Category Archives: Legal Nurse Consulting

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS │Standard of Care Guidelines for Concurrent Overlapping Surgeries

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Kathleen

The Operation—Intraoperative Responsibility of the Primary Surgeon General Statement The primary attending surgeon is personally responsible for the patient’s welfare throughout the operation. In general, the patient’s primary attending surgeon should be in the operating suite or should be immediately … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Nurse Consulting | Tagged American College of Surgeons, concurrent overlapping surgeries, delegation to qualified practitioner, guidelines, informed consent, intraoperative responsibility, operation, physician coverage, primary attending, standard of care | Leave a comment

Autopsies Help Establish Merit in a Medical Malpractice Case

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Kathleen

When someone has died from medical malpractice, an autopsy can provide the foundation for a successful case. Benefits of an Autopsy in a Medical Malpractice Case An autopsy verifies the cause of death Opinions from the most respected experts become … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Nurse Consulting | Tagged autopsy, cause of death, court, death certificate, expert opinion, lawsuit, medical malpractice, outcome, plaintiff attorney, win, wrongful death | Leave a comment

WRONG SITE SURGERY OCCURS FREQUENTLY and LEADS to MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CLAIMS: wrong body part, wrong patient, wrong surgical procedure

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Kathleen

Wrong site surgery takes place when a surgeon operates on the wrong part of a patient’s body, performs the wrong procedure, or performs on the wrong person. Despite standard of care protocols to prevent it, wrong site surgery happens frequently. … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Nurse Consulting | Tagged body part, deviation, injury, JCAHO, jury award, medical malpractice, patient harm, plaintiff attorney, procedure, settlement, standard of care, surgeon, surgical error, wrong person, wrong-site surgery | Leave a comment

New American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association High Blood Pressure Guidelines Lower Definition of Hypertension

Posted on December 3, 2017 by Kathleen

High blood pressure should be treated earlier with lifestyle changes and in some patients with medication – at 130/80 mm Hg rather than 140/90 – based on new American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines for … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Nurse Consulting | Tagged American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, antihypertensives, cardiovascular, diastolic, guidelines, high blood pressure, hypertension, medical malpractice, patient, prevention, standard of care, systolic | Leave a comment

EMERGENCY ROOM MEDICAL MALPRACTICE │ What goes wrong and why

Posted on November 12, 2017 by Kathleen

About four of every 100,000 Emergency Department (ED) visits result in an allegation of medical malpractice. The analysis below of 1,300 medical malpractice cases involving emergency care, provides insight into what is driving these claims. Because their care is episodic … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Nurse Consulting | Tagged emergency department, emergency room, failure to diagnose, failure to order test/image, inadequate assessment, medical malpractice, missed diagnosis, physician judgment error, premature discharge | Leave a comment

INFORMED CONSENT │ PHYSICIAN’S DUTY & MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Posted on November 6, 2017 by Kathleen

In non-emergency situations, medical professionals are required by law to obtain a mentally competent patient’s informed consent for a particular course of treatment. The idea of informed consent is to give patients a meaningful opportunity to be informed about their own … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Nurse Consulting | Tagged alternative treatment, benefits, decision, informed consent, lawsuit, legal claim, medical malpractice, patient, physician duty, risks | Leave a comment

MEDICOLEGAL PITFALLS OF LAPAROSCOPY – Informed Consent, Risks, Intraoperative Errors, Vascular & Organ Injuries, Postoperative Complications

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Kathleen

There has been amazing growth in the actual performance and acceptance of laparoscopy in surgery. As with all surgical treatments, problems may appear, nevertheless, laparoscopy isn’t any exclusion. Surgeons that perform laparoscopy should not only be experienced within the technique … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Nurse Consulting | Tagged bleeding, defense, dissection closure error, entry-error, ileus, informed consent, intraperative error, lack of experience, Laparoscopic surgery, medical malpractice, plaintiff, postoperative complication, risks, standard of care, surgeon, surgical error, vascular organ injury | Leave a comment

Obstetrical Medical Malpractice │ Delay in Treatment of Fetal Distress Allegations

Posted on October 22, 2017 by Kathleen

The most frequent allegation in obstetrical medical malpractice claims is delay in treatment of fetal distress. Standard of care analysis of these professional negligent cases revealed that the most common reason for the delay was physician failure to timely intervene … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Nurse Consulting | Tagged catagory II catagory III fetal heart tracings, chorioamnionitis, failure to timely recognize, failure to timely treat fetal distress, maternal illness, medical malpractice, metabolic acidemia, obstetrical, physician, standard of care | Leave a comment

CRITICAL CHEST RADIOGRAPHS: CLINICAL MISDIAGNOSES ASSOCIATED WITH MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Kathleen

Many chest radiographs are first viewed by non-radiologists, who must be able to quickly recognize critical findings that identify patients who need emergent care. The following clinical diagnoses are often associated with medical malpractice cases: Pneumothorax occurs when air fills … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Nurse Consulting | Tagged acute respiratory distress syndrome, aortic aneurysm, ARDS, aspiration pneumonia, atelectasis, chest xray, congestive heart failure, diagphragmatic hernia, failure to diagnosis, flail chest, foreign body, hyrdo, left ventricular aneurysm, medical malpractice, patient, pericardial effusion, pheumothorax, pneumomediastinum, pneumoperitoneum, pulmonary emboli, radiograph, standard of care, tension | Leave a comment

UNDERSTANDING CARDIOLOGY MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CLAIMS

Posted on July 6, 2017 by Kathleen

It costs about $80,000 to defend a cardiologist in a medical malpractice claim resulting in payment—nearly four times the cost in ophthalmology, the least expensive specialty to defend. That is a great deal of money, and it likely heightens cardiologists’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal Nurse Consulting | Tagged ablation, AV node damage, bleeding, cardiologist, cardiology, coumadin, electrophysiologist, esophagus perforation, failure to diagnose, failure to timely act, heparin, improper informed consent, lawsuit, liability, medical malpractice, medical-legal, myocardial infarction, neurological damage, pulmonary stenosis, pulmonary vein stenosis, risks, standard of care, stroke, surgical complications, transesophageal echocardiogram, undiagnosed epidural abscess, vascular access complications | Leave a comment