Vacuum-Assisted Delivery And Birth Injury

Sometimes, during the labor and delivery process, the baby needs a little help getting through the birth canal. Approximately 1 out of 20 vaginal deliveries in the United States result in some form of assistance being required. Prolonged labor can be dangerous to the baby as well as extremely painful and exhausting to the mother. Two common forms of assisted delivery, used by medical providers to when labor is stalled, are vacuum extraction and forceps delivery.

Vacuum extraction involves placing a small round cup on the baby’s head, which attaches to a vacuum pump creating suction to help guide the baby out of the birth canal. If performed incorrectly, suction during vacuum extraction can cause permanent and even life-threatening injuries, including: massive bleeding (hemorrhage and hypovolemic shock) beneath the scalp or within the brain (intracranial hemorrhage and encephalopathy); brain damage; skull fracture; and, retinal hemorrhage. Forceps delivery (another assisted delivery method), can also cause skull fractures, skull bleeding, and bruising on the baby’s head and face. These injuries have been known to cause permanent brain damage, neurological injuries and more specifically, cerebral palsy (CP).

In the hands of an inexperienced or untrained physician, a vacuum-assisted or forceps-assisted delivery can cause you and your child serious and permanent injuries. The cost of care for a child with cerebral palsy, or any birth injury, is very high. If your child’s birth injury was caused by a complication during vacuum-assisted or forceps-assisted delivery, contact The Yost Legal Group today at 1-800-YOST-LAW (800-403-7259). When you call, you will speak with an experienced Baltimore Medical Malpractice attorney absolutely FREE.

We handle all cases on a contingency fee basis. This means you will never pay an attorney’s fee up front, and you owe us nothing unless we win your case. The attorneys at Yost Legal Group are experienced, caring professionals ready to investigate your claim with compassion and determination. Call us today to receive a free, confidential consultation about your possible case. A The Yost Legal Group, there is no fee or expense unless you recover.

 

Sepsis Following Weight Loss Surgery

The Centers for Disease Control reports that more than one-third (36.5%) of U.S. adults suffer from obesity. High blood pressure (hypertension), heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and stroke are all life threatening conditions linked to obesity and are some of the leading causes of preventable death.

There are various surgical procedures that doctors perform in order for patients to achieve desired weight loss and avoid obesity-related complications. These procedures are referred to as bariatric surgery and include a variety of surgical approaches, including gastric banding, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and gastric sleeve surgery. All bariatric surgeries shrink the size of the patient’s stomach in order to limit the amount of food that can be consumed. During banding procedures, (laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, or LAGB), a flexible band is placed around the upper portion of the patient’s stomach wall and tightened, to restrict the size of the stomach. During gastric bypass surgery, part of the stomach may be removed (gastrectomy) and the surgeon will also re-route, or bypass, part of the digestive system so that a much smaller amount of nutrients from food are absorbed by the intestinal tract.

Unfortunately, sometimes bariatric surgery brings with it consequences in the form of medical mistakes. There have been many instances where patients have suffered from an anastomotic leak (AL) during gastric bypass surgery, when fluid from within the gastrointestinal tract leaks into the sterile abdominal cavity. As a result, these patients suffer from severe peritonitis (a deadly infection in the abdomen) and sepsis. Early diagnosis of an AL is crucial for the prevention of life-threatening complications. In countless instances, medical providers have failed to diagnose this complication at the time of surgery.

Symptoms of sepsis include:
• Fever
• Hypothermia (lower than normal body temperature)
• Heart rate >90 beats per minute (bpm)
• Fast respiratory rate
• Altered mental status (confusion/coma)
• Edema (swelling)
• High blood glucose without diabetes

If you or a loved one feel you are the victim of a medical mistake, contact The Yost Legal Group today at 1-800-YOST-LAW (800-403-7259). When you call, you will speak with an experienced Baltimore Medical Malpractice attorney absolutely FREE.

The attorneys at Yost Legal Group are experienced, caring professionals ready to investigate your claim with compassion and determination. Call us today to receive a free, confidential consultation about your possible case. At The Yost Legal Group, there is no fee or expense unless you recover.

Perforation of Small Intestine During Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, commonly referred to as a “lap choly,” is a procedure that involves removing the gallbladder. A patient may need removal if the gallbladder is full of gallstones (cholelithiasis), inflamed, or infected (cholecystitis). When a lap choly is needed, laparoscopic techniques are used to perform this minimally invasive surgery with the assistance of a video camera and several thin instruments.

The laparoscopic incisions, each one about ½” in size, limit the surgeon’s view of the patient’s abdomen. This limited view during surgical dissection and electrocautery can be associated with serious complications. Several factors may play a role in causing these injuries, such as the complexity of the case and the experience of the surgeon.

Although injury to the common bile duct (the tube that carries bile from the gallbladder to the small intestine) is one of the most serious complications of gall bladder surgery, injury to the small bowel (small intestine) can occur as a result of a medical provider’s incorrect use of surgical tools during laparoscopic cholecystectomy.  Perforation or laceration of the small intestine during lap choly can occur when the nearby wall of the small intestine is cut by a surgical tool or burned during electrocautery.  If left undetected and not quickly repaired, a hole in the small intestine can cause bile to leak into the abdomen and can lead to life-threatening infection (abscess, peritonitis and sepsis). The duodenum (upper section of the small intestine) or jejunum (the middle portion of the small intestine) are the two most likely sections of the small intestine to be negligently damaged during laparoscopic gall bladder surgery.

Before laparoscopy is performed on a patient, the patient must be properly evaluated, including a full clinical history and thorough clinical examination. If you would like to discuss your potential claim arising from an intestinal injury during laparoscopy, the attorneys at Yost Legal Group are experienced professionals ready to investigate your claim with compassion and determination.

Call The Yost Legal Group today at 1-800-YOST-LAW (967-8529) for a FREE, confidential, no-obligation consultation. At The Yost Legal Group, there is no fee or expense unless you recover.

Stryker Issues Voluntary Recall Due To Defective Parts In Metal Hip Implant Devices

Stryker Corporation is one of the leading manufacturers of metal hip implant devices. In the past, defective Stryker metal hip implants have caused serious injuries and adverse reactions in thousands of patients. In some cases, patients have even required revision surgery in order to remove and replace the defective Stryker hip implant parts.

Stryker recently issued a voluntary recall of all LFit V40 femoral heads manufactured between 2001 and 2011. Stryker LFit V40 femoral heads are prone to a high failure rate and pose potential risks to patient health and safety.  These defective hip components start to corrode. This can release harmful metal particles into the tissue and bloodstream surrounding the joint.

Government oversight agencies in both Canada and Australia have already issued safety warnings to doctors and patients about the high rate of failure among LFit V40 Femoral Head components. The Canadian government went as far as to issue an official recall of these components, sighting “higher than expected complaints of…failure.”

This is not the first time that a metal hip implant device manufactured by Stryker Corporation has been recalled due to safety concerns. In 2012, the FDA recalled all Stryker Rejuvenate and ABGII metal hip implant devices after patients complained that the devices failed and broke down at rates that were much higher than expected.

Stryker marketed their metal hip implant devices by promising patients and doctors increased durability and improved recovery times, compared to hip implant devices made from other manufacturers.

Unfortunately, once Patients that received a defective Stryker metal hip implant can experience painful and dangerous complications, including:

  • Osteolysis (bone dissolution)
  • Synovitis (inflammation of the synovial membrane)
  • Pseudo-tumors
  • Fluid in the joint
  • Tissue and bone necrosis
  • Metal poisoning in the blood
  • Revision surgery

If you or a loved one is experiencing any adverse reactions from Hip Replacement Surgery or if you have required painful Revision Hip Surgery, call The Yost Legal Group today at 1-800-YOST-LAW (967-8529).

When you call, one of our experienced Defective Medical Device attorneys will speak with you for FREE. The Yost Legal Group is made up of experienced attorneys ready to pursue your case with compassion and determination. We stand up to major medical device manufacturers on behalf of our clients and will fight hard to protect your rights.

The Yost Legal Group – Experienced Attorneys Dedicated to Protecting Your Rights

CDC Lies About MMR Vaccine Connection To Autism

Here in the United States there are certain institutions that have been created in order to protect the public.  This includes the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The CDC is the national public health institute of the United States. Its main goal is to protect the public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease.

But, what happens when those people in charge of protecting our health and the health of our children do the exact opposite and actually put our children’s health at risk?

Recently, it has been discovered that top scientists working for the CDC manipulated data from a study which proves that African-American boys are at higher risk of autism after receiving the commonly administered MMR vaccination.

The MMR vaccination inoculates children against measles, mumps and rubella.  The study shows that African-American boys receiving their first MMR vaccine before 36 months of age are 3.4 times more likely to develop autism verses receiving the vaccine after 36 months.

Autism is a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts.

CDC whistleblower Dr. William Thompson issued a press release in which he stated, “I regret that my coauthors and I omitted statistically significant information in our 2004 article published in the journal of Pediatrics. The omitted data suggested that African-American males who received the MMR vaccine before age 36 months were at increased risk for autism.  Decisions were made regarding which findings to report after the data were collected, and I believe that the final study protocol was not followed.”

Those that abuse their power and put our children at risk need to be held accountable.  While most doctors act in the best interest of those they are treating, there are a select few whose negligent acts have devastating effects on children and their families.

You will carry the burden and expense of your child’s care for a lifetime. To find out more about your rights, and how you can obtain the compensation you deserve to help you care for your child, please contact the experienced and knowledgeable medical malpractice attorneys at The Yost Legal Group.

If your child is an African-American male, has received the MMR vaccination and has been diagnosed with autism, contact The Yost Legal Group.

Financial compensation can assist in getting families the support they deserve, but medical malpractice suits can also serve as a way to highlight unsafe practices at medical facilities and prevent further negligent acts of hospitals, physicians and organizations like the CDC whose sole purpose is supposed to protect the public.

If your child is the victim of medical malpractice, has suffered from birth defect, birth injury or wrongful death in Baltimore MD or Northern Virginia, call 1-800-YOST-LAW (1-800-967-8529) to speak with one of our experienced attorneys today.

The Yost Legal Group Birth Injury and Medical Malpractice Law Group will help you find answers. If you have questions, call to speak with a experienced lawyer for help.

The Yost Legal Group, Experienced Lawyers Dedicated to Protecting your Rights.