July 2009 Archives

The statute of limitations in New York for medical malpractice is two and one-half years from the date of injury.   The New York medical malpractice statute may be extended in cases where there is continuous treatment by the doctor who committed the malpractice, or when the medical provider has left a foreign object in your body.

In Maryland, to overrsimplify at bit, he medical malpractice statute limitations is three years which, in some case can be extended to five if the Plaintiff could not have known of the connection of the injuries and the malpractice.  Arguably, Maryland medical malpractice law imposes a statute of repose which means that five years is an absolutely cutoff.  

Geri Barish, the president of 1 in 9: The Long Island Breast Cancer Coalition, said she supports a bill in the New York legislature extending the amount of time one could file a lawsuit from 2.5 years after a medical malpractice mistake is made to 2.5 years after the link between the malpractice and the injury is discovered.

Obviously, this rule is supported by Maryland malpractice lawyers in Maryland as well for a simple reason: it creates less frequently results that offend everyday notions of justice.   It you can never bring a malpractice lawsuit because you just didn't know your doctor's careless caused your injury, that is just not fair.

The Maryland Malpractice Lawyer Blog has a post on hospital infection lawsuits in Maryland.The summary: the notion that "infections just happen" in the absence of negligence is a dying theory because hospitals that have set their mind to becoming infection free have - as this post illustrates - stunningly better data on hospital infections.If you are looking for a lawyer for your Maryland staph infection claim, call 800-553-8082 or click her for a free consultation via the Internet

U.S. Pharmacopeia released a report last year analyzing medical records from 1998-2005/  The report found that patients who undergo surgery have the highest risk of a medication mistake.  The report found over 11,000 medical errors before surgery.  Most of these errors - 95% of the medication errors, according to the study - were harmless.  But many of the remaining errors caused serious injury.

Notably, children suffered the highest risk of a medication error with injury.  Nearly 12% medication mistakes in kids cause injury.  

Most of the reported errors involved the use of antibiotics and pain medications. The most commonly reported medication mistakes involved giving the wrong amount of medication, giving the medication at the wrong time, omitting a dose of medication, or administration of the medication incorrectly.