Medical Malpractice

December 11, 2019

These Thirty Hospitals Rank Best in the State

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

New York hospitals regularly score on the lower end when it comes to patient safety. According to the CMS, almost 50 hospitals in New York are “one-star facilities” – denoting the lowest possible score by the government agency. In addition to a plethora of poorly-performing hospitals, New York also has several high performing medical facilities. According to U.S. News and World Report, which compiles a list of hospital rankings each year, the system for judging hospitals changed slightly this year with a “new outcome measure” meant to examine how many patients must be readmitted to other hospitals.

According to the national newsmagazine (via LoHud), New York’s top 30 hospitals are:

1. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell in New York

December 4, 2019

New York Finally Identifies Hospitals with Antibiotic- Resistant ‘Super Bug’

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

New York regulators finally released a list of hospitals and nursing homes where a deadly and drug-resistant fungus has been found. The disclosure comes after months of haranguing public health officials who had hoped to remain tight-lipped, fearing that naming facilities with the antibiotic-resistant ‘super bug’ could lead to an exodus of patients and nursing home residents. According to the CDC, the fungus – referred to as C. auris – kills one out of every three people it infects. For those with weak immune systems, such as nursing home residents, the number is even higher. Because the fungus appears to be resistant to antibiotics, the CDC is warning that C. auris poses a “global health threat.”

In general, antibiotic-resistant strains a growing health problem. Public health experts say these so-called ‘superbugs’ infected more than 2.8 million people last year and caused more than 35,000 deaths, reported by LoHud.com. The tri-state area appears to be ground-zero for the problem in America, with its massive population living in close proximity and its status as an international travel hub and destination. The CDC reports that the majority of C. auris infections are at facilities the New York metropolitan area, stretching from New Jersey to Long Island and up into Westchester. After declining to release the list of facilities with the deadly fungus, the New York Department of Health finally relented last month.

Here’s a list of facilities in Westchester and Rockland County which have reported infections of the ‘superbug’ C. auris:

November 25, 2019

New York Hospitals Continue to Rank Poorly for Patient Safety

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

New York hospitals continue to rank poorly compared to the rest of the country, according to the nonprofit LeapFrog’s rankings released last month. According to Washington D.C. organization, which ranks hospitals on 12 factors related to patient safety and then assigns a letter grade between A and F to each hospital, New York is the 47th worst state for patient safety at hospitals. Just 7.5 percent of New York hospitals received an “A” – a pathetically low percentage compared to states like Maine, Utah and Virginia, which received “A” at 50 to 60 percent of their hospitals.

The Empire State has almost three times as many hospitals with a “D” rating (30) than an “A” rating (11), according to LoHud.com. Unlike the federal government which takes medical outcomes and other indicators of quality into account when assigning its maligned star-rating system, Leapfrog Group focuses on preventable safety issues. Examples include mistakes like leaving sponges or medical equipment in bodies or preventable infections caused by unsanitary conditions. The nonprofit told Lohud.Com that its ranking system provided more helpful information to patients “because it focuses on the most serious life-or-death measures.”

Here are the patient safety rankings for hospitals in the Hudson Valley, published for Fall 2019:

November 1, 2019

Hudson Valley Hospitals with Lowest Safety Ranking

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

Every year, hospitals across the United States are graded on their record for patient safety by the federal government and a nonprofit organization, Leapfrog Group. The federal government uses a “star-based” rating system where hospitals receive a grade between one and five stars, with a one-star rating representing a hospital with serious and widespread safety problems. According to LoHud.com, New York had 48 one-star facilities in the state. Six of these unsafe hospitals were in the Hudson Valley.

Leapfrog Group focuses on more “preventable safety issues”, according to the local newspaper. The metrics used in Leapfrog’s calculations focus on the rate of “infections and medical mistakes, like sponges or tools left in bodies” or “complications such as collapsed lungs.” The nonprofit group assigns a letter grade to each major hospital in the country, which range from an “A” to an “F.” The researchers at Leapfrog point to a study by Johns Hopkins University that found 160,000 deaths each year are caused by “hospital-acquired” conditions – such as infections. Of the 30 hospitals receiving a “D” or “F” grade in New York, two are located in the Hudson Valley. According to Leapfrog, only 12 percent of hospitals nationwide receive a letter grade below “C”.

October 3, 2019

Poor Quality of Life Reported at Long-Term Care Hospitals

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

According to The New York Times, long-term care hospitals continue to provide poor care to elderly Americans. Long-term care hospitals, also called long term acute care hospitals, provide care typically after a person is being discharged from intensive care and is too sick to return to their nursing home. Close to 400 long-term care hospitals exist in the United States, a number that has dipped in the last decade after skyrocketing in the 90s from just 38.

The proliferation of long-term care hospitals during the period is now largely regarded as unnecessary and many elder care advocates say they harmed individuals while enriching their owners. Because patients at these hospitals are so sick, the hospital receives hefty sums performing multiple procedures and diagnostics on their patients. In 2017 alone, Medicare – which pays for two-thirds of all long-term care stays – paid out an eye-wateringly high 4.5 billion to these several hundred hospitals.

September 28, 2019

NYT: How One Doctor Killed 25 Patients

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

An investigation by The New York Times into Dr. William Hussel, currently accused of killing at least 25 of his patients, reveals glaring missteps by hospital administrators and nurses. According to the criminal complaint against the disgraced doctor, Dr. Hussel routinely administered opioid doses between five and 20 times the recommended amount at the intensive care unit he worked at in Ohio. Given the scope of his alleged crimes, the families who trusted the doctor only to find out that he killed their loved one are outraged and demanding answers. Mount Carmel, the hospital where the doctor is accused of killing his patients, has already paid out more than $13 million in legal settlements.

The investigation by The New York Times shows a hospital with an ineffective administration, insufficient safeguards to prevent prescribing excessive doses, and a hospital staff either too charmed or too intimidated to second-guess the doctors. According to the article, the “red flags” surrounding Dr. Hussel were apparent and ignored from the start of his tenure at the hospital. As a medical student, he pleaded guilty to creating a pipe bomb, which he originally planned on putting underneath the vehicle of another student who told the police he was stealing car stereos. The hospital said they had no knowledge of the criminal incident – even though it was reported to the medical board and available in the public record.

August 21, 2019

Ohio Doctor Charged with Intentionally Killing At Least 25 Patients

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

Last month, an Ohio doctor was charged with killing at least 25 of his patients administering lethal levels of the powerful opioid fentanyl. After four years of intentionally drugging his patients, murderous doctor’s killing spree finally ended late last year when a pharmacist finally alert hospital authorities. After an internal inquiry, the hospital deemed the deaths of 35 Dr. William Husel’s patient’s “suspicious.” Now, patients told that their loved ones died of natural causes are furious at the doctor and the hospital for allowing the doctor’s murder spree to continue for so long.

According to The New York Times, Dr. Husel began prescribing lethal amounts of fentanyl to patients at least four years ago. Typically, the doctor would prescribe these deadly doses to patients unlikely to survive anyway. As an acute care doctor who worked the overnight shift, prosecutors say he frequently worked with “new nurses” who may have lacked the experience or bravery to challenge the doctor’s prescribing habits. According to interviews with hospital authorities, the pharmacists also proved complicit in the overdoses by overriding hospital protocols which specifically warned about the likelihood of death caused by a massive fentanyl dose. Amazingly, prosecutors say they will not charge any other hospital staffers in the deaths although some have lost their jobs and nursing licenses.

August 16, 2019

Lawsuit: Hidden Cameras Film Hospital Patients

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

More than eighty patients filed suit against a California women’s hospital for allegedly filming them while undressed and receiving medical care. These women claim that the secretly recorded footage includes them in stirrups receiving intimate medical procedures, sterilizations, and dilation and curettages after miscarriages, according to The Washington Post. The secret recordings took place over an 11-month period and could include up to 1,800 patients.

In response to the allegations, Sharp Grossmont Hospital concedes that computer monitors with “motion-activated cameras” were in three different operating rooms at the hospital during the time period. The hospital said the cameras were angled towards the “medication carts” and part of an investigation into missing narcotics at the hospital. While these “motion-activated” cameras were activated when sensing motion, they continued to record for long periods of time. This resulted in many patients have sensitive and personal medical procedures recorded without their permission. According to the lawsuit, these recordings showed patients “conscious and unconscious, partially robed on operating room tables, undergoing medical procedures and communicating with their doctors and medical personnel.”

August 15, 2019

FDA “Exemption” Database Hides Malfunctioning Medical Devices from Public

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

The FDA has quietly expanded a so-called “exemption database” allowing medical device manufacturers to shield the injuries and fatalities attributed to their devices from public scrutiny. According to a recent article in Kaiser Health News, the number of malfunctioning devices submitted as an “alternative summary report” not available to the public numbered between 431,000 and 481,000 in the last three years. According to the FDA, the alternative database originated two decades ago to prevent medical device makers from reporting the same injuries multiple times. However, since its inception the exemption database has grown exponentially and, no longer providing clarity and efficiency, now assists in concealing harmful devices from public scrutiny. The FDA declined to provide Kaiser Health News with a list of exempt devices, although the federal agency did say the number of devices was “over 100.”

This development is unfortunate for doctors and patients who rely on public information about medical devices to make their health care decisions. Surgical staplers provide a good example of how the FDA’s alternative database harms patients. Surgical staplers are “designed to cut and seal tissues or vessels quickly,” according to the health news organization. These staplers also commonly malfunction, between 1994 and 2001 malfunctioning staplers reportedly caused 112 deaths in the country. In 2001, the medical manufacturers of these surgical staplers received an “exemption” from the FDA, which meant the majority of the injuries and fatalities caused by these devices would no longer show up in the public database. In 2011, the total number of injuries and fatalities attributed to surgical staplers was only 18. In 2017, the FDA removed the device from the exemption list and the number of reports skyrocketed to 79.

August 3, 2019

New York City Expands Opioid Lawsuit to Include Sackler Family and Pharmacy Chains

by Law Offices of Thomas L. Gallivan, PLLC

New York City amended its opioid lawsuit against Purdue Pharmaceuticals to include the company’s owners, the Sackler family, as well as several retailers and pharmacy chains, including CVS, Rite-Aid, Walgreens, and Walmart. The lawsuit alleges that Purdue Pharmaceuticals, maker of OxyContin, deceptively marketed their addictive drugs under the direction of their owners, the Sackler family, and the retailers who dispensed the drugs enabled the opioid epidemic currently ravaging communities across the country. In addition to increasing the number of defendants allegedly responsible for contributing to the opioid epidemic, the lawsuit also consolidated dozens of lawsuits filed by other local governments.

The consolidation of lawsuits and inclusion of the popular drugstores was widely expected, the group of defendants is being sued by local governments across the country and by the federal government. The inclusion of the Sackler family, on the other hand, was a recent development in the opioid cases. According to The New York Times, a lawsuit against Purdue Pharmaceuticals in Massachusetts unearthed emails showing members of the Sackler family were “far more involved” than previously believed. According to the lawsuits against the company, Purdue Pharmaceuticals deceptively marketed Oxycontin, a powerful and addictive opioid, as appropriate for long-term pain management and claiming, without evidence, that “less than one percent of [Oxycontin users] become addicted.” The aggressive promotion of Oxycontin led to $1 billion in annual sales within a few years and is now widely understood to have ignited the country’s opioid epidemic.