Medical Malpractice

February 6, 2015

Addiction in the Operating Room?

by Louthian Law Firm

Columbia, SC Malpractice When comedienne Joan Rivers died last August during what was described as a routine outpatient procedure, some people began to wonder what went wrong. Now Rivers’ daughter has filed a multimillion-dollar medical malpractice lawsuit against the clinic and the two doctors and three anesthesiologists who treated her mother, alleging that their negligence triggered a coma and her mother’s death from brain damage caused by a loss of oxygen.

Just as parents have discovered that kids can and will access the Internet for more than the Encyclopedia Britannica, hospitals and patients are discovering that medical staff use their electronic devices for researching things unrelated to patient care — things like shopping on eBay, posting on Facebook, personal calls and texting — all while they are supposed to be giving direct and undivided attention to the patient.

November 17, 2014

Smoking Out Lung Cancer

by Louthian Law Firm

lung-cancer With November being Lung Cancer Awareness Month and the 20th being designated as the Great American Smokeout, a day on which smokers are encouraged to make a plan to quit, we were especially interested to learn that South Carolina ranks third worst in the nation for combating lung cancer, according to a survey by Wallet Hub.

Wallet Hub, whose goal is to help consumers and small business owners make better financial decisions and save money, analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the CDC, the EPA, the American Cancer Society, and other sources. They looked at such things as air quality, price of cigarettes, cigarette taxes, number of smokers, lung cancer rates, and smoking bans, among other factors. Here are some of the other rankings for the Palmetto State when it comes to lung cancer:

South Carolina ranked 42nd in cigarette taxes,

November 7, 2014

Will You Misread Me, When I’m 64?

by Louthian Law Firm

beatles When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now

Will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine?

If I’d been out ’til quarter to three, would you lock the door?

August 18, 2014

Time for Shots

by Louthian Law Firm

If you’re young and single, you may think I’m talking about those little glasses of vodka or whiskey meant to be downed in one quick swallow. If you’re a parent of school-aged children, you know I’m talking about back-to-school vaccinations, which are not nearly so enticing.

Way back in 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the authority of the states to enforce compulsory vaccination laws (Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11). Childhood immunizations protect children from diseases which can have serious complications:

Measles – About one out of 10 children with measles also gets an ear infection, and up to one out of 20 gets pneumonia. For every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die.

June 27, 2014

The Menacing Mycobacterium

by Louthian Law Firm

Columbia’s newspaper, The State, has reported that seven – and maybe more – people suffered serious infections after they were treated at University Specialty Clinics for orthopedic problems. University Specialty Clinics is staffed by doctors from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia and has nearly 200 doctors in 35 specialties.

Although the infected patients were treated in 2012 or 2013, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has stonewalled, refusing to release information about the problem.

The problem was mycobacteria, some forms of which cause tuberculosis and leprosy. But the particular form in question at the University Specialty Clinics is mycobacterium abscessus, in a group of environmental mycobacteria found in water, soil, and dust. It can also contaminate medications and products such as medical devices and syringes. According to the National Institutes of Health, the prevalence of nontuberculous mycobacteria has increased, and so it is no surprise that we are hearing increasingly about instances of infections acquired in a healthcare setting.

May 9, 2014

FDA Cautions Against Some Laparoscopic Surgeries

by Louthian Law Firm

Laparoscopic surgeries – those done “robotically” through small incisions – have become preferred by doctors and patients in many instances, because they mean less time in the hospital, quicker recovery and minimal scarring. On April 14, 2014, however, the FDA issued a Safety Communication about the device used to accomplish some of these surgeries, specifically hysterectomies and surgeries to remove fibroid tumors in women.

The surgical device is called a morcellator, and it is produced by five companies, including Johnson & Johnson. The surgeon inserts the morcellator into the uterus through a small incision. Its blades chop up the tissue so it can be removed through the same tiny incision. What they are finding, however, is that when women have an undiagnosed cancer, a uterine sarcoma, the cancerous tissue also gets divided and may spread malignant cells throughout the abdomen and pelvis, “significantly worsening the patient’s likelihood of long-term survival.”

April 25, 2014

FDA Warns Of Steroid Injections For Back Pain

by Louthian Law Firm

On April 23, 2014, the FDA issued a Drug Safety Communication about corticosteroids administered through epidural injection. Commonly used for back and neck pain, the injections may cause permanent blindness, stroke, paralysis, and death, according to the FDA’s warning. Other serious adverse events have included spinal cord infarction, seizures, nerve injury, and brain edema. The reactions may occur within minutes or up to 48 hours after the epidural corticosteroid injection.

The drugs’ labels will now have to carry a warning that these serious consequences can follow when the steroid is administered by spinal injection. Injectable corticosteroids include methylprednisolone, hydrocortisone, triamcinolone, betamethasone, and dexamethasone.

The FDA never approved corticosteroids for injection into the epidural space of the spine. For decades, however, doctors have been using them in this “off-label” fashion for treatment of chronic pain. They are, in fact, a common form of pain intervention. In 2011, nearly 9 million Americans received epidural steroid injections.

March 10, 2014

Wins For Whistleblowers

by Louthian Law Firm

Two recent court rulings are of interest to us as a law firm which represents the rights of whistleblowers who bring to light fraudulent activity.

The first is a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawson v. FMR, a case in which the whistleblowers worked for a contractor hired by Fidelity Investments to provide advisory and management services. The two employees were dismissed after they raised concerns about what they claimed were misrepresentations in the fees charged to shareholders and the disclosures made to the SEC.

February 11, 2014

The Gift Of A Healthy Heart

by Louthian Law Firm

Valentine’s Day is rapidly approaching and a new study says we should be paying as much attention to our sweet tooth as we do to our sweetheart.

A new study, the biggest one so far, warns that eating too much sugar can greatly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes heart attacks, strokes and artery disease. In the past, we were encouraged to limit our sugar intake so that we wouldn’t become obese, or so that our teeth wouldn’t rot. Now the research shows, as Dr. Laura A. Schmidt states in a February 3, 2014, article for JAMA Internal Medicine, “Too much sugar does not just make us fat; it can also make us sick.”

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed data from more than 31,000 people, gathered from 1988 to 2010. They found that people who consumed more than the recommended amount of calories from added sugar were more likely to die of heart disease. (Added sugars are those incorporated into food during processing and preparation, as opposed to sugars naturally occurring in fruits and vegetables.)

February 10, 2014

Failure To Diagnose Cancer In Women

by Louthian Law Firm

Medical mistakes can change the entire course of a person’s life . . . and the lives of his or her family members as well. Unfortunately, misdiagnosis is one of the most common types of medical mistakes, affecting thousands of persons each year. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, almost 40 percent of patients who unexpectedly had to return to their primary care doctor—for whatever malady–did so because they had initially been misdiagnosed.

women-cancer-misdiagnosis

A missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis can run the gamut, from mistaking a heart attack for heartburn to misreading an ultrasound. Both men and women are vulnerable, trusting that their medical caregivers will hold to the highest standards of the profession but sometimes being the victim of negligence and malpractice. This being said, however, it is true that women have unique health issues: reproductive difficulties; childbirth injuries; cervical and ovarian cancer; breast cancer.