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Virginia (VA) Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Offices in VA Beach, Hampton & Elizabeth City, NC 
 


Blog Category:

Medical Malpractice/Doctor Mistakes

2/9/2010
James Lewis
Comments (0)

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.com 

Rep. 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.



Labels: Attorney complications error injury Laparoscopic Lewis medical mistake surgery surgical


About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a Virginia injury law firm whose attorneys focus on personal injury and accident law and have extensive experience handling medical malpractice and doctor mistake cases. Please take a few moments to review our medical malpractice case results. We have offices in Virginia Beach and Hampton, VA, but we're ready to come to you anywhere in Virginia, including Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Newport News and Suffolk, VA, if you've been seriously hurt by the carelessness of a doctor, surgeon, nurse or pharmacist.

Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been recognized as among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. Also, Rick and Jim have been named Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law since 2010. Fewer than 5 percent of lawyers are chosen for this professional honor.

Members of our VA personal injury law firm have also been selected by the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009. In addition, we were the first injury law firm in Virginia to join Primerus, a select group of highly ethical and respected law firms. Our VA medical malpractice 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 five surgical errors you must know about. 

While not every injury case meets our criteria, we offer free initial confidential injury case consultation, so call us toll free at (800) 752-0042. If you cannot get through due to high call volume, please leave a voicemail so we can return your call.


Best Virginia Injury Lawyers  Virginia Super Lawyers  





About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton is a Virginia injury law firm whose attorneys focus on personal injury and accident law and have extensive experience handling medical malpractice and doctor mistake cases. Please take a few moments to review our medical malpractice case results. We have offices in Virginia Beach and Hampton, VA, but we're ready to come to you anywhere in Virginia, including Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Newport News and Suffolk, VA, if you've been seriously hurt by the carelessness of a doctor, surgeon, nurse or pharmacist.

Rick Shapiro and James Lewis have been recognized as among the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. Also, Rick and Jim have been named Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law since 2010. Fewer than 5 percent of lawyers are chosen for this professional honor.

Members of our VA personal injury law firm have also been selected by the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009. In addition, we were the first injury law firm in Virginia to join Primerus, a select group of highly ethical and respected law firms. Our VA medical malpractice 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 five surgical errors you must know about. 

While not every injury case meets our criteria, we offer free initial confidential injury case consultation, so call us toll free at (800) 752-0042. If you cannot get through due to high call volume, please leave a voicemail so we can return your call.


Best Virginia Injury Lawyers  Virginia Super Lawyers  




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