Indiana Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

Indiana medical malpractice lawyers often deal with cases where surgeons have failed to remove from the patient sponges or instruments used during the course of surgery. The frequency with which this problem occurs is uncertain. However, an article in the journal Abdominal Surgery suggests that retained sponges may occur once in every 1,000 to 1,500 intra-abdominal surgeries.

A retained surgical sponge can lead to a host of problems for the patient, including infection, pain, additional surgery, and even death. The American College of Surgeons has recognized the seriousness of the problem by publishing guidelines to help surgeons avoid the mistake. Those guidelines include documentation of the results of surgical item counts and documentation of the action taken if there is a discrepancy in the count. Some hospitals have gone further. For instance, the Mayo Clinic uses bar coded surgical sponges to make sure the sponges are not left in the patient.

A retained sponge or surgical instrument is almost always the result of medical malpractice. If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of medical malpractice, the Indiana medical malpractice lawyers at Garau Germano Hanley & Pennington, P.C. may be able to help. Contact us for a free consultation.

Birth injury can be devastating, leaving its victims with serious permanent impairments. Indiana medical malpractice lawyers frequently handle cases where birth injuries could have been prevented if doctors had heeded the warnings provided by fetal monitor strips.

In most deliveries, electronic fetal heart monitoring is used to track how the baby is responding to labor. External fetal heart monitoring is performed by attaching transducers to the mother's abdomen. The transducers use Doppler ultrasound to detect fetal heart motion, and the information is sent to a fetal heart monitor which calculates and records the fetal heart rate on a continuous strip of paper.

Certain patterns on the strip are indicative of fetal distress. Doctors and labor and delivery nurses are trained to recognize these patterns and respond appropriately. The responses may include repositioning the mother, administering oxygen, or proceeding to immediate delivery via cesarean section. If a healthcare provider fails to recognize and appropriately respond to monitor patterns showing fetal distress, the baby may suffer serious injury, such as brain damage or even death.

The Indiana medical malpractice lawyers at Garau Germano Hanley & Pennington, P.C. have handled many cases involving the failure to appropriately respond to signs of distress on fetal monitor strips. Contact them for a free consultation.