Mrs. Jefferson* was just like so many other residents living in so many other long-term care homes in Ontario. In her mid eighties and suffering from dementia, she had moved into Happy Hollow* from her home. Over time, her condition had deteriorated to the point where she was no longer walking, communicating or helping with any of her activities of daily living.
When your case involves future costs of care, you need an expert to accurately assess your clients’ needs who understands the full spectrum and interplay of medical diagnoses, treatments, medications and client goals. Connect Experts has the perfect expert for this role; Nurse Life Care Planners.
The stories are frequent enough; surgical sponge left inside patient. Surgeon leaves forceps in abdomen. 3 foot guide wire found in patients’ chest. Retained surgical items can include sponges, towels, medical device components, surgical instruments, needles, scalpel blades and entire instruments.
They can be discovered months or even years after the initial procedure and cause significant morbidity, serious infection and mortality. The risk is higher for obese patients, during abdominal surgery and lengthy operations involving multiple surgical teams. The risk for retained items is 9-fold higher during emergency surgeries and 4-fold higher when an unexpected change of procedure takes place.
It is a busy Monday night in the emergency department. You’ve arrived with your 2 year old child. You cannot get in to see your family doctor and she’s got a fever of 39.5 C, a sore throat and an earache.Your daughter’s crying and miserable. There is a long line up at triage. Eventually you are seen and assessed by a triage nurse and then sent to the waiting room. The waiting room is packed, your child is miserable and you are wondering how long are you going to have to wait for?
The first of 4 of a series of articles prepared for CARE Magazine on the 5 most common allegations associated with nursing negligence lawsuits
When medical errors cause lasting injury, the patient can sue both the doctor and the nurse. This can result in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Nurses who have been through this experience describe it as extremely difficult; as difficult as other catastrophic life events such as death, divorce and job loss. The experience of being sued affected their work life, personal life, health and wellbeing. Emotions such as shock, shame, anger, depression and fear were common. Many nurses felt so isolated by their peers that they left their jobs. You don’t want this to happen to you.
Pre-Hospital Care; Recognizing the Injury, Accessing Care
Brain Injury management starts with Emergency Service Providers (Nurses, Doctors, Paramedics, EMT’s, First Aid Volunteers). The goal of care is to recognize, treat and transport the brain injured patient by the most appropriate method (ground, lights and sirens, air ambulance). EMS provider responsibilities include;
When a medical malpractice lawsuit occurs, the hospital and all members of the health care team may be named as defendants. This might include the nurses, physicians, nurse practitioners, midwives, ambulance attendants, laboratory technicians, respiratory therapists, nursing and medical students and contracted hospital employees who provided care. Both the plaintiff and defense lawyers may then be required to retain experts from each of the defendant disciplines to provide expert opinion. Although there is no obligation for health care professionals to take on this role, you may be considering it. Many regulatory bodies endorse the professional responsibility to do so. This article will help you learn more about the role and responsibilities of the expert witness.
You’ve got chills — they’re multiplying. It’s 3 a.m. and you’ve been tossing and turning for hours. An extra blanket could put the shivers to rest, but where’s the nurse? And the chorus of snores from the next bed is competing with the attention-seeking rumble from your hungry stomach. Aren’t hospitals supposed to be places of rest and recovery? Fear and uncertainty can amp up your stress levels and ruin your stay, but don’t let them run the show. Our hospital insiders give you the behind-the-scenes scoop on how you can feel more comfortable and in control.
Two years ago, at a conference in Atlanta, a woman from Jamaica excitedly approached me when she learned that my company provided experts for medical malpractice cases. She had been searching for resources to help in her efforts to support victims of medical malpractice in her home country. She shared multiple stories of negligence that were almost unimaginable and confided that although many Jamaican doctors were educated to North American standards, their underfunded, undersupplied and poorly managed public health-care system was struggling greatly, leaving too many patients injured as a result. There was little recourse for injured patients and minimal accountability for health-care providers.
In modern litigation, though trials are few and far between, the prospect of eventual trial continues to be the infrastructure around which cases are built. The steps in preparing an expert for trial ensure parties identify the issues in dispute and distill complex matters to the essence. While the specific nature of allowable communication between counsel and experts may differ by jurisdiction, universally the courts will be looking to the expert to be an impartial advisor. The expert’s evidence will assist the court in understanding complex technical matters in the decision making process.