The definition of medical malpractice is negligence committed by a physician or a medical personnel, this can be a nurse also. This act is punishable. A patient, who believes that he/she is a victim of negligence from a physician, can file a lawsuit to claim compensation from the party, he/she considers responsible. This can be a lengthy and tiresome lawsuit. Moreover, the outcome may cause a lot of harm.

This type of legal issue is harmful not only for the physician; the hospital suffers a great deal due to this also. Most of the medical malpractice lawsuit is high profile legal issue. And therefore, this receives extreme media exposure. The publicity may cause many harm. The reputation of the physician and the hospital suffers. People may avoid the doctor and the hospital in future for the fear of negligence. Another damaging issue is monetary loss. The amount of compensation may cause huge financial crisis. One lawsuit may evoke many other similar types of legal issues as well.

If you are currently involved in such type of legal case, you need immediate legal assistance. Get in touch in with experienced Johnson City Medical Malpractice Attorneys and have them review your case report. They have the exposure and experience of handling this type of legal case and will be able to give you proper guidance. They will gather evidence and the testimony of witnesses to build a strong defense lineup for you.

However, you should remember that, medical practice lawsuits are complex issues. To prove that you are innocent, the attorney must prove first that the damage is not a result of medical negligence and just a normal course. This requires some level of medical knowledge and just about any attorney will not be able to make a lot of difference. You should hire someone with medical knowledge.

Moreover, to solidify the lawsuit, you need expert testimony. This means the testimony of another physician from the similar field. Your attorney must have required resources, so that this testimony can be used in the court.

As a physician, you have serious responsibility. Everyday, you make life changing decisions. One mistake from your part and something fatal may happen to someone. A lawsuit can distract your focus and your career may suffer due to this. Therefore seek help from a competent attorney, before it’s too late. A skilled attorney may be able to reduce the amount of the compensation or even get the lawsuit dropped altogether.

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So my mom requested a week off from work via a note/excuse from the dentist to her job. My mom came back on 5/4/10 at 8:30 am and had 11 teeth extracted. I’m attaching a diagram of the teeth she had extracted, which after a recount, seems to actually have been 12 instead. But that isn’t the issue itself. I went with her that morning, and she came out at about 9:30am. It took about an hour to perform those extractions. They sent my mom out with a prescription for Lortab (Hydrocodone) and with gauze packed in the front of her mouth and on both sides of the back of her mouth, and her mouth was bleeding pretty badly. They gave her this lame paper that talks about packing the gauze into the teeth for stopping the bleeding, which wasn’t helping. The trouble was, my mom couldn’t pack the gauze into each spot quick enough before the first piece was literally soaked with blood. Later on in the day around 4pm or so, my mom was laying down and basically gagged on a huge bloodclot hanging down. She had these all in her mouth, and using gauze was in vain. Her mouth was bleeding from all extraction points so heavily that i’d have to estimate about 2 tablespoons or more of blood every 30 seconds or so. I called and said it was an emergency and told her about my mom’s bleeding. The dental coordinator transferred me to the dentist’s voicemail. I hung up and called back – she told me to hold because the dentist was with a patient. She took my phone number and said she’d have the dentist call me back.

Meanwhile, my mom passed out in the floor and I barely caught her before she cracked her head on a nearby metal bed rail. She had clearly passed out from blood loss. The dentist calls back and I told her what happened. She said, “How do you know she passed out from blood loss? Has she eaten anything?” I’ll let that ignorance speak for itself, considering the procedure she had.

I called 911 for an ambulance. The only available ambulance in Atlanta, GA (we live in Decatur, GA) was in downtown traffic, 30+ minutes away from us. My mom came to again and was extremely weak. A firetruck came and they checked her blood pressure. 170/80. Because the ambulance was so far away, they suggested I drive my mom to the ER. I was going to do that anyway, but feared that I couldn’t get her to the car. She was able to get to the car herself. I drove her to the ER and the staff changed her gauze that was filling up with blood 3 different times while waiting to be seen.

They took her into the ER and nurses and doctors took turns using teabags to attempt to stop the bleeding. The teabags were only mentioned to me by the dentist via phone, shortly before driving my mom to the ER. I doubt they would have helped because it was so bad and some of the bleeding (probably 3 to 3.5 pints) had subsided by the time she actually got seen in the ER. She spent 27 hours in the ER and I stayed with her. They checked her blood frequently and said it wasn’t showing low counts. Yet we’ve found that Lortab (Hydrocodone) says in it’s “contradictions” explanation that it can alter medical test results. So her blood may have been dangerously low (she had very pale lips and skin, and was extremely weak) but showed up as high (still 170/80) in the hospital. She had no previous blood pressure issues, wasn’t taking any blood thinners, etc. She woke up the next morning with her entire lips/mouth number and stopped up ears. Discharged from the hospital after 24 hours of tons of blood tests, etc.

She’s still weak, and it’s 5/8/10 now. She saw an emergency dentist this morning. They immediately gave her an antibiotic – what the first dentist knew to do on 4/28 during the initial visit when she diagnosed her with periodontitis – but didn’t. It is apparently known in the dental world that gum disease can exacerbate the bleeding massively. Yet this dentist chose to pull all of those teeth at once, and the consequences were horrible. Had my mom went to sleep, she literally could have bled to death.

I called the Area Manager of the dental place where she went, and also have spoken with the regional manager. They aren’t wanting to do much, and want us to go through their “malpractice insurance” place, stating that they would appoint a lawyer. We ha
We have this new dentist paperwork that shows she immediately gave my mom an antibiotic for her gums as soon as she had the first visit. We have ER and hospital paperwork which we’ll pick up in the morning, which shows she came to the ER that same afternoon with massive bleeding. The dentist didn’t seem to care when I had her on the phone, and she said all of that was “normal” for having that many teeth extracted at once.
We’ve called some local malpractice/negligence lawyers, simply wanting to sue this dentist to get the hospital bill money (Probably $ 5,000+) and some for negligence (if possible) because my mom could have been critically injured or could have died had I not been at home to drive her to the ER. All of the lawyers seem ignorant so far. They want a “letter from another dentist stating that the former dentist did something wrong.” The new dentist said she “could only state facts and can’t say for sure what happened in the former dentists’ office or what they could have done wrong.” No dentist will write this letter, fearing retaliation and legal issues. How do we deal with this? Clearly it’s wrong and they’ve done her wrong. They shouldn’t have pulled that many teeth with her gum condition, and didn’t even bother to give her antibiotics to start treating it, though they knew about it a week before the extractions. Also, they billed her $ 500+ to her credit card BEFORE the extractions.
Quite odd. Even the ER and hospital bills take a few weeks to get in the mail usually.

The new dentist was shocked to learn of this massive bleeding as a result of the simple extraction of these teeth, with the former dentist clearly being aware a week ahead of time that she diagnosed my mom with a periodontal disease. No antibiotics were prescribed to my mom for this, and the infection in the gums apparently may have caused the bleeding to be much worse when the teeth were extracted later on. In this case, the dentist should not have pulled that many teeth at once, knowing that this could happen. Other facts: The lack of concern for my mother’s well-being by those at the dental office. They wanted my mom to come in at 8:30am the NEXT morning, when I said she was bleeding heavily. Ridiculous. When my mom was in the hospital and about to be discharged, they called her at the hospital harrassing her about an 8:30am appointment the next day. She was taken out in a wheelchair because
she was so weak. They had no concern for her at all. The Regional Manager said the dentist office should have given my mom an instruction sheet regarding the use of teabags to stop the bleeding; this discharge paper only mentions using gauze and in no way or form mentions any other method to stop the bleeding. The failure to give an antibiotic to my mother ahead of time before even considering extracting the teeth, when it is very clear that the new dentist immediately prescribed an antibiotic while even doing a routine exam. That paperwork proves that. The multiple bills that have been incurred into the thousands of dollars. Possibly as much as a $ 5,000 hospital bill for the 27 hours that my mother spent in the ER and general hospital.
Why are we having such a hard time getting someone to take this case? It’s ridiculous. It’s like the lawyer wants us to get a letter from another dentist saying the first dentist is guilty – and then they win the case, get half of the money and didn’t do a freaking thing and we’d have done all the work ourself. No dentist will give this, it’s impossible.

Advice?

http://www.myotherdrive.com/dyn/file/164.155223.06052010.55526.6a64fi/numbs.jpg This is what they extracted. As clearly seen, one cannot pack all of these with guaze when bleeding THAT much due to a condition that the first doctor didn’t treat.

The company isn’t doing much. They’re trying to get out of as much as possible, yet the regional manager told me they’d be “disciplining and writing up employees, and training them properly.” I can’t use that because it was word of mouth on the phone, though.

Best answer:

Answer by Rescue
http://www.theolsonlawfirm.com/
“I cannot tell what you are trying to ask. There is no clear malpractice in your question, just an adverse effect. (although your comment about losing 3.5 pints of blood is clearly incorrect). Antibiotics are not a standard treatment for periodontitis, and it will not help at all. If you are trying to ask why no lawyer wants the case, it is probably because lawyers work for profit and your mom has two defects: questionable liability and minimal damages.”- Laughter_ every_day. Are you a lawyer? If yes, what state are you licensed to practice law? If you are not a lawyer, get rid of all legal answers. If you were really a lawyer, why don’t you have your contact info on here? Why is your IM and email shut down? This family has a case my friend who is a lawyer says. The woman nearly bled to death. If that is no a reason for lawsuit, I don’t know what is. She went to the ER so don’t tell him is wrong. You were not there.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Best answer:

Answer by someone
ZERO
They take the case on contingent. Meaning they get paid 1/3 of the Money your mom is awarded when she wins her case.

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In his State of the Union Address, President Obama said that he was willing to look at ??medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits? as a means of reducing health care costs. The President since has launched a program intended to revamp state medical malpractice laws. Among the recommended changes is a proposal to create health courts where specially trained judges would decide medical malpractice cases rather than juries doing so.

According to Arizona attorney Paul Friedman, frivolous lawsuits are neither common or problematic. “Total medical malpractice costs amount to less than 1 percent of national health care costs. Thus, any tampering with the civil justice system will do virtually nothing to reduce the cost of medical care,” said Friedman.

University of Pennsylvania Professor Tom Baker, a leading authority on medical malpractice litigation, called the malpractice lawsuit crisis ??urban legend mixed with the occasional true story, supported by selected references to academic studies.? (Baker, Tom, The Medical Malpractice Myth, 2005).

According to Friedman, the real problem is that there is far too much medical malpractice and little is being done to prevent it. Medical errors kill as many as 98,000 people in the U.S. each year. It is the fifth-leading cause of death, and it is responsible for more deaths than motor vehicle and workplace injuries combined.

Research conducted by Harvard University found that only one of every twenty-five patients injured by medical negligence ever presents a claim for medical malpractice.

The vast majority of these injuries go entirely uncompensated. Thus, the cost of malpractice is overwhelmingly borne by injured victims and their families ? not insurance companies, hospitals or medical providers.

Medical malpractice insurers have always made it burdensome for lawyers to take these cases. If the insurers offer to settle them at all, it generally comes on the courthouse steps following years of intensive work and perhaps six-figure cost advances by the lawyer on behalf of the injured clients. This explains, in part, why so few victims of medical malpractice ever bring a claim for their injuries. Very few lawyers will even consider taking on these cases.

Said Friedman: “Frivolous malpractice lawsuits are virtually non-existent. For every medical malpractice case that is filed, one or more medical doctors who are experts in the relevant field of medicine have rendered fully informed expert opinions that the defendant medical provider was negligent, sometimes grossly so. The experts who testify in these cases commonly come from academic medicine. They are at the pinnacle of their profession.”

According to Friedman, medical malpractice reform should be focused on ways to prevent medical errors, and not by depriving seriously injured victims of their rights to reasonable compensation for the harm done to them. “Prevention comes from education, an ability to accept responsibility, and stricter control by medical licensing boards,” said Friedman.

About O’Steen & Harrison, PLC

O?Steen & Harrison, PLC has protected the rights of injured accident victims and their family members since 1974. The firm concentrates on personal injury, medical malpractice and dangerous products with a special emphasis on harmful drugs and defective medical devices. O?Steen & Harrison is av-rated (the highest rating) by the prestigious Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. The firm?s attorneys have recovered more than $ 3 billion dollars for clients.

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He died of Congestive Heart Failure at 1:30AM on Tuesday at home.

Upon relaying the news to my mother (a nurse of 30 years), she immediately could not understand why he was not immediately admitted to the ER, siting that besides the fact that every symptom he was experiencing was a blatant sign of CHF, the extreme resting heartrate should have been enough to warrant an immediate admittance to the hospital for monitoring, especially given his well documented past heart issues.

We began asking everyone we could think of that had medical backgrounds: “What do these symptoms mean, and what should one do about it?”, whilst siting the symptoms. Every person, without hesitation, answered in the same general manner: Congestive Heart Failure, go to the ER immediately!

Along with the same prognosis, they all concurred that any competent person with a medical background should have seen CHF coming a mile away, and failing to do so is complete negligence.

Now, obviously, we’ve have already had several people of medical backgrounds agree in the negligence factor of our situation, but being that this is a major undertaking that we are considered, I do feel that having as much confirmation as possible that we are acting justifiably in the matter will be a good thing for us. Also, though they are medically educated people, none were lawyers, so I also would like to know, from a legal standpoint, if even have a leg to stand on.

Please, what should we do? Should we trust the bad taste that has been left in our mouths with this whole ordeal and try for vindication?

Thank you in advance for any and all help.

Best answer:

Answer by healthminded
You already know the answer. The family needs to contact lawyers dealing in medical malpractice. Your mom who is an RN already knows this, and everyone else has told you, so, why trust those here on yahoo over the ones who are with you and telling you?

Please, contact a lawyer and they will be able to tell the family what their rights are. They should totally pursue this! So sorry for the loss of this man.

What do you think? Answer below!

Best answer:

Answer by Love Canada
Did you tell the doctor you had a previous condition?? Did you tape the conversation?
Its your word against his, you will lose
Its your word against his very rich doctors, you will lose
Go for it
Did you take the medication as per the instructions, and can you prove it??

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Best answer:

Answer by MSAD
Contact your local Bar Association. They will have a lawyer referral service.

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If you feel that you or someone in your family was the victim of wrongful medical practice, you may be interested in filing a medical malpractice lawsuit against them. All medical professionals are required to maintain personal liability insurance in case of a lawsuit so it is important that you are prepared to face their lawyers.

They will assuredly have experience on their side, so you will want to make sure you are just as prepared. Since these lawsuits can be worth millions of dollars, having a more experienced, although more expensive, lawyer will almost always pay off in the end. Finding a medical malpractice attorney to help win your lawsuit will be crucial in these times.

It is important to understand what works and what does not when you are considering searching for a medical malpractice attorney. Many cases, such as voluntary cosmetic surgeries are not successful in court. Since these procedures are done at the request of the patient, the court typically rules in favor of the doctor.

A strong understanding of medical malpractice will help you in your search for a medical malpractice attorney. Many causes of death which cause people to search for legal assistance are not, in fact, the fault of the medical practitioner.

But if you have already gone over the reasons for the lawsuit and you feel you should seek legal counsel, there are several things to consider. It is first important to know that there is a statute of limitations which prevents someone from filing a lawsuit after an unreasonable amount of time has passed.

In addition, you have not waived your rights to a trial simply because you signed a consent form. No consent form gives the doctor the right to perform malpractice. So if you feel that you have been the victim of wrongful medical practice, you may enter consultation with a lawyer.

A typical medical malpractice attorney will give consultations to determine the next step in the lawsuit process. As with many cases, you will have the option to go to trial and let a jury decide the outcome. A judge will preside over the case and will require expert testimony to determine that the medical practitioner was at fault.

While there are many deaths every year in hospitals, most are not attributed to the wrongful acts of the doctors, but simply to medical complications. A good medical malpractice attorney will be able to help you decide if you should pursue a case or not. You should be very careful when considering a medical malpractice lawsuit. If you case is unreasonable or unfounded, you may be getting involved in a long and expensive process with no positive outcome.

You should also be sure that you are filing the lawsuit for the right reasons. Anger and grief fuel many lawsuits today and some of them may even be successful with the right lawyer. But if you have a good case, a respectable medical malpractice attorney will be able to help you get your deserved payment.

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Filing a medical malpractice claim is not an easy task. The lanes and by-lanes of the legal world at myriad and twisting and only an experience medical malpractice lawyer who is familiar with medical malpractice laws can really help you in obtaining a proper settlement. If you or one of your loved ones has suffered due to medical negligence, choosing the right medical malpractice attorney may be the most important decision you make towards getting a compensation for your suffering.

The starting step is always the decision to pursue a medical malpractice claim and once that has been taken you need to start hunting for the proper legal representation. Law in itself is highly complicated, but medical law is even more so because of the way in which malpractice laws are pitted in favor of the medical providers. Each state has its own set of medical malpractice laws and so you need to find a lawyer who is well acquainted with the laws of your state.

Another major factor in filing a medical malpractice claim is the costs involved. Expert witnesses – usually other physicians – are required to testify against the erring medical professional to prove that he/she is guilty of malpractice. These experts can be very, very costly and you need to be ready to pay the fees if you wish to go ahead with the litigation. Most of the time, medical malpractice lawyers will only be ready to pick your case if you have a substantial claim involving serious or permanent injury and are ready to put in the initial cost.

Once it is final that you do have a substantial claim to make, you need to follow certain guidelines to choose the right malpractice attorney to represent your case. Start by finding an attorney who has represented clients on multiple medical malpractice cases and won them – most likely it should be the major part of the lawyer’s practice. Lawyers focusing on medical malpractice laws are specially certified in some states. Unless and until the lawyer knows the medical claim laws inside out, he can’t represent you properly.

The best option is to go in for a medical malpractice lawyer who has long experience of negotiating large settlements with the medical providers and their insurance companies. Such lawyers would have in-dept knowledge about the medical industry and the ways and means in which a settlement can be negotiated. They would also immediately know whether a case is worth taking to court or not.

Finally pick the attorney or lawyer that comes with the best references. If an attorney you trust or a close friend refers you to a medical malpractice lawyer they trust, it is always good to work with him or her. That way you can be more comfortable working with the lawyer. Also make sure to understand fully the terms of the retainer agreement before you sign it. The costs of taking a medical malpractice claim to litigation are generally very high and largely prohibitive for most people; so it is very important to understand if the lawyer will be getting his contingent fee from the net recovery or the gross recovery.