Hospitals in New Mexico and elsewhere are supposed to be places for sick people to get well. But what happens when a sick person is not diagnosed and the hospital exposes others to his or her potentially fatal illness? Such an issue is at the center of a class-action...
Couple awarded $8.3 million in VA hospital negligence case
Many enlisted and veteran military members rely on VA medical centers to provide a high quality of medical care. However, as New Mexico readers may have heard on the news, the VA has had many problems in recent years providing the level of care that these veterans...
Despite outcry by doctors, medical malpractice costs decreasing
New Mexico residents who have followed the debate about health care in the U.S. can be forgiven for thinking that costs for medical malpractice insurance for physicians is extravagantly expensive. There have been many reports of doctors who claim that if rates keep...
Prison doctor sued by 3 dozen New Mexico inmates
On our Albuquerque medical malpractice blog, we have described several different kinds of doctor errors and negligent physicians that people in our area might come across. One that we haven't devoted a great deal of time to, however, is the welfare of prisoners when...
Woman says doctor sprayed her with drain-cleaning chemical
As we have described on our blog, doctors in New Mexico can make all kinds of mistakes while carrying out their duties that can have negative effects on their patients. Whether it's operating on the wrong body part, misinterpreting medical records or prescribing the...
Lack of oxygen to the brain during surgery can be life-altering
Despite the advances that have been made in surgical technology and procedures, errors still can happen. Among the most dire of these are mistakes that lead to brain damage in a patient. In many cases, these are preventable errors, caused when medical staff don't pay...
Are tired surgeons more likely to make errors in the OR?
We spend a lot of time on our New Mexico medical malpractice blog discussing the mistakes surgeons make and how they can be prevented. We have seen studies in the past that have found that doctors who are tired or distracted make more surgical errors in the operating...
Family baffled at items left behind after loved one’s surgery
For many Albuquerque residents, knowing that a loved one has suffered some kind of surgical complication is often difficult to ascertain. Even surgeries that are deemed to be successful can leave patients looking overwhelmed, at least to the untrained eye. However,...
Internal reporting of doctor errors not easy for several reasons
Earlier this week on our blog, we discussed how it can be difficult for physicians to report mistakes made by their colleagues. This can be dangerous on multiple levels. Patients might not receive the care they deserve, and might have the physician mistake unattended;...
Physicians need encouragement to report colleagues’ errors
We have written frequently on our blog about how doctors are often to blame for missing diagnoses, prescribing incorrect medicines or dosages, or otherwise making critical mistakes that lead to patient injury or even death. While it is easy to see these people as the...