THE CMG VOICE

Medical malpractice attorneys know that it is often very difficult to determine what went wrong in a surgical procedure. Unless someone witnessed exactly what happened and is willing to testify about it, or unless the outcome was so bad it is presumed to be the result of negligence (a res ipsa loquitur claim, such as leaving a surgical instrument in the patient), the reasons for a bad outcome are often never known to the patient or his/her attorney.

The parents of a young child have filed a lawsuit against Swedish Medical Center, alleging that an employee doctor left a guidewire inside their boy after a routine procedure involving inserting a catheter in his leg to give him fluids and medication.

A recent article in a medical publication outlined the outrageous case of a Texas neurosurgeon who killed and maimed patients for several years while other doctors begged the Texas medical disciplinary body to take action to lift his license.