Senseless and Inexcusable Deaths
One of the most senseless and inexcusable types of cases we see is the failure to monitor case. These cases are senseless because the need to monitor patients who are at risk for death from heart or breathing problems is obvious, and every hospital has automatic machinery which makes monitoring easy. These machines monitor heart rate, the amount of oxygen in the blood, the rate that the patient is breathing--even the amount of carbon dioxide in their breath. There will be alarms that alert nurses of any problems, and usually telemetry which sends signals to a central place where readings are constantly monitored.
Failure go monitor cases are inexcusable because it costs nothing to use this basic technology, and the risks of not doing so are so great--our clients have died or have sustained brain damage from lack of oxygen. Easily preventable deaths and devastating injuries that occurred while they were lying in hospital beds, and their families thought they were safe. All that is required is that a doctor order that monitors take place, or that a nurse turn on the machine. Basic safety steps that take seconds would have prevented many deaths in hospitals every year.
Why Does This Keep Happening?
These deaths and injuries happen because doctors and nurses aren't paying attention, or because they insist of doing things they way they did things for the last twenty years, instead of using safety technology that was introduced ten years ago. Our attorneys have been shocked to hear surgeons testify that they didn't even know what monitoring equipment was available in their own hospitals, let alone how to use it--all because they were too arrogant to bother keeping up with basic advances in equipment.
In small towns, often a doctor has been doing the same procedures the same way for decades, never bothering to learn anything new or better. Patients just assume that doctors keep up with advances in medicine, but unfortunately that isn't the case--particularly for doctors who practice by themselves or in small hospitals where they never come into contact with better trained doctors. If these doctors are so arrogant to think that just because they are experienced they don't have to keep up with advances in medical knowledge, the result is that their patients get hurt, or killed. Just think of the difference between the phones we use now and those we used twenty years ago. Medical technology and knowledge has increased at least that much.
But new techniques and equipment cannot save a life if your doctor acts like nothing new has been learned since he graduated from medical school.
Preventing More Deaths. Getting Justice for Malpractice Victims.
At the Polewski Firm, we handle failure to monitor cases with the conviction and commitment that comes from knowing that these cases make a huge difference. People and families hurt by doctors or nurses who are too arrogant or "too busy" to pay attention deserve compensation for the harms and losses they have suffered.
Doctors and hospitals all have medical malpractice insurance to compensate victims of medical errors. If you or your family have been hurt by malpractice, that insurance is there for you.
And there is also this: when you stand up and insist on justice, the lessons that doctors and nurses should have learned years ago finally sink in. The next time this doctor, or these nurses, see a patient like your loved one, they will save his life. They will take the couple of seconds to write the order for monitoring, or turn the monitors on. And your suit will have saved someone's life.
Contact Us Today. Tomorrow May Be Too Late.
There are rules that limit how long you have to file suit. Even if you have time, it is important to get started as soon as you can, before evidence gets lost or memories fade.
There is no reason to wait, and the consultation with us is free.
