Washington Injury Attorney Blog

At least one patient has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit and a federal investigation has been launched into a physician and hospital due to findings that a doctor performed hundreds of unnecessary medical procedures.

According to a report on WBAL TV.com from Baltimore, Maryland, the medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Mark Midei claims that Midei placed stents in two arteries of the patient's heart when only one was medically necessary or indicated.

A cardiac stent is a wire metal mesh tube which props open an artery of the heart allowing normal blood flow through. Some stents are metal with a polymer coating which releases drugs into the opened artery for a period of time.

The investigation into hundreds of patient records showed that Dr. Midei placed stents into hundreds of patients at St. Joseph's hospital in Towson when they were not medically indicated. The investigation is trying to determine whether St. Joseph's hospital was complicit in a scheme to financially benefit the hospital.

The unnamed patient alleges "medical malpractice, fraud, negligent hiring and retention and negligent supervision by the hospital."

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical malpractice and the family of those killed. Medical malpractice can include surgical malpractice, hospital-acquired infections, hospital falls, medical errors, failure to diagnose and anesthesia errors.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Some teachers at a school in Wellesley, Massachusetts school -- Schoenfield School -- became ill after they were accidentally given a shot of insulin instead of H1N1 vaccine. The school is investigating how the staff administering the vaccinations mixed up the flu vaccine with the insulin they had on hand to give to diabetic students.

All of the teachers given the insulin were treated at a local hospital and released.

Information for this posting is from whdh.com out of Boston, Ma.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical malpractice including pharmacy, surgical and hospital errors.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The Washington Department of Health has a Healthcare Associated Infections Program and associated web-site which tracks hospital acquired infections. Washington State has a regulation which requires the Department of Health to keep track of certain types of infections at hospitals throughout the state.

Hospital Associated Infections (HAI) are those that a patient develops after care in a hospital, clinic, doctor's office or after a home visit by a health care professional. Most HAI infections are preventable. By utilizing the DOT web-site, patients and healthcare professionals can find the rate of hospital infections learn and how to prevent them.

The types of infections that the web-site tracks are:

• Central line infections - data is provided for the infection rate by type of ICU.
• Ventilator infections - data is provided that shows the ventilator-associated pneumonia rates by Washington hospital.
• Surgical infections - data is provided for infection rates for deep sternal wounds in cardiac surgery, hip replacement operations, total knee replacements and abdominal and vaginal hysterectomies.

See the Department of Health Infections Program web-site by clicking here: http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehsphl/hai/B_HospPerf.htm

Infections can and do occur in every hospital and clinic in Washington state. If your infection was caused by a improper surgical procedure, failure to follow guidelines or other type of medical negligence, you may be eligible for compensation.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have serious hospital-acquired infections due to medical negligence.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

David Robrahn of Sun Valley, Idaho, has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against his surgeons alleging that Doctors Anthony Buoncristiani and Delmer Pletcher were negligent when they left a surgical device in his knee during surgery reports Fox News.

According to the report, Robrahn had surgery on his knee at St Luke's Wood River Medical Center and when he complained of joint pain and stiffness, an x-ray revealed a broken surgical device in his knee.

Surgical malpractice is one of the most common forms of medical malpractice. Surgical malpractice may include botched surgeries, wrong-site surgeries, or equipment failure. Surgical malpractice can result in severe pain, loss of wages, permanent disabilities or even death.

If you or a loved one has been injured by a botched surgery, you should contact a personal injury attorney with experience in representing medical malpractice cases. The Farber Law Group has more than 30 years experience representing medical malpractice victims and their families.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A California middle school administrator has been awarded a $5 million binding medical malpractice judgment against Kaiser HMO physicians who failed to diagnoses his symptoms which led to a stroke, leaving Howard paralyzed and disabled reports The Los Angeles Times.

Timothy Howard was diagnosed with a migraine by Kaiser's physicians, California state's largest HMO. Howard actually had a carotid artery tear which interrupted the blood flow to his head resulting in a stroke leaving him permanently paralyzed. If Howard had been diagnosed and treated properly with medication, his artery would have repaired itself and Howard would have avoided the disabling consequences of the misdiagnosis.

While Kaiser did not discipline their physicians the said their physicians learned from the case. Said Kaiser spokesman, Jim Anderson:

"They are more vigilant when they encounter cases with the symptoms that Mr. Howard reported to them."

The $5 million malpractice award is intended to cover the cost of Howard's care and medical costs. He is unable to work and care for himself. Howard and his wife, Mary, were also awarded noneconomic damages of $250,000 each.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical malpractice and the families of those who have died.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The King County Medical Examiner (ME) released its annual report on deaths in the county in 2008. The leading cause of non-traffic accidental deaths were falls, primarily in the elderly. The second largest cause of accidental deaths in this category was accidental overdoses of drugs and/or poisons. Highlights of the report are below, or click here to read the full report.

Of the 739 non-traffic accidental deaths, 18% of the accidents occurred outside of King County but the injured person was taken to medical facilities, usually Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, for treatment.

Falls

The ME reported that there were 739 non-traffic accidental deaths in 2008 and that 44% of these deaths were attributed to falls. Approximately 81% of people whose deaths were attributed to falls were 70 years old or over and many of these falls were ground-level falls which resulted in fractures and complications including pneumonia.

Overdose

In 2008, 232 of the 739 -- or 31% -- of non-traffic accidental deaths were caused by overdoses of drugs and/or poisons. In this category, 32% of the deaths occurred in people between the ages of 40-49, 31% occurred in adults between the ages of 5-50. It is interesting to note that there were no accidental drug deaths of children or infants under the age of 15.

Burns

There were 13 fire-related deaths in King County in 2008. Many of these deaths (9 of the 13) were from people who were injured outside of King County but were brought to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment at the Burn Intensive Care Unit.

Drowning

There were 23 drowning deaths in King County in 2008. 18 of the 23 drowning victims were male.

Aspiration

Ten people died from choking in 2008. All of these deaths occurred in adults over the age of 50 and 40% were in the 50-59 age group.

Complication of Therapy

In 2008, there were 81 "complication of therapy" deaths. These are deaths of people who die while being treated using a medical therapy and a complication arises which kills the patient. Complications of therapy sometimes involves medical malpractice and it includes hospital falls or injuries in hospitals, wrong-site surgeries, and prescription errors such as overdose or allergic reaction to a medication.

Of complication of therapy deaths, 37% were related to a medical procedure, 25% were drug related and 38% were surgery related.

Other accidental deaths

Other accidental deaths include:

• 14 people who died of asphyxia
  
• 2 people who died after being hit by an object
  
• 3 people who were struck by trains
  
• 4 people who succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning
  
• 4 people who died of of hypothermia
  
• 1 person who died after being electrocuted

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured in accidents due to the negligence of another. We also represent families who have wrongful death claims when they have lost a loved one due to the negligence of another.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Information for this posting is from:
King County Medical Examiner's Office - 2008 Annual Report prepared by David Fleming, MD and Richard Harruff, MD, PHD.

Richard Mark Garcia, age 51, has been charged with "one count of indecent liberties" after allegedly sexually molesting a patient who has cerebral palsy and was on a ventilator writes Levii Pulkkinen on SeattlePI.com.

According to Pulkkinen's report, the woman was on a ventilator at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle when she was placed on a ventilator because she had pneumonia. She was unable to speak because she had a tracheotomy. The woman communicated to her caregiver that Garcia, who has worked for Harborview for 19 years, forced her to touch him sexually on one occasion and on the following day, he touched the woman.

Garcia's semen was found on the woman's sheets.

It seems that Garcia targeted this patient because he thought she was mentally incompetent. Harborview may find that there was a pattern of patient abuse by this employee though he has only been charged with one count. It is abhorrent to think of someone repeatedly abusing such a vulnerable patient.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been victims of nursing home abuse and neglect and victims of hospital and medical malpractice. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages including pain and suffering.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

I just read an excellent article by CNN's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. Her article, How to avoid falling victim to a hospital mistake is a must-read for anyone who is going to be a patient in the hospital or anyone who has a loved one there. The article is one in a series on the Empowered Patient.

In her article, Cohen tells the story of a young woman who was a victim of a medical mistake. Kerry Higuera went into a hospital ER room because she felt she was having a miscarriage. Because of a mix-up of patients with the same first name, the hospital performed a CT scan of Higuera's abdomen which had unknown but potentially dangerous consequences to her fetus because of the radiation exposure. Radiation can harm the development of a baby causing physical and mental problems.

Hospital malpractice like Higuera encountered are not that uncommon. According to The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, medical mistakes which include the wrong surgical site, the wrong side of the body or the wrong patient happen about 40 times a week in US hospitals. In a study of 2.8 million surgeries, the Archives of Surgeries estimates that wrong-site surgeries occur in 1 out of every 112,994 surgeries.

The article on CNN.com coaches patients to advocate for themselves and provides the following tips:

• Identify yourself, your birthdate and the reason you are in the hospital to every professional who cares for you.
  
• Check your ID bracelet when you are admitted to ensure they have the correct information on it.
  
• Have your nurse read from your chart and tell you what it says about the procedure you are undergoing.
  
• Mark your surgical site with your surgeon in front of you.
  
• Correct and question nurses and/or doctors if they have the wrong information about you including your name, your condition, etc.

Cohen's article is excellent, read the full text here.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been injured by medical malpractice including surgical error and hospital error.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Medical malpractice victims and their families traveled to Washington DC this week to pressure Congress not to take away their rights as work is being done on a national health-care bill. The victims -- many of them seriously injured by medical negligence -- are asking Congress not to limit their ability to redress wrongs that have been done to them.

An article on the Common Dreams.org web-site told about the families from nine states, including victims of catastrophic injury due to medical malpractice, who met with lawmakers. Congress has been attempting to reduce malpractice awards of patients in an effort to reduce health care costs. Says David Arkush, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch division, "Congress should work on curing this epidemic [medical malpractice and negligence], not compounding the damage by shielding bad doctors and limiting the rights of victims."

Every year 98,000 people die of medical errors. Obstetrics and birth injury malpractice can be some of the most noteworthy because the damages last a life time. Parents who have severely damaged or injured child due to negligence during child birth may have a life time of educational and medical expenses and putting caps on awards can severely limit the care a family obtains for their child.

You might want to read the full article, Injured Medical Malpractice Survivors Travel to Washington, D.C., to Protect Patients' Rights here.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical malpractice and their families. We will fight the big insurance companies to obtain the compensation you deserve.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles admitted Monday that more than 200 brain scans performed at the hospital in the past 18 months resulted in patients receiving more than 8 times the normal dose or radiation.

According to a report in The Los Angeles Times, the hospital made a mistake in setting a CT scan machine for a test called CT brain prefusion scan. The test was done on approximately 206 patients since February 2008. The hospital discovered their error when a stroke patient contacted the hospital and told them about hair loss after the scan. The hospital then contacted 206 patients who had undergone the CT brain perfusion scan and they found that 40% had patch hair loss and some also mentioned reddening of the skin.

The CT scan machine was manufactured by GE. GE said that there were no malfunctions or defects in the machine but the mistake was made when the radiologist did an override on the pre-programmed instructions. Usually, when radiologists override pre-programmed settings, it is to lower the radiation settings for children and small adults. Too much radiation can raise a person's cancer risk.

Since the error was discovered, the Food and Drug Administration has asked that all hospitals check their CT scan protocols.

Cedars-Sinai provided a written statement that said:

"There was a misunderstanding about an embedded default setting applied by the machine. As a result, the use of this protocol resulted in a higher than expected amount of radiation."

A CT scan is a medical imaging method which allows radiologists to generate a three-dimensional image to supplement x-rays. It used to diagnose a large number of diseases and for screening for disease. CT scans of the head are commonly used to scan for brain injury, skull fractures, bleeding in the brain, brain tumors or after a stroke. The patients at Cedars-Sinai that underwent the CT brain perfusion were potential stroke patients.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical errors including surgical error, hospital error and physician negligence. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

We came across an article on a British news web-site, Mail Online, which detailed a study by the British Department of Health which examined prescription errors in nursing homes. The study found that half of all nursing home and care home residents had been the victims of prescription mistakes.

The study looked at 55 residential and nursing homes for two and a half years. Researchers found that a typical nursing home resident takes between seven and eight medications. They found that minor errors some times had a ripple effect with one error compounding by others.

Medication errors were made by nursing home staff, pharmacists and physicians. Common mistakes for physicians to make was prescribing the wrong medication or not taking into account the potential interaction of one medication with other medications a patient was taking.

Transcription errors were also causes of mistakes. One patient in the study died after he received a massive morphine overdose after a faxed prescription had a missing decimal point. Another nursing home patient was given 10 times the correct dose of a blood thinning medication and the error was only discovered after the patient began bleeding profusely.

Medication errors can be grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit if a patient was severely injured or died. If you or a loved one has had this happen to you, you might want to contact a personal injury attorney for a case consultation. The Farber Law Group has more than 30 years experience representing medical malpractice victims and people who have been injured in nursing homes.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A Wisconsin jury awarded the family of Gustavo Espinal-Santos, who died of blastomycosis, a $3.7 million medical malpractice award against Bellin Family Medical Center, for failing to diagnose and treat his illness reports the Greenbay Press Gazette.com.

Espinal-Santos went to the Bellin Family Medical Center in Bonduel twice in December of 2003 for treatment of his illness. Two physician assistants evaluated and treated Espinal-Santos for pneumonia. However the PAs did not order basic X-rays other diagnostic tests which would have revealed that Espinal-Santos had contracted blastomycosis, a fungal infection not uncommon to farm workers as it is transmitted by water and soil.

Espinal-Santos was later admitted to St. Vincent Hospital where he was diagnosed and treated for the fungal infection but it was too late for the treatment to save his life and he succumbed to the illness in January 1, 2004. Cure rates for the blastomycosis is usually quite high and mortality rates in treated cases are usually between 0-2% in otherwise healthy patients.

Espinal-Santos is survived by his wife, Maria Zavala McDaniel and two daughters.

A health care provider can be negligent if his or her conduct falls below the "standard of care" one usually should expect of a reasonably prudent health care provider in that class of which he or she belongs.

Washington State has a "wrongful death" statute which allows the family of deceased medical malpractice victim make a negligence claim on behalf of their loved one. Medical malpractice lawsuits can be brought against any health care provider including dentists, pathologists, neurologist, oncologist, cardiologist, toxicologist, pharmacologist, technician, nursing homre or staff, hospital or hospital worker, physician other health care providers.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The parents of Stephanie Kuleba, an 18-year-old Florida girl who died because of complications of anesthesia while undergoing plastic surgery, have filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the anesthesiologist and plastic surgeon who operated on their daughter.

According to a posting on KPTV.com, Kuleba died of a condition known as malignant hyperthermia, a rare genetic disease which was triggered by anesthesia. Kuleba was undergoing surgery in 2008 to correct inverted nipples and breast asymmetry at the time of her death. Malignant hyperthermia is a condition which speeds up the body's metabolism and heart rate. About 90% of patients survive the condition when treated properly. The condition occurs in one of every 20-100,000 people who undergo anesthesia.

Thomas and Joanne Kuleba's wrongful death lawsuit contends that Dr. Steve Schuster's office was not prepared to respond to their daughter's needs once her condition because life-threatening. The Kulebas claim the physicians were negligent in not diagnosing Stephanie's condition soon enough, not administering enough Dantrolene, a drug used to treat the condition, and waited too long to call 911.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people for medical malpractice claims if a physician's negligence resulted in injury or death.

Plastic surgery malpractice can lead to serious injuries or death due to infection or can lead to permanent damage, excessive scarring, nerve damage or disfigurement.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

For more information about malignant hyperthermia, see the Stephanie Jude Kuleba - Awareness of Malignant Hyperthermia web-site.

The family of Miriam "Feenee" Hadley of Virginia Beach settled a medical malpractice lawsuit after the federal government agreed to pay the family $450,000. The family filed the malpractice lawsuit after Hadley, who was 43 at the time, died at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center after a routine surgery. In the terms of the settlement, the government did not admit to fault in Hadley's death.

According to an article in the PilotOnline.com, Hadley underwent surgery in 2006 to remove an infected boil. The lawsuit claimed that Hadley died because the anesthesiologist failed to intubate her after the surgery but should have known to because Hadley had underlying medical issues which included diabetes. Intubation is the placement of a tube in the patient's trachea to protect the airway and provide for mechanical ventilation. Hadley's airway became obstructed and she stopped breathing while she was being transferred from the operating room to the intensive care unit. She went into cardiac arrest and was later declared brain dead.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical malpractice and the family of those who have died. Washington state has a wrongful death statute which allows the family who has lost a loved one because of the negligence of another to recover damages on behalf of their loved one.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A Kennewick doctor, Dr. John C. Perry, has been charged with "unprofessional conduct" and is under investigation by the Washington state Medical Quality Assurance Commission reports The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Perry, who is an obstetrician and gynecologist, allegedly violated the standard of care for six patients, resulting in medical complications for some of them. He allegedly was sexually involved with one patient for whom he reversed a tubal ligation performed other surgical procedures including a DNC.

According to the state, sexual relationships between physicians and their patients is not tolerated because it obscures medical judgment concerning the patient's healthcare and is detrimental to a patient's well-being.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical malpractice. With more than 30 years experience practicing personal injury law, we are here to help you.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

The family of Janice McCall of Illinois has retained an attorney after the 65-year-old woman died of injuries she received during a flash fire in the operating room of an Illinois hospital.

According to a report on Fox News, McCall was set ablaze while she was undergoing surgery at the Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion. She was later transferred to a Nashville, Tennessee hospital where she died six days later.

While patient privacy laws prohibits release of the details of McCall's case, the Tennessee state medical examiner's office ruled her death as accidental and as a result of complications from a burn injury.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured due to medical malpractice and the family of those who have been killed. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A California hospital administrator, Pamela Ott, has been charged with eight felony counts of elder abuse. Ott's name has been added to the indictment of former director Gwen Hughes, former pharmacist; Debbi Hayes, former staff pharmacist; and Dr. Hoshang Pormir, staff physician, who were all arrested in February after a two year investigation by the Department of Health. The four were accused of elder abuse for forcibly sedating patients with high dosages of psychotropic drugs for the convenience of the Kern Valley Hospital and not for the welfare of the patients.

The Bakersfield News, Turn to 23.com, has a copy of the full indictment which says that 22 residents were forcibly give medication. Allegedly, three elderly patients died as a result of the medication including Mae Brinkley, 91; Joseph Shepter, 76; and Alexander Zaiko, 85. Another patient was greatly harmed because of the drugs.

Director of Nursing, Gwen Hughes, allegedly ordered that the psychotropic medications be given to Alzheimer's and dementia patients so that they would be easier to control. She ordered the drugs for any patient who argued with her, was noisy or disruptive. According to the report, she even ordered two patients to be held down and forcibly given the injections when they resisted. She has been charged with elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon.

Pharmacist Hayes allegedly provided the medications without a written prescription or physician approval. She has turned state's evidence after a plea of no contest to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit an act injurious to public health. She was sentenced to three years probation and one year in jail but her jail time is suspended based upon her testimony.

Dr. Pormir, the staff physician, allegedly approved the prescription of the drugs after they had already been filled and without examining the patients.

Ott has been indicted because she hired and directly supervised Gwen Hughes. California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. said:

"As hospital administrator, Pamela Ott, was ultimately responsible for safeguarding the welfare of her patients, instead, Ott abdicated her responsibility and allowed the staff of the Kern Valley Hospital to forcibly sedate patients who questioned their care."

The defendants face up to 11 years in prison if they are convicted. They are being prosecuted by the Attorney General's Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse along with the Kern County District Attorney's Office.

Over prescription of sedating medication is a form of chemical restraint. Chemical restraints should only be given in extraordinary circumstances such as a patient being at severe risk to harm themselves or another in a time of emergency. Signs of over-medication can include tremors, abnormal face and body movements, low blood pressure, hypothermia, cardiac and blood disorders and extreme drowsiness.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured because of nursing home neglect or abuse or the families of those killed.

See our Nursing Home and Elder Abuse Resources.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A Texas jury has awarded a $3.5 million medical malpractice award to the family of a young woman, Melissa Hendricks, who died of cancer finding that her physicians were negligent in not diagnosing her cancer. Because of Texas law, the award will be reduced to $1.5 million which will be shared among the woman's family including her father, husband and two young children.

According to an article in the Denton Record-Chronicle, Melissa Hendricks, who was 33 at the time, discovered a bump on her head. When the bump was still there after a month she went to Highland Family Medical Center where Dr. Stephen Glaser misdiagnosed it as a sebaceous cyst which is non-cancerous. A week later when Glaser's physician's assistant Jason Maris, removed the cyst, he did not send it to a laboratory for testing.

A year later, the Hendrick's lesion returned and Hendricks saw Dr. Jeffrey Charney, a surgeon, who opted not to remove the lesion because Hendricks was pregnant at the time. When she returned later, the lesion had grown substantially and Charney diagnosed it as sarcoma. Hendricks died less than a year after this cancer diagnosis.

The jury found that both physicians were negligent and assigned each 45% of the blame. The jury assigned Hendricks 10% of the blame because she waited one month before seeing a physician even though she knew her family had a history of cancer.

It is critical that cancer be diagnosed it its most early stages because early detection provides for a broader array of treatment options and patients have a better prognosis and a chance for a cure.

In Washington state, a health care provider is negligent if he or she "failed to exercise that degree of care, skill and learning expected of a reasonably prudent health care provider." In Hendricks case, it was reasonable to expect that the lesion be biopsied the first time it was removed.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We represent people who have been seriously injured by medical malpractice and the families of those that have died. With our help, you may recover compensation for your damages. Washington state has a wrongful death statute which allows the a family to file a civil suit on behalf of their deceased loved one.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

Paris Campen was awarded a $7.3 million medical malpractice judgment against Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for medical negligence. The medical malpractice lawsuit was brought on behalf of Campen, now 5 years old, after Paris suffered permanent and irreversible brain damage after the hospital failed to diagnose meningitis.

The lawsuit, which was filed in 2005 by Campen's parents, alleged that Campen's injuries were as a result of negligence on the part of the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.

The $7.3 million award covers Campen's past and future medical expenses and will be placed in a trust.

Failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis of an illness or delay of a diagnosis is one of the most common and preventable medical errors and some statistics show that it accounts for 40% of medical malpractice claims.

If you or a loved one has been injured or suffered due to a medical professional's failure to diagnose, you should contact a personal injury attorney to learn about your legal rights. At The Farber Law Group, we have more than 30 years experience representing medical malpractice victims and their families including children who have suffered birth trauma or injuries.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.

A 16-year-old girl, Charlotte Hartley of the UK, dies from complications arising from tonsillitis after she was misdiagnosed with swine flu and prescribed the anti-viral drug Tamiflu reports the MailOnline.

According to the report, Charlotte was told she had swine flu after talking with someone at a call center. She took the prescribed Tamiflu but, when her condition deteriorated, she was taken to the hospital where her family had found her lungs had collapsed because of a overwhelming bacterial infection. She died shortly thereafter.

People in England are in an uproar after Charlotte's death because the Government has told doctors that they should not see swine flu victims. Charlottes father, Karl Hartley, said, 'This is a breach of our human rights. The Government is restricting us from going to the doctor." He has started a campaign to end telephone diagnoses of swine flu.

This information is provided by Washington Injury Attorney blog, a service of The Farber Law Group. We are a medical malpractice firm with offices in Bellevue and Seattle Washington. We have more than 30 years experience representing medical malpractice victims and their families.

Contact The Farber Law Group at 1-800-244-9087 or attorney@hgfarber.com to schedule a free and confidential case evaluation. We have offices in Seattle and Bellevue to assist you.