In October 2007, then 31-year old Tina Holstein gave birth to her third child at Community General Hospital in Syracuse, New York.  After the delivery, Holstein felt ill and began to vomit.  A nurse at the hospital decided to administer an intramuscular injection to help Holstein feel better, however later she began to feel that the injection had caused permanent damage to her sciatic nerve.

Holstein pursed a lawsuit against the nurse who administered the injection and Community General Hospital for failing to correctly administer the injection causing permanent injury.  The suit against the nurse was dropped, but Holstein was awarded $1.69 million in damages from the hospital.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of medical malpractice, contact the Philadelphia medical negligence attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to learn more about your rights.

A recent study in the medical journal Chest, showed that obese men and women going to the hospital for breathing troubles were four times more likely to be misdiagnosed with asthma.

Researchers found that 150 of 500 obese patients who say they were diagnosed with asthma found out they did not have  it after having objective lung-function testing.  That is a 30 percent chance of misdiagnosis.  Furthermore, researchers believe that one of the major reasons for the misdiagnosis is failing to use spirometry testing.  Spirometry is a standard lung function test that is often is not even executed before diagnosing asthma.  In addition, they believe that obese patients are more likely to have symptoms similar to asthma symptoms, like breathlessness and chest tightening.

Researchers suggest that patients follow up with a primary care physician to receive the appropriate testing.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of misdiagnosis, contact the Philadelphia misdiagnosis attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to learn more about your rights.

The California Medical Board has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the fertility doctor who performed in vitro treatments on infamous “Octomom” Nadya Suleman.  The board is trying to have Dr. Michael Kamrava’s medical license revoked after implanting too high a number of embryos into another patient.

Dr. Kamrava implanted seven embryos into a 48-year old woman, which the board considers to have put her at “great risk”.  The woman already had three children when she started in vitro treatments with Dr. Kamrava.  Out of the seven embryos, four developed into fetuses, three were born, and one died in the womb.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of medical malpractice, contact the Philadelphia medical malpractice attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to learn more about your rights.

A West Virginia woman and her husband are suing a surgeon and medical device manufacturer involved in her pelvic organ prolapse surgery.

In 2007, Betty Adkins had surgery performed by Dr. Mitchell E. Nutt at St. Mary’s Medical Center for her pelvic organ prolapse.  Dr. Nutt inserted an Avaulta Plus Anterior and Posterior BioSynthetic Support System produced by C.R. Bard in Adkins.  Since the surgery, Adkins complains she has suffered serious mental and physical pain including permanent and substantial physical deformity and loss of a bodily organ.

Adkins and her husband believe C.R. Bard practiced negligence in the design, manufacturing, marketing, labeling, and packaging and selling of the medical device.  Furthermore, they believe Nutt was negligent in his advocation and use of the product.

If you or someone you love has suffered from post-surgical complications, contact the Philadelphia post-surgical complications lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to learn more about your rights.

The Philadelphia VA Medical Center, the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Gary Kao are facing five medical malpractice lawsuits for botched radiation therapy in five veteran patients.

The veterans filing suit, Richard Mitchell, John Berry, James Armstrong, Barry Lackro, and Donald Pepper, were under Dr. Kao’s care at the cancer unit of Philadelphia VA Medical Center.  Philadelphia VA Medical Center treats U.S. military veterans in Southern Pennsylvania.  They believe that Dr. Kao improperly treated their cancer through a process called brachytherapy.

The U.S. Nuclear Radiation Commission investigated Dr. Kao and the hospital’s cancer unit and found that of 114 cancer patients seen, Dr. Kao only got the therapy right 16 times.  Dr. Kao was later terminated from his position and the cancer unit was shut down.

This past May, the NRC fined the hospital $227,500.

Since his treatment, Lacko’s cancer returned and is now incurable.

If your or someone you love has been the victim of medical malpractice, contact the Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to learn more about your rights.

An Iowa obstetrician, Dr. Tobin Jacks, has been ordered to quit practicing medicine and fined $10,000 by the Iowa Board of Medicine after mishandling a birth which caused permanent brain damage.

Tammy and Matt Heston sued Jacks for mishandling the birth of their son, Connor, in 2005.  The board agreed that Jacks failed to properly assess Tammy and as a result did not recognize the need for a C-section delivery.  Instead, Jacks improperly used forceps and vacuum extraction to deliver Connor Heston leaving him with permanent brain damage.  Connor is now 5 years old and unable to sit up, walk, talk, or swallow.

53-year old Jacks has had several run-ins with the Iowa Board of Medicine since 1987, mostly concerning drug use, and once admitting to using his children’s urine to pass drug tests.

A New York City judge, Douglas McKeon, with years of experience specializing in medical malpractice lawsuits is trying to use an approach of “humanness” to reform medical malpractice cases.  McKeon advocates what he calls, “judge-directed negotiations”, a style of part listing and part directing in settling malpractice suits.  He describes his technique as ” the willingness to bring humanness to the process”.

McKeon tries to listen to hurting family members’ anger, as well as directs lawyers about their comments and how they will affect the jury.  He states, “I don’t discuss settlement offers with families right away…I just say, ‘Tell me a little bit about your loved one’”.

Earlier this month, the Obama administration approved 3 million dollars worth of funds to test out McKeon’s method on a broader scale.

If you or someone you love has been a victim of medical malpractice, contact the Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to learn more about your rights.

51-year old Timothy Harvey of Atkinson, Maine died on June 5th after a medication error at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft.

Harvey came to Mayo Regional Hospital after suffering from anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction.  However, it was recently determined by the state medical examiner’s office and hospital officials that Harvey did not die from his anaphylaxis, but from an overdose of the drug used to treat anaphylaxis- epinephrine.

Epinephrine is a synthetic hormone that is typically the first form of treatment used in cases of anaphylaxis.  Officials stated that though anaphylaxis is deadly, it is rarely seen in emergency rooms.

People who suffer from anaphylaxis often carry pre-measured doses of epinephrine in cases of emergency, such as EpiPen, Anapen, and Twinject.  However, emergency rooms would not likely have pre-measured doses of epinephrine on hand.  Rather, epinephrine is most often stored in multidose vials and in varying concentrations, so mistaking or misprescribing a dosage could be quite simple.

The Department of Health and Human Services is investigating exactly what went wrong in Mr. Harvey’s treatment.  Our thoughts and prayer’s go out to Harvey’s family and friends.

In a recent study, doctors found that using a cooling blanket on babies at risk for brain injuries can reduce the chance of lasting damage.

Brain damage in babies most often occurs due to an insufficient supply of oxygen at the time of birth, and four out of every thousand babies born in the United States suffers brain damage.  This therapy involves placing a simple blanket with tubes of cold water running through it over a baby’s head, bringing the child’s body temperature down to 91 degrees over a 72 hour period.  In doing so, the baby’s body system slows, requiring less energy and reducing swelling in the brain.

The study’s results show that using the blanket on babies who experienced oxygen deprivation decreases the chance of seizures, cerebral palsy, and death.  Furthermore, babies’ vision, mental scores, and motor skills improved after using the blanket.

This is the first therapy to prevent brain damage in babies.  Currently, the treatment is only being used in academic medical facilities.

If you or someone you love has suffered brain damage at birth, contact the Philadelphia brain and spinal damage lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to learn more about your rights.