Syracuse Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

At the forefront of the current New York State budget debate is whether or not non-economic damages in New York medical malpractice lawsuits should be capped at $250,000.00. Non-economic damages are those damages awarded by a jury for pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.

According to hospitals and doctors around the State, medical malpractice lawsuits are universally "frivolous." In response, we ask New York doctors to comment on what just happened to 2 year old Malyia Jeffers. Specifically, we welcome their thoughts on whether this is a case of emergency room malpractice.

A short time ago, Malyia woke up with a fever. When the fever began to rise and Malyia began to show bruising on her cheeks, her parents rushed her to Sacramento's Methodist Hospital emergency room. According to a CNN report entitled "Harmed In The Hospital? Should You Sue?", Malyia sat in the emergency room for nearly five (5) hours before she was examined by a physician. By the time emergency room personnel diagnosed her with sepsis (i.e., a blood infection), it was too late. The infection was advanced and, to save her life, doctors had to amputate her left hand, most of her right hand, and both of her legs. Sepsis is typically treated with intravenous antibiotics. "And time matters," said Michael A. Bottar, of Bottar Leone, PLLC. "It is well known that for every hour of delay in the administration of antibiotic therapy for sepsis, there is an associated 7% rise in mortality."

Bottar, a Syracuse medical malpractice lawyer, continued "if this happened in New York, and there were a $250,000.00 cap on pain and suffering, Malyia would receive, essentially, $8.00/day for her loss. The average salary for an emergency room physician is $267,000.00 per year, or $731.00/day. Sound fair to you?"

Group B streptococcus (GBS) is a bacteria that can cause life-threatening infections in newborns, as well as disease in a pregnant mother during or after delivery. It affects about 18,000 people every year. "As many as 30% of women carry GBS. It's usually harmless, unless it finds its way to the bloodstream," said Michael A. Bottar, Esq., a Syracuse medical malpractice lawyer representing newborns injured by a failure to diagnose group B strep or GBS misdiagnosis.

An OB/GYN should test a pregnant woman for GBS during her third trimester. "That is the standard of care," Bottar added. "If a woman is found to be 'colonized,' then antibiotics should be administered - usually by IV." Antibiotic treatment for GBS is indicated to prevent transmission of the bacteria from mother to baby during childbirth. GBS causes sepsis (in mother and baby) and meningitis in newborns. Both sepsis and meningitis can lead to serious complications, including lifelong disabilities such as speech impairment, blindness and hearing loss.

Certain women are at high risk for delivering a baby with GBS, including those who develop a fever during labor, are colonized late in pregnancy, have a UTI due to GBS, have ruptured membranes more than 18 hours before delivery, and those who go into labor before 37 weeks.

According to a ScienceDaily article titled "Third Trimester Group B Streptococcus Test Doesn't Accurately Predict Presence During Labor," a study recently presented at the annual meeting for the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine has called into question the accuracy of the 3rd trimester GBS test. Apparently, many women who test negative for GBS at 37 weeks test positive at the time of delivery. The study suggests implementation of a rapid GBS test immediately before delivery as a way to avoid a GBS misdiagnosis.

Continue reading "New York Group B Strep Infections Go Undiagnosed Despite 3rd Trimester Test" »

"A sponge was left inside our client for nearly one year," said Syracuse medical malpractice lawyer Michael A. Bottar, Esq., an attorney representing the patient and his family. "We believe it was a laparotomy sponge measuring nearly 12 inches by 18 inches. That's the size of a kitchen dish towel. And it had a radio-opaque strip woven into the fabric so it should have been identified on a post-operative xray -- had a study been ordered. The surgical team forgot that too. This was a complete comedy of errors."

A retained surgical sponge is an avoidable mistake. To leave a sponge behind is either the result of surgical malpractice or nursing negligence. This is because surgeons and operating room nurses are supposed to know exactly how many sponges are used during a procedure and should not close until the sponge count is correct. "Ten in, ten out," Bottar added.

Surgeons have an independent duty to check the abdominal cavity for sponges, even if advised by the nursing staff that that all sponges have been counted. This is because sponges and pads are known to stick together so a nurse, thinking that one sponge has been handed to a surgeon has actually handed over two. When one sponge is counted at the end of the procedure, it appears that the count is correct.

If sponges are identified and removed quickly, there is usually little harm other than a second surgical procedure. However, in this case, the sponge was allowed to fester. It led to a very serious infection, a bowel obstruction, the removal of more than one foot of his intestine and a ventral hernia. "On doctor's orders, our client has been out of work for nearly one year. Once a manual laborer, he can no longer lift more than 5-10 pounds and, because of his permanent physical disability, just recently lost his job."