An investigation is underway to determine whether or not MicroMedCardiovascular, maker of pediatric heart pumps, should have reported the death of a recipient of the pump. The FDA-approved pump, called DeBakey VAD Child Device was designed by Michael DeBakey, a well-known surgeon, and is the only pump of its kind. The manufacturer is required to report any deaths related to and/or caused by the device within 30 days.

The I-Flow Corporation, manufacturers of the pain pumps that have come under legal scrutiny, filed a motion for a new trial with Multnomah County on February 19, 2010. This comes on the heels of the January 22, 2010, verdict against the I-Flow Corporation. In that trial, lead attorney John Coletti won a $5.4 million verdict for his clients, Matt & Krista Beale.

In the late 1990s it became popular among surgeons to insert the pain pumps directly into the joints following shoulder surgery. Unfortunately, many patients developed chondrolysis, a debilitating and irreversible degeneration of the joint cartilage. Hundreds of lawsuits against the pain pump manufacturers, including I-Flow Corporation and McKinley Medical, are underway, and in November 2009 the FDA issued a warning to the medical community to stop using pain pumps in joints.

You know that Hasbro board game Operation? It always sort of gave me the creeps. There just seemed to be something so wrong about fishing out little objects left in the “patient.” But, it’s a game. Unfortunately, there have been many real-life cases of foreign objects being left in patients during surgery, enough that a company has designed and manufactured a device to locate such foreign remnants.

Nurse Anne Mitchell thought she was doing the right thing when she contacted the Texas state medical board to report what she believed to be medical malpractice on the part of Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles, Jr. Mitchell was not only fired by Winkler County Memorial Hospital, where she had worked for 25 years, but she was also slapped with a third-degree felony charge for “misuse of official information.”

The number of people affected by chondrolysis (degeneration of the joint cartilage) because of pain pumps is notable and has led to hundreds of lawsuits, including the one successfully led by John Coletti. The recent New York Times’ article chronicling the saga notes the controversy surrounding the pain pumps and whether or not pain pumps are indeed directly responsible for chondrolysis.

I was searching around for interesting articles to blog about when I came across an article by Joanne Doroshow on the Huffington Post blog called “This Week in Horrific Medical Negligence News.” She highlights a number of news stories and lawsuits across the country that display, well, horrific medical negligence. She puts it much better than I ever could. To read the article, click here.

You know all those surgical tools and medical instruments, such as endoscopes and bronchoscopes, at doctors’ offices and hospitals? You probably also know they need to be properly sterilized to prevent infections and such. Unfortunately, there aren’t exactly a ton of sterilizers on the market, and one that is used by many hospitals, System 1 by Steris, has been slapped by the Food and Drug Administration with a warning NOT to use it.

Sometimes I read newspaper articles about medical malpractice cases and wonder if someone is trying to play a prank on me. The things some doctors allegedly do to their patients? Unbelievable. Take, for instance, the doctor/dentist in Moses Lake, Washington, who performed breast reduction surgery as well as liposuction on a 15-year-old girl.

Sorry, but here’s another nightmare story about an elderly patient who suffered extreme neglect at the nursing home paid to care for her. Alice Train suffered from dementia and diabetes but was otherwise mobile when she entered the Evergreen Milton-Freewater Health and Rehabilitation Center. Her condition dangerously deteriorated in less than two months and, according to the lawsuit filed against the center, contributed to her death.

A survey of primary care physicians has revealed that many doctors are not following recommended guidelines regarding the frequency of cervical cancer screening. In fact, primary care doctors are performing unnecessary Pap smears on patients. The New York Times reported that only about 20 percent of more than 1,200 primary care physicians who participated in a survey are actually following recommendations put forth by the American Cancer Society and other similar organizations.