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.