Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton
All We Do is Injury Law
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Worldwide, an estimated 234 million operations are performed yearly including tens of thousands in Virginia (VA), North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC) and West Virginia (WV). Due to the high frequency of operations, millions of personal injuries are sustained by patients who are the victims of negligence, carelessness and medical malpractice.
In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, in January of 2009, the use of a surgical safety checklist was studied and found to reduce the large number of personal injuries being suffered by patients during operations and hospitals around the world. The surgical safety checklist consists of three components. When the patient is first taken to the operating room, their identity and the type of surgery to be performed are confirmed. Second, before the first incision is actually made the entire operating room team takes a “time out” to confirm the identity of the patient, the procedure to be performed and whether proper informed consents have been obtained. Finally, at the end of the procedure, the patient is again identified, the identity of the procedure that has been performed has been documented, and sponge, needle and instruments are counted to make sure that there are no retained objects or retained sponges in the patient before he or she is taken from the operating room.
The use surgical safety checklists was found to reduce the rate of hospital deaths associated with surgery from one 1.5% to .08%. Likewise, injuries sustained by patients as a result of botched operations was 11% before implementation of the checklist. The use of the checklist reduced that rate to 7%.
Experienced medical malpractice and personal injury attorneys/lawyers protecting the rights of injured patients around the world have directly resulted in the medical community devising new and creative ways to avoid inflicting personal injuries on their patients during hospital operations.
Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. The firm's website is: hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits two injury law blogs: Virginia Beach Injuryboard & Norfolk Injuryboard, and also hosts a video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects.
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.
Car & Motorcycle Accident Attorneys
Crashes Caused by Trucks
Medical Malpractice/Doctor Mistakes
Brain Damage/Head Injuries
Railroad Injury/FELA
All Serious Injuries
Dangerous Drugs & Devices/Product Recalls