Rochester Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Failure to Monitor Errors in Rochester and Elsewhere

Published on: February 12, 2018 | By DeFrancisco & Falgiatano

Medical professionals have an obligation to monitor patients in accordance with appropriate standards of care. If you or your loved one has been injured due to a health care provider’s failure to monitor you during treatment or post-op, you may have a claim for medical negligence. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, our skilled medical malpractice attorneys can analyze the facts of your case and help you pursue the compensation you deserve for your harm.

When medical professionals fail to properly monitor a patient, the results can be devastating or even fatal. We have handled a wide range of cases related to errors in patient monitoring. These mistakes can happen anywhere from a clinic to a hospital to a nursing home. Patient monitoring errors may include but are not limited to:

Failure to diagnose and treat post-operative complications;
Failure to monitor a patient’s vital signs after anesthesia;
Failure to monitor hospital patients for infections;
Failure to monitor a child during and after birth;
Failure to monitor nursing home patients so that bed sores develop;
Failure to monitor a patient on dialysis;
Patient discharged from the hospital too early when they should have been monitored further in the facility;
Failure to monitor how certain high-risk drugs interact with each other in a patient; or
Failure to follow up with a patient.

Malpractice Arising from Laboratory Errors in Rochester

Published on: February 5, 2018 | By DeFrancisco & Falgiatano

If you or a family member has been a victim of a laboratory error, you need to reach out to a skilled Rochester medical malpractice attorney who can assess the merits of your case. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, we understand that victims of malpractice often feel helpless, but it is important to know that you don’t have to deal with the situation alone. Our team can meticulously analyze the circumstances surrounding your injury and help you pursue the financial support you need to move on with your life.

Virtually every specialty in medicine will send samples to be tested at a laboratory. The results of laboratory tests are vital to make decisions about a patient’s condition and potential course of treatment. In many cases, laboratory tests can significantly affect the outcome of an individual’s life. For example, consider the fact that when a patient has a heart attack or stroke, their blood needs to be tested immediately to figure out how much blood-thinning medication is necessary for the patient to take. Laboratory mistakes can take place in many ways, including but not limited to:

Ordering the wrong tests;
Using expired products to screen for cancer or other conditions;
Mixing up patient samples/swabs or patient information;
Mislabeling samples;
Recording the wrong information;
Wrongly transcribing records;
Using defective or faulty equipment;
Failing to communicate test results in a sensible time frame; or
Failing to order the needed follow up tests.

Shoulder Dystocia for Rochester Patients

Published on: February 1, 2018 | By DeFrancisco & Falgiatano

Every potential mother hopes for a smooth labor and delivery with no complications. The goal, after all, is a healthy baby. While the vast majority of women give birth without any serious complications, there are certain emergency situations that can arise, such as shoulder dystocia. Shoulder dystocia can be one of the scariest emergencies in the delivery room. If your child has been injured because a medical professional failed to handle shoulder dystocia properly, we can help. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, our seasoned Rochester birth injury attorneys can analyze the facts of your case and help you determine your next steps.

Shoulder dystocia is a serious condition in which one or both of a baby’s shoulders become stuck behind the mother’s pubic bone during delivery. Put another way, shoulder dystocia occurs when an infant’s shoulder catches on the mother’s hips during childbirth. Approximately 1 percent of all deliveries experience shoulder dystocia complications. However, 20 percent of affected babies suffer temporary or permanent injuries.

When shoulder dystocia occurs, immediate and detail-oriented medical attention is needed. There are a number of last-minute safety techniques that can help prevent injury to the mother and infant. In some cases, an emergency C-section surgery will be required to deliver the baby because the umbilical cord may be compressed and cutting off oxygen to the baby’s brain. Failing to recognize and treat shoulder dystocia can lead to serious and long-term injuries to the newborn, including brain injury, brachial plexus damage, bone fractures, nerve injury, Erb’s palsy, maternal hemorrhage after delivery, cerebral palsy, and a variety of other dangerous health conditions.

Premature Discharge from Hospitals in Rochester and Across New York

Published on: January 25, 2018 | By DeFrancisco & Falgiatano

An early discharge from a hospital can cause as much harm as any other medical mistake. If you or someone close to you has been injured due to a premature discharge from a hospital, it is imperative to reach out to a skilled Rochester hospital malpractice attorney who can help. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, we are committed to helping our clients pursue the compensation they need to move on with their life. Malpractice claims can be complicated and stressful, but we want to make the process as seamless as possible for you.

When a patient is discharged from a hospital too soon, he or she is put at risk to manage problems at home that should have been managed at the hospital. In some cases, this is simply not possible, and the patient ends up suffering serious harm and needs to be readmitted to the hospital. Patients are rushed out of hospitals for a number of reasons. Often, hospitals are overcrowded, and busy staff is trying to get patients home as soon as possible. In other cases, sending a patient home too early is simply an error in judgment. Lastly, the sad reality is that hospitals are a business, and they often try to maximize profits by seeing as many patients as possible.

Not every error by a medical professional will rise to the level of medical malpractice. In other words, not every patient who was released too early will have a malpractice claim. Instead, malpractice takes place when a medical professional causes harm by failing to adhere to the standard of care that another medical professional would have used in the same or similar circumstances. Essentially, the medical professional’s conduct must have deviated from what a reasonably prudent medical professional in the same specialty would have done in the same situation, and that deviation must have been a direct cause of injury to the patient. It is important to note that the patient must also prove that the doctor’s actions caused foreseeable harm.

Medical Malpractice Claims for Sepsis in Rochester

Published on: January 22, 2018 | By DeFrancisco & Falgiatano

If you or someone close to you suffered from sepsis that was not properly diagnosed and treated in time, you need to speak to a skilled Rochester medical malpractice attorney who can assess the merits of your case. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, we have helped numerous victims seek justice in their sepsis and septic shock lawsuits, and we can do the same for you. With years of experience, you can rest assured that we understand how to navigate these challenging cases.

Sepsis, sometimes known as “blood poisoning,” is a severe illness in which bacteria and toxins overwhelm the bloodstream, generally through the infection of a wound. The condition can send the entire body to be in an inflammatory state, known as septic shock. If not diagnosed and treated properly, sepsis can lead to death. Severe sepsis can lead to other long-term damage in patients, such as organ damage. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sepsis is a medical emergency. It affects between 1 and 3 million individuals on an annual basis. The CDC also found that in the United States alone, sepsis accounts for more deaths than prostate cancer, breast cancer, and AIDS combined.

While anyone can get sepsis as a result of an infection, some patients are at a higher risk than others, specifically those with a compromised immune system, including cancer patients, persons suffering from kidney or liver disease, elderly patients, and newborns or infants. While there are not any simple diagnostic tests for sepsis, there are symptoms and warning signs that medical professionals are trained to recognize.

Spinal Epidural Abscess Malpractice in Rochester

Published on: January 19, 2018 | By DeFrancisco & Falgiatano

An epidural abscess is a rare but often deadly condition that requires immediate medical attention. If you suffered harm because your physician caused your epidural abscess or failed to treat your condition properly, you need to contact a skilled Rochester medical malpractice lawyer who understands this area of law. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, we are committed to fighting for your rights at every step of the way. Time is of the essence in these cases, so it is important to act quickly.

Spinal epidural abscess (SEA) disorder is caused by an infection in the area between the bones or discs of the spine, caused by bacteria or fungus. The bacteria or fungus multiplies, creating a large pocket of pus and fluid in the spinal column. The infection generally develops after a surgical procedure. The condition can lead to serious nerve damage. In the most severe cases, epidural abscess can lead to chronic back pain, loss of bladder control, pain at the surgery site, and even permanent paralysis. SEA is a neurosurgical emergency, since any delay in diagnosing SEA can lead to permanent neurologic deficits and even death. If a medical professional fails to identify signs and symptoms of an epidural abscess, the patient can suffer serious and long-term injuries. If the infection is caught, however, it can be contained and potentially prevented to some extent.

Under New York law, medical malpractice happens when a medical professional causes an injury or death by failing to use the level of care that another medical professional in the same specialty would have used under the same or similar circumstances. In malpractice cases, the judge will consider if an equally qualified and competent medical professional would have acted the same way or made the same decisions in the same situation. If the answer is no, the next question will be whether the patient’s injury was a direct result of the medical professional’s conduct. If the answer is yes, the medical professional will likely be liable for malpractice. In short, if a doctor’s substandard care caused a patient’s injury, the doctor will be liable.

Hospital Falls in Rochester

Published on: January 12, 2018 | By DeFrancisco & Falgiatano

Hospitals must follow certain protocols to make sure patients do not get hurt in preventable falls. If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury due to a fall in a hospital, you may be entitled to file a lawsuit for your harm. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, our Rochester hospital malpractice attorneys have handled numerous medical malpractice cases throughout New York and can handle your claim as well. You can trust that we will work diligently to help you pursue full and fair compensation for the losses you have suffered.

Falls that take place in hospitals are a widespread and serious threat to patient safety. Accidental falls are among the most common incidents reported in hospitals and a complication of about 2 percent of hospital stays. According to one study, rates of falls in the United States range from 3.3 to 11.5 falls per 1,000 patient days. The same study finds that between July 1, 2006 and September 30, 2008, there were a total of 315,817 falls in U.S. hospitals, out of which 82,332 resulted in an injury.

Hospital falls can happen for a variety of reasons, including:

Failure to monitor patients;
Improper transfer from a gurney or a wheelchair;
Allowing at-risk patients to walk unsupervised;
Falls on a wet or slippery floor;
Malfunctioning bed rails;
Poor lighting or clutter on the floor causing a trip hazard; and
Medication errors, leading to dizzy or disoriented patients.

Ophthalmologist Negligence in Rochester and Across New York

Published on: January 5, 2018 | By DeFrancisco & Falgiatano

Any health issue relating to the eye can be extremely bothersome because our vision is an essential tool to navigate day-to-day life. When you visit an ophthalmologist, you expect competent care that will make your condition better, not worse. If you or a loved one has suffered an eye injury due to an ophthalmologist’s error, you may be entitled to compensation for your harm. With years of experience in settling and litigating ophthalmology cases, our Rochester ophthalmology malpractice lawyers understand how to navigate these complex claims.

Ophthalmology is the specialty of medicine pertaining to the anatomy, functions, pathology, and treatment of the eye. In other words, ophthalmologists are eye doctors who specialize in eye diseases. Errors by an ophthalmologist can have severe effects on a patient’s eye health. In the most serious cases, these mistakes could lead to irreparable loss of vision. Examples of ophthalmology mistakes that can lead to a malpractice claim include surgery errors, medication errors, failure to monitor the patient after surgery, Lasik errors, misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose an eye condition, and any careless conduct that causes an eye infection. These errors could lead to a variety of injuries, such as double vision, eye infection, corneal haze, blurry vision, blindness, eye flap-related injuries, and more.

Informed Consent Malpractice in Rochester and New York

Published on: December 28, 2017 | By DeFrancisco & Falgiatano

Before a physician performs a procedure on a patient, especially surgery, the doctor is required to relay some information about the risks, benefits, and alternatives to the procedure so that the patient can make an informed decision about his or her medical treatment. If you or someone close to you has been a victim of medical malpractice caused by a lack of informed consent, our skilled Rochester medical malpractice attorneys can help. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, we are committed to helping our clients pursue the compensation they deserve for their harm.

In New York, it is a physician’s duty to explain the proposed medical treatment or procedure to a patient and advise the patient of any “material risks” that a reasonably prudent doctor would have disclosed. This typically means the doctor must highlight inherent dangers associated with the potential course of treatment. This law is designed to empower patients with all of the relevant information they would need to make an informed decision about their health. As a result, doctors must obtain informed consent for non-emergency treatments, diagnostic procedures involving invasion of the body, and participation in medical research.

If the doctor did not obtain informed consent prior to operating, the lack of informed consent may constitute medical malpractice. Medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional fails to adhere to the standard of care that another medical professional in the same specialty would have followed in the same or similar circumstances. It is important to note, however, that a lack of informed consent alone does not constitute medical malpractice. Instead, the lack of informed consent must have caused harm to the patient. The central question in a malpractice claim involving informed consent is as follows: would a reasonable person presented with the full and proper information have declined the procedure? This is a question that is typically answered by the jury, after evaluating the evidence in the case.

Nurse Negligence in Hospitals in New York

Published on: December 26, 2017 | By DeFrancisco & Falgiatano

When you visit a hospital, clinic, or health care facility, you rightfully expect competent care. Unfortunately, the reality is that patients are injured in New York and throughout the United States due to nursing errors. If you or someone close to you has suffered a injury caused by malpractice by a nurse, you need to reach out to a skilled Rochester hospital malpractice attorney who can assess the merits of your case. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, we are committed to holding negligent medical professionals accountable for the harm that they cause so that you can move on with your life.

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, more than 8 percent of nurses and nursing-related practitioners in the country have had a medical negligence claim made against them. There are many factors that can cause nursing errors and a resulting malpractice claim, including:

Administering the wrong dosage of a drug;