Connecticut Injury Attorney Blog

St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford is nearing a settlement of seventeen pending lawsuits relating to horrific accounts of sexual abuse of children by a doctor there between 1963 and 1993. The hospital's insurance company is attempting to limit liability by characterizing the claim as one of medical malpractice, rather than general liability. The hospital has already settled several dozen claims related to the doctor's conduct, and it still faces at least forty-eight more lawsuits after these seventeen settle.

Dr. George Reardon began working at St. Francis in 1963, and became the chief of endocrinology in 1978. He had previously worked at a hospital in Albany beginning in 1956. A lawsuit filed in 1987 accused him of abusing a brother and sister, aged 5 and 7, for a period of at least five years at the Albany hospital.

Another lawsuit accused Reardon of abusing a boy at St. Francis while he was a patient between 1964 and 1965. The boy filed a lawsuit years later that settled for a "modest" amount. A suit filed in 1989 accused Reardon of abusing a 10 year-old girl in the mid-1970's, and a complaint brought by the Hartford County Medical Association alleged abuse of a 14 year-old girl. The state medical board suspended his license in July 1993, but they reinstated it that November on the condition that he not treat patients under the age of eighteen without supervision by another doctor or nurse. Reardon retired one month later.

Most of the alleged abuse occurred with children participating in a thirty-year growth study run by Dr. Reardon. An FBI investigation in 1994 concluded that any alleged sexual abuse occurred outside of the criminal statute of limitations. St. Francis officials defended Reardon and maintained that the complaints lacked merit. Reardon died of a heart attack in 1998.

On May 20, 2007, the new owner of Reardon's former residence, while performing renovations in the basement, found a collection of over 60,000 sexually explicit photographs of children. West Hartford police announced the find that November, stating that they would attempt to identify the victims. Former patients, mostly now middle-aged, almost immediately began to come forward with accounts of abuse while under Dr. Reardon's care. The hospital and 135 former patients agreed to mediation in March 2008. After mediation failed, the lawsuits began. They now total more than ninety. Police would eventually identify more than 250 children in the photographs.

Continue reading "Lawsuits Against Hospital over Doctor Abuse are Nearing Settlement" »

When a doctor uses a sophisticated medical device incorrectly, and a patient suffers an injury, what happens? Is the doctor liable for misusing the machine? Is the medical device's manufacturer responsible if it failed to warn of the risks of its product? American Medical News, a publication of the American Medical Association (AMA), examined these questions recently. Its report details how device information or labeling affects doctors' liability, and what steps the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken to protect patients.

The AMA relates the story of a Kentucky man who went to an orthopedic surgeon for reconstructive shoulder surgery. The doctor implanted a pain pump in the man's shoulder to allow direct administration of pain medication to the shoulder joint. The man returned shortly with shoulder pain, and an exam found that he had developed chondrolysis, a condition that results in the loss of joint cartilage. Chondrolysis can be caused or exacerbated by the use of a pain pump to continuously supply anesthetic drugs. In other words, the pain pump implanted by the doctor may have destroyed the man's shoulder joint.

The man filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the device, alleging that the company failed to warn doctors and patients of the risks of using the pain pump, and that it did not notify doctors that some uses of the pump had not received FDA approval. The device manufacturer filed a claim against the orthopedic surgeon as a third-party defendant, arguing that the doctor was at fault for not using the pain pump correctly and not following the device's instructions or warnings about placement of the pump, and the use of anesthetics. While the plaintiff blames the device manufacturer for his injuries, the manufacturer seeks to hold the doctor liable.

This case, and many others like it, involves multiple competing theories of liability. The law forces the parties in a dispute like this to present all their competing theories to see whose wins the day. The doctor could be held liable under a theory of negligence, commonly known as medical malpractice. A doctor, as a licensed professional, owes a very strict duty of care towards patients. If a doctor breaches that duty of care through an error or omission, such as the misuse of a medical device, and the patient suffers injury as a result, the doctor is liable for those damages. This could include medical costs, lost wages, and past and future pain and suffering.

Continue reading "Doctors and Medical Device Manufacturers Fight It Out Over Malpractice Claims" »

The most recent issue of General Surgery News, a monthly trade publication for surgeons, addresses the impact of medical malpractice lawsuits on surgeons. An article by reporter Gabriel Miller offers tips and advice to surgeons on how to protect themselves both before a lawsuit is filed and once they have received court papers. While the advice clearly has surgeons and other doctors as its intended audience, it offers some good insight for personal injury attorneys as well as patients.

Miller cites statistics from a recent survey conducted by the American Medical Association showing that one in twenty surveyed doctors had faced a malpractice claims in the previous twelve-month period. A New England Journal of Medicine study published this past summer reviewed twenty-four medical specialties and found that general surgeons ranked third for total number of lawsuits filed, behind neurosurgeons and thoracic surgeons. An estimated 99 percent of physicians in specialties deemed "high risk" will face at least one lawsuit or claim before reaching retirement age. Patients filed malpractice lawsuits against an average of 15.3% of general surgeons each year, twice the rate for the overall population of physicians.

Miller cites these statistics as a topic of concern for doctors, but does not mention the amount or extent of harm suffered by plaintiffs in all these cases. The article has few kind words for personal injury attorneys, quoting one surgeon as saying that, while a malpractice lawsuit can be devastating to a surgeon's career and lifestyle, it is "business as usual" for lawyers.

Settlement, Miller argues, looks like an admission of fault, so he advises physicians not to settle. It can reportedly have long-term repercussions on a doctor's career and reputation, as information on lawsuits and settlements is available to state medical boards and national malpractice databases. Litigation, of course, is a lengthy, expensive, and stressful process, especially for an injured plaintiff who may need compensation for injuries sooner rather than later. Miller's advice therefore looks like a good tactic for a defendant who has time on their side.

Miller's tips on avoiding lawsuits are of more use to patients and their advocates. He advises surgeons to always clearly obtain informed consent from patients. This involves educating the patient about the nature and risks of the intended procedure. This is excellent advice for the patient or the patient's family or representatives, who should do all they can to learn about the procedure. Miller also advises doctors to document any complications as they occur, in order to have a real-time record of events. Doctors should also explain complications to the patient, to the extent possible, as they occur, in order to involve the patient as much as possible in decisions. Patients should do something similar, keeping records of their communications with the doctor and asking as many questions as they feel are necessary.

Continue reading "A Surgeon's View on Medical Malpractice" »

It is fairly common for workers injured on the Job to have both workers compensation claims and third party personal injury claims as well. The scenario can present from car and truck accidents while engaged in employment responsibilities, construction site mishaps with general contractors responsible for the safety lapses causing injury and sometimes factory workers hurt because of defective machinery or equipment. In such instances it is helpful if the lawyer handling the file has familiarity and competence as to both in order to maximize both the gross level of recovery and the net recovery after taking into account and negotiating lien issues that are present whenever the employer's workers compensation carrier pays for medical bills incurred or lost wages.

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Continue reading "Workers Compensation, Lien issues and Personal Injury Claims" »

The Connecticut State Medical Examining Board recently reprimanded two surgeons, one in Norwich, and one in New Haven, for medical errors during surgeries.

In January 2008, at William W. Backus Hospital, Dr. Gregory Criscuolo of Norwich performed spinal surgery intended to alleviate an impinged nerve in a patient's spine. Dr. Criscuolo removed the wrong lamina, part of the vertebra. After realizing his mistake, he operated on the correct site.

Continue reading "Connecticut Surgeons Reprimanded for Medical Errors During Spinal and Hernia Surgeries" »

Connecticut patients being treated for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with eye injections should be aware that, last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a release alerting health care professionals to a cluster of serious eye infections suffered by patients in Florida and Tennessee who received eye injections of repackaged Avastin (bevacizumab). Avastin is approved for treatment of various cancers, but used off-label in smaller doses by many ophthalmologists to treat wet AMD due to its substantially lower cost than alternatives ($50/dose vs. $2,000/dose for Lucentis). Tragically, some of the patients were blinded.

As explained on EyeDocNews (a blog covering new treatments for eye conditions), in order to convert Avastin from a cancer drug to a wet AMD drug, pharmacies must repackage the vials into much smaller doses. If that repackagaging process is not handled with proper aseptic techniques, product sterility can be compromised, which puts patients at risk for microbial infections.

Continue reading "Contaminated Avastin Causing Eye Infections and Blindness in Patients" »

Earlier this summer, the state legislature adopted a provision that will make it easier for the Connecticut Medical Examining Board to discipline doctors who have faced license suspension or other disciplinary action in other states.

The legislation was apparently enacted in response to numerous reported instances of doctors who practiced freely in Connecticut, notwithstanding reprimands, censures, probation and even medical license suspension in neighboring states.

Continue reading "Connecticut Medical Examining Board Tightens Physician Disciplinary Rules" »

Since October 2008, Medicare has refused to pay for certain medical conditions if they were acquired during the hospitalization. Referred to as "hospital acquired conditions", or HAC's, Medicare pays hospitals as though the HAC had not occurred, thereby requiring hospitals to absorb the cost of treating the condition. The objective of the policy is to reduce healthcare costs by incentivizing hospitals to avoid conditions that should not happen and could be prevented.

Some of the medical conditions covered by this policy include:

• Object inadvertently left in body after surgery
• Air embolism
• Blood incompatibility
• Catheter associated urinary tract infection
• Pressure ulcer (decubitus ulcer)
• Vascular catheter associated infection
• Surgical site infection-Mediastinitis (infection in the chest) after coronary artery bypass graft surgery
• Certain types of falls and traumas

As of July 1, 2011, Medicare's policy concerning non-payment for HAC's was extended to Medicaid payments, thereby intensifying the pressure on hospitals to prevent HAC's.

Continue reading "The Intersection of Hospital Acquired Medical Conditions and Medical Malpractice" »

It was announced last week in the media that the Department of Veterans Affairs will pay nearly $1 million to Jose Goncalves in settlement of his medical malpractice claim arising out of a botched cataract surgery performed on the Hartford, Connecticut resident.

Goncalves was blinded in his right eye when a third-year resident at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in West Haven, Connecticut, incorrectly injected too much anesthetic into his eye during a cataract surgical procedure, causing Goncalves' eye to explode.

Goncalves' lawsuit was filed in 2009 in the United States District Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A few years ago, my office brought suit against a Hartford CT, ophthalmologist and neurologist as well as an emergency room physician, all of whom ignored and evidently tinkered while an overweight uninsured woman lost substantial visual function. The case settled for two million dollars. Since then, I have launched a dedicated website for those with visual loss issues related to medical negligence or significant personal injury.

Continue reading "Hartford Connecticut Medical Malpractice Victim Wins Nearly $1 Million Settlement" »

A few weeks ago, A Connecticut Jury awarded a $58 Million Verdict in compensatory damages to a child left with severe cerebral palsy on account of an unnecessary and improper delay in the child's delivery at birth. The Jury's verdict appears to be the highest Personal injury medical malpractice verdict in Connecticut history. There is likely to be an appeal filed by the defendant on the basis that the amount awarded by the CT jury was excessive. This is not an easy claim to make, notwithstanding the significance of the size of the award . Connecticut case law is supportive of the jury's determination of what is appropriate financial compensation for injuries caused by negligence. ( ''the amount of an award [of damages] is a matter peculiarly within the province of the trier of facts. . . . [T]he court should not interfere with the jury's determination except when the verdict is plainly excessive or exorbitant. . . . The ultimate test which must be applied to the verdict by the trial court is whether the jury's award falls somewhere within the necessarily uncertain limits of just damages or whether the size of the verdict so shocks the sense of justice as to compel the conclusion that the jury [was] influenced by partiality, prejudice, mistake or corruption.'' (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Mahon v. B.V. Unitron Mfg., Inc., 284 Conn. 645, 661-62, 935 A.2d 1004 (2007)).

Continue reading "Connecticut Personal Injury Award Highest in State" »

For the surviving family members of someone killed in a car accident, construction site mishap or any other situation where the fault may lie with another Entity or Individual there is often a knowledge gap about what to do. In Connecticut, an individual that has died is no longer a recognized legal entity. Rather, it is their Estate which may act through an individual appointed by a Probate Court commonly referred to as an Administrator or Executor. The Probate Court system is accessible and the clerks are generally knowledgeable and sympathetic with a desire to assist those who have experienced such a loss. Accordingly, it is usually a very good idea to have a responsible family member appointed as the Adminsitrator, often times the Executor named in the Will should that exist is a good candidate for this position of Trust.

Continue reading "Wrongul Death- A To Do List" »

Nursing home abuse and neglect of the elderly is hard to tolerate in a society whose very constitutional principles are rooted in protecting those citizens that are most vulnerable. Unfortunately, Nursing Home abuse and neglect does occur in Connecticut and it happens with too much regularity. Nursing Homes and Rehab facilities tend to locate near the population centers, which in our State means concentrations in Hartford, New Haven, New London and Fairfiield Counties.The actionable injury cases in this area may include a wide variety of different bad outcomes which occur more frequently in the presence of physician or nursing staff negligence. These range from Falls producing serious fractures and Death, Bed sores and nutritional neglect to actual physical abuse.

The requirement for a Nursing home facility to plan for and provide for the Health, Safety and well being of its patients is a duty which arises under Federal and Connecticut statute and related regulations.In contrast to other forms of medical care delivery which are largely governed by various specialty boards and norms determined within the community of similarly trained providers, Nursing homes are highly regulated and subject to both Federal and State standards governing their operation and patient care delivery. Connecticut's legislature has , for example, adopted a patient bill of rights set forth in Conn General Stat. Section 19a-550 which mirrors the Federal regulations which apply to the level and quality of patient care mandated to be delivered by nursing homes

Continue reading "Nursing Home Standards of Care- Not your Average Hospital" »

In today's difficult economic and business environment, it is easy to imagine movement in many States, including Connecticut, towards reforming or capping the level of compensatory damages which victims of medical negligence or other serious injuries are entitled to. The appeal behind the idea of adopting this type of legislation it twofold. First, that by lowering the financial exposure which manufacturers of products and service providers such as Hospitals and physicians may have, the monies which would otherwise have to paid out to those injured could be passed on to consumers thus lowering the price for everyone else. Secondly, that the cost associated with paying for higher insurance premiums would be reduced and result in further cost savings which, in theory, could be passed along as price reductions as well.

Continue reading "Implications of Injury and Medical Malpractice Tort Reform" »

In Connecticut as well as many other Jurisdictions, in the case of accidental deaths whether occuring on the job, while operating a motor vehicle or opertaing machinery or simply the result of substandard medical care lawsuits may be initiated on behalf of those killed. Legally, this may be accomplished through the appointment of an Administrator of the Estate by the Probate Court who then engages legal counsel to investigate and file the lawsuit if warranted by the circumstances.

From a personal injury perspective, wrongful death claims are often complex and challenging cases to pursue, not only for the Law Firm entrusted with this task but also for the family members left behind who must interact with lawyers and provide information and insight into the life of the decedent. In Connecticut, accidental death lawsuits must generally be initiated within two years of the event causing the death in order to fall within the Statute of Limitations period. It is not uncommon for the investigation of such claims to take an extended period of time to complete so prompt retention of an experience lawyer is always helpful and sometimes critical. This is particularly the case when critical evidence or witnesses may no longer be easily ascertainable given any extended delay.

Continue reading "Wrongful Death Lawsuits" »

One of the more challenging categories of cases within the field of personal injury are Head injuries, Sometimes alternatively referred to as Brain injuries or Traumatic Brain Injury claims (TBI) these cases are often challenging and complex to pursue. For the Law Firm entrusted with this task of proving these claims while their clients are adjusting to all manner of symptoms ranging from Memory and speech to dizziness and headaches, the effort must be continuous. The importance of monitoring and studying the medical reports, assisting where necessary with making sure that the right specialists are evaluating and treating the clients cannot be overstated. In Connecticut, we have detected to some extent the existence of an institutional bias, even within the medical profession, where the more subtle types of Brain trauma are involved. My office has taken the deposition of well known neurologists tasked with performing an independent medical exam where they insisted that in the absence of evidence on an MRI or CT Scan of a brain injury that post concussive syndrome would simply not be a credible explanation for ongoing neuro psychological difficulties. That expert opinion, much like another, suggesting that a loss of consciousness was necessary to even have a brain injury , is not supportable under current guidlines nor peer reviewed clinical literature.

Continue reading "PROVING AND LITIGATING HEAD INJURY LAWSUITS" »