On September 2, 2007, Diane McCabe came into the hospital prepared for a vaginal delivery of her second child. After 10 hours of labor, her obstetrician opted for a caesarean section. During the procedure, Diane’s uterine arteries were cut. It was claimed that the obstetrician and the hospital’s attending physician had disagreements over how to treat her; the physician claimed that there was internal bleeding, while the obstetrician claimed that there was not. Over the course of the argument Diane lost a lot of blood, so when the physician finally got her back on the operating table to check the incision, she was too far gone to be saved. Shortly after the birth of her daughter, Jenna, Diane bled to death losing about sixty percent of her blood. Her widowed husband, Officer Joseph McCabe, claims that these doctors completely messed up a simple routine procedure.
Unfortunately, this type of case is more common than Americans know. Two million people died within the last 10 years due to preventable medical errors. That’s 200,000 patients a year! We cannot tolerate preventable mistakes because they are preventable. In this very preventable death, the hospital and staff did not acknowledge any wrongdoing. The hospital needs to be reminded that doctors do make mistakes from time to time and in those instances the patient who is the victim needs to be compensated.
Our firm handles many surgical error cases in Virginia and North Carolina. Unlike some attorneys, we actually try cases in court ourselves. When two doctors, or a doctor and hospital, blame each other for a wrongful death, one of them usually is right.
About the Editors: Shapiro & Appleton personal injury law firm (VA-NC law offices) edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono service to consumers. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY, who handle car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more.