Category: medical malpractice

Placental abruption is a very serious complication of pregnancy. In a placental abruption, the placenta becomes separate from the wall of the uterus. Placental abruption can harm both the mother and the child, although it is possible to take steps to reduce the chance of harm to the mother and child.

If a placenta pulls away from the uterus wall before the delivery of the baby, the placental abruption can cause the mother’s body to begin hemorrhaging, which can result in excessive blood loss. The baby can face fetal distress and a lack of oxygen. This can lead to brain damage, cerebral palsy, stroke, and even death.

It is unclear what causes placental abruption. In some cases, it can be caused by a direct blow to the stomach. However, in other situations it may occur with no warning. Once an abruption has occurred, it cannot be reattached to the uterus. In most cases, abruptions are considered as medical emergencies and the mother is admitted to the hospital. Sometimes, the child must be delivered immediately, while in other cases the pregnancy may be allowed to continue.

Although placental abruptions are very serious, if they are recognized and treated quickly, many mothers and children can survive with few or no injuries. However, if they are not recognized or properly treated, the results can be disastrous for the mother and child.

Call me, Conal Doyle, Los Angeles medical malpractice attorney at 310-385-0567 if you have suffered from a placental abruption, and if that abruption caused serious damages to you or your child. I will be happy to give you a free consultation on your case. Call today to learn more.

Very rarely, before, during, or after childbirth, a fetal stroke will occur in the baby. A fetal stroke can happen when the blood flow to the baby’s brain is blocked. In some cases, fetal stokes can occur naturally and the medical team is not liable. In other situations, the medical team may actually be responsible for the stroke. Some common causes of fetal strokes are trauma to the head during delivery, diabetes, blood clots, and preclampsia.

Some fetal strokes may be minor, and the child may make a total recovery. Other fetal strokes are very serious and can affect the rest of the child’s life. One important factor in how serious a stroke is is how quickly the stroke is diagnosed and treated.

Fetal strokes can occur way before delivery, or even during or after delivery. Fetal strokes can cause cerebral palsy, epilepsy, mental retardation, and other similar problems. The care for a child who has been affected by a fetal stroke can be shockingly expensive. Caring for the child and paying for his or her care can place huge pressures on the family.

If your child has been injured as a result of a fetal stroke, it’s important to speak with an attorney. Your doctor may be liable for medical malpractice if the doctor failed to diagnose the stroke, or if the doctor actually caused the stroke.

Call me, Conal Doyle, Los Angeles medical malpractice attorney at 310-385-0567 if your child has suffered a fetal stroke and you believe a doctor’s negligence may be to blame. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation.

In some cases, yes, you can sue your doctor. Some cases of cerebral palsy occur during the pregnancy or during the birth process, and could be prevented by appropriate medical care.

Brain damage causes cerebral palsy. The main causes of brain damage that lead to cerebral palsy can happen during pregnancy, during labor and delivery, or during the birth process. There are some environmental and other factors that can harm development prior to a child’s birth, such as infections. Also, during the pregnancy, brain formation may be interrupted or impaired by a rupture of blood vessels or oxygen deprivation. The birth process can be delayed, which can lead to cerebral palsy. The baby may suffer from injuries to the head during an assisted delivery. The child could contract an infection after birth, which can lead to cerebral palsy.

There are a number of actions that doctors can take which can help prevent cerebral palsy. The baby must be monitored throughout the pregnancy in order to detect abnormalities. Children who are born prematurely must be given special medical treatment. During delivery, the heart rates of both the mother and the child must be monitored to detect symptoms of fetal distress. Newborns should be monitored for jaundice, which can lead to cerebral palsy if left untreated.

If your child has cerebral palsy, and you believe that it could have been prevented if your doctors had taken the proper precautions, you should speak with an attorney. Your child will have to live with cerebral palsy for the remainder of his or her life, but you only have a limited time in which to seek compensation. Call me, Conal Doyle, Los Angeles medical malpractice attorney, at 310-385-0567. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation on your case.

Chronic kidney disease can be easily overlooked, but the number of people afflicted have been on the rise. Currently, chronic kidney disease is the ninth leading cause of death in the U.S., and affects 26 million Americans.

Although most patients with chronic kidney disease understand their medical condition, they may not recognize the complications that are often associated with chronic kidney disease. One of the most devastating complications associated with chronic kidney disease is peripheral artery disease. People with chronic kidney disease are at higher risk than the general population of developing peripheral artery disease, which is a narrowing of the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the legs.

Vascular disease, including peripheral artery disease, is responsible for about 80 percent of all amputations. The good news is that there are some technologies now available that can help reverse some of the symptoms and prevent amputation. These new technologies have helped decrease the number of major amputations in patients with peripheral artery disease by 75 percent.

However, it’s critical that patients with chronic kidney disease, as well as their doctors, are alert to peripheral artery disease, its symptoms, and its complications. However, unfortunately, many patients with chronic kidney disease have less than optimal health care. It’s important that patients stay proactive and informed about their condition and some possible health risks.

If you have suffered an amputation as a result of chronic kidney disease, it’s possible that the amputation is due to medical malpractice. If your doctor failed to diagnose your condition or prescribe the appropriate treatment, he or she could be held responsible. Call me, Conal Doyle, Amputation Attorney, at 310-385-0567. I am an amputee as well as a personal injury attorney, and I have experience in helping amputation victims receive compensation for their injuries. Call today to learn more.

Injuries during childbirth happen regularly. In most situations, the injuries to the mother and child are minor and will heal quickly with no lasting effects. However, in some cases the injuries can cause problems that may last for years or even a lifetime.

One situation in which injuries during childbirth are not uncommon involves deliveries using forceps. Forceps are an instrument that looks like a couple of spoons, and they are used to guide a baby’s head out of the birth canal.

Forceps are not used in most deliveries. In fact, they are normally only used during the second stage of labor (when the mother is pushing), if the labor is not progressing as it should. They may also be used if the baby’s health requires that the delivery occur immediately. Forceps deliveries do not always work, and if they fail a C-section may be needed. Therefore, forceps deliveries should only occur at hospitals where C-sections can be performed.

Not all situations are appropriate for forceps. The baby may be too large to fit through the birth canal. The baby may not be far enough along in the birth canal. The baby could have certain medical conditions that would mean forceps should not be used. Also, if the position of the baby’s head cannot be determined, forceps should not be used.

Both mother and child can be harmed by forceps. A child can suffer serious injuries to the face, seizures, internal bleeding, and even skull fractures. In addition, forceps can damage the mother internally. Some mothers experience damage to the urinary tract, uterine rupture, and pelvic organ prolapse.

If you or your child were harmed during childbirth by forceps, it did not necessarily occur because of medical malpractice. However, it’s worth talking to an attorney about. Call me, Los Angeles birth injury attorney Conal Doyle at 310-385-0567. I can help. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation.

Horrible mistakes can happen in emergency rooms, during surgery, or during routine medical procedures. These mistakes have been labeled as “never events”, because they are things that should never happen, but do happen in the medical community routinely. It’s been estimated that never events happen an average of 80 times a week in the U.S.

The most often discussed never events are surgical events, and can include operating on the wrong person or body part, leaving a foreign object inside a patient, performing the wrong operation, or the death of a healthy patient from anesthesia. All of those occurrences should never happen.

There are also never events that can happen because of a failure to properly oversee patients during a hospital stay. Some common never events that can happen while a patient is in a hospital includes patients disappearing from the facility, patients being given the wrong blood type, the death of a mother or child during routine labor, bed sores that are acquired after being admitted to the hospital, a failure to perform follow up tests, contamination of drugs or medical devices, or air embolisms during a medical procedure.

Although these events are classified as “never events” because they are events that should never happen, they can and do happen routinely. If you or a loved one has been injured or fatally harmed in a medical error that is considered a “never event”, you should speak with an attorney. If you are in the Los Angeles area, call me, Conal Doyle, Los Angeles medical malpractice attorney at 310-385-0567. I can help you to make a medical malpractice claim. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation.

Medical science has advanced tremendously in the area of diagnostic testing in recent years. Only a few decades ago, advanced tests did not exist that could allow doctors to see inside the human body. Today, x-rays, ultrasounds, image scans, MRIs, and other tests have allowed doctors to detect and diagnose conditions much earlier than in the past.

However, those tests are only as effective as the doctors and other medical professionals who are interpreting the results. Diagnostic tests can help diagnose cancer, allow doctors to monitor pregnancy, diagnose traumatic brain injuries, and more, but only if they are properly performed.

Unfortunately, many of those tests are not properly performed or the results are not communicated to patients. Thousands of people die every year because their doctors failed to correctly read the results of an ultrasound, x-ray, or other test in order to diagnose their condition. If a doctor does not properly diagnose you, you cannot obtain the correct treatment. This can result in catastrophic consequences later.

If your doctor has failed to correctly diagnose your tests, or if those results were not communicated to you, you should speak with an attorney. Your doctor may have committed medical malpractice. Call me, Conal Doyle, Los Angeles medical malpractice attorney at 310-385-0567. I can help. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation on your case.

It’s not uncommon for a newborn to be born with jaundice. When there are high levels of waste in the blood, the liver removes bilirubin, which is a waste product, from the blood. If a baby has high levels of waste in the blood, that is known as hyperbilirubemia (also called jaundice). Hyperbilirubemia, if allowed to continue, can cause a serious condition known as kernicterus.

Jaundice is very easy to diagnose and treat in newborns. About 60 percent of newborns have jaundice. In most cases, the eyes and the skin are yellow. In infants with darker complexions, there are simple blood tests that can show whether or not an infant has jaundice. If an infant does have jaundice, it’s commonly treated with light therapy.

In serious cases, jaundice can lead to very grave consequences, including cerebral palsy. Jaundice that lasts more than two weeks, or leads to an infant who is very lethargic, are signs of kernicterus. Newborns who develop kernicterus may have hearing problems, vision problems, or cerebral palsy.

Jaundice is very common, easy to diagnose, and can easily be treated. Therefore, if a doctor allows jaundice to persist without treatment, the doctor can be held liable. Doctors owe a duty to their patients to diagnose and treat jaundice immediately. If your infant has been harmed due to jaundice, call me, Conal Doyle, Los Angeles medical malpractice attorney at 310-385-0567. My team can help. Call to learn more or to schedule a free consultation on your case.

It’s common for doctors to require that a consent form be signed before surgery or any other type of medical procedure. Typically, the form states that the patient has been informed of the risks of surgery, and the form may list some of those possible complications that could occur.

Consent forms do not protect medical professionals from liability if they were negligent and caused harm. It is not possible for a patient to sign away all of their rights to sue a medical professional if the medical professional was negligent and caused harm. If you had a procedure and the person performing the procedure was negligent, you may be a victim of medical malpractice. Medical malpractice means that your medical provider did not meet the standard of care that is expected when that type of procedure is performed, and that poor care resulted in your injury.

Patients who are the victims of medical malpractice are entitled to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, and are entitled to compensation for their injuries. Typically, compensation included money for past and future medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. If the malpractice was especially egregious, the doctor could be required to pay punitive damages as well.

If you have been the victim of medical malpractice in California, you should speak with an attorney. You may be entitled to bring a medical malpractice lawsuit against your health care provider. Call me, Conal Doyle, California medical malpractice attorney, at 310-385-0567. My team can help. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation.

LASIK eye surgery has become extremely popular in the last couple of decades. It’s been estimated that over a million people a year in the U.S. undergo either LASIK surgery or another type of eye surgery. Unfortunately, many of those people experience a loss of vision because of medical malpractice.

There are a number of types of errors that may occur during eye surgery. The patient may be a poor candidate for eye surgery, and the doctor may fail to recognize that in order to get more patients and make more money. The surgeon may be careless and may not have used the correct tools, or may not be paying enough attention to the surgery. There are a number of way in which surgeons can commit malpractice, which can have a very serious impact on patients’ lives.

A patient who has impairment after an eye surgery may have issues with his or her sight for the rest of his or her life. It can be very difficult to undo the effects of an ineffective eye surgery. The patient may be stuck with blurry vision, permanent blindness, double vision, seeing spots, or an inability to determine depth. It is critical that doctors take the time to properly screen potential patients as well as to very carefully perform the operation.

The good news is that compensation is available for patients who are harmed by a loss of vision after an eye surgery. The patient may be entitled to compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. If you have been harmed by a negligent eye surgeon, call me, Conal Doyle, California medical malpractice attorney, at 310-385-0567. We can help. Call today to learn more or to schedule a free consultation.