Ohio woman wins $22 million in medical malpractice lawsuit
Baby spent 13 hours in birth canal before delivered by cesarean section
On May 21, 2008, a woman from Cincinnati, Ohio was awarded $22.6 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The woman was diagnosed with a narrow pelvic arch in 1997, during her first pregnancy with a nine-pound girl, but was allowed to give birth the natural way. This resulted in the girl spending 13 hours in the birth canal before being delivered by cesarean section.
In addition, the doctor who delivered the child continuously administered the patient drugs to make the uterus contract in hopes that the baby would come out, but it didn’t. This caused brain damage that is affecting the girl’s way of life: she can’t use her limbs properly, she can walk short distances but only with the aid of a walker, she has impaired vision, she has problems using her hands and is mildly retarded.
A jury found the doctor and her doctors group, Group Health Associates, negligent, ordering them to pay the family $22,646,023 in damages. The money will be used to pay for the care of the child.
Source: Anna Boys, “Jury awards family $22.6 M for daughter harmed during birth,” eFluxMedia, May 21, 2008.
Police Taser Causes Seventeen-Year-Olds Death
On March 20, 2008 a former employee of the Food Lion on Prosperity Church Road in Charlotte, North Carolina died from complications after being Tasered by police. The employee, a seventeen-year-old cashier, was involved in a confrontation with his manager and throwing items when police arrived.
There are no reports that the seventeen-year-old was armed and a preliminary check of his file did not show any criminal convictions. The teen’s mother stated that he had no health problems and an autopsy will determine the cause of his death. Homicide detectives are investigating the incident to determine if the officer used his Taser inappropriately.
Source: Victoria Cherrie, “Teen dies after shock from police Taser,” The News & Observer, March 21, 2008.
Clinic’s dirty syringes may have infected thousands with Hepatitis C
In February 2008, Nevada state officials warned thousands of patients that they may have been exposed to the hepatitis C virus due to the clinicians using the same syringes for multiple injections. Six patients have been diagnosed with hepatitis C.
About 40,000 patients at the Endoscopy Center of Nevada were injected with anesthesia from March 2004 through January 2008, when the problem was discovered.
Clinicians at the center gave patients multiple shots of certain medications, using the same syringes to dip back into the vials. This allowed for the chance of an infected patients virus to contaminate the medication for others.
“It just didn’t happen one time,” said Brian Labus, senior epidemiologist of the Southern Nevada Health District. “This is the way they did things at the clinic. It’s the way they have always done things.”
Many patients who are exposed to the blood-borne hepatitis C don’t show symptoms for years. This can cause lifelong problems, including long-term liver damage without the patient’s knowledge and early symptoms like jaundice, nausea and fatigue.
Source: Steve Friess, “Thousands are warned of clinic’s dirty syringes,” New York Times, February 28, 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/us/28hepatitis.html?_r=1&oref=slogin).
State Center fined $12,000 for institutional negligence
Care center knew autistic boy needed supervision at all times
RHA Howell Center near Charlotte, North Carolina, has been fined $12,000 for institutional negligence after a 10-year-old autistic boy wandered away from the center and drowned.
On January 27, 2008, the 10-year-old boy ran from the facility, possibly chasing a small animal, and drowned. A video tape recorded the boy running.
A state report found the center failed to give enough supervision to the boy, who had a history of running. The RHA Howell Center had records stating the boy needed supervision at all times.
The center has said it has corrected all of the problems, so it will continue to get Medicaid reimbursement.
Source: “State: Care center knew boy was prone to running,” News and Observer, February 13, 2008.
State agencies investigating Raleigh scrap metal plant explosion
Two injured from explosions
On February 13, 2008, Army experts from Fort Bragg, North Carolina detonated several explosives found at Raleigh Metals Processors, a recycling plant, after two explosions injured two workers the day before.
Witnesses said there were two explosions at about 11 a.m., followed by smoke. The force of the explosions knocked 27-year-old Adrian Bravo over, and 33-year-old Isai Bravo Santiago complained of ringing in his ears.
Police have determined it was a military device that exploded in the recycling process, putting a hold in the roof. Raleigh Metals Processors does accept spent ammunition, but not live rounds. Investigators are determining how the live ammunition arrived at the recycling plant.
Agents from the FBI, from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and from the State Department of Labor are investigating the incident.
Source: Erin Hartness, “Army Detonates More Explosives; Road Closed Near Scrap Plant,” Wral.com, February 13, 2008.
Dixie Crystals sugar refinery plant explosion kills three Georgia workers
At least 62 people injured in explosion and fire
On February 7, 2008, an evening explosion and fire rocked the Imperial Sugar Co. refinery plant north of Savannah, Georgia, killing three workers and injuring at least 62. The plant is known in Savannah as the Dixie Crystals plant.
Workers began removing debris from the site the next morning, which was still smoldering at midday. The blast from the explosion was so powerful that it shook homes across the Savannah River in South Carolina. The sugar refinery plant is still unsafe to enter, and debris must be removed with structural engineers’ help.
One possible cause of the explosion, according to Captain Matt Stanley of the Savannah Fire Department, was sugar dust that may have ignited, sparking the blast. While this is rare, it is possible.
“A far as we know, it was a sugar dust explosion,” Imperial Sugar CEO John Sheptor said, adding the explosion happened in a storage silo where refined sugar is stored until it is packaged.
Sixty-two people were transported to Savannah-area hospitals.
Joyce Baker, a woman who teaches first aid for the Red Cross, said she was at nearby City Hall when the blast occurred, and raced to the scene. Emergency personnel from 12 counties have been called in to help.
“We had approximately 13 men who were coming out [of the plant], and they were burned - third-degree burns on their upper bodies,” Baker said. “And they were trying to sit down and the only thing that they wanted was to know where the friends were.”
Seventeen people had burns over more than 30 percent of their bodies, and were sent to Still Burn Center. An additional eight patients had burns over 60 percent of their bodies.
Medical director at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah, Dr. William Wessinger, said the victims were mainly burn injuries.
“Many of these also had burns on their face and around their airway which made it very critical,” Wessinger said. “Within a very short time after arrival, a large number of these patients were deemed to have airway problems.”
Out of the 95 to 100 people suspected to be working in the area of the explosion, more than one dozen are still missing.
“We always try to act with hope in mind, no matter what,” Savannah-Chatham County Police Chief Michael Berkow said. “But at this point, we expect to find fatalities inside the building. I don’t know how many, but that’s what we expect.”
In the night following the explosion, flames burned and spread from the main building to other parts of the refinery. Firefighters were attempting to prevent this, as other parts of the building holds flammable materials. The sugar refinery explosion comes after the U.S. Department of Labor issues new inspection guidelines in October 2007 for workplaces handling combustible dust particles. This includes sugar dust.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) classifies buildings that have a lot of sugar dust as “hazardous locations.” Other plants that receive this classification are coal preparation plants and producers of plastics, medicines and fireworks.
The state Department of Agriculture last inspected the Dixie Crystals plant, located in Port Wentworth, on October 30, 2007. At that time, the plant received two citations for violations: one involved an opening in a packing room area that could allow pests to enter, and the other was related to buckets used for packing molasses in a warehouse not being properly protected.
Sources: “Three bodies found in Georgia refinery blast,” CNN.com, February 8, 2008; “Death toll lowered in Georgia sugar refinery blast; 3 dead, many still missing,” FoxNews.com, February 8, 2008.
Medical malpractice, wrongful death lawsuit filed after tumorous lungs transplanted in patient
Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania faces claims it used cancerous lungs in transplant
In 2006, 43-year-old Tony Grier underwent a lung transplant at the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), but received a pair of diseased lungs which may have caused his death six months later. Now, HUP faces a medical malpractice lawsuit from his mother.
Grier had pulmonary sarcoidosis, a rare disease that thickens lung tissue to the point at which it can no longer transmit oxygen into the bloodstream. He believed he was receiving a lung transplant from a healthy 18-year-old, but instead received the cancerous lungs of a 31-year-old smoker.
One month later, he began to complain of pain and coughing. His doctors examined the lungs, found a spot, and prescribed antibiotics, not knowing it was cancerous. By the time the tumor was recognized, it was untreatable. He died six months after the transplant.
His mother, Emma Grier, has now filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against HUP, four physicians and Gift of Life, the organ-donor program that allocated the lungs to Grier. Each defendant is being sued for $750,000 on seven counts, including medical malpractice, wrongful death and common law fraud.
According to the lawsuit, HUP doctors intentionally misrepresented the identity of his lung donor. No date has yet been set for the hearing.
Source: Julia Harte, “Lawsuit: tumorous lungs put in patient,” Daily Pennsylvanian, February 8, 2008.
Driver Awarded $6.5 million in Ford Lawsuit
In Cotulla, Texas, a 41-year-old man was left brain damaged after rolling his 1993 Explorer in 2004, ejecting him from the car. Ruben Zamora’s mother decided to sue Ford Motor Co. after his accident, alleging that Ford was at fault for having a defect in the SUV’s suspension.
Zamora rolled his Explorer after one of the tires lost its tread, shooting vibrations through the rear of the SUV that made it lose control. This caused the Explorer to skid sideways. Zamora was thrown from the vehicle causing severe brain damage.
A court in Texas decided that the Explorer was defective and awarded Zamora $10 million on February 1. Zamora was found by a jury to be 35% responsible for the accident, as he was allegedly not wearing a seatbelt properly. The jury decided on a verdict of $6.5 million against Ford.
A Ford spokesperson said that Ford will appeal the case. 137,817 Explorers were sold by Ford last year, a decline from their sale of over 400,000 Explorers in 2002.
Source: Margaret Fisk, “Ford Loses $6.5 Million Verdict in Explorer Rollover,” Bloomberg.com, February 4, 2008.
Two Lawsuits Against Monsanto Co. Plant Gain Class-Action Status
In Winfield, West Virginia, Putnam County Circuit Court Judge O.C. Spaulding elevated two lawsuits against a Monsanto Co. plant to class-action status. The lawsuits alleges that the former plant contaminated residential areas with dioxin.
Dioxin is a hazardous chemical that is known to remain and build up in fat tissue of animals and humans over long periods of time. Short term exposure could be very dangerous. Dioxin has been linked to birth defects, endometriosis, cancer, infertility, suppressed immunity, and learning disabilities.
The two lawsuits allege that the Monsanto Company, which owned a plant in Nitro, West Virginia until 2000, was contaminating streams and properties of locals with dioxin. The Monsanto Company is a producer of herbicides, and had produced an ingredient called 2,4,5-T that was found to contain dioxin. The Nitro plant produced the powerful ingredient 2,4,5-T for over 30 years, beginning production in 1949.
One of the lawsuits was filed in August 2000 involves approximately 100 owned properties in the Nitro area, specifically in the Heizer Creek and Manila communities. This lawsuit alleges that Monsanto Co. dumped dioxin and did not perform proper waste management of area landfills. The lawsuit seeks punitive damages, and money to help clean up the polluted streams and properties.
The second case, filed in December 2004, could potentially involve thousands of Nitro area residents. This lawsuit alleges that the entire city of Nitro was contaminated as a result of Monsanto’s dioxin waste. It also seeks property cleanups and punitive damages, along with money for residents’ medical expenses.
Source: “Judge gives Monsanto suits class-action status,”Herald Dispatch, January 12, 2008.
Doctors rarely report medical errors, though most support the concept
Only 3.8 percent actually reports major medical errors
In the January 14, 2008 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers published results of a study that looked at whether physicians supported the concept of reporting medical errors and at whether they actually reported errors themselves.
The study found that while three-fourths of the physicians surveyed said they would report a medical error that caused minor harm to a patient, only 17.8 percent had actually reported a minor error. In addition, 90 percent of the physicians said they would report an error resulting in major harm, though only 3.8 percent had ever reported that kind of error.
The study also found that many physicians didn’t know who to report errors to, or what type of errors should be reported.
“The results of this study suggest that physicians’ attitudes about the value of error reporting may not be matched by actual behavior,” the authors of the study concluded. “If correct, the potential causes of this discrepancy ought to be addressed.”
When taking into account the number of both reported and unreported errors, authors came to the conclusion that only 36 percent of the physicians surveyed acknowledged making any error.
“We know that’s probably not the whole story,” said Dr. Lauris C. Kaldjian, researcher in the study. “There’s a certain amount of underreporting.”
The authors of the study stressed the need for health care institutions to establish an environment that emphasizes the significance of error reporting.
Source: Charles Bankhead, “Physicians believe in reporting errors but rarely do,” MedPage Today, January 15, 2009.
