When the same doctor keeps making mistakes, he needs to be stopped. If that same doctor moves to another state and gets protected by state laws, patients are at great risk.

Sometimes a doctor that keeps making medical errors gets his name in the paper. At least this one particular doctor certainly did, and while he is not necessarily representational of all doctors, he does serve as a bellwether for patients and other doctors. Many doctors do a fine job under difficult and often trying circumstances. But unfortunately is just takes one bad doctor to affect patient lives.

Dr. Stefan Konasiewicz has almost seen as much media time as Octomom. Just last month, he was on trial in Minnesota for negligently doing a brain biopsy that ultimately resulted in the patient sustaining a severe brain injury. The patient was left with cognitive defects, impaired speech and lost the ability to walk. This is not the only medical misstep the doctor has been accused of either.

While still living in Minnesota, and before he moved to Texas, this doctor had nine medical malpractice lawsuits filed against him between 1997 and 2008. He was reprimanded by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, and settled five of the lawsuits for roughly $3.2 million (two of the cases involved wrongful deaths).

The Minnesota Medical Board took the unusual step of publicly reprimanding him for unprofessional and unethical conduct in four cases that ended in patients sustaining injuries, becoming quadriplegic or dying. The medical board in Wisconsin also commented on him, as he had a license in Wisconsin too.

However, this doctor moved to Texas, whose state medical board did not feel there was any reason to put any restrictions on him. In other words, he has a clear medical license and can do what he pleases. Should this doctor’s current and potential patients be concerned that he is allowed to practice, given his track record in other states?

They definitely should be extremely concerned. It is their lives on the line. What patient would choose a doctor branded as unprofessional and who was responsible for many horrific injuries to his patients in other states? What would make the Texas Medical Board think this doctor had suddenly changed?

The bottom line is that if the state medical board in Texas is not going to be cautious about a doctor with flagrant cases of egregious medical malpractice, the public is on its own. Their only recourse would be to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. However, with strict medical malpractice caps in place, thanks to the legislature, the public is unprotected from medical negligence. What happened to the concept of justice for all?

Christopher Mellino is a Cleveland Malpractice Lawyer specializing in Cleveland Medical Malpractice cases in Ohio. To learn more, visit Christophermellino.com.

Tort reform and especially caps to medical malpractice damages is a hot button topic. No one seems to get the premise behind penalizing patients twice for medical negligence.

It is public knowledge that medical negligence in the USA (and other countries) is, quite frankly, rampant. Recent statistics show that medical mistakes happen in one third of hospital admissions, and it will get worse as the population grows, the health care system gets overtaxed, the number of doctors dwindles and the pressure cooker that medical professionals work in continues to get more stressful.

What is completely incomprehensible is the fact that politicians, and authorities in other industries like insurance, insist on trying to reduce accountability and the legal rights of seriously hurt or dead patients that the medical profession failed. It is actually not much of a surprise that politicians and the insurance industry are holding hands in trying to reduce legal accountability. Their bottom line is keeping the dollars they make on insurance, not giving it out to patients.

Not all insurance companies are avaricious vultures. In fact, there is the odd insurance carrier that has decided to take a progressive step forward by suggesting to hospitals that they implement a comprehensive patient safety program. This particular program, rolled out in the labor and delivery unit at one of New York’s largest hospitals, saw insurance claims drop.

What did they do? Among other things, the program required training teams with the aim of improving communication, implementing e-medical record charting to eliminate any mistakes in reading doctor’s handwriting, revamped on-call scheduling, set up new drug regimens, ensured physician’s assistants were used appropriately and held obstetric emergency drills. This is innovative and really, these steps should be implemented when a mother delivers a child.

The results of these changes indicate that the program significantly reduced adverse events and, in turn, had an immediate impact on compensation payments. By educating the obstetrics team, making lines of communication clearer, making safety changes for patients and improving how patients were treated, the number of medical malpractice claims dropped. Why are politicians and other authorities not speaking up about this?

If people truly paid attention to this issue, they would recognize that penalizing medical malpractice victims twice – once when their doctor fails them and twice when the courts unjustly diminish an equitable award – does not help the victim. It does not help the system reduce medical malpractice claims. Instead, the claims remain at an all-time high and more awards (at a lesser amount) are being paid out for medical errors.

On the other hand, teach medical professionals these steps and they can then protect and save lives more. Teaching a medical team how to work with and for their patients, and fewer medical errors are made and compensation claims drop. That is what saves money. Stealing the bulk of a medical malpractice plaintiff’s jury award for an egregious act committed by a doctor does not save money, unless you count the money the insurance company kept. Never forget that a victim’s life was completely ruined by medical negligence – the kind of medical negligence that doctors seem to think they should not have to pay for, in any way, shape or form.

In other words, what happens to the victim in all this? This is an issue that people need to take a prompt, close look at. As a nation that prides itself on justice for all, it is stunningly ironic that governments and insurance companies think denying medical malpractice victims their due justice is an okay thing to do. It is not – period.

Christopher Mellino is a Cleveland Malpractice Lawyer specializing in Cleveland Medical Malpractice cases in Ohio. To learn more, visit Christophermellino.com.

When unspeakable tragedy hits close to home, medical malpractice caps are a brutal reminder that justice is sworn to protect the innocent, but does not always do so.

This is a really hard story to read about, and many others may have had something similar happen to them. The story involves a young boy, full of promise for the future and happy. This boy could figure out just about anything for himself, even at the age of three years old. Then one day, the unexpected happened, and the little boy fell face first onto a sharp stick that drove itself into the right side of his mouth, face and sinus cavity.

When the young boy was taken to hospital, the surgeons operated and repaired the damage, discharging the boy to home care after they had taken cultures to test for any bacteria that might have been present. All was well for a few days, until the little boy developed a high fever, became lethargic and was taken back to the hospital for help. The parents asked for a brain scan as they thought his brain may be injured as a result of the stick that pierced his sinus cavity. The doctors rejected that idea and that is when things went wrong for the little boy. He was diagnosed with meningitis, which was a wrong diagnosis that would eventually result in the boy being sent into a medically induced coma.

What had actually happened? It turns out that young boy had an undiagnosed and ruptured abscess in his brain that was caused by the accident. He was left severely brain damaged, blind, and unable to do anything other than the simplest and most basic of tasks because earlier cultures were not read sooner and the medical experts overruled the parent’s request for a brain scan. Treatment would not have been delayed nor would it have been the incorrect treatment if time had been taken to truly analyze his injury.

This case went to trial and the jury awarded the family $7.1 million, but the award was capped at $250,000. And how does this help to care for a child with such catastrophic problems? It does not, period. His parents have no idea how he will be cared for in the future and feel what money he did receive will run out, and he will not get proper or adequate care in the future.

The medical pundits that made the errors that cost this young boy a promising life will not be held responsible for the full extent of the boy’s injuries. He has been wronged by the medical malpractice capping in his state. Over time, from the age of 2-years-old to his current age of 21-years-old, he has had at least 23 various surgeries. He needs almost around-the-clock supervision and his movement is limited due to the cerebral palsy from the brain trauma.
The family faces a real dilemma every day – will their son’s money for care run out before he passes away? Will they pass away before him? While dealing with those and other questions, they became aware of the medical malpractice capping debate. They were particularly angered by people – insurance companies and politicians – who told them the cap would be helpful for them as a family. To this day, they vigorously disagree with that line of thought. It certainly has not helped their son, nor will it ever benefit them in the future.

This is an issue that has the potential to touch many lives and to also harm many. If you have been in a situation like this or feel you have been the victim of medical malpractice, do not hesitate to pick up the phone and call an experienced Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer. Find out what the law is in your state. Advocate for the right to receive what you truly deserve in a situation like this one. Speak out for those who have nowhere to turn and who will not get justice. Medical malpractice caps are inhumane, unethical, and punitive – an anathema to the justice system.

Christopher Mellino is a Cleveland Malpractice Lawyer specializing in Cleveland Medical Malpractice cases in Ohio. To learn more, visit Christophermellino.com.

There is a time to have surgery and a time when it is best to avoid it. Statistics show that July is a bad month for surgical malpractice deaths.

According to The Journal of General Internal Medicine, there is a hike of up to 10 percent of fatalities during that summer month. Why would that be? Turns out that is when new doctors-to-be, also known residents, are starting their training. The definitely should make patients pause about when to schedule surgery.

To be fair, the figures are not exclusively pointing at surgery as being the main cause of deaths during that month. Instead, there is a potpourri of reasons, including mistakes in prescribing and giving medication, in addition to messing up during a surgical procedure. If you stop to think about this, it should not really come as too much of a surprise. There are close to 100,000 deaths every year as a result of medical mistakes in the USA. About one in seven patients suffer from medical malpractice that causes serious harm, permanent injury, or death.

What do you do with these kinds of statistics? Is there something that can be done to protect your health, now and, yes, even in the month of July? There are a number of things patients can do to be proactive. These days, if you do not stick up for yourself, ask lots of questions, do your own research and make sure you understand what treatment(s) you receive, you run the risk of being on the wrong side of a medical malpractice experience. Asking questions and being informed may save your life.

Before you take a trip to a hospital for a surgery or anything else, ask them about their infection rate. While that may seem strange, the fact is just about 31,000 patients die every year from infections they caught while in the hospital. Hospitals measure their infection rates by something called catheter days. In other words, this is the number of 24 hour periods where a patient has a tube in them. Ideally, you want a rate of 0 in one thousand catheter days for a year or more. If it is higher than three days, book into another hospital.

There is no harm in asking your doctor how many times they have done the procedure you are booked to have. It is your body. If the doctor just says that they are the doctor and to just trust them, shop around for another more compassionate physician, with a better bedside attitude. If you are asking these questions on a Friday, then you might want to think twice about agreeing to take that slot. Elective surgery done on Fridays typically means the operating room staff are drained from a long week and running on residual energy. If they are tired, mistakes happen. In fact, avoid going to a hospital on a weekend, as staffing levels are not what they should be, labs are slower and doctors on call are out of the hospital at home.

Prescription errors and improperly prescribed medications are major causes of hospital deaths. In institutions with e-records, the error factor dramatically drops. Choose a hospital that uses electronic records, as it acts as a safety back up for you to protect you from drug interactions, wrong doses and wrong prescriptions.

Still find yourself faced with a sticky situation that you feel was the result of medical malpractice? Call an experienced Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer and find out precisely what you are dealing with and how to file a lawsuit. Not all bad medical outcomes are classified as medical malpractice, so it is best to consult with an attorney.

Christopher Mellino is a Cleveland Malpractice Lawyer specializing in Cleveland Medical Malpractice cases in Ohio. To learn more, visit Christophermellino.com.