A woman in Napa, Ca., has been awarded $250,000 in a malpractice suit against the surgeon who removed her gallbladder and erroneously cut her hepatic duct. The verdict includes $70,393 for past medical expenses and $179,607 for pain and suffering. According to court documents, while performing a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal), the surgeon cut….
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Patients ask judge to bar equipment maker from selling to back surgeon
Former patients of an orthopedic surgeon in Dayton, Ohio, have petitioned a federal court to force a medical device company to stop selling him medical equipment. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court against Roswell, Ga.-based Mylotec Inc., also seeks damages for 19 former patients of Dr. Lawrence Rothstein. According to the complaint, Mylotec allegedly….
Continue ReadingSurgeons’ Sleep Deprivation and Patient Safety
Research shows that a surgeon who has been working for 24 hours is impaired as much as a drunk person in thinking and motor function. So should patients have a right to know if their doctor has been up all night? Yes, say a group of sleep researchers, who argued for full disclosure of sleep….
Continue ReadingWrong operation teaches surgeon the value of pre-procedure protocols
An orthopedic surgeon who performed the wrong operation on a patient now says he no longer sees any burden in The Joint Commission’s (TJC) Universal Protocol for Preventing Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure and Wrong Person Surgery. And he’s gone on the record in a prominent medical journal to confess error and try to help other….
Continue ReadingChecklists for surgery safety cut death and injuries, new Dutch study shows
Any lingering doubts about the positive effects of comprehensive surgical checklist intervention should vanish following the release of a study conducted in the Netherlands and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The Dutch study evaluated the effects of a comprehensive surgical checklist intervention in six regional and tertiary care centers in the Netherlands….
Continue ReadingMalpractice Questions Raised in Kansas High School Football Player’s Leg Amputation
When Trevor Roberts’ leg bones snapped during a high school football game near Wichita, Kansas, he received the standard orthopedic treatment: a resetting of the bones with a titanium rod to hold them in place. So why did he have to have an above-the-knee amputation because of gangrene six days later? The surgeon who had….
Continue ReadingSpecialized, high volume ambulatory surgery centers improve patient outcomes, study says
Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) that specialize and have high case volumes have better patient outcomes, according to a study by researchers at four U.S. universities. The researchers found that the more a facility specialized in its services –and the higher its case volume for those services, the higher its patient quality scores. The researchers defined….
Continue ReadingDetailed heart surgery ratings now available
Until now, it’s been easier to rate appliances and restaurants than surgeons in most parts of the country, but that should change now that surgeons who perform cardiac bypass surgery are being rated on objective quality measures in Consumer Reports magazine. The consumer magazine recently published ratings of 221 surgical groups in 42 states online…..
Continue ReadingNew alliance creates tools to reduce pain medication misuse
A new patient safety organization has launched a range of online tools and other resources to reduce abuse of opioids by identifying the risks associated with their use. The materials from the CARES Alliance (Collaborating & Acting Responsibly to Ensure Safety) include several “safe-use” programs, tools and educational materials for patients, caregivers and healthcare providers…..
Continue ReadingAnesthetist or Anesthesiologist: What You Need to Know Before Surgery
Nurse anesthetists have been proven to deliver about as safe and high quality care as physician anesthesiologists, but there’s still a key question every patient should ask before being put to sleep by a nurse anesthetist. “Is there a doctor anesthesiologist nearby in case there’s an emergency during my surgery?” That’s the question you need….
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