Misplaced Medical Tubes
When you are hurt or sick, you may not be able to eat or breathe on your own. In these cases, paramedics and doctors must insert tubing into your body to provide these services for you. These tubes can save lives if they are used and inserted correctly. Conversely, however, they can also cause serious damage to your body if the tubes are misplaced.
Eating and breathing are both essential to life. However, misdirected food or air can actually kill you. If your body has been further damaged by misplaced medical tubing, you should fight back against this dangerous act of medical negligence. To discuss your legal options, contact an experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney from Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. today at 215-238-1130.
Feeding Tube Dangers
Your body needs a variety of vitamins, minerals, and food molecules to give you the energy you need, sometimes in the form of liquid food from a feeding tube. This is especially necessary when you are trying to recover from a serious illness or injury. However, if your feeding tube is misplaced, it can actually poison you. Feeding tube dangers include:
- Placing the liquid food into an intravenous tube rather than stomach tube
- Inserting the feeding tube into the lungs rather the stomach
- Piercing the stomach so that it hemorrhages or leaks
- Improperly securing the stomach tube so that it migrates
Unsafe Endotracheal Tubes
Endotracheal tubes are meant to open up a pathway for air to travel to and from your lungs. Sometimes, these devices can be attached to a ventilator for artificial respiration. Doctors slide the tubes into your mouth down through the trachea, or windpipe. This process is called endotracheal intubation. However, if doctors make a mistake in the placement of the tube, it can end up directing air into your stomach rather than your lungs. Additionally, if it is too deep, you can suffer from a collapsed lung.
Contact Us
Although both feeding tubes and endotracheal tubes can save lives, they can also destroy a person’s future health and well-being if they are misplaced. If you are a victim of misplaced medical tubing, you may be entitled to financial compensation to help you with your pain and suffering. Contact a compassionate yet tenacious Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyer from Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to learn more about how we can help you fight back against medical negligence.