Norfolk-Portsmouth Personal Injury Lawyer - Medical Malpractice

Feres Doctrine on Chopping Block After House Panel Vote

Rick Shapiro — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:17:00 GMT

I have long advocated for the overturning of the Feres Doctrine, a nearly 60-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars active-duty military personnel from receiving compensation for injuries they suffer due to medical malpractice. The rule denies basic protections and protections to the very people who have done the most to earn those rights and protections and guarantee them for other Americans through their service to the country.

So I was pleased to see the members of the U.S. House of Representative Judiciary Committee earlier this week sent legislation that would invalidate the Feres Doctrine to the full House for a vote. According to an Air Force Times report, the Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act is named after a Marine Corps sergeant who died at 29 of melanoma after military doctors withheld their diagnosis from him for 10 years. Like every other active-duty military member since 1950, neither Rodriguez nor his family could seek justice once the gross malpractice of the military doctors came to light.

The bill to overturn the Feres Doctrine may face tough opposition in the Senate, according to the Air Force Times, but at least federal legislators are beginning to recognize the injustice the rule perpetuates. As a member of law practice dedicated to representing victims of medical malpractice, I know how devastating errors and negligence by doctors, nurses, surgeons and pharmacists can be. I hope military members will soon no longer be left to suffer the consequences of medical malpractice without relief.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm which focuses on injury and accident law and our attorneys have experience handling medical malpractice cases. Check out our case results to see for yourself. In addition, check out our FREE special reports on the Top 10 Tips from a Medical Malpractice Insider and the top 5 surgical errors you must know about. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) and we also have a North Carolina (NC) law office. Our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY and DC. We are ready to talk to you by phone right now—we provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube . Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service.

EJL

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Military Must be Held Accountable for Medical Malpractice

Rick Shapiro — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:47:00 GMT

Tech Sgt. Connie Wilson gave birth to a healthy baby boy on Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia (VA). Twelve hours later, she was dead. The circumstances leading up to her death indicate a level of negligence by the doctors who delivered Connie’s child. Her uterine artery was cut and there were two surgical sponges left in her abdomen. Despite this glaring malpractice, her family is unable to pursue any legal action against the doctors in question.

According to an article in The Virginian-Pilot, the military is free from accountability to active military patients when it comes to medical malpractice due to a set of cases from the 1950s decided by the Supreme Court known as the Feres Doctrine. One of the cases featured a soldier who was barred from suing the military even after discovering an Army doctor left a towel marked “Medical Department U.S. Army” inside his body (very similar to what happened to Connie Wilson).

As a personal injury lawyer practicing for over 20 years in Virginia (VA), I’ve seen multiple cases of medical negligence. I handled a malpractice case involving a woman whose husband was in active service. She underwent obesity-reducing gastric bypass surgery in December 1996 by a surgeon in at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, (VA), and endured horrendous after effects due to the improper stapling of the gastric pouch. These effects included vomiting, ulceration, the loss of her teeth due to nutrient deficiency, and multiple surgeries to correct the initial error. I argued the case effectively by illustrating the damage done to my client’s body and the lifelong ramifications. The judge ruled in our favor.

Another case example was in 2002 when my colleague John Cooper, also a personal injury lawyer, represented a 43-year-old woman who went in for a hysterectomy, but the surgeons and staff left a medical sponge in her body. This wasn’t discovered for six months and led to the creation of fistula in her bowels. This required an additional surgery. This client was able to recover under Virginia medical malpractice laws, unlike active military men and women victimized by negligence at a U.S. military hospital or clinic.

It’s outrageous that our brave men and women in the military have no legal options when medical malpractice occurs at a military run facility, but that the same military person can recover for the same malpractice in a private, civil hospital. Under the current unfair, illogical Feres doctrine, the spouse and family members of our courageous military men and women can sue under the Federal Torts Claim Act for malpractice over their care, but the active military member has no recourse! So Connie Wilson’s family including her parent’s Tommy and Connie Wilson are left with no legal remedies, but if the malpractice happened to a spouse, there is a remedy. Totally illogical in today’s world.

Another limiting factor is the fact that actions for medical malpractice involving military families (against the government) can only be filed in federal court and no jury trial is available. Let’s call a spade a spade: The current law makes no sense.

U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) is wrong when he said, “How do you look someone in the eye and say we’re going to take a service member who was not in a combat situation and give them an elevated position for compensation and recovery that we would not give to someone who was in combat? I think that would create a huge problem in terms of morale.”

The better question to ask is, “How do you look a military service member in the eye and say we’re not going to provide elevated compensation and recovery if a military doctor does something wrong while you’re under their care in a civilian, not cambat setting?” We can make the situation more fair by allowing suits in the civilian setting-not in a combat setting.

The fact is, the military should be held accountable when medical malpractice occurs. Congress needs to act and pass legislation nullifying the outdated, archaic law enabling military doctors to shirk their responsibilities when malpractice occurs involving active military—especially in the civilian setting.. It’s just basic, common sensewyAbout the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the NE North Carolina (NC) border and handles car,truck,railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY. PA

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Diagnostic Mistakes Do Happen at Virginia Hospitals

Emily Mapp Brannon — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:35:19 GMT

My law partner John Cooper wrote an interesting piece about misdiagnosis at emergency rooms. Although our area is blessed with many great hospitals, including Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD), Sentara Norfolk General, Sentara Leigh and Portsmouth Maryview Medical Center, emergency rooms are more prone than other types of healthcare settings for misdiagnosis resulting in catastrophic injury. Click here to read John’s piece on our firm’s website’s medical malpractice library. Messing up a differential diagnosis and having serious harm occur to a patient can happen even to the best emergency room physicians. Sometimes the doctor just doesn’t see what is there to be seen as far as symptoms or does not think through all the consequences of being wrong before making a diagnosis.

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia, with offices in northeast NC and Virginia Beach (VA), 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 three injury law blogs: Virginia Beach Injuryboard & Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Emily Mapp Brannon

Virginia Has Special Medical Malpractice Laws on Retained Surgical Towels

John Cooper — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:00:35 GMT

The law of Virginia (VA) related to lawsuits against hospitals or doctors for leaving a foreign object like a surgical towel in your body after an operation has a special discovery rule that gives the patient one year to bring the claim forward after realizing that the surgical sponge or towel has been left in their body. The regular rule for the statute of limitations in Virginia for medical malpractice is two years, meaning that the patient must file suit against the at-fault healthcare provider within two years of the negligence, mistake, or error by that hospital or doctor. Virginia, however, has a special rule extending the time to file suit in the case where the patient has had a surgical procedure and the surgeon, technicians or nurses in the operating room have left something in the patient's body and then closed the patient up not realizing that. Obviously the hospital and doctor are not supposed to leave things in you, but it is not uncommon for these retained surgical device cases to arise, which differ from surgical errors involving accidentally cutting,perforating or nicking a body part like the colon or bowel. Often the patient will go months if not longer before coming to realize that they have some medical equipment like a surgical towel or lap sponge still inside their abdomen after an operation. What typically happens is that the object becomes infected or blocks up some bodily function causing pain. Eventually the patient will get an X-ray or other diagnostic test which will show that something foreign is inside their body cavity.

Realizing that there was not a proper accounting of medical supplies done in the operating room may take some time. At first the family doctor or internist who sees the patient post surgically may not realize this possibility even though the patient reports that she has had a recent hysterectomy or abdominal surgery. The good thing about the law which extends the time in this situation is that it is more fair to the patient to run the time to file the suit from the time that they knew or could have known that this has happened to them rather than from the time that the mistake was first made.

If you think you have had this happen to you or a loved one like your mother or wife, sister or daughter, you should contact a competent medical malpractice injury lawyer as soon as possible. The deadline issue for bringing the claim is still a tricky one. Also the insurance companies for the doctor and hospital will typically fight these claims hard even though the mistake may be admitted. Among other things the surgeon will typically blame the hospital staff for their failure to do the towel and sponge count and they will in turn point the finger back at him for being the captain of the ship who let something bad happen on his watch and under his command. Both healthcare providers will try to say that maybe the patient herself did something wrong or isn't as hurt as she claims despite what is typically a very bad period of pain and the need for at least one more operation to go in and remove the surgical towel or sponge from the patient's body. Any medical error which results in serious and permanent injury should be looked into both to get compensation for the patient and their family and to improve the medical system so that they realize and pay the price for preventable injuries and death.

Shapiro, Cooper 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.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper

Personal Injury Law: Hospitals and Clinics Hit With Increased Infection Injury Malpractice Cases-The Standards Are Rising

Rick Shapiro — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 12:01:30 GMT

Personal Injury Lawsuits: Hospitals and Clinics Adjust To Increase in Infection Injury Malpractice Cases

Medical malpractice lawsuits are on the rise against hospital and other clinics for victims of serious or life-threatening infections-infections that could have been prevented. Most importantly, juries are holding the hospitals responsible for failing to prevent the resulting infections, according to a December 2008 Lawyers USA article, outlining many settlements or verdicts.

For example, the article referred to a November 6, 2008 jury verdict of $13.5 million to a Massachusetts woman who died of an infection caused by flesh-being bacteria after she underwent cancer treatment. Historically, many medical malpractice lawyers have refused to accept personal injury cases relating to infection contraction, because infection can be a known complication of most surgeries and procedures. However, where circumstances can be shown that prove a hospital or clinic violate a specific standard of care directed to avoiding infection, it seems that juries are paying attention and penalizing hospitals for the careless or negligent conduct. The rising standards are based on CDC recommendations, and the "Joint Commission" compendium of infection safeguards--for the full article by my personal injury/medical malpractice trial attorney-partner Jim Lewis, please click here.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Why Families Need Personal Injury Lawyers-Another Medical Error Horror Story

Rick Shapiro — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:36:10 GMT

There has been a recent trial verdict report out of North Carolina by some fine personal injury/medical malpractice lawyers who represented an 11-year-old named Kaleb Davis and his family. Davis suffered an injury when a tree limb fell suddenly on his left shoulder. Doctors at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center gave the 11-year-old a drug called heparin, a blood thinner, because they were concerned about a blood clot in his shoulder area artery. Two days later the 11-year-old could not move his legs, and doctors realized he had bleeding in the area of his neck or cervical spinal cord. Imaging at the hospital showed that the tree limb had ripped and damaged the brachial plexus nerves of the spinal cord in that area. Eventually, the same doctors learned later that there was bleeding in the spinal cord as a result of the dosage of heparin he had been provided. Expert analysis showed that the heparin had caused the bleeding through the spinal cord in the area of his neck.

However, the mistreatment and malpractice of the young 11-year-old at this hospital was not over. The surgeons located a mass in his skull called a subdural hematoma, in association with this finding the orthopedic surgeons placed a halo around his head and needed to stabilize his head and spine. In this procedure, four screws are actually carefully inserted just barely into the skull to keep the halo in place. However, later imaging revealed that one of the four screws was screwed in almost ¾ of an inch too far, right in to the vital and sensitive tissue of the brain. One of the family's medical expert orthopedic doctors testified that the screw had been turned about 36 one half turns too many, and evidence showed that it was likely that a medical resident under the supervision of a doctor, who had made the glaring mistake. The screw caused further bleeding inside the brain and a large hematoma, which cause the 11-year-old to have a stroke, seizures and initially to be unable to breathe or eat. The 11-year-old was later discharged from the hospital in diapers and a wheelchair. The 11-year-old, Kaleb Davis suffered catastrophic injuries, nearly all from harm of negligent physicians and/or residents.

Apparently, as a result of the medical screw inserted three quarters of an inch too far inside his brain tissue, the 11-year-old suffered severe cognitive impairments from this brain injury. He will unlikely be able to live independently or ever working a regular job without special conditions. The various defendants who were sued in Forsyth County, North Carolina, forced a jury trial in late 2007, but ultimately a 12 person North Carolina State jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of the young man, and against one or more physicians at the medical center. The verdict was for just over $10 million in compensatory damages. Attorneys Cliff Britt and John Jillson represented the family and did a fine job in the face of every potential defense raised by the medical center and doctors who denied any responsibility for ruining this young boy's life. Anyone who questions the value of having qualified personal injury lawyers needs to simply look at the facts of this case and understand that medical mistakes and medical nightmares can and do occur, even where well-meaning doctors and hospitals are the defendants. In a setting involving surgery and anesthesiology, it is obvious that any patient, much less a minor, has no idea what the expert standards are for surgical procedures that go wrong or how to begin to study the hospital records. How does a family faced with this tragedy begin to find well qualified doctors that will analyze whether malpractice occurred? This area of the law is one of the most important areas to find qualified personal injury lawyers to represent you or a family member. The medical errors that occur every week are mind-boggling.

Our law firm ( www.HSInjurylaw.com ) has a long history of representing medical malpractice and medical mistake victims, including those injured, as well as those suffering wrongful death of family member due to medical mistakes (mainly in Virginia, West Virginia North Carolina). Please see our case results on this website, send us a quick contact form, and also visit our video library which includes medical malpractice FAQ's if you have questions about whether our law firm can help you with your personal injury or wrongful death arising from a medical mistake, surgical error, medical malpractice, or nursing home abuse or malpractice.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Malpractice Settlements Not a Lottery for Injured Plaintiffs

John Cooper — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:05:30 GMT

Authored by: James C. Lewis

A recent study, "What We Know About Malpractice Settlements," which appeared in the
Iowa Law Review establishes that the likelihood of payment in a malpractice claim against a negligent physician and the amount paid to the injured patient by that negligent physician was "closely related to the merits of the underlying claim of medical negligence."

"Tort reformers" have long alleged that medical malpractice settlements are an "irrational lottery," where fault and settlement are unrelated. Many critics of our tort system intended to bring negligent healthcare providers to the bar of justice relied on a small analysis in a widely cited Harvard Medical Practice study which was originally published in 1996.
The study which appears in the recent addition of the Iowa Law Review looked at ten other studies completed between 1988-2006 that examined settlements in almost 20,000 medical malpractice cases against doctors, hospitals, nurses and nursing homes. This analysis found that weak claims are much less likely to result in payment to injured malpractice victims than strong claims with only 10-20% of weak cases resulting in payment and then, usually only in a "token" amount, such as forgiveness of unpaid medical bills.
Other hand, this investigation revealed that stronger cases against negligent doctors, nurses, hospitals and nursing homes resulted in payments to injured malpractice victims at a much higher rate (85-90%) and for much larger average payments.
The result of this study should put to rest the frivolous claims being put forth by "tort reformers" that medical negligence cases are unjustifiably increasing insurance premiums for healthcare providers who are supposed to be providing good and safe care to the American public. Rather, this study seems to bear out the fact that those negligent healthcare providers who inflict injuries on their patients are being held responsible for compensating those injured patients by the tort system.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper

Surprising numbers in medical malpractice claims

John Cooper — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 09:32:50 GMT

As a personal injury lawyer at a law firm which handles plaintiff's side, medical malpractice cases, I find the following reported numbers startling:

1. The majority of medical malpractice claims close without payment to the injured person.
2. Only 2% of medical malpractice victims make a claim.
3. 80% of the time the doctor or the hospital wins in cases that go to jury verdict.

How to reconcile these statistics:
First, most Americans are not litigious and find the idea of making a claim against a doctor or hospital is distasteful. So, even though over 80,000 Americans are killed by medical negligence each year and many more are hurt, 98% of them never make a claim. They want to trust that their doctors are looking out for them and are forgiving errors because after all, doctors are human. So, it means that the vast majority of people who are killed or severely injured by medical malpractice never even contact an attorney.

The same study that showed that most claims never result in any compensation to the victim also showed that clients did not file medical malpractice claims immediately after injuries. Typically, according to the report, medical malpractice claims are not filed with insurance companies until about 15 to 18 months after the injury. Even though the statute of limitations for medical malpractice is two years in Virginia (VA), the injured patients are giving the doctors and hospitals time to correct their errors and waiting to see if the harm is permanent and catastrophic, before even bringing it to the attention of an attorney.

The batting average for Plaintiff's lawyers against the insurance defense lawyers in medical malpractice is hardest for me to understand. Part must be that some of the meritorious cases are resolved during the litigation process prior to jury verdict by way of settlement. Perhaps, the quality of the Plaintiff's bar handling these cases is not as good as it should be, given the complexity and specialized knowledge involved in trying medical malpractice cases. The ability of the doctor defendant to get his colleagues to circle the wagons and support him must account for some of the bad trial results for the injured patients. Even an experienced personal injury lawyer with a background in medical malpractice would typically only be able to find and afford one or two good quality experts to testify against the doctor on the standard of care, showing that the doctor committed negligent error. For every one good expert we have, the Defense is typically able to find 3 or 4 extremely well credentialed colleagues who will come to aid the doctor standing trial for his negligence. However, some doctor groups go a step further and deliberately try to put pressure on the few doctors who are independent enough to be willing to help Plaintiff's lawyers in these cases. Some medical organizations have threatened to revoke the membership of the physicians who dare to speak out about violations of the standard of care. This conduct I think is extremely unethical. Plaintiff's medical malpractice lawyers and the doctors who are brave enough to come forward and tell the truth in court about other doctors' errors really are heroes. They are the ones who are forcing the medical profession to take a hard look at itself and get rid of bad apples. Not only are we helping to get compensation for deserving people with terrible injuries, we are also holding up a mirror to the health care system to show where things are not being done as they should be.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper

Misdiagnosis medical malpractice or missed diagnosis by a doctor

John Cooper — Sat, 26 May 2007 09:57:25 GMT

One of the main kinds of medical malpractice cases are for injuries or wrongful death that occurs as a result of a doctor making a mistake in diagnosis of the patient.

Our law firm handles medical malpractice lawsuits in Virginia (VA), North Carolina (NC), and elsewhere. So, I bought a new book called How Doctors Think hoping it would help the attorneys I work with continue to be among the best personal injury lawyers in the Norfolk, Virginia (VA) and Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) area doing "med mal" litigation. As I was reading this new best seller by Jerome Groopman, M.D., I was amazed by some of the statistics having to do with misdiagnosis. For example, one study of physicians estimated a rate of error in diagnosis at 15%, meaning 1 in 6 patients were incorrectly assessed. That statistic on medical errors was based upon an article published in a book called Clinical Reasoning in the Health Professions. A study in the prestigious JAMA journal of medicine in 1983 showed that diagnostic errors did not change at an American university teaching hospital even after introduction of newer technologies like CT scans. In fact one of the points of the book How Doctors Think is that physicians may over rely on technology like MRI's and not use their brains enough to think through the patient's problem. Another study cited in the book shows that in the U.S. 50,000 deaths occur each year that could have been prevented if the actual correct diagnosis had been discovered.

Dr. Groopman analyzes the cognitive or mental errors that doctors may fall into and thereby miss the correct diagnosis. For example, a doctor may find something wrong and then stop looking, failing to realize there may be more than one thing wrong with the patient. Another type of mental mistake doctors make in potential diagnostic malpractice is to assume that the most obvious medical problem may be going on like the flu during flu season when in fact the patient has something different, possibly rarer, and more deadly going on.

When we are handling medical malpractice cases at our law firm, we often see the same pattern of mistakes repeated. Sometimes this is a result of a particularly bad doctor who has no business practicing in Virginia (VA) or any other state. Hopefully those bad apples get their licenses taken away by the Virginia Board of Medicine for repeated gross negligence. However, numerous cases also occur where malpractice is committed by a very good doctor who simply made a mental mistake in a given patients care. The legal system still holds these doctors accountable for lapses in judgment if they result in an injury to a patient in violation of the applicable Virginia (VA) standard of care. However, understanding how cognitive errors can occur, it's easier to recognize that mistakes can be made even by a competent physician because of the nature of modern medicine as practiced in the U.S. For example, the over reliance on machines rather than the human brain to guide the diagnostic process is one problem. Another problem is the lack of good communication between doctor and patient that sometimes results from the rushed atmosphere of current medical practice where insurance companies put pressure on doctors to run their offices like factories with one eye always on the clock.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper

Top 5 Ways Not To Choose Your Personal Injury Lawyer

John Cooper — Fri, 18 May 2007 10:19:31 GMT

I have been practicing law in Virginia Beach and Norfolk, Virginia (VA) for about two decades focusing on accidental injury and wrongful death cases. I have heard amazing stories about how million dollar automobile accident cases have gone to lawyers who really had no business handling such a case for all sorts of strange reasons. The suggestions for a person with an accident case in Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) from me and my law partner, Richard N. Shapiro:

1. Do not pick your personal injury lawyer based on the last attorney you happen to have contact with such as the real estate lawyer who did your closing on your refinance or the lady lawyer you hired to do your traffic case in the Norfolk General District Court. These attorneys may be great at real estate or traffic but in today's era of specialization that may not be the attorney that you want handling a serious injury file.

2. Do not pick your personal injury lawyer based upon that attorney who hangs out in the bar that you sometimes got to after work because he is a great guy. That lawyer in the bar may be everyone's best friend, but your automobile injury case deserves an attorney whose main qualification is not just staying on the bar stool when drunk.

3. Do not pick your personal injury lawyer based on who paid the yellow pages $100,000.00 to be on the back of their book. That lawyer may generate a lot of calls from people in Virginia (VA) who have automobile accidents, but it does not mean that he is a good lawyer who will get the best result and give the best service on your injury case just because he shelled out that money to buy some cases.

4. Do not pick your personal injury lawyer because he happens to have the same last name as you do. Although I am sure you love your name, this is no way to decide who is going to represent your family in a big automobile accident case that may be one of the most important financial transactions of your life.

5. Do not pick your personal injury lawyer because they happen to be a family member even though they have never handled significant personal injury litigation. I am sure that your niece who just graduated from law school in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) or your cousin who is an insurance defense lawyer in Norfolk, Virginia (VA) are nice people. However, what you need is someone who regularly handles automobile accident cases with serious injuries from the plaintiff's perspective, meaning that of the injured person. Further, you want someone who has done that for a long time with a proven track record of being good at it. You do not want to have a claim against your family member for messing up your injury case. Go to the right attorney right away.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper