Louisville Medical Malpractice & Personal Injury Law Blog

A new study being conducted at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Monroe-Meyer Institute (MMI) could assist children with cerebral palsy to control their posture and be better able to sit upright. Many children with cerebral palsy have very limited control of their muscles. As such, cerebral palsy can cause decreased posture control.

The study is being conducted by Dr. Harbourne, an assistant professor of physical therapy at MMI. She has studied sitting in children with cerebral palsy for the majority of her career, as she finds sitting to be a crucial aspect of daily life. This is because most activities that people take part in require them to be in an upright position. According to her, "If you can't sit up, you can't interact with the world."

The study received funding from a three-year, $600,000 grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The study is comparing two treatments designed to improve the sitting ability of children with cerebral palsy. The control group receives twice-weekly physical therapy treatments. The experimental group will receive the same physical therapy treatments, but the therapy will take place on top of a mat that will vibrate randomly and at different frequencies.

The idea behind the research is that the vibrations from the mat will increase the child's ability to sense where his or her body is in space. If so, children with cerebral palsy will be able to improve their sitting skills.

A jury found an Ohio doctor was at fault for the death of twin boys who died after receiving routine surgical procedures under his care. After a two-week trial for medical malpractice and wrongful death, Dr. Fred Leess has been ordered to pay $2 million to Shannon and Jenny Legge, the boys' parents.

The twins, Anthony "A.J." Legge and Joshua Legge, had just turned three when they both received routine tonsillectomies on the same day in 2006. The procedures went well, and both boys were discharged later in the day after spending less than five hours at the hospital.

Just after midnight the following day, Jenny checked on the boys as they slept. She quickly realized that A.J. was not breathing and screamed for her husband. While Jenny dialed 911 and began chest compressions on A.J., Shannon ran next door to ask a neighbor to care for their other children.

Doctors and nurses worked very hard to save A.J. while his parents looked on. However, when the emergency room doctor stepped out of the room, he brought devastating news: despite their very best efforts, A.J. was gone.

At this time, no one knew what had gone wrong. However, as Jenny and Shannon were processing this shocking loss, their thoughts turned to Joshua. He had had the exact same surgery. Shannon instructed emergency-squad technicians on stand-by to rush to Joshua. Just after the ambulance pulled out of the parking lot, they received a 911 call from the Legges' neighbor: Joshua had stopped breathing.

The Institute of Medicine released a report ten years ago known as the "To Err is Human" report. Basically, the report concluded that systems were at fault for most medical errors rather than humans. However, this report is now largely discredited, as researchers and quality analysts now conclude that the most important variable in improving patient safety is humans. While improvements in medical systems can be useful in preventing medical errors, communication, teamwork and leadership remain the strongest prevention of such errors.

Currently, preventable medical errors kill about 100,000 people every year. This figure has increased since the Institute of Medicine report stated that 98.000 deaths per year are attributable to preventable medical error. Some attribute this slight increase to an improvement in reporting practices and believe that the number has actually decreased. Still, according to patient-safety experts, the medical industry's attempt at preventing medical errors has been poor and underwhelming.

However, some hospitals are starting to make progress. For example, many are utilizing evidence-based tools that include "no interruption zones" for nurses dispensing medications and scheduled "time-outs" before surgical procedures. Further, some use new technologies like computerized prompt systems and bar codes for medication and patient identification.

According to a recent report conducted by a consulting firm, medical errors in the United States account for $19.5 billion in medical costs and lead to 2,500 deaths. Additionally, such errors result in more than 10 million days of missed work due to disability. This research was based on data obtained for the year 2008.

The researchers defined a medical error as "a preventable adverse outcome of medical care that is a result of improper medical management (a mistake of commission) rather than a progression of an illness due to lack of care (a mistake of omission."

The researchers evaluated the economic impact of medical errors by identifying those errors, calculating the medical costs per injury and measuring the cost of inpatient mortality and short-term disability per injury.

In 2008, 6.3 million injuries were reported. Of those injuries, 1.5 million were medical errors which cost an estimated $19.5 billion. Of this $19.5 billion, 87 percent, or $17 billion, resulted directly from inpatient, outpatient and prescription drug services to patients who were victims of a medical error.

Consumer experts, manufacturers, retailers and government regulators are concerned that American consumers are experiencing something they have termed "recall fatigue." This phenomenon could have product liability implications, as consumers need to be effectively informed of dangerous products.

In June, Kellogg's asked customers to refrain from eating Froot Loops. Chef Boyardee recalled 15 million pounds of Spaghetti-Os. McDonalds asked for the return of 12 million Shrek glasses. Two million cribs were recalled by seven different companies. These recalls were just a small fraction of product recalls in the month of June.

Jeff Farrar, associate commissioner for food protection at the Food and Drug Administration stated that, as the number of product recalls goes up, the risk of oversaturating consumers with product recall information increases as well.

Due to this recall fatigue, some consumers stop paying attention to recalls or ignore them. For example, Hasbro recalled its Easy Bake Oven in 2007 after two dozen children had their fingers stuck in the oven door. In the six months following the recall, Hasbro received 249 more reports of injury.

Children with cerebral palsy have a 30 percent or greater motor delay compared to what children their age should have. The motor delay is due to a white matter brain injury, often times a birth injury. Although the brain will not degenerate, a static area of damage will remain.

However, advances in cerebral palsy research seem promising for minimizing the damage, as well as for providing tools to improve the lives of those with cerebral palsy.

Problems with the delivery of oxygen to the brain have been associated with cerebral palsy. Researchers are currently testing a technique that cools the baby and the baby's brain. The coolness will slow the metabolic activity and reduce the killing of cells. The process may protect the baby's brain from injury.

Also, cerebral palsy research is currently being done at Duke University. Researchers there are infusing a baby's own stem cells into his or her veins to study any noticeable difference in the baby's movement.

Pacific Research Institute, a San-Francisco-based think tank, compiled a ranking of the U.S. states based on their success in reforming their medical malpractice and tort liability policies. Kentucky came in third from the bottom, with only Rhode Island and Vermont beating it out for the least successful in improving their malpractice laws.

The study ranked the states based on eight measurements, including the states' caps on punitive and noneconomic damages, limits on attorney fees, the ratio of medical malpractice insurance losses to projected expenditures on personal health and more.

The eight measurements utilized in the study were obtained from the 2010 edition of the U.S. Tort Liability Index by Jovannes Abramyan and Lawrence J. McQuillan. Pacific Research Institute used these measurements to calculate where each state should be for each variable. The researchers then ranked the states based on these calculations. The director of health care studies at Pacific Research Institute stated that this ranking showed which states are "getting it right" and which still have extensive work to do.

A baby girl was found alive in the coffin she was to be buried in after being pronounced dead.

AOL News reports that the baby's mother, seventeen-year-old Dafne Marisol Hernandez of Mexico, was at a memorial for her baby when she heard noises coming from inside the coffin. Upon opening the casket, Hernandez realized that the baby was alive and crying. The mother discovered the baby was alive just hours before she was to be buried.

Hernandez was only 24 weeks pregnant when her water broke. When she arrived at a hospital, doctors took a blood sample and informed her that they must induce labor or her life would be in jeopardy. The baby was born premature and weighed only 1.3 pounds. Shortly after the baby was born, a doctor said he was unable to find a pulse and pronounced the baby dead. After the death certificate was signed, the baby's body was brought to an ice-cold mortuary where it was held for four hours before being released to the family.