Hospital companies in Texas, many of which collect millions in state and federal funds, operate with minimal public disclosure of deficiencies. The state keeps information on complaints and inspections largely private because influential health care corporations want it that way, and Texas legislators have obliged. As a result, it is…
The Dallas VA medical center’s psychiatric wing, where two patients committed suicide last year, reopened fully after a nine-month closure. The wing has been renovated, with new technologies to help safeguard patients and alert hospital personnel about potential problems. Among the renovations, said hospital spokeswoman Penny Kerby, are pressure-sensitive door…
On Sept. 19, a jury sided with a doctor accused of failing to prevent a patient’s heart attack. In 2004, Phyllis Jackson, then 49, underwent a hysterectomy, which had been recommended by her doctor, Suvij Upatham. The day after the procedure, Jackson complained of chest discomfort and tests showed an…
A Florida man, who is suing two Broward County doctors for malpractice in a rare case allowing a punitive damages claim. The man claims his plastic surgeon later lied about his detached role in the botched surgery, created two sets of medical records to hide the truth and still billed…
The U.S. government must pay $8.6 million in damages because a military doctor at Scott Air Force Base failed to diagnose a case of flesh-eating bacteria according to a federal magistrate judge’s ruling. The former wife of an Air Force captain, testified that she sought treatment at the base hospital…
Medical device maker Medtronic Inc. said it did not encourage the unapproved use of its spinal implant, which a new lawsuit is blaming for the death of a California woman. The lawsuit, filed by the woman’s family in Los Angeles, said her death was caused by use of the Infuse…
The parents of a 7-year-old boy who died after contracting West Nile virus from a transfusion of tainted blood asked the Florida Supreme Court to restore an $8 million jury verdict against a blood bank. The Court have been asked to decide whether all blood banks are covered by Florida’s…
A widow who sued the U.S. government over her husband’s death at the Marion VA Medical Center has accepted a settlement of almost $1 million. The Kentucky man died in the hospital after gallbladder surgery last year. His widow, sued alleging medical negligence and accusing the government of failing to…
A 59-year-old man lumbers through a junkyard he helps manage; he bumps into a desk and the man is almost blind in his right eye and has trouble with depth perception and peripheral vision. This unfortunate man blames a doctor for a botched retina reattachment operation in August 2007. But…
A $4 million award to the family of a woman misdiagnosed with cancer and then given a lethal dose of painkillers was upheld by the Mississippi Supreme Court. The patient’s daughter brought a wrongful death suit against Hospice Ministries and Dr. William Causey. The hospice settled during the trial for…