Hospital Safety Program Aims to Cut Down on Medication Errors – Georgia Attorney Explains

A significant number of medical malpractice lawsuits allege that injured individuals have been administered either the wrong medication or the wrong dose of medication, among other prescription errors.  This is a problem that exists for many hospitals where patients are administered IV drugs.  Because this has proven to be such a problem, one hospital has implemented a safety program to help reduce the risk and incidence of medication errors.

Serious injuries have the potential to cause significant brain damage that can leave a person partially or completely incapacitated.  When catastrophic injures lead to severe brain damage, it can be devastating on loved ones who are caring for the injured person.  Medical malpractice is something that occurs every day despite efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate this type of negligence.  Patients entrust the expertise and qualifications of doctors to provide medical care and treatment that does not cause unnecessary harm.  While many doctors provide excellent care and save lives, there are other doctors who have caused harm to patients as a result of negligent conduct.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that doctors and other medical professionals who have been accused of sexually assaulting their patients receive lenient punishments. Most doctors do not face criminal prosecution, let alone punishment. Furthermore, the overwhelming number of medical boards across the nation take remedial measures but very rarely revoke a physician's license to practice medicine. The average person facing charges such as these would face stiff criminal penalties for such demeaning, egregious, and perverted behavior. If you or someone you love was assault by a physician in Georgia, you should seek the assistance of an experienced personal injury attorney who can fight for your rights, protect your dignity, and tirelessly work to vindicate your claim.

Like other medical professionals, optometrists are held to a certain standard of care when they treat their patients. When they make errors it can cause serious harm to their patients. In certain cases, the optometrist can find himself or herself liable for damages to the injured patient.

We rely on our doctors to give us expert advice that will help to improve or maintain our health and cure our ailments. We put a great deal of trust into the medical professionals who treat us because their decisions can quite literally be life or death for us in many cases. So what happens when your doctor decides that you need surgery, and you undergo a difficult and painful procedure, at great expense to you, and then find out that it might have been entirely unnecessary? Is this grounds for a medical malpractice case? It could be.

Medical malpractice cases arise when patients are injured as the result of negligence on the part of a medical professional who was treating that patient. These cases occur when a doctor fails to diagnose a patient properly, provides the wrong treatment, when patients are not properly warned of the known dangers and risks of a procedure that they have opted to undergo and others. While there are generalities that apply to medical malpractice cases anywhere in the country, there are certain aspects of the law that are state specific. NOTE: This blog article will generally discuss statutes of limitations as they apply to Georgia medical malpractice cases.  The information contained below is for general discussion only.  Therefore, you should not rely on this information and should you have any questions, we strongly encourage you to contact one of our attorneys.

This question arose after a series of tragic events took the life of a vacationer whose family was left brokenhearted. The answer, unfortunately, is not immediately apparent. The answer may depend on where you bring a claim for damages.

A routine dental procedure took the life of a 4-year-old boy in Washington State last week. The boy's mother wants to know what happened. According to Foxnews.com, the boy was on the autism spectrum. His mother took him to a dentist in Vancouver that specializes in treating child patients who suffer from various developmental disabilities. The autopsy and toxicology reports will not be completed for some time. Meanwhile, the heartbroken family waits for answers.

A young Canadian mother has expressed interest in pursuing legal action against a nurse who dropped her child. The baby fell out of the nurse's arms while the nurse was feeding the child. However, the mother alleges that the nurse fell asleep while feeding the baby and dropped the child, resulting in the infant sustaining a fractured skull. The baby's mother wants answers as to how this could have happened.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) will allow first-year resident physicians to see patients 24 hours per day, for up to 80 hours per week starting July 1, 2017. In 2011, ACGME limited the number of hours a first-year resident could see patients to 16 hours per day. ACGME restricted the patient time to 16 hours out of a concern that fatigued trainee physicians would be mistake prone. ACGME now claims that the restrictions it imposed in 2011 made no significant contribution to patient care.

Three older women were blinded shortly after undergoing a controversial stem cell replacement therapy designed to alleviate the symptoms of macular degeneration, according to the Miami Herald,. The three women, aged 72, 77, and 78 respectively, suffered varying degrees of blindness. Even after one year, the womens' vision had not returned. One was totally blind, and the others were left with 20/200 vision. The medical malpractice attorneys at Montlick & Associates, Attorneys at Law want their clients in the Southeastern portion of the U.S. to be leery of controversial, unproven, and risky medical procedures.

A 25-year-old woman from Kansas City, MO died at a Miami-Dade cosmetic surgery clinic within the last week according to the Miami Herald. The woman traveled to the clinic to have a procedure known as the "Brazilian Butt Lift" performed on her. This woman is the second in a month to perish from complications due to cosmetic surgery in Miami-Dade County. She is also the second woman in a year to die after seeking cosmetic treatment at this particular treatment facility. While every surgery presents some risks, the Southeastern U.S. medical malpractice attorneys at Montlick & Associates, Attorneys at Law advise their clients to thoroughly research the physician, the clinic, and the potential complications that could arise from cosmetic surgery.

The birth of a child can be a wonderful, exciting, and highly anticipated event in a person's life. The anticipation of the new arrival skyrockets as baby's due date approaches. Families conspire to shower the expectant mother with gifts designed to ease the financial burden of the newest addition. The parents eagerly await the child's arrival by assembling the gifts, making accommodations, and preparing for the big day. Usually, everything goes according to plan.

Medical malpractice cases in Georgia are very complex legal matters. The complexity stems from the rigorous requirements of Georgia law to state a claim for medical malpractice. A discussion about the level of complexity underscores the reason why people who were injured or sickened by medical malpractice or families of loved ones who died as a result of medical malpractice need the right lawyers on their side, fighting for their rights and the rights of their loved ones.

When we go to the doctor, we are looking to have our health monitored or improved. Unfortunately, sometimes medical professionals fail to diagnose or properly treat the conditions that their patients suffer from, leading to the patient's health actually being made worse rather than better. When a doctor or other medical professional's care performed in the same way as reasonable doctor would in the same situation, and harm occurs to the patient as a result, medical malpractice has occurred. Oftentimes, these cases involve treatment that was not proper, not properly administered, a failure on the doctor's part to diagnose a patient's condition, a failure to correctly diagnose the patient's condition, failure to properly warn patients of possible risks presented by a certain procedure.

Medical Malpractice - Premature Extubation Can Result in Catastrophic Injuries

The Associated Press recently reported that 92 year-old former-President George H. W. Bush had been extubated and was breathing on his own. Merriam-Webster's medical dictionary defines extubation as the reversal of intubation, a medical procedure during which a tube is place in the windpipe (trachea) for anesthesia and medication during surgery, (ii) gastric suction or (iii) assistance whenever a patient is undergoing diminished breathing capacity. In former President Bush's case, the tube, which was hooked up to a breathing machine, had been inserted because he'd developed pneumonia and was having difficulty breathing on his own.

Advances in medical care have enabled thousands of patients to survive conditions that they would not otherwise overcome. The advances in diagnostic imaging have been particularly helpful for identifying internal problems that cannot be evaluated by looking at a patient or documenting that patient's subjective symptoms. While many people have doctors and hospitals to thank for saving their lives, there are many people out there who have suffered at the expense of medical care that has fallen short.

A Medical Malpractice Attorneys Review Report Indicating a Failure to Report Fatal Hospital Infections in Georgia

While many people are aware that surgical errors, anesthesia errors, and birth injuries are forms of medical malpractice that can result in debilitating or fatal injuries, the impact of preventable infections continues to be a top threat to patient safety. Most hospitals and their medial professionals provide quality medical care to patients.  However, a recent Reuters report described a series of infection-related tragedies in hospitals that caused preventable deaths. For example, an infant who was born fifteen months premature tragically died ten days after birth when the baby developed a fatal infection while in the neonatal intensive care unit. In this blog article, our Atlanta medical malpractice attorneys analyze this new report indicating that some hospitals are not reporting deaths caused by hospital-acquired infections.

Recent Survey Finds West Georgia Hospitals are Among the Safest in the State

Hospitals provide life-saving medical care for millions of people in Georgia, and while a significant number of patients receive quality medical care, some patients do not. In fact, some patients suffer injuries or illnesses because of hospital errors that go undetected. As such, it is always nice to see that some Georgia hospitals have received "A" ratings. The national hospital safety advocacy organization, The Leapfrog Group, rated 72 Georgia hospitals, giving 16 of these hospitals an "A" safety grade. WellStar Paulding Hospital and WellStar Douglas Hospital of Hiram and Douglasville were rated the safest in Georgia, both receiving an "A."

Georgia Medical Malpractice Injury Attorney Discusses the Prevalence of Fatal Medical Errors

Medical treatment and surgical procedures are a necessary source of healthcare that we need to save and improve lives. However, the same medical treatment intended to help patients has resulted in harm for hundreds of thousands of lives – something that many people are not aware of. Overall, the United States is known for having an advanced medical system that enables the vast majority of Americans to receive adequate medical care. While millions of people receive medical care and undergo procedures without complications, a significant number of patients are falling victim to medical errors, many of which may be preventable.