Kentucky Injury Lawyer Blog

The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently surveyed dozens of outpatient surgical centers for infection-control guideline compliance. Over 75% of all operations are performed at these outpatient centers. The areas explored included environmental cleaning practices, hygiene, equipment reprocessing, handling of blood- glucose-monitoring equipment and drug injection safety.

A Journal of the American Medical Association study found lapses and deficiencies at an alarming rate. About 60% of the centers received citations from state agencies for infection control deficiencies and about 30% received citations for medication administration lapses, such as using single dose vials of medicine multiple times.

Kentucky consumers, as well as those nationwide, need to be wary and alert when patients at these facilities, in addition to anytime they are receiving medical treatment and care. Do not be afraid to voice concerns and be your own advocate.

Medical errors are responsible for many injuries and deaths nationwide. Our profession calls this area of law medical malpractice. Consulting a lawyer experienced in handling these matters is usually easy. Most lawyers will provide a complimentary initial consultation to evaluate a claim or case and let the person know if they can help.

Please feel free to contact me directly for more information or to ask questions. Just click here, and it will take you to a page containing contact information.

Special interest groups and politicians blame lawyers and the innocent victims of medical negligence for rising health care costs. They focus on medical malpractice litigation, but never talk about the actual medical malpractice that leads to it.

High health costs often stem from medical malpractice itself, not lawsuits related to it. That is why Florida hospitals and surgeons, in an effort to control costs, started a program to reduce complications.

The $800,000 program will try to find even simple errors that cause patients to develop infections and other problems that keep them in the hospital longer or force them to return with relapses, the Sun-Sentinel reports.

Simple changes such as an increased rate of handwashing could decrease costs and increase patient care according to Dr. Clifford Ko, research director ath the American College of Surgeons.

Everyone makes mistakes, including doctors. Medical malpractice is a serious problem and the attorneys of Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones help individuals injured by physician negligence recover for their doctor's mistakes. If you or someone you know has been a victim of medical malpractice, or if you have any questions feel free to contact Shawn Cantley directly by clicking here: profile.

For the full text of the Sun-Sentinel article, click here.

Years after being judged in his medical malpractice case, Dr. Glen Hicks will have to pay the $211,953 judgment. The Court of Appeals’s decision finally enables the Hutchersons to receive compensation almost 9 years overdue.

James and Sharon Hutcherson filed a medical malpractice suit against Dr. Hicks on May 18, 2000 for a claim that arose in 1999. Dr. Hicks told his employer and insurance company about the suit but didn’t take any further action until 4 years later, after the Hutchersons’ had already gotten a judgment against him.

Although he had convinced the trial judge to set aside the judgment, the Kentucky Court of Appeals disagreed. Declaring Dr. Hicks’ reasons for delay “wholly inadequate” and “simply incredulous”, the court reinstated the judgment.

It is good to know that, at least in Kentucky, a doctor has to take responsibility for the commission of medical malpractice. As the court stated, turning the matter over to the insurance company does not absolve one “of the responsibility for staying abreast of the status of the litigation”. Although, those harmed by a physicians’ negligence shouldn’t have to wait 9 years for compensation like the Hutchersons’ did, at least they will finally receive what they should have gotten when the judgment was first entered in 2004.

The attorneys of Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones represent individuals injured by medical malpractice and physician negligence. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Shawn Cantley directly by clicking here: profile.

For the full text of the Kentucky Court of Appeals opinion, click here.

Former Miami Dolphins wide receiver O.J. McDuffie prevailed in his claims against doctors who treated him for injuries that ended his career. Last week a Miami-Dade County jury ruled that an improperly handled injury was worth $11.5 million.

McDuffie filed suit against then Dolphins team physician John Uribe, due to his handling of McDuffie's injured big toe in 1999 that led to the end of his career.

McDuffie claimed he was told by Uribe he could continue to play even though MRIs of the toe showed tendon damage. McDuffie played in nine games in 2000, none in 2001 and was cut before the 2002 offseason with three years left on his contract following a almost ten (10) year NFL career.

McDuffie, who was first-round pick from Penn State in the 1993 NFL Draft, led the NFL with 90 receptions for 1,050 yards and seven touchdowns in 1998. Ultimately, he finished his career with 415 receptions for 5,074 yards and 29 career touchdowns.

``The jury awarded $10 million of lost earnings and $1.5 million of anguish,'' McDuffie’s attorney said. ``They were moved by the shattered dreams and career of Mr. McDuffie.''

According to WMYT, Dr. Jackie Maxey is being accused by another doctor in town of engaging in unprofessional conduct and the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure has issued an emergency order of restriction.

The Board's report give examples of misconduct by Dr. Maxey. For instance, it sayd that Patient A as referred to in the report, is a 17 year old girl who visited Dr. Maxey with strep throat, but instead she claims that Dr. Maxey asked her mother to leave, then performed a PAP smear and didn't even look at her sore throat.

The report goes on to discuss a Patient B, who is a 21 year old who claims in one year she had 20-30 pelvic exams by Dr. Maxey. She also claims she had to allow the doctor to examine her in order for Maxey to write a prescription for another ailment.

When confronted by the board Maxey told them it was his passion to find and treat Gynecological Cancer because his mother died from the disease.

Maxey must be accompanied by a chaperon when doing his exams but the Board still allowed him to practice medicine. However, the Board indicated that Dr. Maxey could face criminal charges.

Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones attorney Larry Jones, who is experienced representing sexual abuse victims says, "I've got a feeling that this is just the tip of the iceberg. If a doctor is performing unnecessary pelvic exams, it is a tremendous violation of his patients' trust. This is just wrong!"

For more information about the rights of those who are sexually abused by a person in a position of trust, contact Larry Jones directly at 1-866-587-0002 or by email: click here to email Larry.

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Illinois has struck down a legislatively enacted “cap” on damages in medical malpractice trials. Verdict or jury “caps” are laws created by the legislature to prevent victims of medical malpractice or other serious injury from being fully compensated by those who injured them. The laws limit the amount of money juries are allowed to order defendants to pay to those people they hurt. The cap in Illinois, $500,000, was actually relatively high compared to some states that have caps as low as $200,000.

Many legislatures enact these caps with the completely mistaken belief that they will somehow help reduce the cost of healthcare or lower doctors insurance premiums, and to combat what the proponents of tort reform call “frivolous” lawsuits. However, many states, like Texas, that have had caps for almost a decade or more still continue to see increases in health costs and medical malpractice premiums despite these artificial caps that do nothing but prevent justice from being given.

Brian D. Cook, medical malpractice attorney with Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones PLC states that “legislative caps on personal injury awards are simply an attempt by the legislature to take the power away from the ordinary citizen in one of the truly democratic institutions that we still have – the jury process. By substituting their own opinion for that of the individual, the juror, legislators overstep their bounds and unreasonably trample the American justice system.”

Donnna Delgado, a St. Petersburg, Florida woman has alleged in a recent lawsuit that her dental surgeon left an inch-long piece of steel in the wound that was created in what was supposed to be a routine surgery.

The drill bit was finally found after almost one (1) year lodged in Delgado's right maxillary sinus. She wound up in a hospital, where the medical staff detected the foreign object. She was referred to another hospital for surgery.

Oral surgeon, Ralph Eichstaedt, first saw Ms. Delgado in 2008 and recommended pulling two decayed teeth, the suit said. Delgado returned two weeks later for the procedure.
What is odd about this case is that Ms. Delgado is a nurse for an insurance company; she had premium dental coverage – therefore, cost was not the issue.

In an interview Ms. Delgado’s attorney described her satiation: "She was discharged, and they said, 'Get over it,' " he said. "When she went back to complain, they kept saying, 'This is normal,' and 'Stop complaining.' "

According to the lawsuit, which asks for unspecified damages and a jury trial, Delgado was experiencing dizziness and numbness on her right side, where the burr was.
Delgado still has not fully recovered from the effects of the incident, which could ultimately include nickel poisoning her lawsuit alleges.

For more information about the rights of individuals seriously injured due to medical negligence, please call John A. Bahe, Jr. directly at (866) 587-0002 or e-mail him at john@bccjlaw.com.

We recently discussed new findings by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regarding medical error and injury to patients. We also provided links in that article to lists created by AHRQ for healthcare providers to use to make sure that their facilities were doing all that they could to help reduce and eliminate medical error that harms patients.

This got us wondering about how big the problem actually is. Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones PLC has helped many people harmed and injured by medical error and the negligence of medical professionals, but we were suprised to learn about the extent of the problem. AHRQ states that a "recent report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of medical errors. This means that more people die from medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS." Those numbers are, in a word, astounding. Another word might be "unacceptable."

While personal injury attorneys usually are involved in tragic cases like this too late to prevent any of the damage, we want to help potential victims of medical error before they are injured or killed. Fortunately, there are resources like AHRQ's 20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors. Hopefully this list can help you protect yourself from being a statistic of medical error.

Taking these precautions can be helpful in other ways. Our experience with clients, cases, and trials at Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones PLC has lead us to recognize that many times, jurors want to blame the patient for his or her own injuries. While this might seem crazy, it is true. For example, often times in what are commonly referred to as "missed diagnosis cases" the jury will hold it against the patient that they didn't seek a second opinion after getting a clean bill of health from the doctor who, for example, failed to see that cancer on the MRI! Why in the world would a patient get a second opinion if the doctor they trusted told them there was nothing wrong with them? Using this list and preparing yourself as a patient can help combat that unfair, but real, perception that jurors have.

Use this list to protect yourself and your loved ones. If it isn't enough, or if you need to talk with us about someone you know that was harmed by medical error, please visit us at www.bccjlaw.com for more answers.

Despite what large parts of the healthcare and insurace industries, politicians, and other "tort reform" groups would like the American people to believe, we all know that medical error can cause injury and even death. The odds are you have heard stories of patient being harmed or worse because of errors by nurses, doctors, physician's assistants, or teams of medical professionals working together. Many times, fortunately, the damage is only temporary and can be fixed by other, competant medical professionals. However, all too often, the damage is permanent. Either way, the problem is real. Attemps to cover-up the problem or blame some phantom healthcare litigation crisis will not make it go away.

You may be suprised to learn that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recognizes the problem as well. Since 1999, HHS was worked to identify, standardize, encourage reporting of, and eliminate medical error on a national scale. Their website provides a year-by-year breakdown of projects, initiatives, studies, and publications that have tried to minimize the damage done by medical error. The effort has been headed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Interestingly, over this decade of work the Institute of Medicine "noted that many of the errors in health care result from a culture and system that is fragmented, and that improving health care needs to be a team sport. Research indicated that mistakes were not due to clinicians not trying hard enough; they resulted from inherent shortcomings in the health care system." This conclusion squares well with knowledge that plaintiff's lawyers have learned over years of trying cases: that many times, the error cannot be blamed on any one individual, but rather is usually a series of unfortunate events with multiple, untaken opportunities for correction that culminate that cause the injury.

This website is a must for anyone who is preparing for or undergoing a stay at a hospital or other healthcare facility. These lists of best practices 30 Safe Practices for Better Health Care and 10 Patient Safety Tips for Hospitals are a great way to see if the healthcare facility that you are a patient of is actively working to make their environment less likely to have medical errors resulting in harm to patients. There is much more valuable information at the website that is too voluminous to link to here, but you should definitely check it out.

If you or a loved one have been injured by unnecessary medical error and would like to talk with someone about it, please contact the personal injury attorneys at Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones PLC to see if we are able to help.

As a public service effort the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”) has recently released a series of web videos providing educational material to counter the one sided, often biased information that has become a staple of special interests in the realm of medical negligence legal cases.

It has become increasingly evident over the months of negotiation that “tort reform” may surface as an issue of compromise in the national health care debate. In a statement from its leadership the AAJ communicated its strong desire to educate the public, and the politicians alike, on the very real issue of injuries caused by medical error.

"98,000 patients are killed annually by medical errors," the group says. "That’s like two 737s crashing every day for a whole year. Would we blame the passengers or the airlines? Tort law changes won’t fix health care.” For more information please access the groups website at www.justice.org.