One of the most common complications to a surgery or other medical treatment is an infection. The news frequently broadcasts stories about new kinds of antibiotic resistant bacteria that pose a danger to patients.

If you have suffered a serious infection after being in the hospital or after a medical procedure, you need to understand your rights.

When an Infection May be More Than Just a Risk of a Procedure

Part of the standard “talk” doctors give their patients before performing a procedure or recommending surgery is a discussion of the risks involved. Every surgery and procedure carries different risks. However, one aspect that every surgery has in common, no matter how major or minor, is a risk of infection.

Generally, the law does not allow people to recover damages for injuries they received when they voluntarily accepted the risks. But, not every case of infection is just one of the risks of having surgery. Sometimes doctors or other medical professionals make mistakes and those mistakes may lead to infections.

Hospital Acquired Infections

Hospitals are increasingly the home to dangerous microbes, such as MRSA. These bacteria are tough to treat and can be devastating to patients trying to recover from a serious illness or surgery. These so-called superbugs are examples of hospital acquired infections and are infections you get because you were in the hospital.

Hospitals, clinics, and the medical professionals who work there have a duty to follow sterilization protocols and to protect patients from getting exposed unnecessarily to bacteria.

Time Limits and Having Your Case Evaluated

If you suffered from an infection, like MRSA, after a surgical or other medical procedure, you may have been the victim of medical malpractice. You will need to have your case carefully reviewed by a lawyer knowledgeable in medical malpractice. Your own medical records may have clues about why you were infected. Under Connecticut law, you may only have two years to bring a medical malpractice claim. Because these cases are complicated and take a lot of investigation and preparation, time is of the essence.

If you or your loved one has suffered a serious post-procedure infection, you need to speak with an experienced Westport medical malpractice lawyer right away. Call Richard H. Raphael, Attorney at Law, at 203-226-6168 to schedule a consultation today. You may only have a short period of time to protect your rights.

Sources:

http://www.jud.ct.gov/lawlib/Notebooks/Pathfinders/MedicalMalpractice.pdf

https://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-r-0583.htm

A new study by Columbia University School of Nursing about hospital infection prevention policies has revealed some disturbing results – most hospitals fail to follow their own policies. The price of these infections is high, costing $33 billion annually for excess medical care and killing 100,000 people in this country every year.

Researchers studied the prevention policies of over 1600 intensive care units (ICU) at almost 1,000 hospitals located across the U.S. The team was especially interested in what kind of checklists were in place to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia and catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

Of all the ICUs studied, one in 10 still did not have any kind of checklist in place to help deter bloodstream infections. The study also found that one in four ICUs had no checklists to help prevent patients developing pneumonia while on a ventilator.

For those units that did have checklists in place, these safeguards were only followed half the time.

Past research has shown that the use of electronic monitoring systems and staff that are trained and have infection control certification can significantly reduce the occurrence of these infections. But only one-third of the hospitals actually had some type of electronic monitoring system in place. And more than one-third of the hospitals studied had no staff trained in infection control.

The research was led by Dr. Patricia Stone, who has been involved in considerable research about hospital and health-care infections. In a statement, Dr. Stone said, “Hospitals aren’t following the rules they put in place themselves to keep patients safe. Rules don’t keep patients from dying unless they’re enforced.”

Dr. Stone also added, “Every hospital should see this research as a call to action – it’s just unconscionable that we’re not doing every single thing we can, every day, for every patient, to avoid preventable infections.”

If you have suffered from complications caused by negligent medical care, contact a Westport medical malpractice attorney to find out what compensation you may be entitled to for pain and loss.

The New York Times recently reported on the enormous increase in the use of medical imaging and the impact that increase has had in the number of cancer deaths in the last two decades.

Cancer is the number two cause of death in the United States, but it is quickly catching up to and may soon surpass the leading cause of death – heart disease. Medical imaging – particularly CT scans – exposes the patient to high doses of radiation. According to the Mayo Clinic, a CT scan performs by    combining “a series of X-ray views taken from many different angles and computer processing to create cross-sectional images of the bones and soft tissues inside your body.”

The radiation from a CT scan (also referred to as a cat scan) is 100 to 1,000 times higher than X-rays. Many doctors have always concluded that the benefits of using CT scans for diagnostic purposes far exceeded the risks of that exposure. Today, however, in a 2009 study, the National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements (NCRP) reported that there will be an extra 29,000 cases of cancer caused from CT scans performed in the year 2007. And 14,500 of those cancer cases will be terminal.

In another study, the NCRP also reports that in 1980 there were 3 million scans performed. Today, there are 62 million CT scans performed annually.

The correlation between the radiation in CT scans and cancer has been documented in several studies. Just one CT scan exposes a person to enough radiation that could cause cancer and has been compared as the same amount of radiation exposure as people were exposed to in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many who later died of cancer.

Research has also revealed that children are even more at risk than adults. They are three times more likely to develop brain cancer or leukemia from CT scan radiation exposure.

Medical experts say that better guidelines and standards need to be established on the use of medical imaging. They also say that better oversight is needed. Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is only responsible of the approval of scanners, but does not have any jurisdiction on how they are used.

If you have suffered injuries or illness brought on by medical error, contact a qualified Westport medical malpractice attorney today to find out what kind of civil options you may have for pain and loss.