Hospital Malpractice and Medical Error

We are honored that our founding partner, Michael V. Kaplen, has been Board Certified in the area of Medical Malpractice by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys.

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We have dealt with instances of hospital malpractice where skilled care is not administered and patients are improperly sent home instead of being admitted causing them further injury.

We have handled cases of medical malpractice in the operating room, where malpractice can occur because of surgical errors or anesthesia errors. In many instances we have discovered that the actual surgery was performed by an intern or resident and not the surgeon the patient hired.

We have successfully prosecuted cases where the failure to render proper nursing care results in bed sores developing. We have carefully reviewed patient's hospital charts and discovered that patient's were not turned as often as they should be, where not given proper bed sore precautions. We have seen bed sores that could have been easily treated in the early stages missed causing further pain and even requiring surgery.

In other cases, poor nursing care can lead to the wrong drugs and medication being given to a patient or medication in the wrong dosages.

In hospital rooms, we have seen medical errors, medication errors including, the wrong medication or the wrong dosage given to a patient, improper injections causing nerve damage and improper supervision leading to falls. We have seen medication orders miswritten and not properly carried out. Illegible orders are frequently misread leading to serious personal injury.

We have handled hospital malpractice cases where a doctor or nurse fails to timely respond to an emergency situation or fails to treat an infection properly.

Medical Errors Made During Consultation

Hospitals are expected to have specialists available for consultation. These physicians should have superior knowledgeable in a specialized area and be able to address any problems and questions a staff physician might have. If important decisions are left to an inexperienced intern, resident or even a general practitioner, and they do not call for advice and assistance, injury due to medical error often results.

At other times, by carefully reviewing the timing of events, we have been able to prove that even though a specialist was called for help, they were to slow in arriving and rendering timely assistance.

We have also been involved with cases where patient's with severe brain trauma were not properly monitored leading to further brain damage. This type of special monitoring called intracranial pressure monitoring (ICP) must be undertaken to prevent continuing brain damage from taking place.

Hospital Malpractice in the Emergency Room

Emergency rooms are a class to themselves. A recurring problem in an emergency room is discharging a patient who should have been admitted, failure to have the patient seen by a competent specialist and delaying life saving and essential measures. We have seen emergency rooms that were not properly staffed with experienced physicians and where care was improperly handled by physician assistants who went unsupervised.

In emergency rooms, medical errors can result by sending patients home without taking proper tests or before results of x-rays and CT scans are reported. This can lead to conditions which would have been easily treated becoming out of control, thus needing further treatment.

In one case, a CT scan was not taken of a young man with severe head pain following a car and motorcycle accident. He was improperly sent home . At home, he began to develop seizures and was rushed back to the hospital where a CT scan was finally taken The CT scan showed bleeding in the brain. If a timely CT scan was taken before he was initially sent home, he could have received proper treatment and the avoidance of permanent brain damage.

In another tragic case, brain injury resulted to a young child because the emergency room physician failed to diagnose that the infant with high fever and a stiff neck was suffering from meningitis.

Hospital Malpractice in the Operating Room

Surgery related medical errors can take place in many situations. Some examples we have seen are because of patient mix-ups leading to the wrong surgery being performed on a patient - one of the most serious kinds of hospital malpractice.

We have also discovered through careful investigation that surgeons who claimed to be present in the operating room, were in fact not there at critical times, leading to patient injury.

Inattention by surgeons has led to careless surgical technique and damage to a patient's organs, nerves and blood vessels.

We have also successfully handled cases where a sponge, scissor or other surgical instrument was left inside a patient's body. While standard practice requires multiple counts of instruments and other equipment in the operating room before a patient leaves, we have discovered instances where the count was not done or was done incorrectly.

We uncover these serious medical errors by carefully reviewing a patient's entire hospital chart and by closely questioning all of the staff responsible for the care. Many times, this type of review leads to the finding of crucial discrepancies in a patient's hospital chart, and at other times, changes in the record itself to cover up mistakes have been discovered.

De Caro & Kaplen, LLP--A Medical Malpractice Law Firm You Can Count On

If you have been the victim of medical malpractice, hospital malpractice or nursing home negligence, contact a New York malpractice lawyer at De Caro & Kaplen, LLP for a no obligation consultation. You can telephone us toll free at 1 866 BRAINLAW.