Miami Personal Injury Attorney Blog
June, 21, 2013, Miami, FL- A new special report shines the spotlight on the surprisingly large number of medical patients who have had unnecessary procedures that have a negative impact on their lives and subject them to painful, disabling, and sometimes deadly complications.
According to the report, which appeared in USA Today, doctors in perform tens of thousands needless surgeries; they estimate that 10 percent to 20 percent of operations in cardiac specialties and spinal injuries are unnecessary. Hysterectomies, knee replacements and caesarians are also commonly performed even though they are not required to improve the patients health.
The report states that many of these needless procedures are performed so unethical doctors can defraud insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid. These unnecessary surgeries cost insurers and the federal government billions of dollars and those costs are then passed on to consumers and taxpayers.
Other unnecessary surgeries are performed by doctors that are not knowledgeable or competent enough to realize when these surgeries can avoided or offer alternative treatments.
These unnecessary surgical procedures can have additional consequence such as infections that can cause severe illness and even death, and nicked nerves which can lead to personal disability and paralysis.
The USA Today report, noted that unnecessary surgeries are hard to track and often go unnoticed since they are difficult to track.
In addition to unnecessary surgeries, researchers discovered that thousands of medical patients are injured on operating tables because surgeons sometimes leave behind surgical instruments, gauze, towels and other medical objects in patients. Some surgeons have been known to operate on the wrong patient or organs. These are called “never events” because they should never happen.
The figures, gathered from the National Practitioner Data Bank, revealed that a minimum of 10,000 “never events,” which resulted in a medical malpractice, claim occurred over the past decade.
When a surgeon leaves behind medical equipment, the patients must undergo and additional surgery that can entail a battery of additional complications and make patients susceptible to serious infections.
The majority of doctors and surgeons are ethical and capable professionals who have dedicated their lives to healing people. However, people should be aware that there are unscrupulous doctors who want nothing more than to exploit patients without considering the unnecessary pain and suffering they are inflicting on people who just want to get healthier and feel better.
Medical malpractice laws in Florida are complicated and recent changes have made it more difficult for injury patients to pursue. Victims of medical malpractice have a significant burden of proof they must meet to be eligible to file an injury claim. Patients must also file their claim within two years of their injury.
Because medical malpractice claims are difficult to litigate in the state of Florida, Miami attorney Jonah Wolfson is careful about the cases he takes on. If you believe you have been injured because of medical practitioner’s mistake or you should meet with Mr. Wolfson to determine if you have a strong case before you pursue a malpractice claim.