Today's Boston Globe carries news of another settlement by Boston medical malpractice attorney Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. This time a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of a family whose mother fell from an operating table following her hip surgery. The case was to go to trial tomorrow. In the article, Meyer demonstrates the value of medical malpractice law in exposing problems in the health care system and helping to fix them. Said Meyer,
“The settlement was a recognition of the kind of mistakes that happen all too often in our hospitals. It’s gratifying to see that the family was able to receive exposure for this horrific event — and not to sweep it under the rug — to ensure that policies are changed so that this will not happen again.’’
The Globe reporter also wrote that:
The state Department of Public Health investigated the case in November 2007, determining that the fall led to O’Donnell’s death, and cited deficiencies in procedure. The hospital’s own analysis found that the operating room staff was busy or preoccupied and that the safety belt’s removal was not verbally communicated..."
Read more at Boston.com.
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