• Bruises and bleeding. Some bruising can be typical; elderly people tend to bruise easily. However, if the bruising is excessive or consistent, it could be a sign of abuse.
• Sudden change in weight. Particularly weight loss can be a sign of neglect, or a loss of appetite due to distress.
• Soiling, poor hygiene. This is one of the common signs of neglect. Patients and rooms should always be kept in clean and sterile conditions.
• Disappearance of personal items. This is a clear sign that caretakers cannot be trusted.
• Emotional withdraw. This can be harder to pick up on, but if abuse is occurring, you can expect it.

You should immediately ask to speak with facility management if you expect abuse or neglect. If the staff ever refuses or delays your visits, this is also a red flag.

Wooten, Kimbrough & Normand, P.A.—Orlando personal injury attorneys.

“By identifying what’s happening to patients, that’ll prove a learning process,” said Deputy Inspector for the DHHS Ruth Ann Dorrill. Physicians need to be held accountable in order to protect the public.

Currently, there is no set number for punitive damages in Florida medical malpractice cases.

Potential tort reform may put a cap on the punitive damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice cases in Florida. There needs to be a financial incentive for physicians and hospitals to provide the best care possible. If there is no financial incentive to keep hospitals and their physicians on their toes, health care will become more and more reckless.

Have you or a loved one ever experienced or witnessed a medical error that went unreported?

Wooten, Kimbrough & Normand, P.A.—Orlando personal injury attorneys.

“We’re dismayed by reports that say doctors, nurses, technicians and others providing medical care are spending too much time focused on smart phones, computer screens and other devices when they should be paying attention to their patients,” said Patrick A. Salvi, partner at Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. “We’re not against the use of electronic devices for delivery of medical records or even personal communication, but it is absolutely crucial that a focus on the patient is not dropped from the accepted standards of medical care.”

The New York Times cited a survey of medical technicians that showed 55% of respondents acknowledged physicians talking on cell phones during heart surgery. This should be alarming for everyone who reads it.

“Why does anyone carry a cell phone into an operating room?” Salvi asked. “The patient on the table deserves the undivided attention of everyone in that room.”

Have you or a loved one been the unfortunate victim of medical malpractice?

Wooten, Kimbrough & Normand, P.A.—Orlando wrongful death attorneys.

His website pictured patients with flawless skin and bodies, and he even had a swanky office at Castleton Corners. Many patients feel they were mislead and are now outraged. After more than 40 medical malpractice lawsuits, Dr. Cattani may never again practice.

“I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in three years;” said Marilyn Franklin, who underwent plastic surgery from Dr. Cattani in 2009 for a neck lift. “Every night I wake up with shooting pain…I went in to have my turkey neck done and came back the bride of Frankenstein.”

When Franklin went to another physician to seek treatment following the botched operation, the nurse recognized Dr. Cattani’s handiwork instantly.

“She guessed it on the spot it was him. She said ‘I can’t tell you how many patients we are aware of who were scarred and maimed.’ How did that doctor still have a license?”

The list of horrendous allegations against Dr. Cattani is seemingly endless. In 2010, according to records, he refused to transport a liposuction patient to the hospital even as he went into kidney failure. He refused to let EMS treat the patient as well. He has refused to respond to complaints from many other patients following their operation.

Hopefully this monster will never receive another license to practice medicine anywhere. Have you or a loved one been injured by a careless physician?

Wooten, Kimbrough & Normand, P.A.—Orlando personal injury attorneys.

“Art 8 a.m. two patients were back there,” Ann said. “One was my daughter. At 10:20 emergency medical and the fire department pulled up and there was a fifty-fifty chance that they were coming through the doors for my daughter. I went to the desk and no one would tell me what was wrong.

“I am in shock,” she told the Crestview News Bulletin. “This is not what happens with a routine outpatient surgery. She had headaches and the doctor was going to remove three cysts and biopsy them. But something went bad wrong and my daughter is now in a burn unit with burn specialists and I still don’t know what happened. No one will tell me why or how this happened to her.”

Experts say that this was not an isolated incident, and fires flare in operating rooms as much as 650 times a year. North Okaloosa Medical Center is investigating the accident.

“The hospital deeply regrets today’s event in which a patient sustained burns during a procedure in our ambulatory surgery center,” the hospital said in a released statement. “The staff took immediate steps to respond, including moving the patient to the hospital’s emergency department. The patient was fully alert and able to converse with the ED staff during the examination and initial treatment. She was stabilized and then transferred to the University of South Alabama Medical Center for further care.”

The Gerber Law Group, a personal injury firm in Sarasota, also featured a post on this horrific accident.

Have you or a loved one been injured or killed due to medical malpractice?

Wooten, Kimbrough & Normand, P.a.—Orlando personal injury attorneys.

Scheidt, however, was able to obtain and ID badge from Osceola Regional Hospital after posing as a student from Nova Southeastern University.  He provided care to an undisclosed number of patients—including performing CPR on a patient in cardiac arrest.  He is charged with two counts of impersonating a physician assistant and two counts of practicing medicine without a license, all of which are third degree felonies.

Should the hospital be held accountable here?  Is this borderline medical malpractice?  What if someone had died while under the care of the imposter?

Wooten, Kimbrough & Normand, P.A—Orlando injury attorney.

The study said that only one of every five medical malpractice cases ends in financial transfer, whether through a settlement or jury award. About one in fourteen doctors are named each year in medical malpractice claims and every surgeon faces a chance of at least one malpractice claim within their lifetime. The study sifted through data on 41,000 doctors between 1991 and 2005, provided by an anonymous insurer which covers 3% of American doctors and spreads through all 50 states.

The study also found that neurosurgeons and heart surgeons were sued 19% of the time on the high end and pediatricians and psychiatrist faced 3% of lawsuits of the time on the low end. The low rate of payments shows that insurers deny far more claims and contradicts medical malpractice reform arguments.

An Orlando injury attorney can provide guidance if you have been injured because of a medical center, healthcare professional or a hospital’s negligence.

Louisiana’s $500,000 cap on all damages is the most comprehensive in the nation and has not been revised since its inception in 1975. Judge Clayton Davis wrote the court opinion in the case involving two wrongful death lawsuits in which the plaintiffs received judgments in excess of the cap. The trial court heard both cases and the court upheld the cap as constitutional although agreeing with the plaintiffs that they lacked an adequate remedy because they were entitled to damages in excess of $500,000.

The cases were consolidated for appeal and went through several rounds of court hearings as an appellate court tried to strike down the cap. The plaintiffs received a boost last month when the en banc appellate court held in another case that the cap violates equal protection and adequate remedy rights in suits against nurse practitioners. The plaintiffs in the case are said to be happy with the recent ruling, but they expect the argument of Louisiana’s medical malpractice damages cap to eventually reach the Louisiana Supreme Court.

An Orlando injury attorney can provide guidance if you have been injured because of a medical center, healthcare professional or a hospital’s negligence.

1. Use a checklist to reduce avoidable deaths and injuries resulting from surgical procedures (this would save $20 billion a year)

2. Use best practices to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia (this would save 32,000 lives and $900 million a year

3. Use best practices to prevent pressure ulcers (this would save 14,071 lives and $5.5 billion a year)

4. Implement safeguards and quality control measures to reduce medication errors (this would save 4,620 lives and $2.3 billion a year)

5. Use best practices to prevent patient falls (this would save $1.5 billion a year)

6. Use a checklist to prevent catheter infections (this would save 15,680 lives and $1.3 billion a year)

7. Modestly improve nurse staffing ratios (this would save 5,000 lives and $242 million a year)

8. Permit standing orders to increase flu and pneumococcal vaccinations in the elderly (this would save 9,250 lives and $545 million a year)

9. Use beta-blockers after heart attacks (this would save 3,600 lives and $900,000 a year)

10. Increase use of advanced care planning (this would save $3.2 billion a year)

An Orlando injury lawyer can provide guidance if you have been injured because of a medical center, healthcare professional or a hospital’s negligence.

The plaintiff’s personal injury lawsuit alleges that the employer is vicariously liable for negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and misrepresentation, failure to treat and financial exploitation or a vulnerable adult on the theory of respondeat superior, where an employer can be held liable for an employee acting within the scope of employment.

The plaintiff claims she suffered and will continue to suffer remorse, humiliation, mental anguish, post-traumatic stress, and financial suffering. The judge agreed that the patient received psychotherapy during operating hours and on employer’s property, and failure to provide psychotherapy in a manner that falls within professional guidelines is a reasonably foreseeable conduct by a service provider.

The employer fired Anderson once evidence came to light that she borrowed the money from the patient. The plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer said that borrowing money from his client was negligent and that the plaintiff looks forward to proceeding with the trial.