Medical Malpractice

• Surgeons Can be Held Liable if Nurse Carelessly Leaves a Sponge Inside a Patient's Body

  Rick Shapiro | January 19, 2007 3:04 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  There has been an interesting decision of the California Court of Appeals relating to whether a doctor is liable for a nurse's mistake where the nurse leaves a sponge inside the body of a patient, unbeknownst to the doctor. Lawyers with our firm have had several prior cases involving infection and other complications that result from a sponge left inside a body that becomes infected, causing...

• Is the Tide Turning?

  Rick Shapiro | July 21, 2006 4:28 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  BY JAMES C. LEWIS, HSCLA ATTORNEY During the last five years, we have seen a dramatic surge in the passage of legislation that is intended to deprive victims of medical mistakes by the health care community from receiving full and fair consideration. These efforts have included capping victims' rights to non-economic damages which flow from catastrophic injuries to limiting attorney's fees in...

• Timing Plays a Roll in the Quality of Healthcare

  Rick Shapiro | October 04, 2007 9:27 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  Authored by: Richard N. ShapiroSeveral recent studies have indicated that medical mistakes may occur with increased frequency based upon the timing of an individual's contact with the medical community. For instance, the American Journal of Gastroenterology recently completed a study that examined an increase in successful completion of colonoscopies performed in the morning verus the...

• Should Doctors Working for Hospitals be Immune from Suits if Employed by a Charitable Foundation?

  Rick Shapiro | January 19, 2007 3:20 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  In one of the cases, MacArthur v. UVA Health Services Foundation, the Virginia circuit court judge dismissed in a footnote the contention of the plaintiff's attorney that the salaries of the physicians who work for the foundation are so high that this negates any claim that it is a true charity because the doctors were paid as much as $897,000.00 in salary and benefits in calendar year 2004,...

• Nurse Blows Whistle on Doctor's Malpractice-Sawed Down Screwdriver Inserted in Patient's Back

  Rick Shapiro | May 14, 2006 9:08 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  It is whispered that the nurses that really "care" about their patients will only go so far to protect a negligent doctor or hospital from "whistleblowing" --when they know malpractice has occurred. Will a nurse "whistleblow" even when they worry that they could be fired or disciplined for notifying someone of the truth?Here's a true story that you won't believe: a 73 year old Reverend was in...

• Nursing Home Injury Cases-Maintaining Inadequate Insurance Is a New Troubling Tactic

  John Cooper | April 24, 2006 9:25 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  Cases of nursing home abuse and neglect are quite common these days. The main reason is that many of these facilities are run with an eye towards the bottom line for the owners and not the benefit of the patients. Some corporations which own nursing home facilities will squeeze every last dime out of the facility in part by reducing staff. Another game that the nursing home industry has been...

• FDA Weakens Victim's Rights

  Staff Writer | April 20, 2006 9:26 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  The Bush Administration has taken yet another step to weaken the rights ofvictims of medically related mistakes. The latest effort to protect the drugmanufacturers in the United States is the issuance of a new rule by the Food and DrugAdministration pertaining to labeling requirements by drug manufacturers. The firstthing this new rule does is make it clear that the Food and Drug...

• Why Are Medical Malpractice Cases Hard To Prove?

  Rick Shapiro | March 01, 2006 9:49 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  Medical malpractice lawsuits are attacked by doctors and major insurance companies, but the laws that permit these suits are critical to assuring that the delivery of medical care in the U.S. is improved. Simply stated: without the risk of economic penalty for poor care, U.S. medical services would be far worse today. In fact, recent studies have shown that medical malpractice claims have NOT...

• Unfortunately, Hospitals Can Be Deadly

  Staff Writer | January 25, 2007 12:10 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  By: James C. Lewis, HSCLA AttorneyIt may come as a surprise but 2 million patients residing in hospitals get hospital-acquired infections every year. Infection stalls recovery, sometimes requiring weeks of intravenous antibiotics or a grueling round of surgeries to remove the infected tissue. Approximately 90,000 Americans who acquire these infections actually die as a result.Nationwide,...

• Medical Malpractice Supposed "Crisis" Is Officially Over

  Staff Writer | June 05, 2006 7:40 AM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  Any "crisis" that may have existed in the medical malpractice insurance industryis now reported to be officially over according to a recent study released by the non-profit group Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR). According to this report, rates ofmedical malpractice insurance coverage have seen a "wholesale collapse" across thecountry. In February, the New York-based Consumer Advocacy...