Drug-Related Errors
The cause of medical negligence cases is medical negligence. To be sure, the legal system does not do a very good job of holding careless health care providers accountable (far more people are injured or killed by medical negligence than ever bring a lawsuit much less win a lawsuit) but the legal system does not cause medical negligence.
Here is some interesting data regarding drug errors by some people who are actually working to prevent patient harm. Note that the information is from U.S. Pharmacopeia, Center for the Advancement of Patient Safety (CAPS), a group in the health field, not a bunch of lawyers.
The group found inter alia that during the three-year period of 2001-2003, there were 532,144 medication error records submitted to MEDMARX, a voluntary reporting service. Approximately 4.4% of these (n= 23,689) cited Wrong patient as a Type of Error. Nearly 50% of Wrong patient errors reached the patient but did not result in harm (Categories C and D) (Table 1.) Although only 1.3% of all Wrong patient errors resulted in harm, there were 10 sentinel events (including 3 fatalities) associated with this Type of Error. The number of fatalities from other types of errors is not a part of this report. The amount of medical expenses associated with errors and harm causing errors is not reported.
The three most frequently reported Causes of Error were Performance deficit (52.3%), Procedure/protocol not followed (30.5%), and Computer entry (16%) (Table 3).
The report concludes with a series of recommendations to prevent errors and harm, information that might be of assistance to your expert in a drug-error case.
My husband died 6-24-01 from coumadin toxicity. His death certificate confirms cause of death. Case is still in litigation. The doctor admitted to errors, but his insurance company doesn't feel that his life had any value since he was 57 yrs old and had heart problems. His heart didn't kill him. The doctor did. I just want to know how a deceased patient becomes a statistic. This occurred in Georgia and I'm told that the medical board doesn't have to know a doctor killed a patient until the insurance reports paying out more than $10,000. Is this true? What is wrong with our medical system that wrongful deaths aren't reported. This doctor has continued to practice for 4 yrs come next week and no one cares but me, my children and our family. What is wrong with our system?????????????????
My husband had had a stroke 3 mos following heart bypass surgery and was in a rehab center and was given 10 mg a day for a week without checking his PT and INR. When he died PT was 127.
Rita, I can't answer that because you have a lawyer. Our ethics rules prohibit me from giving legal advice to someone who already has a lawyer (unless that lawyer gives consent).
My response to you is sit down and have a talk with your lawyer about this question. He or she should be willing to have such a conversation with you. If you are not comfortable with the response you get, ask if you can get a second opinion. If you get a second opinion, talk to a Georgia lawyer (because apparently your case is governed under Georgia law}. I would recommend that any lawyer you talk to be either (a) a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers or (b) board-certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy.