Wisdom Tooth Extraction Gone Wrong: Can this be Dental Malpractice?

Nearly every person has three sets of molars.  The last set that emerges is what we call wisdom teeth.  Why we even have them is anyone’s guess.  Most people have them removed because they can cause more harm than good. 

Wisdom teeth are known to become impacted or partially impacted, they grow in crooked or sideways, surrounding teeth can be damaged by them, and the mouth might be over crowded by their presence.  Even serious infections can develop if wisdom teeth are not removed. 

Since wisdom tooth extraction is an event most people go through, one would think that dentists and oral surgeons are so practiced with the extraction that errors no longer occur.  The experienced Hudson dental malpractice attorney knows otherwise.  In fact, wisdom tooth extraction can and does go wrong.  Injured patients should know that wrongfully performed wisdom tooth extraction can de dental malpractice. 

Wisdom tooth extractions, performed negligently, have been known to cause:

·         Sinus perforation,

·         Infection,

·         Nerve damage,

·         Jaw fractures,

·         Uncontrolled bleeding,

·         Temporomandibular joint injury.

Even the wrong teeth can be mistakenly removed by negligent dentists and oral surgeons.  Mistakes related to the negligent administration of general anesthesia have caused patients to suffer injury as well.

What does it mean to be negligent?  In general, compensable negligence occurs when someone owes a duty to another, breaches that duty, causing injury and damages.  It is nothing intentional, but the negligent act or omission should not have happened. 

Negligence in the dental setting is dental malpractice.  The requirements for a successful dental malpractice claim are the following:

·         A dentist patient relationship,

·         A deviation from the standard of care owed to the patient that which occurred while treating the patient,

·         The deviation must have caused the patient’s injury,

·         And the victim must have suffered damages; pain and suffering, lost wages, medical bills, etc.

There are nuances to all of this that only the experienced personal injury attorney will know.  For example, the offending dentist’s actions will be judged in light of other dentists in the area of similar skill and training that perform the same work under similar circumstances. 

The standard of care owed to dental patients must be proved by expert testimony.   So too must causation be explained by experts. 

Proof of the losses claimed by victim must also be introduced by evidence and direct testimony.  This requires reviewing medical records, wage statements, victim accounts, questioning experts and witnesses, among many other things. 

The short answer to the question is, when dentists make a mistake that shouldn’t have been made and wouldn’t have been made by another nearby dentist, failed wisdom tooth extraction can be dental malpractice. 

The attorneys at Greenberg and Greenberg handle car accident cases throughout New York State, including Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, and Albany County.  Our legal team has earned a reputation for dedicated service to our clients injured in New York personal injury accidents.  Please contact us today to receive a free case evaluation by dialing locally to 518-828-3336 or call toll free at 877-469-9300.

Surgical Mistakes Rising to the Level of Medical Malpractice

Often time’s patients come out of surgery feeling in a way that was not expected.  They are left wondering if such is normal, or if they should be concerned.   Even if they discuss their concerns with the surgeon, they may still be left unsatisfied. 

The experienced Hudson medical malpractice attorney knows that surgeons and other medical professionals are not required to tell their patient that mistakes were made during their surgery.  Even worse, there is nothing that prevents the surgeon from lying to the patient with the claim that everything is fine.

That being the case, many patients turn to medical malpractice attorneys to have their problem investigated.  Upon consultation and retainment, the attorney will investigate the facts that which surround the patient’s surgery by reviewing medical records and by enlisting the help of medical experts. 

The patient may expect financial recovery from the offending surgeon if the patient was injured by a negligent act committed by a medical professional.  Of course, the negligence must have occurred while the patient was treated by the offending doctor. 

Negligence in the medical setting is what attorneys call medical malpractice.  If a duty of care is owed to a person, and that duty is breached, the offending party will be liable for damages if the breach caused the other person injuries. 

In the course of the doctor patient relationship, surgeons owe a duty to the patient.  The surgeon must follow the standard of care prescribed by the profession in that community.  Any other deviation there from is negligence if another surgeon in the area would not have committed the offending act or omission. 

The ways in which a surgeon can commit malpractice during surgery are limitless.  With that said, there are common errors that have happed in the past and they continue to happen.  Here are some examples.

·         Wrong site surgery;

·         Surgery on the wrong patient;

·         Surgery in which the wrong limb is amputated;

·         Leaving a foreign object inside a patient’s body; sponges, pads, gloves, needles, etc;

·         Organ puncture;

·         Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose;

·         Bowel perforations;

·         Severed, nicked, or cut veins;

·         Lack of informed consent;

·         Anesthesia errors;

·         Excessive bleeding;

·         Excessive scarring; and

·         Delayed surgery.

As a parting note, please realize that more than just the surgeon can be held liable for a mistake made during surgery.  Any medical professional that took part in the surgery and contributed to the negligent harms committed to the patient can be held accountable.  This includes, nurses, assistants, anesthesiologists, technicians, etc.  Moreover, the professionals that treated the patient prior to and after the surgery can be accountable as well if they too negligently injured the patient.

The attorneys at Greenberg and Greenberg handle medical malpractice cases throughout New York State, including Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, and Albany County.  Our legal team has earned a reputation for dedicated service to our clients injured in New York personal injury accidents.  Please contact us today to receive a free case evaluation by dialing locally to 518-828-3336 or call toll free at 877-469-9300.

Wrongful Death in Medical Malpractice Cases

Medical professionals, such as doctors and surgeons, will at some point hold the lives of their patient’s in their hands.  Their decisions and actions could have a direct impact of the patient and determine whether that patient lives or dies.  Since this is the case, medical professionals are held to a higher standard of care than other types of professionals due to the superior knowledge and experience that they should have acquired prior to this crucial moment.  When medical professionals are careless or have committed wrongdoings, this could lead to the patient’s death. 

Wrongful Death Actions in New York Related to Medical Malpractice

In New York, the representative(s) of a decedent’s estate may bring a lawsuit against the medical professional or the facility they allege is responsible for the decedent’s death.  In most cases, these actions are brought by close relatives of the deceased person, such as a spouse, child, or parent.  This is provided for under New York Estates, Powers, and Trusts Law Section 5-4.1.  To learn more about who can bring a wrongful death action in New York on behalf of the decedent, click on this link and learn more from article written by our experienced wrongful death attorneys.

In wrongful death lawsuits in New York, a family could be entitled to financial compensation for the loss of income and support.  However, they may not be entitled to emotional damages.  Compensation can include awards for lost earnings, loss of potential earnings, medical and funeral costs, and the pain and suffering of the decedent prior to death.  There may also be compensation to the family for the contributions the decedent made to the family.  This can include household work, caring for children, mowing the lawn, shopping, and cooking.

When an individual is caused to pass away due to the negligence of another, the lawsuit must be brought within two years from the date of death.  This is called the statute of limitations, and any claim brought outside those two years will be barred forever.

Civil Actions

 When an estate representative brings a wrongful death action they are bringing a civil action.  In a civil action the penalties are generally monetary, in the form of financial compensation to the plaintiff.  The standard of proof in a civil action is a preponderance (or majority) of the evidence.  In a malpractice related wrongful death action, a defendant could be found liable if the judge and/or jury finds that it is more likely than not that the defendant was responsible for the death of the decedent.

Under New York law, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice is two and a half years from the act or omission complained of therein to be the wrongdoing.

The attorneys at Greenberg and Greenberg handle medical malpractice and wrongful death cases throughout New York State, including Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, and Albany County.  Our legal team has earned a reputation for dedicated service to our clients injured in New York personal injury accidents.  Please contact us today to receive a free case evaluation by dialing locally to 518-828-3336 or call toll free at 877-469-9300.

The Frequency of Medical Malpractice in the United States

Most people of adult age are aware of what medical malpractice is.  The legal term is another way of stating negligence, but in particular to professionals who practice medicine.  The term “medical professional” is meant to be broad and includes primary physicians, surgeons, assistants, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, physical therapists, and in general any professional with whom you have entrusted your health. 

Hudson medical malpractice attorneys handle medical malpractice case routinely.  The experienced attorney is well aware of the frequency with which medical malpractice occurs.  However, most people are startled by the frequency of this negligence. 

Amputating the wrong appendage, operating on the wrong patient, improperly diagnosing a patient, delaying a proper diagnosis, and prescribing the wrong medicine or the wrong dosage are common mistakes made by medical professionals. 

So frequent are some negligent acts, medical researchers have given a name to certain types of medical malpractice.  The term is known as, “never event”.  Medical professionals use this term to describe certain events that should never occur.  Some were named above, that is amputating the wrong appendage and operating on the wrong patient.  Additional never events are leaving objects inside a surgical patient’s body, such as sponges, clamps, needles, etc. 

Laws have required medical professionals to implement specific procedures so that these acts are obliterated.  For example, during pre-surgery exams, the surgeon will write his or her initials on the exact location upon which the procedure is to be conducted; additionally, operating room staff will keep a “sponge count” so that these objects are accounted for after the surgery is complete. 

Unfortunately, even with these laws and procedures, Johns Hopkins University researchers claim that over 4,000 never events occur annually in our country.  Put another way, surgery performed on the wrong part of the body occurs around twenty times a week and thirty nine patients have foreign objects wrongfully left in their bodies after surgery.  More troubling is how researchers believe that these numbers are lower than that which actually occurs.     

Underreporting of medical malpractice events in general may be highly due to the fact that some injuries caused by negligence were treated before the patient realized the problem and its cause.  For example, an infection caused by negligent maintenance of health facilities and equipment may have been reported as an infection inherent in the risk of surgery.  Moreover, malpractice that caused a “minor” injury might have been considered as too slight for the professional to disclose and/or for the patient to complain about.    Lastly, the additional pain and suffering experienced by the patient may have been considered to be a natural effect of the procedure and not due to negligence. 

The attorneys at Greenberg and Greenberg handle medical malpractice cases throughout New York State, including Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, and Albany County.  Our legal team has earned a reputation for dedicated service to our clients injured in New York personal injury accidents.  Please contact us today to receive a free case evaluation by dialing locally to 518-828-3336 or call toll free at 877-469-9300.

Wrong site Surgery: Hudson Medical Malpractice Attorney Discusses This Problem in Treatment

Surgery is an anxiety-provoking ordeal. Even with competent surgeons performing the procedure, things may go wrong due to unforeseen complications. One thing that may go wrong that is completely preventable is wrong site surgery. Wrong site surgery occurs when a surgeon operates on the wrong part of the body due to subpar preoperative planning, miscommunication between the medical team and surgeon, a failure to communicate with the patient, and the surgeon’s failure to exercise due care in the operating room.  Instances of wrong site surgery are usually Hudson medical malpractice and can result in liability of the health care team.

According to the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Health, there are 29 noted negligent actions that lead to wrong site surgery. Some of these negligent actions include: booking documents not verified by office schedulers; schedulers accepting verbal, rather than written, surgical requests; illegible handwriting; missing consent or surgical orders at time of booking; primary documents missing; someone other than the surgeon marking the site; paperwork problems discovered in pre-op; surgeon does not mark site in pre-op; site mark made with unapproved marker; or using stickers instead of markers used for site marking.

In the United States, most states are not required to report an incident of wrong site surgery. Estimates that also include wrong procedure, wrong patient and wrong side surgeries reveal wrong site surgery may occur as often as 40 times a week. That is a significant amount of times!  Despite efforts to reduce the number of wrong site surgeries, they are still occurring.

It has been suggested by the American Academy of Orthapaedic Surgeons (AAOS) that if hospitals work with their surgeons and staff, they can significantly reduce the incidence of wrong site surgeries from occurring. This action, however, must be a unified effort between all parties involved. Some ways in which surgeons are attempting to successfully prevent wrong site surgery from occurring include:  having the patient sign initials in marker on the part of the body where the operation is to occur; using a method of verifying that the correct patient is in the operating room; having a time out once in the operating room so that the surgical team can speak with one another about the patient and procedure they are about to perform. It is imperative that any incorrect information or discrepancies in information be noted before the patient’s surgery is initiated. 

The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare has initiated a project to help reduce the incidence of wrong site surgery. The Commission has come up with the Targeted Solutions Tool (TSL). The TSL helps to better prevent the occurrence of wrong site surgery by getting the organization involved to examine it’s surgical process when it schedules surgery to when the surgery is completed; forces the organization to look at the entire surgical care system it has in place, rather than just the operating room and the surgeons in it; provides tools to collect data in surgical bookings, pre-op or pre-op holding, as well as the operating room; helps the organization to target any weaknesses the organization may have; and, finally, improves standardization throughout the entire hospital.

The attorneys at Greenberg and Greenberg handle medical malpractice case throughout New York State, including Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, and Albany County.  Our legal team has earned a reputation for dedicated service to our clients injured in New York personal injury accidents.  Please contact us today to receive a free case evaluation by dialing locally to 518-828-3336 or call toll free at 877-469-9300.