Articles Posted in Medical Malpractice

Medical procedures already carry with them dangers and risks, and this is worsened when medical products are defective. Our Atlanta product liability lawyers have been following a story about dialysis solutions and the lawsuits being filed around the country, including those in Georgia. Last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a recall for the particular solutions in question, Naturalyte Liquid Acid Concentrate and GranuFlo (powder) Acid Concentrate. The products were manufactured, distributed, and used by Fresenius Medical Care during dialysis. The company is the largest operator of dialysis clinics in the U.S. and also manufactures dialysis solutions and equipment. The FDA recall notice reads, "This product may cause serious adverse health consequences, including death.

Lawsuits have been filed in 37 cases in federal courts, including one involving a patient in Georgia. The plaintiffs claim that the aforementioned dialysis products caused the patients to suffer a cardiac arrest, heart attack, or sudden death, either during the dialysis treatment or within 48 hours thereafter. The various lawsuits allege that Fresenius failed to provide warnings to doctors about the importance of monitoring bicarbonate levels among patients during dialysis. The solutions contain an element that transforms into bicarbonate at levels that are often too high, leading to cardiac arrest or sudden death. The lawsuits claim that Fresenius knew as early as 2010 that their GranuFlo patients died at rates six times higher than those occurring with competing products. In 2011, the company clarified to doctors at their own dialysis centers about the problems, but didn't issue any information or instructions outside their centers until March 2012. This led the lawsuits to claim the company knew, or should have known, about these fatal consequences of the dialysis solutions.

The deaths allegedly connected to the products occurred between 2010 and 2012. These cases involve patients from across the age spectrum, from 23 years old to 89 years old. An internal review by Fresenius found that at 667 of their dialysis centers, there were at least 941 cases of patients suffering cardiac arrest during dialysis in 2010 alone. This information is what prompted the FDA recall last year.

Brain injuries are invasive injuries that can be devastating. Unfortunately, diagnosing brain injuries can be difficult. It can also be challenging to track the improvements that patients are making when they undergo treatment for brain injury.

Knowing the extent of the damage when a person suffers a blow to the brain is necessary for proper treatment. Injured victims also need to know how badly they are hurt so they can pursue a claim for compensation with the help of their Atlanta brain injury lawyer

Fortunately, new research shows that eye-tracking may have promise in helping medical professionals diagnose and monitor traumatic brain injury (TBI). Forbes reports on the research, which was published this December in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

Our Atlanta medical malpractice attorneys read an article about a malpractice case against a dentist in DeKalb County.

Haley Buice, a 33 year-old mother of four, began seeing Dr. James Cauley in 2008 at Coast Dental of Georgia in Acworth. She alleged that Dr. Cauley demonstrated shoddy workmanship when implanting veneers, improperly fitted more than 12 crowns, proposed unnecessary treatment for healthy teeth, and ignored problems with unhealthy teeth. The treatments came to more than $20,000, but the billing was never properly documented. Dr. Cauley left Coast Dental in 2009 before getting a chance to finish the work, and Ms. Buice was forced to seek treatment from other dentists to fix Dr. Cauley’s work.

After filing the initial complaint in 2010, Ms. Buice’s lawyers discovered Dr. Cauley had a problems with drug abuse. In 2011, Ms. Buice filed a claim against Coast Dental for negligent hiring, supervision, and retention. Coast Dental hired Dr. Cauley in 2007 despite his testing positive for Valium at a drug screening. The complaint alleges Dr. Cauley overdosed on a narcotic five weeks after he was hired, and that he used nitrous oxide intended for patients.

Our Atlanta injury lawyers know that it is vital to hire the right kind of attorney with solid experience when dealing with personal injury cases. So we were interested to see a recent decision by the Georgia Supreme Court holding that a plaintiff in a legal malpractice action may not present expert testimony that he or she would have won the underlying lawsuit but for the lawyer’s errors. The case, Leibel v. Johnson, clarifies that in legal malpractice cases, expert testimony is only allowed for proving standard of care and breach of duty, not proximate cause. Justice Harold Melton explained that this is due to the fact that it is the jury’s role to decide on its own whether the plaintiff would have won the underlying case but for the attorney’s negligent representation.

The underlying case was a gender and age discrimination case. Steven Leibel represented plaintiff Dr. Mary Johnson, a pediatric neurosurgeon, against Scottish Rite Hospital. The suit for malpractice claimed that Mr. Leibel failed to introduce evidence that would have shown there were issues of fact for a jury to decide in the discrimination action. In the malpractice case, Dr. Johnson called a legal expert, Peter Spanos, who testified that certain evidence “tipped the balanceof the underlying discrimination case in Dr. Johnson’s favor. The trial jury awarded Dr. Johnson $2 million. The trial court granted Mr. Leibel a new trial, but the appeals court reversed and upheld the $2 million jury award. The Court of Appeals held that the testimony was admissible due to the “legal complexitiesof her discrimination case and was useful when a nonlawyer could not competently determine whether the negligence of the defendant lawyer proximately caused the plaintiff’s damages.

The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed, with Justice Melton saying “the second jury in the malpractice case is not deciding what the first jury would have done in the underlying case had the attorney not been negligent, but only what a reasonable jury would have done had the underlying case been tried without the attorney negligence alleged by the plaintiff.The jury in the malpractice action needs to determine whether the plaintiff has a winning case, in other words, not whether some prior jury may or may not have believed the plaintiff had a winning case. In so holding, it disagreed with the appellate ruling concluding jurors could not resolve this issue without legal knowledge. Justice Melton wrote that it is inappropriate for the second jury to determine what the first jury would have done, but instead needs to decide the case on the merits.

Post-operation complications can happen for many reasons. However, many complications are caused by surgical errors or by inadequate post-procedure follow-up care. Patients should be aware that the majority of complications following common surgical procedures occur among patients who were treated by a small group of care providers. This suggests that there are a small number of doctors who are not doing a very good job and who are causing the bulk of harm to patients.

If you are one of the patients who experiences post-surgical problems, you need to determine if your health issues are simply bad luck or if you were the victim of a surgical error. An Atlanta medical malpractice lawyer can help you to obtain your medical records after your surgery and can help you to find an independent medical expert to review them. If a problem during your procedure or follow-up care is identified, we can help you to pursue a claim against the doctor, hospital, or other care providers whose actions caused you damage.

Comparing Surgical Rates Among Atlanta Physicians

Georgia has an excellent university system, which Georgians are rightly proud of. But there has been a medical issue in recent years that is worrying, especially to parents of college age (or soon to be college age) children. Our Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers have seen recent stories in the news about the problems with abuse of ADHD medicine on campuses.

The root of the problem is that students today are abusing ADHD medicine, such as Adderall, because the stimulant increases focus and concentration for getting school-work done. In a competitive environment, the drug is seen as a way to have an edge over other students and a recent study showed that as many as one third of US college students are abusing medicines like Adderall. Of course, abusing drugs meant to treat conditions a person does not have always has a dark side. In this case, abusing these stimulant medications has been linked to anxiety, depression, and even suicide.

Mixed with students' desire for these drugs are overburdened campus health care centers. In our own state, Georgia Tech said their student health center was so overwhelmed by requests of students for ADHD medications that they can no longer handle the requests.

If you go to a hospital or a doctor and you expect that you will receive treatment to improve your health, it can be shocking to find that your condition actually becomes worse instead of better. If your doctor misdiagnoses you, delays your diagnosis, or botches the treatments you receive, you could suffer serious adverse health outcomes.

When and if this happens to you, you need to consult with an Atlanta medical malpractice lawyer. You have rights, and it is important to understand what steps you need to take to protect those rights. An attorney can guide you through responding to the medical negligence that you have endured so you can hold the doctor, healthcare facility, and other caregivers accountable.

Steps to Take if You Suspect Medical Negligence in Atlanta

Lawsuit for medical negligence are common, because errors made by healthcare providers occur far more frequently than most patients would like to think about. When medical care providers make errors, the consequences can be devastating to patients. A patient can face a much more grave prognosis and in many cases, the mistake in care leads to irreversible harm.

While any doctor can make errors, there are certain physicians and caregivers who are more likely than others to damage the health of patients. Medscape has recently reported the results of one survey showing which physicians are most likely to face lawsuits. Patients harmed by care providers in these or other fields must understand whether they should make a claim after they suffer an adverse health outcome due to botched treatment. An Atlanta medical negligence lawyer can provide invaluable assistance to patients in determining what their options are for pursuing a damage claim.

Which Doctors are Most Likely to Make Medical Mistakes in Atlanta?