Category Archives: Our Blog

Here are some intriguing blogs brought to you by personal injury lawyers Salt Lake City UT residents can count on.

Anesthesia Errors During Surgery

Anesthesia Errors

New research shows that anesthesia errors can occur frequently during surgical procedures. Fortunately, most are minor and can be recognized and corrected during surgery. Patients usually never even know when these minor errors occur, as problems may only be revealed when a serious medical issue or death results from the negligence of the anesthesiologist. More grave errors often lead to lasting and debilitating medical problems, and are a serious form of medical malpractice.

What Is Anesthesia?

Anesthesia is intended to alleviate pain during a surgical procedure and is widely used to put patients into an unconscious or semi-conscious state during an operation. The medications the anesthesiologist uses are meant to control heart rate, breathing and blood pressure. Regional anesthesia, which is used to put patients into a semi-conscious state, affects a large portion of the body by blocking a group of nerves or affecting the spinal cord. General anesthesia affects the body and brain and renders a patient unconscious during surgery.

Types of Anesthesia Errors

Though most anesthesiologists do not meet with patients prior to the day of the surgery, they are responsible for communicating with patients and checking the medical charts and patient history to identify any potential complications. Anesthesiologists are also responsible for making sure that equipment is well-maintained prior to usage. When anesthesiologists fail at fulfilling their responsibilities, they are negligent and cause anesthesia errors.

Anesthesiologists may be negligent in their responsibilities in a variety of ways. They might administer the wrong drug or the wrong dosage of a particular drug, which can present serious complications in the case of a medical allergy. Anesthesiologist errors also occur when the anesthesiologist fails to monitor a patient’s vital signs or administers medication too late in the procedure. Other errors happen as a result of inadequate patient communication or negligence in maintaining or using the medical equipment.

Ramifications of Anesthesia Errors

Among the various types of surgical errors, anesthesia errors often result in the most serious medical problems and are also most frequently deadly errors. When an insufficient medication dosage is given to a patient, he or she may regain consciousness during the operation, experiencing incredible pain but be unable to move or communicate. This type of trauma can have a lasting psychological effect on a patient, leaving him or her with an anxiety disorder, sleeping problems or another mental disability. An overdose of anesthesia can cause a patient’s oxygen level to decrease, which can cause a heart attack, stroke, brain damage or even death.

Anesthesia and surgical errors occur more often than many people think, and they can lead to significant health complications. If you or a loved one has experienced a medical problem due to an anesthesiologist’s negligence, contact the professionals at Rasmussen and Miner in Salt Lake City to schedule a free consultation to discuss your medical malpractice case related to hospital, surgery or anesthesia errors.

How to Win Your Hospital Malpractice Case

Hospital Malpractice

Hospital malpractice lawsuits, like any other malpractice cases, can be challenging to prove and win. When pursuing a case against a large medical institution, additional complications and requirements must be addressed. To win this type of lawsuit, you must provide evidence that addresses three key aspects of your malpractice case. Read on to learn more about how to pursue a negligence case against a hospital or other medical institution.

Prove Employee Negligence

Evidence that a medical professional’s act or failure to act took place is the cornerstone of any medical malpractice suit. For a hospital-specific case, proof of this negligence can take many forms. It could be based on a nurse’s administration of incorrect medication, for example, or on a technician’s improper use of anesthesia. This evidence could involve showing that a doctor neglected to order necessary diagnostic tests or misdiagnosed a medical condition. A successful hospital malpractice case could also demonstrate that substandard procedures or conditions caused an infection that could have been prevented.

Prove Consequences of Hospital Negligence

Any malpractice lawsuit involves proving that a medical professional was negligent in some manner. To win your case, however, it isn’t enough to prove that a medical error occurred. You must also show that you experienced damage or further harm as a result of the error. Perhaps negligence caused you to lose past or future income. Or maybe a surgical mistake has left you physically or psychologically impaired. Whatever the consequences of the medical professional’s mistake, you must provide evidence that it is significant enough to support a hospital malpractice case.

Prove Hospital Liability

To win your case, you must demonstrate that the hospital was responsible for the negligence that took place. It is vital to prove that an employee relationship existed between the institution and the negligent medical professional. This is not always a straightforward endeavor. While most nurses, technicians, residents and interns are hospital employees, many doctors are independent contractors. To prove that a hospital is liable for a doctor’s medical error, you must show that the doctor is an employee. This could mean showing evidence demonstrating that the medical institution controls the doctor’s working hours or fees. In some cases, the institution may be held liable if the plaintiff was led to believe that the doctor was an employee of the hospital.

A successful medical malpractice case against a hospital must not only demonstrate that a negligent act or error caused you harm, but also that the hospital is responsible for this medical negligence. If you are considering filing a lawsuit, schedule a consultation with the experienced attorneys at Rasmussen and Miner in Salt Lake City. Their knowledgeable legal team can help you with every aspect of your hospital malpractice case.

Was Medical Malpractice to Blame for Joan Rivers’ Death?

Joan Rivers

Statistics show that medical malpractice is to blame in a high percentage of surgery-related deaths. The circumstances of comedienne Joan Rivers’ death in 2014 seem to indicate that medical malpractice was involved, although it hasn’t yet been proven. Two separate investigations, one by the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and one by the New York State Health Department, are working to address concerns regarding the manner of her death. Rivers’ daughter, Melissa, has officially filed a negligence lawsuit.

Adequate Patient Consent May Have Been Lacking

Joan Rivers died after having an elective throat procedure at the Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic in Manhattan, which was expected to be routine. Sources show that Rivers checked with her cardiologist for clearance for the endoscopy; however, many have speculated that Rivers wasn’t properly informed of the potential risks. Based on her age, she should not have been given clearance for the surgery even if she was in good health. In addition, allegations have been made over the clinic’s failure to obtain consent for performing a biopsy procedure while Rivers was sedated.

The Procedure Itself May Have Been Mishandled

Because the surgery was done at an outpatient surgical facility rather than in a hospital, the malpractice investigations are focusing on the clinic’s performance of the procedure and how the staff handled the medical emergency. The defendants have been accused of failing to recognize signs that Rivers was in medical distress, and of continuing to operate on Rivers even after her heart rate and blood pressure began to drop.

Medical experts are attempting to determine how long Rivers’ brain was deprived of oxygen before she was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital, as a delay in emergency treatment could have lead to her death. Investigators will also decide whether the use of the drug Propofol as an anesthetic contributed to the comedienne’s demise. The clinic itself is under fire as well in the official medical malpractice case, as concerns have been expressed over whether the surgical center had the necessary equipment on hand to deal with medical emergencies.

Was Rivers’ Death Caused by Medical Malpractice?

The malpractice case Melissa Rivers filed contends that the comedienne’s death was entirely preventable. If this is true, especially if the investigations show that Rivers was not appropriately informed of the risks of having the procedure, or if proper consent was not obtained, a jury may find that negligence did indeed cause her death. If it is proven that proper medical practices were not followed during the surgery or when the routine procedure turned into an emergency situation, a jury may find that medical treatment malpractice was the cause of Rivers’ death.

Have you lost a loved one during or immediately after a routine surgical procedure, like the family of Joan Rivers did? If so, you may have grounds for pursuing a negligence case against the doctor and surgical facility. The experienced attorneys of Rasmussen and Miner in Salt Lake City can help. Contact them today to discuss your medical malpractice case.

Prostate Cancer and Utah Medical Malpractice

Prostate ExamUtah medical malpractice data shows that prostate cancer is a growing concern. This potentially deadly disease is curable with early and appropriate care, but medical malpractice in these cases can spell dire consequences. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), 1 out of every 7 men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. Since this disease is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men, it is essential to understand what can go wrong in its treatment.

Screening Failures

Prostate cancer can spread quickly. The ACS recommends that men of high risk, including African-Americans and those with first-degree relatives with prostate cancer, begin screening at age 45. Testing for men of average risk should start at age 50. Yet failure to screen is the most common type of medical malpractice. Doctors may fail to discuss screening options with patients and often fail to perform routine examinations or blood tests. In some cases, medical malpractice occurs when doctors fail to order testing even when patients exhibit symptoms that potentially indicate a problem.

Testing Failures

Screening is of key importance in the detection and treatment of prostate cancer, but adequate testing is not enough to ensure its cure. Medical malpractice can happen when doctors fail to interpret test results properly. Doctors may neglect to notice an increased level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in a blood test, for example, or they may fail to follow up with a patient after receiving abnormal test results. With some patients, doctors overlook potentially cancerous masses during routine prostate examinations.

Treatment Failures

When PSA levels in the blood are elevated or when lumps are found during manual prostate examinations, doctors are obligated to recommend further testing and appropriate treatment options to patients. Unfortunately, this does not always happen. In some instances, medical malpractice occurs when doctors misinterpret blood tests or biopsy results as being negative. Some doctors may also fail to perform or order a biopsy when test results are abnormal. Both of these treatment errors can cause patients to receive delayed or incorrect treatment, or no treatment at all. Since 1 in every 38 men diagnosed with prostate malignancy will die from the disease, survival is dependent upon timely and appropriate treatment.

Negligence in screening or diagnosis, as well as errors in treatment or care for any significant disease, can lead to patient suffering or death. In such cases, you and your family may wish to pursue a legal claim against the negligent physician. Although this can never undo the damage that’s been done, it will provide you with the opportunity to hold the doctor responsible for the error. If you or a loved one has been seriously harmed by mistakes or negligence in the treatment of prostate cancer, contact Rasmussen and Miner today to discuss your Utah medical malpractice case.

Botox Malpractice Facts for Cosmetic and Medical Treatments

Botox Malpractice

Reports of Botox malpractice incidents have become both more frequent and more disturbing. More than 6 million Americans have Botox injections every year, and although most have no complications or side effects, those who do can suffer debilitating injuries. Today, this product is recommended for a variety of medical conditions as well as for cosmetic procedures. Because the injectable chemical is created using the botulinum neurotoxin, an inherent risk comes with every treatment. If the medical practitioner providing the injections fails to follow protocol, the results can be dire.

Common Botox Injuries

When this treatment goes wrong, several types of injuries can occur. One risk is Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disease that may lead to paralysis and death. Bell’s palsy is another possible consequence that involves nerve damage and paralysis of the facial muscles. If Botox is administered incorrectly, it may cause trouble with swallowing or producing tears, or you could be left with muscle pain and weakness for life. In many cases, the injured patients are unable to recover, even with proper treatment. Although rare, several cases have been reported wherein the patient actually contracts botulism, potentially leading to brain damage or death.

How to Prove Your Case

Most Botox malpractice cases rest on the idea that the doctor was negligent, although some cases have been attributed to defects in the product itself. In order to prove your case, you must demonstrate that you were harmed and that your doctor did not provide the correct standard of care. This typically involves obtaining copies of medical records and testimony from medical experts who are familiar with the product and its safe use. An experienced medical malpractice attorney is uniquely qualified to help guide you through this complex process, and to ensure that you are fairly compensated for the damage you have suffered.

Reasons to Obtain Legal Help

If you are suffering from any complications due to Botox treatments, whether the treatment was cosmetic or medical in nature, you owe it to yourself to seek help. When you confront medical professionals or drug manufacturers with a lawsuit, you force them to accept the consequences for unsafe products and practices, potentially preventing other patients from facing the same consequences. Your case will also cover any subsequent medical bills or rehabilitation costs you may require, as well as lost wages for any time you were forced to miss work.

If you have experienced ill effects in connection with Botox injections or another medical procedure, contact the compassionate legal team at Rasmussen & Miner. They can answer all your questions and guide you through the complex process of seeking damages for Botox malpractice.

Medical Malpractice, Misdiagnosis and the Elderly

Elderly Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is dangerous for any patient, but it can be especially harmful for the elderly. The most common problem for patients of advanced age involves the misdiagnosis and subsequent mistreatment of illness or injury. Although taking legal action against the doctor or treatment facility won’t undo the pain you or your loved one has endured, it might prevent the same mistake from occurring in the future. Read on to learn more about the elevated risks older people face when undergoing medical treatment.

Common Reasons for Misdiagnosis in the Elderly

Research shows that misdiagnosis occurs significantly more often in the elderly. Older patients have a more difficult time communicating due to hearing loss, which can quickly lead to confusion and error. Fading memory and the early, undetected stages of dementia can further complicate the issue. But a more disturbing problem is the attitude that some medical professionals have about the aging population. Busy schedules and pressure in the office or medical facility means that older patients may not receive the time and attention they require. If doctors, nurses or other staff members become impatient with an elderly patient, the quality of care can decline dramatically. The research shows that misdiagnosis occurs much more frequently in emergency treatment facilities and intensive care than in the doctor’s office.

Conditions Commonly Misdiagnosed in Older People

Certain medical problems are more commonly misdiagnosed than others, especially in older patients. The most common is the over-diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. In many cases, similar symptoms may be caused by drug interaction and even depression. Depression is often missed in older patients, as some doctors erroneously assume that symptoms are a natural part of aging. Parkinson’s disease is another common source of error. Doctors often diagnose and treat Parkinson’s when in fact tremors and other symptoms are caused by something else entirely. Finally, COPD (cardiac obstructive pulmonary disease) has become one of the most frequently missed diagnoses in aging populations, especially for those patients who suffer from allergies and asthma.

Seeking Help for Injury or Harm

You can help your older family members avoid misdiagnosis by accompanying them on their medical visits and speaking with doctors and nurses to better understand their conditions. If a problem has already occurred, however, especially if misdiagnosis or medical malpractice led to the death of a parent of loved one, you may have trouble recovering damages. Insurance companies often attempt to limit damages for elderly patients, or claim the issue was related to other health problems.

Contact the attorneys at Rasmussen and Miner if you or a family member has suffered complications or died from improper treatment due to a missed or incorrect diagnosis. They can answer your questions and help you decide if it’s right for you to pursue a claim for medical malpractice.

MRSA and Other Hospital-Acquired Infections

Hospital Related Infections

MRSA and other infections acquired in hospitals are one of the leading causes of patient deaths in the United States. On average, 1.7 million patients each year are infected during a hospital stay, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hospital-acquired infections are not related to the injury or illness for which the patient was admitted. The most common infection is methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. MRSA is a staph infection strain that is notoriously difficult to treat, resulting in complications that can lead to death if left untreated.

MRSA Causes and Risk Factors

MRSA is a type of staph bacteria, a common organism found on the skin or in the nose of about one-third of the population. The bacteria are generally harmless unless they enter the body. The most common way the infection enters is through cuts, wounds or surgical incisions. The reason MRSA is of such concern is because of its resistance to antibiotics and the damage it can cause while active in the body. MRSA risk factors include:

  • Undergoing surgery
  • Having a weakened immune system
  • Being the victim of improper medical practices
  • Undergoing procedures that use invasive medical devices
  • Being present in medical settings that have not been sufficiently sterilized

Long-term-care facilities statistically have the highest rates of MRSA, due to lax environmental controls.

MRSA Symptoms and Complications

The infection often starts as small red bumps that resemble pimples, boils or spider bites. In cases in which the infection results from surgery, a patient may complain of a foul smell coming from the surgical site, or of redness and swelling. In healthy patients, staph infections can remain relatively minor, sometimes barely producing symptoms. However, if the patient becomes ill while infected, the bacteria may take advantage of the weakened immune system and lead to further complications.

Early detection and treatment are vital for MRSA infections. Prolonged exposure allows the bacterial infection to spread, causing severe pain and malfunction of the lungs, heart, bones and joints. If a doctor fails to recognize the signs of MRSA or diagnose and treat it accordingly, severe injury, including loss of limb or death from sepsis and septic shock, can occur.

When is the Doctor or Hospital Liable?

If a patient suffers an injury due to an untreated or delayed diagnosis of MRSA, the hospital can be held liable for any resulting damages, especially if the cause of infection was negligent medical treatment. This can result from improperly cleaned medical equipment, failure to follow disinfection or sterilization protocols, or improperly maintained HVAC equipment that allows infection to spread.

Patients have the right to opt out of certain procedures if they are particularly vulnerable to infections. If the hospital has not properly warned the patient, this is also grounds for liability in the event of infection. Surgical malpractice errors that may lead to infection include inadequate blood supply during surgery, dead tissue left to collect bacteria, and debris coming into contact with the wound.

Many cases of MRSA infection and injury are the result of negligent medical treatment. Contact Rasmussen and Miner today if you or someone you love is suffering from MRSA or another infection contracted in a hospital.

Malpractice Related to Breast Cancer and Screening

Breast Cancer Malpractice

Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in women, surpassed only by lung cancer. For women aged 45 to 55, it is the No. 1 cause of death overall. Every year approximately 205,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and of these, more than 40,000 will die. Studies have shown repeatedly that the best way to beat any type of cancer is through early and proper diagnosis, but new guidelines for breast health screenings call for delays in these procedures. With early diagnosis being so vital to the success of treatment and higher survival rates, this could be problematic.
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Recent Changes in Cancer Screening Protocols

The new recommended protocols include the following:

  • Routine screening of average-risk women should begin at age 50, instead of age 40.
  • Routine screening should end at age 74.
  • Women should get screening mammograms every two years instead of every year.
  • Breast self-exams are unimportant because they have little value, based on findings from several large studies.

These recommendations come from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a group of independent health experts put together by the Department of Health and Human Services. These new protocols have introduced confusion and concern for both medical professionals and affected women. Part of the confusion comes because the American Cancer Society still recommends annual screening for all healthy women beginning at age 40.

Concerns with New Cancer Screening Guidelines

One of the biggest concerns with the new guidelines is whether insurance will still cover routine screenings for women ages 40-49. Skipping these early screenings can have dire consequences for early detection and treatment. According to studies in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 6 percent to 16 percent of women with breast cancer experienced physician-caused delays in diagnosis. This suggests that at least 10,000 of the approximately 180,000 women diagnosed as having breast cancer each year experience treatment delays because of misinterpretation or misapplication of tests. The fear is the new guidelines will make obtaining screening mammograms more difficult and costly for patients, compounding an already-disturbing risk of misdiagnosis.

Coping with these Increased Risks

Even with timely screenings, patients are still subject to an array of errors that can cause untold pain, suffering and even death. When doctors fail to request mammograms when patients present with persistent and palpable breast lumps, this leads to treatment delay. Cancer is often missed when medical professionals fail to properly interpret mammograms. Additional misdiagnoses occur when inadequate or inaccurate sampling of breast tissue is acquired during biopsy or when mismatched pathology specimens lead to missing critical cancer indications.

In many cases, physicians continue to inappropriately reassure patients that masses are benign, even without biopsy. The fear is that, with the new recommendations, doctors will be even less willing to prescribe screening or further diagnostics. Although these guidelines are not federal policy and do not prohibit women 40-49 from getting mammograms, many fail to do so because their doctors claim it’s not necessary.

If you or a loved one suspects that a diagnosis of breast cancer was missed or delayed due to misinterpreted X-rays, lack of screening or poorly performed testing, contact Rasmussen and Miner today. Some cancers are virulent and grow much faster, so much so that even short delays will likely have a greater adverse effect on outcomes. If you have questions or doubts about the medical explanations your physician has given you, we would like to speak with you about your concerns related to breast cancer.

Major Surgical Error “Never Events” on the Rise

Surgical Errors

Grievous surgical errors may seem unthinkable, but they occur more often that you probably realize. Although it might feel like something out of a bad movie script, surgical errors occur many times every day in the United States. These irreversible mistakes include amputating the wrong limb, removing organs from the wrong people and even removing the wrong organ during a surgical procedure. You may also be surprised to know that most of these mistakes are the result of easily preventable human errors.
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The Prevalence of Extreme Surgical Mistakes

A recent study* determined that more than 4,000 “never events” — errors that should never happen — occur every year, which equates to almost 80 such mistakes each week, or about one in every 12,500 U.S. surgeries. Another study from the Archives of Surgery demonstrated that doctors in Colorado alone operate on the wrong body part nearly 20 times each year. Experts estimate that many more errors of this nature go unreported. The numbers are increasing as well. In Minnesota, for example, 18 wrong surgeries were reported in 2004. That number has risen steadily, with 50 such errors reported in 2011. Apparently an increasing awareness of the problem is doing little to diminish it.

Why Grievous Surgical Errors Occur

Many surgical failures are caused by mixing up patient medical records, test results or samples. Wrong-limb amputation has occurred due to confusion in pre-operative care, failure to validate records and failure to observe basic safety protocols. Virtually every extreme surgical mistake can be traced back to some form of human error. Statistics show that even the most seasoned surgeons have been responsible for a “never event,” from the youngest, least experienced doctors to those with decades of surgery under their belts. These errors are costly as well as emotionally devastating. Between 1990 and 2010, insurance companies paid out more than $1.3 billion in legal settlements on botched surgeries.

Error Prevention Efforts

Health organizations are trying to put an end to surgical mix-ups. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has launched an initiative called “Sign Your Site” that encourages surgeons to initial the actual surgical site before operating. To combat the chances of having the wrong limb cut off, the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has released steps for surgeons to follow. The list asks doctors, hospitals, and nurses to:

  • Mark the operation site and involve patients in the process.
  • Require oral verification of the correct site by each member of the operating team.
  • Follow a verification checklist that ensures that the limb being amputated is the correct limb and that the limb is in need of amputation.
  • Directly involve the operating surgeons in the informed consent process.
  • Engage in ongoing monitoring to make sure verification procedures are followed.

Despite ongoing initiatives to improve surgical safety protocols, mistakes continue to be made. If you or a loved one has experienced a major surgical error, contact Rasmussen and Miner for help with your medical malpractice claim. Medical experts agree that more lives could be saved by increasing patient safety than by any other single improvement in our health care system. Until that day, however, people’s lives will continue to be devastated by grievous surgical errors.

Labor and Delivery Errors in Childbirth

Errors in Childbirth

Errors in childbirth can be devastating. Fortunately, these incidents are rare, but when they do occur, birth injury can result in permanent damage, or even death. In many cases, unforeseen complications arise, nothing can be done and no one is at fault. In other cases, however, human errors can happen. Sadly, hospitals and health insurance companies may try to cover up these errors. Often, birth-related injuries can be treated and your child will heal in time. But if death or disability does result, nothing can ease the heartache that befalls the family. Nevertheless, your family deserves appropriate compensation.

Common Birth and Delivery Errors

If the baby becomes stuck during delivery, the doctor may use a vacuum or forceps to facilitate the birth, or attempt to deliver the baby manually. Non-serious injuries as a result of the vacuum are common, but if the vacuum is used improperly or in situations where it’s not recommended, more serious harm can result. A lack of oxygen during delivery can also cause dire complications. If the baby fails to progress toward birth, a Caesarean section procedure is often warranted. Failure to recognize this need or to act on it promptly is another common error. It can be difficult to recognize that a problem is developing, especially for first-time parents.

Recognizing the Signs that Errors Have Occurred

The first sign that something is wrong may be one that parents feel in their gut. You may also notice that the medical staff appears to be worried or distressed, or suddenly changes their approach to the delivery. If you ask questions and don’t get answers, advocate for your family without hesitation to get the information you deserve, and to ensure that both mother and child receive the proper medical care. Unfortunately, many of the most common birth injuries don’t present until long after the child’s delivery.

If Your Child Receives a Cerebral Palsy Diagnosis

One of the most common results of birth and delivery errors is the baby’s diagnosis with cerebral palsy (CP). CP is a complex condition that compromises motor skills and brain function, often involving some degree of paralysis. In many cases, CP results from events that occurred during the birth process. Unfortunately, diagnosis may come weeks, months or even years into the child’s life. If your baby has problems with muscle tone, reflexes, motor skills or coordination, it is important that diagnostic tests be administered as quickly as possible. Although CP does not yet have a cure, prompt and proper treatment is critical.

If you are a Utah resident whose child has suffered due to errors or other problems in the delivery room, contact the law offices of Rasmussen and Miner. These caring, compassionate legal professionals understand that you deserve answers. Call them to discuss your case if you believe your child has been the victim of errors in childbirth.