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- Medical Malpractice Victim Receives $2 Million Jury Verdict in Richmond Circuit Court
- Malpractice Reform Would Save Little Money, Harm Patients Already Injured
- Surgical Mistake Reportedly Led to Rep. Murtha’s Death
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Posted on 3/6/2010 - Use of "safe-surgery checklist" could reduce medical mistakes
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Medical Malpractice/Doctor Mistakes
Medical Malpractice/Doctor Mistakes
Surgical Mistake Reportedly Led to Rep. Murtha’s Death
John Murtha, a U.S. Congressman for nearly 40 years and the first Vietnam War veteran to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, may have died due to a surgical error, according to the Post-Gazette.comRep. Murtha went in for Laparoscopic gallbladder removal surgery but suffered complications after the procedure. Apparently, the complications stemmed from when the surgeon accidently cut his intestines causing an infection to develop, according to rawstory.com.
Unfortunately, surgical mistakes like these are not uncommon. In fact, nearly 200,000 people die every year due to preventable medical errors. Given these shocking statistics, our law firm recently published a consumer report about the most common surgical mistakes (be sure to take a look if you or a loved one is planning to undergo surgery).
Here's a video discussing the unbelievably high number of preventable deaths due to medical mistakes...
In a confidential study, almost 9 percent of U.S. surgeons responding said they made a major error in the three months prior to being surveyed, according to the Mayo Clinic. Over 70 percent of surgeons attributed the error to themselves rather than a systemic or organizational cause.
If the reports are true, Rep. Murtha death due to a preventable surgical error highlights the fact that anyone, even influential Congressmen, can be adversely affected by mistake mistakes. We need dramatic reform in our health safety system. I recently wrote an article about how many surgical mistakes could be prevented with the use of a "safe-surgery" checklist.
This checklist would provide basic procedural guidelines that must be checked, and re-checked before and after a surgery. A recent study shows that approximately one third of patient complications and deaths have been reduced when surgeons followed the "safe-surgical checklist." Despite its effectiveness, only 20 percent of hospitals have adopted it. This needs to change. It's clear what we're doing now isn't working as well as it should. A checklist could be an effective tool in decreasing the number of needless deaths due to surgical mistakes.
About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm which focuses on injury and accident law and our attorneys have extensive experience handling medical malpractice cases. Please take a moment to review our medical malpractice case results. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) but we're ready to come to you anywhere in Virginia if you've been seriously hurt by a doctor's carelessness. We are ready to talk to you right now and provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042.
Rick Shapiro and James Lewis were included among the "Best Lawyers in America" 2010 Edition, named Virginia "Super Lawyers" For Personal Injury Law (2009, less than 5% of lawyers are chosen), and selected by the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum (2009). In addition, we were the first injury law firm in Virginia to join Primerus, a select group of highly ethical, respected law firms. Our firm has the highest rating of AV from Martindale-Hubbell, a national lawyer ranking organization, which means we have a reputation for preeminent legal skill.
We offer FREE special reports on the Top 10 Tips from a Medical Malpractice Insider and the Top 5 Surgical Errors You Must Know About. Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as a public information service. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube.
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Medical Malpractice/Doctor Mistakes
- Retained Surgical Sponge and Subsequent Complications
- Failed Back Surgery
- Failure to Diagnose/ER Doctor/vascular incident (aortic aneurysim)
- Gastric Bypass (stomach stapling) Surgery complications
- Gallbladder Surgery Error
Awarded: $425,000.00 Settlement
Awarded: The case was settled before the trial for 1.25 million dollars.
Awarded: $700,000.00
Awarded: $550,000.00 settlement during mediation.
Awarded: $425,000
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