Although very safe, colonoscopies sometimes can cause complications, especially when a doctor has been negligent. If you were injured during a colonoscopy, or if a doctor did not perform it properly, you could have a legal claim for medical malpractice. Reach out to a Volusia county personal injury attorney right away.

Common Colonoscopy Errors

Several things can go wrong with colonoscopies which result in avoidable injuries to patients. For example:

• A doctor might overlook cancerous growths during the colonoscopy. As a result, a patient does not receive timely and correct treatment.

• A doctor might puncture the colon with the camera, resulting in an infection and possibly death.

• A doctor fails to recommend a colonoscopy and therefore fails to diagnose problems.

• Improper sedation leading to plunging blood pressure or other complications.

• Failure to monitor a patient’s vital signs during the colonoscopy, leading to a failure to properly address complications.

• An infection sets in because the instruments were not sufficient sterilized.

Many of these errors result in serious injuries and death. Even if a patient lives, he probably has incurred thousands of dollars in medical bills because of the doctor’s medical negligence.

Complications to Watch For

If you are feeling unwell, or if you notice rectal bleeding, you should consult your doctor immediately. Often, people who undergo a colonoscopy experience light bleeding if the doctor has removed a polyp. However, continued or heavy bleeding raises concerns.

Perforations in particular are deadly and you might need surgery to close the perforation. If you notice stomach pain or develop a fever, you should go to the doctor immediately.

In other cases, you might not realize the doctor has been negligent until you receive a cancer diagnose. The purpose of the colonoscopy is to find and treat colon cancer. If a doctor has been careless, he might have overlooked tumors that will only grow worse. You should speak with an attorney to check whether the doctor was negligent.

Avoid Delay

Medical malpractice cases involving colonoscopies are covered by Florida statute 95.11. This law gives injured victims only 2 years to file a lawsuit if they were injured. Some exceptions apply, such as when you could not reasonably discover your doctor’s negligence within the 2-year window of time, but you should avoid delay.

Contact Bundza & Rodriguez right away. One of our Volusia County medical malpractice attorneys can meet with you to analyze whether you have a valid legal claim against your doctor or another medical professional. We will probably need to see your medical records as well as information about how much money you have spent dealing with the doctor’s mistake.

Please contact us today by calling 386-252-5170 or filling out our contact sheet.

If you pick up an infection while in the hospital, you might be entitled to financial compensation. Please contact one of our Daytona Beach medical malpractice attorneys right away.

Common Infections

Any virus or bacteria could, in theory, circulate in a hospital. However, some of the more common include:

• Staphylococcus aureus. This bacterium is found in the skin of most people and is usually harmless. However, if the bacteria enter deeper into the body, then a staph infection can become deadly.

• There are many influenza viruses which can spread in a hospital setting.

• This illness is caused by a particular bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which can travel through the air.

• coli. This bacterium is found in most people’s intestines, but it can cause severe food poisoning.

Some of these bacteria are even resistant to certain antibiotics. For example, some staph bacteria are resistant to methicillin. About 2 million people every year contract a bacterial infection that is resistant to antibiotics, and over 20,000 of them will die. For treatment, you might need to try different antibiotics to find one that is effective, and you could end up having to stay in the hospital much longer than expected.

Is the Hospital to Blame?

If you pick up an infection within 48 hours of being admitted to the hospital, then you have a hospital-associated infection. Hospitals take infections very seriously and have extensive protocols in place to keep staff from transmitting these microbes from patient to patient.

Nevertheless, infections continue to spread, and few hospitals have been able to completely eliminate them. Sometimes, the hospital is to blame for an infection for one of many reasons:

• Failure to wash hands before treating a patient
• Failure to properly sterilize equipment
• Failure to isolate a patient with an infection
• Failure to diagnose an infection in a timely manner
• Failure to treat an infection properly which allows it to spread

If the hospital is to blame, then they have been negligent, and you might be able to bring a lawsuit against them. The key will be to determine what the hospital knew and when it knew it. For example, if the hospital knows an infection is circulating when you catch it, then you have a much stronger case. The hospital is on notice that it needs to be especially careful to prevent any spreading.

Speak to a Medical Malpractice Attorney Today

At Bundza & Rodriguez, our Daytona Beach medical malpractice attorneys have built their reputations holding doctors and hospitals accountable when their negligence injures patients. We are skilled at bringing these cases and know how to obtain a favorable settlement to cover your losses.

Please contact us today by calling 386-252-5170. We offer a free consultation to potential clients.

Resources:

cdc.gov/washington/~cdcatWork/pdf/infections.pdf

cdc.gov/drugresistance/about.html

The report, titled “Patterns of Dementia Treatment and Frank Prescribing Errors in Older Adults with Parkinson Disease,” pointed out that those living in the South and Midwest were more likely to receive inappropriate therapies for dementia. As a result, many patients got worse, not better.

Therapies Can Make Things Worse

Many patients with Parkinson’s disease are at risk of developing dementia, so doctors often end up treating both conditions simultaneously. Unfortunately, the prescription drug choices they make can actually end up harming patients.

Researchers studied the medical records of almost 270,000 people who received Medicare benefits. Based on the study, about 45% of people with Parkinson’s disease and dementia filled a prescription for medication that could make their cognitive impairment worse.

Problems arose when doctors prescribed patients a drug with high anticholinergic activity, like Maneda, but also another drug that is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, such as Exelon or Aricept. Prescribing these drugs together is called a “never event,” because it was the kind of shocking medication error that should never happen. Unfortunately, as this report showed, these “never events” happen with some regularity, and they can contribute to a loved one’s disability.

Differences by Race and Sex

Prescription errors were not found evenly distributed across the population. Instead, researchers found clusters of inappropriate prescriptions particularly in the Midwest and the South.

Also, being a woman or Hispanic increased the risk of a prescription error. Women were 30% more likely to be on the receiving end of these never events, while Hispanics had an 11% increased chance. Interesting, although Black patients were more likely to be prescribed medication for their dementia, they were less likely to receive a second prescription that would lead to a never event.

Holding Doctors Accountable

Doctors owe their patients a duty of care, and when doctors violate this duty injured patients can hold them accountable. Patients suffering from Parkinson’s or dementia often suffer in silence, since they often cannot analyze the medication they are receiving or communicate effectively with family. Family members might also feel overwhelmed and not look as closely as they should to see that their loved one has received appropriate treatment.

If your loved one has suffered a dramatic decline in cognitive performance, you might want to take him or her to a different doctor for a second opinion. This doctor can review the prescriptions your loved one is receiving and see if anything is actually harming them.

Speak to a Daytona Beach Medical Malpractice Attorney

At Bundza & Rodriguez, we represent patients who have been injured by prescription errors. For help with your case, please reach out to us today. Our attorneys know how to bring successful claims for compensation, and we are happy to analyze your case to determine whether you have a legitimate legal complaint.

Schedule your free consultation today by calling 386-252-5170. We are eager to hear from you.

Resources:

parkinsonsnewstoday.com/2018/10/16/parkinsons-study-reveals-prescription-errors-dementia-therapies/

psnet.ahrq.gov/primers/primer/3/never-events

Common Anesthesia Errors

Patients expect that medical professionals use the care and experience of other competent medical professionals. Generally, anesthesia is very safe. Nevertheless, we continue to see many different anesthesia errors inside and outside the operating room:

• Delayed delivery. The anesthesiologist might wait too long to deliver the anesthesia because they are not paying sufficient attention during surgery. Other reasons for delayed delivery include IV mistakes or problems with leakage.

• Dosage error. An anesthesiologist might give a patient too little or too much anesthesia.

• Failure to diagnose complications. An anesthesiologist might not notice that the patient is in distress and therefore cannot properly respond to them.

• Inadequate monitoring. The anesthesiologist and other medical team members might not properly monitor the patient during surgery.

• Prolonged sedation. A patient can experience delirium and other problems if they are sedated too long.

• Intubation errors. Sometimes an anesthesiologist needs to intubate a patient during surgery so that they can breathe safely. Errors can injure the patient.

Serious Injuries

Any mistake made in the operating room can carry dangerous complications for patients. Anesthesia errors are also serious and can result in the following:

• Loss of bodily function
• Injury to the cardiovascular system (such as stroke or heart attack)
• Tracheal damage due to negligent intubation
• Brain damage
• Spinal cord injury
• Coma
• Death

Another serious injury that warrants mention is anesthesia awareness. Some patients regain consciousness during the surgery because the anesthesiologist does not properly monitor them. Horrifyingly, the patient can hear conversations in the operating room and sometimes can even feel pain during the surgery—though they are unable to speak or communicate their awareness to anyone.

According to one study, anesthesia awareness strikes about 21,000 Americans each year. There are some well-known causes. For example, some patients cannot receive a normal dosage of anesthesia because of medical issues or because the team is responding to an emergency. Nevertheless, some anesthesia awareness stems from negligent medical care. As a result of their awareness, many patients experience intense emotional distress from the experience of being awake during surgery.

Legal Guidance after an Anesthesia Mistake

Anesthesia errors injure or kill countless patients, and doctors must be held accountable for their errors. If you have suffered an injury in the operating room, then we want to hear from you.

At Bundza & Rodriguez, our Daytona Beach medical malpractice attorneys are prepared to seek compensation on your behalf to make up for your injuries and economic losses. To start the process, please contact us by calling or submitting our online contact sheet. Our initial consultations are free.

Because informed consent is so important, patients can bring a lawsuit if a doctor fails to provide them with relevant information and they suffer an injury.

Florida’s Informed Consent Law

In Florida, a patient must be informed of certain information before undergoing a procedure, such as:

• The nature of the procedure, i.e., what it entails
• Any risks or hazards that are substantial
• Any reasonable alternatives to the proposed procedure, including doing nothing

What qualifies as “substantial” risks and “reasonable” alternatives will depend on what is accepted by those in the medical community with similar training and experience. Your doctor should also explain this information in language that is easy for you to understand.

Before undergoing surgery or other treatment, patients must often sign a consent form. However, the fact that you signed a form does not mean that you gave informed consent. You can still present evidence showing that your doctor did not disclose all required information.

Exceptions

Florida law does not require that a doctor obtain informed consent before rendering treatment in all cases. For example, a doctor who acts as a “good Samaritan” and voluntarily helps someone in distress does not need to inform the patient of risks and alternatives.

As an example, a doctor who performs the Heimlich maneuver in a restaurant does not have to tell the person choking the information listed above. In most cases, however, Florida’s informed consent law applies.

Proving Your Case

Frequently, informed consent cases present dueling memories about what was said during a medical consultation. If the signed consent form is missing critical information, then you have a valuable piece of evidence. Sometimes, however, the doctor might try to claim that he gave you this missing information orally, so you might need to testify about what the doctor told you before treatment.

Based on our experience, informed consent cases are difficult to win. Florida’s statute states that juries can still decide the case in favor of the doctor if they believe the patient would have undergone the procedure even if given all required information. This defense is often a hurdle for our clients.

As a result, you will need to present evidence that you would not have undergone the procedure if the doctor had provided information about all known risks and alternatives. For example, you might have declined a similar procedure in the past that presented the same risks and hazards.

Speak with a Medical Malpractice Attorney in Daytona Beach

When doctors and other medical professionals fail to disclose important information, they betray our trust. At Bundza & Rodriguez, we believe that lawsuits play a vital role in improving medicine in Volusia County. To identify whether you have a valid case against a doctor or other medical professional, please schedule your free consultation with us today.

Resource:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0766/Sections/0766.103.html

Wrong-site Surgery

You might go under the knife to have a lump removed from your left breast only to have the surgeon take a portion of your right breast. Or you might go into surgery to have a heart valve repaired only to have the doctor operate on the wrong valve.

These are wrong-site surgical errors, and they are surprisingly common. Wrong-site errors usually stem from communication problems or because the surgeon is rushed in the operating room. Regardless of the reason, patients need a second surgery to properly correct the problem and may need other treatment to fix the damage caused by the negligent surgeon.

Objects Left Behind

While sewing you up, the surgical staff might not have properly removed all implements that were inserted, such as sponges. Other objects left behind include scalpels, clamps, and gauze. Foreign objects left behind have become such a problem that surgical sponges now come with electronic monitoring so that staff can find out if one was left inside you.

Anesthesia Errors

Before undergoing surgery, you will need general anesthesia to be knocked out. Anesthesia errors can include:

• Administering too much anesthesia
• Administering too little anesthesia
• Failing to identify complications
• Not properly monitoring the patient’s vital signs during surgery
• Not properly checking that the patient emerges from anesthesia properly

As a result of these errors, some patients either die or (perhaps just as bad) regain consciousness during the surgery. These errors are avoidable. Careful anesthesiologists should properly analyze your medical history to determine how much anesthesia to give, and staff should deliver it properly. When someone has been insufficiently careful, errors can result.

Organ and Nerve Damage

Any slip of the knife can puncture organs and lead to bleeding and tissue damage. Increasingly, surgeons rely on robots for routine surgeries to minimize the number of errors they make. Nevertheless, robots can’t do everything, particularly more complex surgeries. When the doctor damages a nerve, the patient can suffer chronic pain.

Infection

Doctors and nurses must adequately scrub before entering the operating room. Unfortunately, hospitals are rife with infections, and patients might contract a nasty bug during or immediately after surgery. Hospital infections tend to be more dangerous than those you would pick up at work or school, and aggressive antibiotics are often required as treatment to keep the infection from spreading.

Injured in the Operating Room? We Can Help

Surgery often results in pain and inconvenience. However, when your doctor contributes to your injuries, you might have a cause of action. At Bundza & Rodriguez in Daytona Beach, we have helped many patients and grieving family members receive the compensation they deserve. To schedule your free consultation with a medical malpractice attorney, please call or send us an online message.

Resource:

webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20121220/thousands-mistakes-surgery#1

What Are Common Dental Malpractice Injuries?

An incompetent dentist can leave patients with devastating injuries, including the following:

• Permanent nerve damage in your jaw, chin, or lips
• Permanent loss of sensation
• Permanent loss of taste
• Structural damage to teeth and/or bone
• Infection after surgery
• Injury caused by improper application of anesthesia
• Death

If you suffered these or other complications after receiving dental treatment, you might be able to sue the dentist for compensation.

What Compensation Can I Receive?

Incompetent dentists leave their patients in a lot of pain. To compensate you, you can receive money damages for the following:

• Dental costs to treat the problem created by your dentist
• Lost wages if you could not return to work
• Lost future wages if your injury prevents you from returning to work in the future
• Physical pain and suffering
• Emotional distress, such as embarrassment, depression, grief, and irritability
• Loss of consortium for negative changes to your marital relationship

Each case is unique, and not all of our clients qualify for all of the above money damages. Nevertheless, you should meet quickly with a medical malpractice lawyer to analyze what compensation might be available to you.

What Must I Prove?

To win a medical malpractice lawsuit, you need to prove that you were the dentist’s patient and that their negligence caused your injuries. Typically, most cases revolve around whether the dentist was negligent, meaning insufficiently careful. According to state law, dentists must exhibit the same care that other competent dentists would in the same circumstances. If they don’t, then they have breached their duty of care to you and are legally responsible if they caused your injuries.

Sometimes the dentist’s treatment will be obviously negligent, but in other situations you might need an expert witness to establish what treatment a competent dentist would have provided in the same circumstances. At Bundza & Rodriguez, we have extensive experience presenting technical testimony in a way that juries can understand it.

How Much Time Do I Have to Sue?

Not long. Florida law gives victims of dental malpractice only two years to bring a lawsuit from the date of injury. If you wait too long, a judge will dismiss your case without compensation. You might think that two years is a long time, but it is very easy to let deadlines slip, especially if you are in a lot of pain. Rather than wait, reach out to a medical malpractice lawyer.

Speak with a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Daytona Beach

If a dentist or other dental professional provided incompetent treatment, you might be entitled to financial compensation. At Bundza & Rodriguez, we will hold dentists accountable when their negligence causes serious injuries. Call us today for a free consultation.

Resource:

leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0766/Sections/0766.102.html

Opposing Views in Florida’s “Eyeball Wars”

Optometrists and ophthalmologists are in the business of caring for people’s eyes and improving their vision, but ophthalmologists have an M.D. degree, whereas optometrists do not. After graduating from college, ophthalmologists complete four years of medical school, plus a one-year residency in general medicine, plus one or more years of ophthalmology residency. Optometrists, by contrast, complete four years of optometry school, where they learn to diagnose vision problems and to treat them with glasses and contact lenses. If an optometrist determines that a patient needs surgery to correct his or her vision, the optometrist refers the patient to an ophthalmologist.

Physician shortages, insufficient health insurance coverage, and high costs mean that many Florida patients who need eye surgery cannot get it. Thus, the controversial bills propose to allow optometrists to train to perform certain types of eye surgery. The new legislation would not allow them to make incisions in the eyes or eyelids; the included surgeries would be things like surgical removal of foreign objects from the eye or laser surgery to correct vision. Opponents of the bills claim that it is dangerous to allow non-physicians to perform any kind of eye surgery. The proposed surgery training courses for optometrists would take only 30 hours, a very small fraction of the years of surgical training undergone by ophthalmologists. Critics point to complications and malpractice suits in other states that have permitted optometrists to perform surgeries. As a patient, the best way to keep your eyes safe is to ask for a referral to an ophthalmologist if you have any kind of eye problem more serious than just needing a new glasses prescription.

Contact Us About Your Medical Malpractice Case

Staying within one’s scope of practice is just one part of the standard of care that healthcare professionals owe to their patients. Contact Bundza & Rodriguez, P.A. in Daytona Beach, Florida for a consultation if you think that your injuries are the result of negligence or errors on the part of a healthcare worker.

Resource:

law.com/dailybusinessreview/almID/1202790708259/?slreturn=20171125215628

A Theory Based on Flimsy Evidence

Dr. Wilson came up with the hypothesis that many different symptoms, including everything from weight gain and lack of energy to hair loss and low libido, could be attributed to the body’s inability to convert one thyroid hormone, T4, into another, T3. He attributed the alleged thyroid disturbance and its many symptoms, some of them quite subjective and nonspecific, to a syndrome which he named after himself, calling it Wilson’s Thyroid Syndrome or Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome.  He treated the disease by prescribing T3.

Even before any of his patients got sick from the treatment, Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome attracted controversy among endocrinologists, the doctors who usually treat thyroid disorders. For one thing, Dr. Wilson was not a board-certified endocrinologist. He had only completed one year of residency, which was in family medicine. To become board-certified in endocrinology, a doctor must complete at least four years of residency, several of which deal specifically with endocrinology, and then take the board exams. Second, he did not publish his research on the alleged T3 deficiency in peer reviewed journals. The type of research necessary for a peer-reviewed study requires substantial funding and is beyond the budget of most private practice physicians. Instead, Dr. Wilson marketed a book directly to patients, and patients began to come to him seeking treatment for obesity and other symptoms he attributed to Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome. Another red flag was that the patients who came to him for treatment had blood tests for thyroid function and had their temperatures taken. They showed body temperatures and thyroid hormone levels that were within normal range.

Not All Experimental Treatments Are Malpractice

It is fairly common for doctors to prescribe medicines for reasons other than the drug’s original intended use and for treatments that are still considered experimental to be fairly widespread. For example, dermatologists sometimes prescribe hormonal contraceptives as an acne treatment, and some doctors use Botox injections to treat migraines. The “right to try” doctrine, which allows patients to try off-the-beaten-path therapies when the usual treatments have not worked for them, originated with terminally ill HIV patients, but now it is generally accepted that all patients have the right to make informed decisions about their medical care, even when it involves controversial treatments.

When Flurkey died, Dr. Wilson was quick to produce papers she signed acknowledging the risks of taking T3 at higher doses than what endocrinologists normally prescribe. The issue was whether Dr. Wilson behaved irresponsibly in continuing to prescribe Flurkey such high doses of T3 even after she began to show signs of hyperthyroidism.

Contact Bundza & Rodriguez About Cases Related to Experimental Treatments

Medical treatments do not always have the desired outcome, no matter how routine or experimental they are. Contact Bundza & Rodriguez in Daytona Beach, Florida if you have become ill after an experimental medical treatment and think that a physician’s negligence played a role in it.

Resource:

articles.orlandosentinel.com/1991-09-22/news/9109201143_1_wilson-syndrome-wilson-syndrome-denis-wilson