order to prevent a patient from getting an infection when a catheter is inserted in the vein, there are five things that doctors should:
(1) wash hands with soap
(2) clean the patient’s skin with antiseptic
(3) cover the patient’s entire body with sterile drapes
(4) wear a mask, hat, sterile gown and gloves
(5) put a sterile dressing over the insertion site after the line is in

Incredibly, in some hospitals, doctors skip one of these steps. The failure to follow any one of these steps is a departure from the standard of care, and constitutes medical malpractice.

Here are some common examples of negligence or medical malpractice resulting in birth injuries:

(1) Failing to perform a C-section when an emergency arises that calls for the immediate delivery of the baby

(2) Failing to recognize fetal distress

(3) Failing to administer Pitocin correctly (Pitocin is a drug that’s given to induce labor)

(4) Failing to properly use a forceps during delivery

When a doctor’s mistakes cause injury to your baby, you have the right to file a lawsuit and recover money. Money won’t take away the injury, but it sure can improve the quality of your child’s life.

In this article, I’d like to focus on the failure to observe signs of fetal distress and the failure to timely recognize the need for a C-section. Everyone should agree that the goal of obstetrical medicine is to deliver a baby without injury to either the mother or her baby. One of the methods used by the doctors is fetal monitoring. The tapes or strips that are printed out can be normal or abnormal, and they can show whether or not the baby is in fetal distress.

Fetal distress usually occurs when the baby is not getting enough oxygen. This causes the baby’s heart to beat abnormally, and these abnormal heartbeats are what show up on the fetal monitoring strips. If the doctor fails to take action quickly enough, the lack of oxygen can result in serious injury or death.

Fetal distress can occur for a number of reasons, but it has to be recognized quickly and dealt with. There are several ways to try to correct the baby’s breathing, but if that doesn’t work, the next option is to get the baby out.

When a doctor fails to diagnose fetal distress, or fails to take steps to correct it, or fails to deliver the baby before it suffers a horrible injury due to lack of oxygen, that’s medical malpractice.

Here are just a few examples of tractor trailer crashes in the last 10 days:

This is the first in a series of articles relating to fighting for your rights against a trucking company.

On 12/16/09, actress Anne Hathaway was in a minor traffic accident in Los Angeles. Newspaper accounts of the accident say that she was not injured. It would be interesting to talk to her a week after the accident to see how she’s doing. Why? because it's not unusual to be in a car accident and think you’re okay. You tell the cops that you aren’t injured, and you refuse medical treatment. That night, the next day, or even a few days later, you begin to feel pain or soreness. You think to yourself that it’s normal to feel some pain - after all, you were just in an accident. You go about your normal routine. If you’re lucky, the pain goes away completely. In some cases, however, the pain lingers. Once again, you assume that it’s only a minor injury and that you’ll return to normal in the near future.

You continue to hurt, you complain about the pain to your spouse, and you still don’t see a doctor. After a few months, you finally realize that this isn’t going away, and you reluctantly call your doctor’s office to schedule an appointment. After the medical exam, the doctor tells you that you have cervical (neck) and lumbar (back) strain and sprain, and that you need physical therapy and drugs.

At some point you think about making a claim for your injuries, and you contact the other driver’s insurance company. The claims representative takes your statement over the phone, gets your medical records, and tells you that you waited such a long time to see your doctor that it appears the pain you’re complaining about is not related to the accident.

So what should you have done? As soon as you start to feel symptoms of pain or soreness, get checked out by your doctor. There’s no harm in playing it safe. Your own car insurance company will pay for the visit. If it turns out that your doctor says “take 2 aspirins and call me in the morning,” consider yourself very fortunate that you weren’t injured and you don’t have a personal injury claim. On the other hand, if your doctor prescribes pain killers and muscle relaxants, or prescribes physical therapy, you’ve helped your personal injury claim because you got medical attention early on and your medical records will relate the symptoms to the accident.

It’s great to be stoic and put off seeing a doctor following an accident. Unfortunately, this way of dealing with things could come back to haunt you later on when the insurance company accuses you of being dishonest.

The problem has been getting worse, not better. In fact, an article published in the New York Times in December of 2008 called hospital acquired bedsores an epidemic. This article, entitled “Hospitals Face a New Epidemic: Bedsores,” reported that the number of hospital patients with bedsores has risen dramatically over a 14-year period, leading to longer, more expensive hospital stays.

What causes pressure sores? They occur when the blood supply to the skin is cut off for more than two to three hours. When the blood supply is cut off, the skin dies. A bedsore starts out as a red, painful area, and eventually turns purple. If it’s not treated, a bedsore can lead to serious infection and other life-threatening complications, such as blood poisoning.

So what causes the blood supply to the skin to get cut off? It’s from staying in one position for too long. There are areas in your body where the bone is close to your skin, such as your ankles, back, buttocks, elbows, heels and hips. If you’re lying in bed or sitting in a wheelchair for a long time, or if for some other reason you’re unable to change your position, this puts pressure on the skin, and the blood supply is cut off.

Bedsores can be prevented by inspecting the skin for areas of redness. Other ways of preventing bed sores include: (1) changing position, (2) using pillows and other soft padding in wheelchairs and beds to reduce pressure and (3) keeping the skin clean and dry.

Severe bedsores are absolutely preventable, and a hospital or nursing home that allows a patient to develop bedsores should be held accountable.

“Too many patients get sick in the very places that are supposed to heal them. The facts are frightening: As many as one in 10 patients hospitalized in the U.S. will come down with an infection - often due to the very care that is supposed to be restoring health. These infections afflict nearly two million patients a year, cause close to 100,000 deaths and cost up to $6.5 billion.”

Actually, in the U.S., more people die each year from MRSA than from AIDS.

MRSA symptoms can range from mild infections on the skin which cause pimples or boils, to more serious skin infections and infections of surgical wounds, the bloodstream, the lungs, or the urinary tract. It's tougher to treat than most strains of staph because it's resistant to commonly used antibiotics.

If you or a family member came down with a MRSA infection as a result of a hospital stay, you should contact a Delaware attorney to find out whether you are entitled to receive money damages to pay for such things as medical bills, nursing care, loss of income, and pain and suffering.

Her death was caused a pulmonary embolism that occurred when deep venous thromboids that had formed at the site of the surgery traveled to her lung. The jury found that the surgeon ignored several risk factors that should have indicated that blood clotting could be a problem: the patient was somewhat obese and was taking birth control pills; she also had a personal history of asthma and hypertension and a family history of heart disease and stroke.

Had the surgeon considered these risk factors, he could have taken precautions after the surgery that should have prevented the blood clots from forming.

Interestingly, the family's lawyer had demanded $2 million to settle the case, but the insurnace company refused to settle.

Blood clots in the large veins (deep venous thrombosis) is common after othopedic surgery. When a patient is considered at risk for blood clots, all the surgeon has to do is put the patient on blood thinning medication.

How many times have you gotten angry when your insurance company refused to pay for your medical treatment? Well, a group of parents in Michigan decided to take on BCBS when it refused to cover behavioral therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder. The case recently settled for over $1 million, and under the settlement, Blue Cross will pay for behavioral therapy rendered to over 100 children in the last six years.

According to BCBS, it had denied coverage claiming that the therapy was "experimental." Incredibly, during the lawsuit it was discovered that BCBS had internal documents that said:

"Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) is currently the most thoroughly researched treatment modality for early intervention approaches to autism spectrum disorders and is the standard of care recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, National Academy of Sciences Committee and the Association for Science in Autism Treatment."

Blue Cross' own documents further acknowledged that "The earlier the disorder is diagnosed, the sooner the child can be helped through treatment interventions."

If you believe a claim you submitted to your health insurance company was improperly denied, contact a Delaware trial lawyer to find out whether your rights have been violated.

Paxil has been linked to Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension in the Newborn (PPHN) - a serious and life-threatening lung condition that occurs soon after birth. Babies with PPHN and are not able to get enough oxygen into their bloodstream. Their blood vessels constrict, making it difficult for the baby to breath properly. As a result, oxygen to the blood is cut off, and this causes damage to the baby’s brain, kidneys, and other organs.

If you took Paxil during your pregnancy, and your baby was born with PPHN, you should contact a Delaware trial lawyer to find out if you have a case against the drug manufacturer.

The boy’s parents signed releases that spelled out the risks and barred them from filing a lawsuit. Even so, the jury found that the race track should be held accountable because it did not provide barricades, signs, a kill switch on the car, and proper instructions to prevent an accident. After the trial, the Speedway added safety precautions to avoid future problems.

The moral of the story is that if you’re injured after you signed a release, you should consult with a Delaware attorney before you decide that you don’t have a case.

A Maryland jury recently awarded $13 million to a mother who was not told by her doctor that a C-section was an option. The mother had gone to the hospital at 28 weeks gestation with bleeding. After she was stabilized, they kept her in the hospital for the next 6 weeks for monitoring and observation. Although her OBGYN discovered several complications with the mother’s pregnancy, he didn’t tell her about this and never gave her the option of an earlier delivery by C-section. During this time, the mother had what’s known as a complete placental abruption, and this caused her son to have severe permanent and irreversible neurologic injuries.

The Court decided that the doctrine of informed consent required the mother’s doctor to divulge all information that would be material to her decision about whether to continue with the conservative treatment and wait until 36 weeks gestation, or to deliver earlier by C-section.

So what is informed consent? In Delaware, informed consent is the patient’s consent to medical treatment after the patient has been told the nature of the proposed treatment and the risks and alternatives to that treatment which a reasonable person would consider important to the decision whether or not to undergo the treatment. The important thing about informed consent is that it’s more than just signing a written consent form. Instead, informed consent involves communication between the doctor and the patient.

In my next article about informed consent, I’ll discuss what this communication process should include.

A lot of doctors wrongly assume that patients understand the discharge instructions that they go over quickly. When you’re being discharged from the hospital, ask your doctor to explain the treatment plan you should use at home. This includes learning about your medicines and finding out when you can get back to your regular activities. This is another time when having an advocate there with you can be very helpful.

So what can you as the patient do to help protect yourself from becoming a victim of medical malpractice? The most important thing you can do is to take an active role in your care. So how do you do this? Let's take a look at medication errors.
You're at the drug store to pick up your medication.

1. Open the bag . Make sure they gave you what you're supposed to get.
2. Don't sign too quickly. The cashier asks you to sign a paper or an electronic screen that says you agree that you've received the information you need. Most of us sign it without even thinking about it. Don't sign it without checking first.
3. Read every word on the label. Check for the name of the drug, and if the name isn't the name your doctor told you he was prescribing, don't assume they're giving you the generic substitute. Ask the pharmacist.
4. If the pharmacist or the cashier asks if you need counseling on the medication, say "yes."
5. When you're at the doctor's office, write down the medicine that's being prescribed. Take your notes to the pharmacy and compare the name you wrote down with the name on the bottle.

Medical malpractice cases are expensive to bring, and most of these cases are decided in the doctor’s favor. In my next article, I’ll talk about the results of these cases in Delaware.