The woman, who had just been returned home after giving birth to her child by c-section, was suffering stroke-like symptoms when her mother, Nicole Black dialed 911. Black found her daughter passed out in the bathroom. The first responders were informed that the woman had just given birth and that there was a possible stroke situation.

What Both Sides Agree On

When the paramedics showed up, they did not attempt to transport Galloway to the hospital or take her vitals. They helped Galloway into her mother’s car and her mother drove her to the hospital where she slipped into a coma and later died.

What The Family Says

According to the family, the paramedics did little to nothing to help Galloway despite being told that she had just come back from the hospital having delivered a baby by c-section. They were also told it was a possible stroke situation. According to Nicole Black, however, they did not attempt to render aid to her daughter and instead stood around waiting for the rest of their shift to run out. Galloway was driven to Brandon Regional Hospital, a facility that was not equipped to deal with stroke patients. It’s unclear if paramedics told Black to take her daughter there.

At Brandon Regional, a CT scan revealed a brain bleed. She was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital but it was too late. Five days later, she was dead.

The Paramedic’s Story

The paramedics claim that Nicole Black refused intervention and that she wanted to take her daughter to the hospital. However, they never took the patient’s vital signs which is standard procedure regardless of whether or not the patient ends up going to the hospital.

The Fallout

Three of the fire rescue personnel who were on the scene were suspended 30 days without pay and two were demoted. Lt. John “Mike” Morris was terminated. The punishment was handed down by County Administrator, Mike Merrill, who claimed that Morris “showed no remorse” and insisted that he “didn’t need to take the woman’s vitals” because he could tell just by looking at her what was wrong.

Morris’ union responded that Morris is an Iraq War Veteran and that a failure of leadership was to blame. He accused Merril of attempting to cover his own posterior.

The family will now file a lawsuit for wrongful death against the county in the hopes of securing a nest egg for the three children she left behind. Damages in cases against the government, however, are capped at $200,000. The family will not be able to pursue punitive damages. The state is immune to punitive damages in civil lawsuits.

Talk to a Miami Personal Injury Attorney

The team at the Miami office of Alan Goldfarb P.A. has recovered millions in damages for our clients. If you’ve been injured by another’s negligence, give us a call or contact us online.

Resources:

tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/fire/Hillsborough-gets-notice-of-first-lawsuit-over-paramedics-who-failed-to-treat-stroke-victim_172999342

abcactionnews.com/news/region-hillsborough/hillsborough-emt-fired-3-others-suspended-for-failing-to-follow-protocol-resulting-in-death-of-mom

Immediately after the surgery, the man began experiencing complications. After one attempt to repair the heart after the other, the man left with a new heart but also extensive brain damage. He is now no longer able to walk or talk.

According to the complaint, the man’s doctors did not respond quickly enough to post-surgical complications. This led to a lack of blood flow to his brain resulting in the consequent damage.

This Man is not the Only Patient to Receive a Low Standard of Care at St. Luke’s

St. Luke’s was purchased in 2013 by Catholic Health Initiatives, a non-profit hospital chain. Since then, the standard of care has rapidly dwindled. The program, once renowned in the field of heart surgery, lost several key physicians.

After losing three patients in the first 5 months of 2018, St. Luke’s has voluntarily suspended its heart transplant program. By June 15th, however, the hospital had made key changed to its transplant program and was ready to go back in business. Due in large part to a lack of confidence in the hospital, Medicare and Medicaid announced that they would suspend reimbursements for heart transplants to St. Luke’s.

The Case against the Plaintiff

The hospital maintained that its surgical problems were relegated to 2015 when 21 patients died. The man received his surgery in 2016. Hence the hospital’s defense is: “we didn’t kill that many people that year.” That’s not exactly a winner in most courtrooms. That is especially true considering the fact that were, in fact, a number of patients who suffered complications that year.

While the man is still alive, his quality of life has been greatly reduced by a simple mistake and a lapse in the basic standard of care that the majority of doctors would offer their patients.

The man is not alone in suffering these kinds of symptoms. Many of St. Luke’s patients suffered serious strokes. Several of them died as a result. This man did not. That does not, however, constitute an endorsement of the quality of work that St. Luke’s performed in 2016.

The Case against St. Luke’s

Statistically, St. Luke’s program has generated some of the worst outcomes of any heart transplant hospital in the country and now ranks near the bottom nationally. This must be a tough blow to a center that prided itself on being among the most renowned in the world. Nonetheless, St. Luke’s loses twice as many patients as the national average.

Because of this, not only could the physician who performed the surgery be held liable for medical malpractice, but so could a hospital that failed to act on an increasing number of negative outcomes under his leadership.

Have You Been Injured by Medical Negligence?

If so, the Miami personal injury attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. of Miami can help you get compensation for your injuries. Give us a call at (305) 371-3111 or contact us online for a free consultation.

Resources:

propublica.org/article/baylor-st-lukes-hospital-heart-transplant-brain-damage-lawsuit

documentcloud.org/documents/4572595-Jackson-Lawsuit.html

Her attending doctor, a rheumatologist of Holy Cross Hospital in Broward County, failed to properly diagnose ulcerations in the woman’s feet. The doctor waited a week before transferring the woman to the University of Miami Hospital. But by then it was too late. The tissue in her feet and toes had necrotized. In other words, the tissue died.

Proving Medical Negligence

Statistically, the majority of medical malpractice lawsuits arise from misdiagnosis cases.

In a lawsuit such as this, the plaintiff’s job is to prove that the doctor failed an agreed upon standard of care. In other words, they must show that the defendant neglected to do something that a reasonable doctor would have under the same circumstances.

That injuries result from an adverse medical outcome is not enough to prove malpractice. Even if the injuries suffered by the plaintiff are egregious and life-altering, the plaintiff’s attorney must be able to prove that the doctor failed in some way to offer their patient a reasonable standard of care.

In this case, the patient was admitted to Holy Cross Hospital in 2008 complaining of pain in her hands and ulcerations in her toes and feet. These are common symptoms in those who suffer from vasculitis. Vasculitis is an inflammation of the blood vessels. If left untreated, vasculitis can cause serious damage to organs. It is typically treated with immunosuppressants like steroids. In this woman’s case, the disease was allowed to progress to the extent that caused cell death in her fingers and toes. The only thing that doctors could do for her at that point was to remove the dead tissue.

When the woman arrived at the hospital, she was near death. Nine of her toes and a part of her foot had to be amputated. She also lost her right thumb and the tips of two fingers that had turned black from gangrene.

She was not only disfigured as a result of the doctor’s negligence, but she is left permanently impaired as well. The woman now requires the use of prosthetic devices to help her walk. She can only stand for 30 minutes at a time.

In cases like these, plaintiffs are customarily awarded heavily for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of earning capacity, inability to enjoy their lives, inability to do household chores, and future medical expenses.

The woman was award $5 million for medical costs, $900,000 for lost wages, and $10 million for pain and suffering.

Have You been the Victim of Medical Malpractice?

If so, the attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. in Miami can help you get compensation for your injuries. Give us a call at (305) 371-3111 or contact us online. We can begin preparing your case right away.

Resources:

miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article184004651.html

modernhealthcare.com/article/20180313/NEWS/180319965

Plaintiff’s attorneys allege that the devices never underwent any rigorous standard of testing and that those on whom they were used were unwitting guinea pigs. The results were disastrous. The vascular filters ended up puncturing veins, migrating to various parts of the body, and causing major organ damage.

The verdict was filed against Cordis Corp., a company that was once a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson but was later purchased by Cardinal Health Inc. in 2015. Cordis is one of three major manufacturers of the IVC filter that is being blamed for what could end up reaching billions of dollars in damages.

While the FDA initially approved the device to disperse often-fatal blood clots that can travel to the heart and lungs, the plaintiffs allege that manufacturing defects and poor design caused a number of preventable deaths. At issue is the fact that the IVC filters had a propensity for breaking apart in inferior vena cava where they would eventually find their way to the lungs or heart.

The Replacement Filter

Concerns about the blood-clot filter are not new and had begun only months after the device was cleared by the FDA. A modified version of the filter was produced by a New Jersey-based company. This filter, however, had many of the same problems as its predecessor. Despite concerns about the device, the company neglected to recall the filter resulting in at least 12 more deaths and countless injuries.

According to a confidential study commissioned by Bard, the manufacturer of the filters, the original design had a high probability of breaking apart in the vein, essentially causing the very same problems that a blood clot would. The company later redesigned the filter, but that did not fix any of the major problems.

That begs the question: why did these companies continue to manufacture the filters when they knew there was a strong likelihood that they could crack?

Gross Negligence for IVC Filter Manufacturers?

When it can be proven that a company knew about design flaws that could cause serious injury or death to those who used the product, the question of gross negligence becomes a central issue. It appears that at least some of these companies were aware of the potential hazards of the products but continued to manufacture them, insisting that the product was safe. As study after study and injury after injury proved otherwise, companies like Bard maintain that their product is a “valuable option for doctors” and “safe when installed correctly”.

It appears that the company’s defense will be that the doctors who installed their blood-clot filters are to blame for the numerous deaths and injuries their product has caused.

Let Us Help You Today

If you have been injured by a faulty product, you might be entitled to substantial damages. Alan Goldfarb, P.A. of Miami has handled a number of product liability cases securing excellent awards for our clients. Give us a call at 305.371.3111 and will begin discussing your case immediately.

Resources:

law.com/dailybusinessreview/2018/04/23/west-palm-beach-attorney-wins-3-6-million-verdict-in-blood-filter-mdl/

aw.com/dailybusinessreview/sites/dailybusinessreview/2017/12/28/treatment-worse-than-the-disease-lawsuits-mounting-against-miami-lakes-medical-company/

nbcnews.com/health/health-news/why-did-firm-keep-selling-problem-blood-clot-filters-n488166

But for one unfortunate young man, a nurse who was allegedly high on methamphetamine accidentally removed his breathing tube while he was giving him a bath, causing his heart to stop beating and resulting in irreversible brain damage.

The young man was admitted to the hospital with the flu. He now eats through a feeding tube, is unable to speak, and has difficulty walking.

The boy’s mother said that the nurse appeared to have bloodshot eyes. She observed him shaking and sweating and said that he appeared to be very hyper and anxious.

While the nurse and the hospital deny that the nurse in question was high on meth at the time of the incident, the family’s lawyer claims that the nurse made his addiction known to hospital administrators as far back as 2014. They also claim that he was admitted to a drug rehabilitation program for nurses called IPN (Intervention Project for Nurses).

In 2016, however, the nurse quit the program and they reported him to the health department. He had violated a 5-year contract that forced him to keep up with the rehabilitation program and seek out mental health services.

Is the Hospital Negligent as Well?

When a nurse is admitted to the IPN program, the administrators of the hospital are made aware of the situation. If there is an adverse medical incident involving a patient, the hospital should immediately give the individual a drug test. In this case, the hospital failed to give the nurse a drug test.

When the nurse washed out of the IPN program, he told the health department that he gave up his nursing license and had taken a job as a cruise line consultant. But clearly, that wasn’t the case.

The boy was born with Jeune Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder in which the lungs fail to develop properly. The hospital was aware of his condition, and that the boy needed to be put on oxygen in order to keep him breathing. The nurse was responsible for bathing the boy and asked his mother to help him replace the sheets beneath him. As he was lifting the child, his hands began to shake. The tube in the young man’s mouth had fallen out. The nurse failed to replace the breathing tube and asked another nurse to assist him. The nurse attempted to resuscitate the child but also failed. A tracheotomy had to be performed. By then the boy’s brain had been starved of oxygen for at least 7 minutes.

Calculating Damages

While the hospital and the nurse still deny any wrongdoing, a jury could easily find in favor of the plaintiff in a case like this. The family will likely be able to collect on their subsequent medical expenses including care for the boy for the remainder of his life. They will also be entitled to compensatory damages for pain and suffering, and the loss of happiness, fear, and anxiety that the situation caused them. In addition, they’re entitled to be compensated for lost time from work.

We Can Help You Today

If you have been the victim of medical malpractice in Miami, our talented attorneys are eager to assist you today. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Alan Goldfarb, P.A. for assistance with your case.

Resources:

miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article203066019.html

At the center of the court’s decision was the question of whether or not there existed a “medical malpractice insurance crisis” that plagued doctors with “junk lawsuits”. Bush argued that these lawsuits raised the cost of malpractice insurance and thus represented a threat to the public good. Higher malpractice insurance was said to raise the cost of health services for everyone and thus represented a serious barrier to the health and well-being of Florida’s citizens.

No Evidence that Damage Caps Resulted in Lower Insurance Premiums

The damage caps were instituted in the hopes that they would lower the doctor’s and hospital’s legal liability in lawsuits where patient’s alleged malpractice occurred. The belief was that this would (in effect) create a chain reaction that would reduce health costs for everyone. That never happened.

The justices argued that the most notable impact that the damage caps had was to put an unfair burden on patients that suffered the most egregious personal injury.

The Malpractice Case that Killed Damage Caps

The majority of malpractice cases involve correctible injuries to patients. They may have severe pain and discomfort for a period of time, but can eventually return to their lives. In some cases, however, a patient emerges from a routine surgical procedure with their lives forever changed. Such was the case for one woman, a dental assistant that went to the hospital for carpal tunnel surgery.

Carpal tunnel surgery is meant to reduce pressure on the nerves in the wrist. The woman awoke complaining of severe pain in her chest and back. The anesthesiologist had accidentally put a hole in her esophagus. Nonetheless, she was released from the hospital.

The next day, when she was rushed back, the doctors caught the error. She was placed into a medically-induced coma for three weeks and had to undergo a series of surgeries in order to repair the damage. At the time of testifying, the woman still suffered from pain when eating alongside severe mental anguish.

Economic vs. Non-Economic Damages

Bush’s law effectively put a cap on pain and suffering or non-economic damages. Economic damages include any countable amount of money that a plaintiff lost due to the personal injury. For instance, that can include:

• Current and future medical expenses
• Current and future lost time from work
• Current and future accommodations for living with an injury
• Loss of property

Non-economic damages are more difficult to quantify. Those can include:

• Physical pain and suffering
• Emotional anguish
• Loss of companionship/consortium
• Loss of enjoyment of life

The Bush-era law was struck down under the auspice of equal protection. The law, justices argued, unfairly limited the protection of those who had suffered life-altering injuries due to medical malpractice.

Contact Us Today for Help

If you have been injured in Miami, you’ll need an attorney who will fight for your right to fair compensation. Reach out to the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. and we’ll make certain you get the settlement that you deserve.

Resources:

palmbeachpost.com/news/crime–law/another-legal-hit-for-medical-malpractice-caps-florida/LaRujM9kj9v36IUrTk8rlL/

sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-sup-court-overturns-med-mal-cap-20170608-story.html

Some birth injuries can leave your child with long-term side effects that hinder your child’s future and your financial future. This is why you should speak to an experienced Miami birth injury lawyer to discuss your legal options.

Types of Birth Injuries

Infants are tiny, vulnerable creatures during birth and are prone to injury in numerous ways during the delivery process. Some of the most commonly reported birth injuries include:

• Brain damage due to oxygen deprivation
• Cerebral palsy
• Spinal cord damage
• Shoulder dystocia
• Infection

Common Causes of Serious Birth Injuries

Birth injuries may also stem from the following, which may indicate medical negligence:

• Improper use of forceps or a vacuum;
• Failure to properly administer Pitocin, a labor-inducing medication;
• Failure to diagnose an infection;
• Failure to properly treat an infection after it was discovered;
• Failure to notice and take action on a sudden change in the condition of the fetus;
• Failure to refer a mother who will have a high-risk pregnancy to a specialist; and/or
• Failure to perform the necessary prenatal testing.

Damages You Can Recover Through a Medical Malpractice Claim

If you decide to take legal action against the doctor that delivered your baby, an assisting nurse, or other medical professional, you can pursue financial restitution for the medical bills you incurred and will incur in the future (which may be extensive, depending on the injuries your baby suffered). You can also pursue damages for lost earning capacity, mental anguish, emotional distress, and other damages.

Be Cognizant of the Statute of Limitations

You have a limited amount of time to take legal action and file a medical malpractice suit against the doctor or hospital. A birth injury malpractice lawsuit generally needs to be filed in a Florida civil court within two years of the time of your child’s injury. However, it is important to contact an attorney sooner rather than later to discuss the validity of your case. Why? Because the Florida legislature has passed a number of laws that make it much more difficult to file a medical malpractice lawsuit in state court. A detailed investigation of what exactly happened and what could have been done to prevent it, is required. Therefore, your attorney will need time to review the relevant records and consult with a medical professional to assess the viability of your claim.

Miami Birth Injury Lawyer Here to Help You and Your Child

The Miami medical malpractice attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. are ready to assist you and your child if they suffered a serious injury at birth. This is probably a difficult time for you. You have questions and concerns about what to do next and how your child will receive the care they need. We understand and can provide important legal advice. Contact our office today to schedule a free, confidential consultation.

Resource:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0095/Sections/0095.11.html

In the News

Medical malpractice often seems like something that is made up to add drama to the movies, and television, but unfortunately it happens in real life, too. The stories range from extreme – an instrument left in a body after surgery – to more common – prescribing an antibiotic for a few days too long. All mistakes count, though, even the behind-the-scenes errors. Just ask Fernando Mendez-Villamil. Mendez-Villamil was Florida’s top prescriber of drugs used to treat antipsychotic symptoms. He is currently in federal custody after being charged for felonies, such as conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to defraud the government by making false statements with respect to immigration matters, and conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims. Essentially, he had been prescribing a disproportionate amount of drugs to children, and he was caught by a civilian who tracked the prescriptions. While this is a more extreme case, it just goes to show that medical malpractice can happen anywhere.

Medical Malpractice In Florida

Medical malpractice law can be confusing, but the basics are clear. If you are injured while under the care of a doctor, you can file a suit against them for damages to receive adequate compensation. However, in Florida, there is an additional step. Florida law requires that before a medical malpractice suit can be filed against a doctor, nurse, or hospital, the plaintiff must get a sworn affidavit from another doctor. This makes the process difficult, as it is often hard to get, and this is an expensive step. Unfortunately, this step might get even harder soon. A new law has been passed that changed the requirements for who qualifies as an expert witness to sign these affidavits. Specifically, the law will require that the doctors specialize in the exact same area of medicine in order to qualify as experts. This significantly limits the pool, especially for those who suffered injuries in less common areas.

Reach Out to Us for Help

While these things are terrifying to think about, they do happen. Nobody wants to have something left in them after a surgery or be misdiagnosed by a doctor who didn’t get enough sleep. If you think that something like this has happened to you, or you’ve heard a similar story from someone you know, you should seek legal help. Contact us at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. for some guidance. Our lawyers will help you decide whether your case should be filed and how to proceed from there.

The frequency of surgical errors in the United States varies significantly depending on the source of the information: the current authoritative study, Surgical never events in the United States, published in the medical journal Surgery, quotes a figure of about 1,000 occurrences a year.  Their data, however, is likely low because these figures were derived from medical malpractice claims; since many if not most incidents are resolved without a claim being filed, this method of collection is going to be significantly lower than actual occurrences.  Other sources using different reporting methods claim a number greater than 4,000; however, this number does not reflect unreported cases, and since many cases involve issues that remain undetected, this amount is likely suspect as well.

The Most Common Errors

Surgical errors can cover a wide variety of different issues that have occurred to patients while receiving medical treatment, but a very small number of errors make up the vast majority of reported problems, including:

• Leaving a piece of surgical equipment inside of a patient after closure;
• Operating on the wrong side of a patient;
• Placing an incision in an incorrect location;
• Performing the wrong procedure, or operating on the wrong patient;
• Injuring a nerve during a procedure; and
• Administering incorrect medication, typically anesthesia errors.

All of these issues are not risks related to the actual procedure—a patient’s informed consent waivers do not cover these matters, regardless of what hospital administrators may attempt to convince you.  (A patient might do well to consider how many of them could also be avoided with a permanent marker.)

Causes

While there is debate about the number of times surgical errors occur, one thing that the studies agree on is that the root cause usually stems from poor communication of one sort or another.  This can lead to anything from improper medication dosing, to not having the correct equipment on hand, to medical staff marking the wrong surgical site during pre-operative procedures.

Additionally, personal issues on the part of a surgeon can result in mistakes being made as well: being fatigued from working long hours, rushing or taking shortcuts, and even drug or alcohol problems have all resulted in patients being injured during medical procedures.

Surgeons’ Statistics

The surgeons most likely to have surgical errors statistically aren’t who you may expect.  They tend to be between the ages of 40 and 49 (as are the patients most likely to be injured), and in the middle of their careers—not surgeons new to the practice of medicine, nor ones nearing retirement.  Less surprising, however, is that around two thirds of surgeons involved in a surgical mistake have been involved in multiple events.

Miami Medical Mistake Attorneys

If you or a loved one has been injured during a surgical procedure, contact an attorney at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. online or by telephone at 305-371-3111 today. Our Miami lawyers will discuss your situation with you and determine the best way to proceed with your potential lawsuit.