A Dallas jury recently rendered a verdict for $23 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages against Boston Scientific Corporation. The case involved a defective Obtryx sling implanted in the plaintiff to treat urinary leakage. The punitive damages finding was immediately reduced to $11 million pursuant to…
Last year CMS quit reporting life-threatening conditions acquired by patients during hospital stays. CMS has now announced that they will resume posting data on their website regarding eight hospital-acquired conditions including when foreign objects are left in patients’ bodies and when patients are given the wrong type of blood. Having…
The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission recently recommended that lawmakers pass a law revoking the licenses of nursing homes that have three serious violations within a two-year period. Changes to medical malpractice laws have made it more difficult for plaintiff’s lawyers to effectively police nursing homes thereby destroying the incentive of…
Modern technology has given us the hazards of texting while driving and now sexting during surgery. A Seattle anesthesiologist was recently suspended for sexting and exchanging sexually explicit messages during surgery. The investigation revealed that he had sent sexually explicit pictures of himself and texts during multiple procedures including Cesarean…
The parents of new physician Dr. Jennifer Sidari of West Pittston have reportedly brought a wrongful death medical malpractice claim against Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center alleging that the hospital failed to properly diagnose and treat an easily diagnosable, treatable and entirely correctable blood clot which ultimately lead to her…
The Center for Justice and Democracy at the New York Law School recently published a study that conflicts with many commonly held beliefs regarding medical malpractice. The summary conclusions of the study are: -Few injured patients file claims or lawsuits; experts agree that when cases are filed, they are not…
The Texas Supreme Court recently denied the request of Rio Grande Valley neurosurgeon Dr. Madhavan Pisharodi to halt the peer review process which he alleges is abusive and retaliatory. Dr. Pisharodi is accused of destroying and falsifying a patients’ records at the Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville, Texas. State…
The Texas Supreme Court recently ruled in Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. v. Palit that when a health care provider fails to provide proper safety and security for its’ employees the failure is governed by the Texas Medical Liability Act(TMLA). A psychiatric nurse was provided inadequate assistance and protection by her employer…
The Texas Supreme Court has held that a properly drafted expert report, as required by the Texas Medical Liability Act, asserting the liability of a nurse was sufficient to support the liability of the nurses’ employer. The Plaintiff, Cherie Potts, was admitted to Christus St. Catherine’s Hospital where she alleged…
A doctor examined a suicidal patient and determined that she did not meet the standard for involuntary hospitalization for psychiatric care and released her. Three days later she committed suicide by gunshot wound to the head. Her sons sued Dr. Rodriguez-Escobar alleging that he was negligent in failing to involuntarily…