Changing Lives Through Powerful Legal Guidance
Doctors are overworked, over-stressed, tired, and burning out — it is affecting your health. Burned-out medical providers are often less productive and do not focus as well on the needs of their patients. Some reduce their work hours, putting added stress on those who have to cover their shifts and patients, and some leave the medical profession completely. None of this…
Seriously ill patients in hospitals depend on competent nursing care when needed; but when there is a shortage of nurses and they are overworked and exhausted, the result is risk to patient safety and their lives. To prevent these problems, there is now a proposed Congressional bill, House Bill 867, that would limit the number of patients Pennsylvania nurses can care…
Is the deck stacked against patients trying to win a medical malpractice verdict or settlement in Pennsylvania? Many attorneys who represent those harmed by hospital and medical malpractice have been finding that this is the case. In the early 2000s, there were accusations by medical providers that too many lawsuits were being filed. Barriers in the law made in 2002…
Patients seeking medical care can wind up being harmed instead from medical errors made by medical professionals and institutions. A May 2016 Johns Hopkins study indicated that 10 percent of all U.S. deaths are due to medical error, which has become the third leading cause of death, behind only heart disease and cancer. Studies have shown, for example, that the…
Too many patients are injured in hospitals, where safety standards are often below those in other industries. In fact, more than 1,000 Americans die each day from preventable hospital errors, according to The Leapfrog Group, an organization that collects and reports hospital data and gives hospitals a grade of A to F for patient safety. These ratings make a difference. Hospitals…
Laura L. Maas v. Presbyterian, 2018 Pa. Super. LEXIS 752 (June 29, 2018) Bowes, J. The facts giving rise to this cause of action are as follows. On May 29, 2008, Terrence Andrews attacked and killed Lisa Maas, a neighbor who lived four doors away in his Oakland apartment building. Mr. Andrews had a long history of mental illness. He…
Dean v. Bowling Green Brandywine, 2018 Pa. Super. LEXIS 762 (July 2, 2018) Panella, J. The Act applies to voluntary inpatient treatment of mentally ill persons. The Act does not define the term “mentally ill person.” Andrew Johnson was 23 when he voluntarily applied for admission to Bowling Green Brandywine Treatment Center. He was suffering from an addiction to opiates…
Mulberry Square Elder Care and Rehabilitation Center v. Department of Human Services, 2018 Pa. Cmwlth. LEXIS 352 (July 26, 2018) Simpson, J. Mulberry Square Elder Care and Rehabilitation Center (Nursing Facility) petitions for review from an order of the Secretary of the Department of Human Services (Department). The Secretary affirmed the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals’ (BHA) order adopting the…
Gintoff v. Thomas, et al., No. 16 CV 2155 (C.P. Lackawanna May 4, 2018) Nealon, J. In this medical professional liability action alleging negligent prescription and monitoring of anticoagulation therapy that caused a right occipital hemorrhage which warranted an emergency craniotomy and resulted in permanent harm, the defendant-hospital has filed a motion for summary judgment seeking to dismiss plaintiffs’ claims…
Trigg v. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, 2018 Pa. Super. LEXIS 499 (May 14, 2018), Kunselman, J. Mendy Trigg (Jillian Trigg’s mother) and Smithfield Trust, Inc. filed this appeal following a jury verdict in favor of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. The Triggs claim that Allegheny County Civil Division’s jury selection process deprived them of their right to…