Medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Journal of American Medicine and as reported by Forbes. In the U.S., a malpractice payout is made every 43 minutes and amounts to a stunning $3 billion in 2012.

However, according to Forbes, there are several steps a person can take to avoid malpractice suits—the most important of which is to be your own healthcare advocate. Understanding medical malpractice and how to approach it is the most important step to dealing with it and getting your life back on track in the event of a malpractice issue.

To begin, you have the right to file a malpractice claim if “a provider’s negligence causes injury or damages to a patient,” reports Forbes. Negative results from medical care do not always amount to a malpractice claim, however, and there are certain limitations regulated by the state when it comes to what types of incidents can be considered malpractice, as well as the timeframe for which a claim can be filed.

More than 80 percent of all malpractice claims filed in the U.S. every year do not result in payouts to the patients or the survivors of affected patients. In addition, there is a statute of limitations in which the claim can be filed. This varies from state to state. In Connecticut, according to the office of the state’s Chief Attorney, Connecticut state law requires that a medical malpractice suit be filed within two years from the date “when the injury is first sustained or discovered or in the exercise of reasonable care should have been discovered.”

The Chief Attorney’s Office notes, however, that if a patient can prove that the medical professional had a continuing duty to warn him or her about the consequences of malpractice or possible negative effects of procedure, the statute of limitations can be extended. There must be evidence that the doctor failed to fulfill his duty in the period that follows the original wrong, and that duty must be proved to be within the typical standard of care.

If you suspect you have been victim of medical malpractice and have questions regarding the medical malpractice statute of limitations, the most important step is to seek legal counsel. Contact a Westport medical malpractice attorney today.

A study conducted by the Ariadne Labs and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that more money is made by American hospitals if a surgery goes wrong. As shared on the Harvard School of Public Health’s website, lead study author and Chief Medical Officer of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary stated how their finding of  “clear evidence that reducing harm and improving quality is perversely penalized in our current health care system.” Hence, if a patient goes in for surgery, he or she may experience worse complications afterwards than those experienced leading up to the surgery.

The report also noted that patients in the U.S. spend an estimated $400 billion on surgery every year. Those with private insurance, who had experienced complications after surgery, amounted for a 330 percent profit margin increase than those whose surgeries were successful. Therefore, this staggering number suggests that hospitals and private doctors are rewarded for incompetence rather than successful medicine.

Patients with government-subsidized insurance (Medicaid) who experienced complications during surgery also amounted for a higher profit margin for hospitals and doctors, but to a much lesser extent. For those privately insured, the report notes a $39,017 higher profit margin per patient in regards to associated complications. The profit margin was higher by less than $1,800 for Medicare patients.

According to WebMD, pain is the most common surgical complication. The degree of pain complication depends on the degree of invasiveness of the surgery. Other common side effects of surgery can include simple but extreme fatigue, or potentially fatal effects like severe blood clots.

If you or someone you know has experienced complications post-surgery and believe the hospital or surgeon to be at fault, please contact an compassionate Westport medical malpractice lawyer for a free initial consultation. Richard H. Raphael, Attorney at Law, represents clients in Westport, Weston, Darien, Norwalk, Stamford, Wilton, Greenwich, New Canaan, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Wilton, Ridgefield, Danbury and Trumbull as well as Fairfield County and New Haven County in Connecticut. Call 203-226-6168 today to discuss your case.  

Knee replacements have long been one of the most common surgical implants. They are also one of the most common procedures in which patients experience subsequent problems because the device used was defective or not up to safety standards (though approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)).

According to a consumer report from SafePatientProject.org, 4.4 million Americans have knee implants, the vast majority of which were prescribed for osteoarthritis of the knee. Regardless of how many such procedures are undergone every year in the U.S., replacement surgeries continue to be a serious factor in the medical industry. Reported by the SafePatientProject, “an estimated 536,000 adults currently living with knee implants have undergone revision procedures to replace their implants.”

It is not as if the implants that needed to be replaced were manufactured by smaller or lesser-known companies. Biomet, DePuy, Smith & Nephew, Stryker, Wright, and Zimmer have all recalled knee implants that were used in patient surgery and that had previously been approved by the FDA. As of September 2103, DePuy had the most recalls, and Zimmer was a close second.

This July, however, Zimmer manufacturing “initiated another sweeping recall on one of its artificial knee implants,” according to DrugWatch.com. Noted by DrugWatch, the NexGen MIS Tibial Component is being recalled because of the tendency of the pieces to loosen or fail. There is no other explanation being offered other than shoddy manufacturing.

No matter the reason, more than 40,000 of these devices have been recalled, affecting thousands of patients nationwide. If a patient does not have the device removed, he or she may face side effects that include (but are not limited to):

• Bone loss;
• Early revision surgery;
• Infection; and
• Dislocation.

In the event of bone loss, infection, or dislocation, some patients could actually end up worse off than they were before the initial implant surgery.

If you or someone you know has had a Zimmer knee implant surgery performed in Connecticut, do not go through it alone. Contact Richard H. Raphael, Attorney at Law, an experienced Connecticut medical malpractice attorney, for a free initial consultation today.