Hospital Care in Las Vegas

The stories, pain, and plight of two of my medical malpractice clients are told in the Las Vegas Sun today. These articles paint a picture of the unnecessary suffering, mistrust, and heart ache people endure when they are victims of medical and health care negligence.  

 

My client, Rosie Powell, knows what it's like to trust a doctor, only to be left feeling betrayed and with a new set of complications. Powell’s surgeon removed a mass from the 74-year-old’s abdomen, thinking it was a cancerous tumor. But it was a healthy kidney. As if that wasn’t enough, Powell suffered severe pain and couldn’t eat after the procedure. A CT scan revealed a hole between sutures at the site of the colostomy takedown. For the last two years, Powell has had three more procedures to repair the leak caused by the kidney removal and because of the complications, she has an ileostomy bag on her right side to collect waste.

 

The other client featured in the paper is Tyrone Bush. He and his wife, Martha Bush, came to my office looking for help after Tyrone had quadruple heart bypass surgery at Desert Springs Hospital. While the surgery was successful, Mr. Bush still suffers from the inadequate care he received while at the hospital. After the surgery, Mr. Bush was left with horrible bed sores. One of Bush’s bedsores was the size of a salad plate, covering his buttocks and sinking deep to the tailbone. The bedsores on his heels were bigger than golf balls and to the bone.

 

These stories are part of an investigative series by the Sun, exposing medical mistakes and malpractice in the Las Vegas area. You can find the articles below.

 

There is no excuse for medical negligence. If you or someone you love was the victim of a medical mistake or malpractice, call my office at 702-240-0000, text us at 24-0000, or go to edbernstein.com.

 

-Ed Bernstein

Story #1

 

Scarred for life by mistake in surgery

By Marshall Allen

Sunday, June 27, 2010 | 2 a.m.

Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas

Surgeon Lyn Knoblock couldn’t identify what appeared to be a tumor in Rosie Powell’s abdomen.

She consulted her colleague Dr. Gregg Ripplinger, according to court records, and the surgeons decided to remove the mass, which they believed to be cancer. Knoblock sent the mass to the pathology lab for identification.

It was a healthy right kidney.

Powell has been disabled and consumed with worry since that day, April 4, 2008. She’s 76 and suffers from diabetes, a disease that is hard on kidneys.

Powell had been optimistic when she entered St. Rose Dominican Hospitals — Siena Campus. Knoblock was supposed to remove a colostomy bag, and Powell was looking forward to the freedom. As she was recovering, Knoblock gave her the news.

“I’m sorry, I thought it might be a tumor,” Powell says the doctor told her.

Powell says the surgeon told her she could survive with one kidney. Powell was incredulous.

“It’s better two than one,” she replied.

Powell’s medical records indicate that she had been born with an oddly placed right kidney, but it was healthy, the lawsuit alleges. She never received a better explanation of the mistake.

Knoblock and Ripplinger and their attorneys did not return calls for this story. Officials from St. Rose, which is owned by California-based Catholic Healthcare West, said in a statement that they care about patient safety and investigate “potential adverse events” and take action when necessary to address concerns.

In a court filing, Knoblock’s attorney said the doctors’ action “at most, rises to the level of negligence.”

Accidentally removing a patient’s kidney would qualify under Nevada law as a sentinel event — an incident in which a patient was harmed at the hospital — and would require the hospital to file a corrective action plan and notify the patient. In its investigation of hospital quality in Las Vegas, the Sun has identified apparent underreporting of sentinel events in Nevada, which the state is investigating. It’s not known whether St. Rose reported the incident as a sentinel event because that information is confidential. But Powell said she never heard from the hospital about the mistake.

The kidney removal wasn’t the only problem encountered by Powell. After the surgery, she complained of severe pain and an inability to eat, the lawsuit said. A CT scan revealed a hole between sutures at the site of the colostomy takedown. Knoblock did not note the injury in her postoperative report, the lawsuit alleges.

Powell underwent three more procedures to repair the leak and because of the complications, she has an ileostomy bag on her right side to collect waste, the lawsuit said.

Powell spent nearly a month in medical facilities because of the complications. The ileostomy bag is still her companion. She’s too traumatized to go to any doctor to have the bag removed.

Powell lives alone in Henderson on a meager income. Taking walks was her simple pleasure before the surgeries, but because of the ileostomy bag she seldom leaves home.

She said she feels depressed, angry and helpless.

“The damage is already done,” Powell said. “I was a happy person. I walked every day for one hour. Not no more. I can’t do that anymore.”

Knoblock and Ripplinger still practice at St. Rose hospitals.

Find this article at: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jun/27/scarred-life-mistake-surgery/

Story #2

 

Inadequate care, unspeakable pain

By Marshall Allen

Sunday, June 27, 2010 | 2 a.m.

Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas

Tyrone Bush winces as he walks into his lawyer’s office, like he’s stepping barefoot on shards of glass.

He sets a thick foam pad on a chair before gingerly lowering himself to the seat. Beside him is Martha Bush, his wife of 26 years.

In September 2008, Bush underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery at Desert Springs Hospital, but the wounds have not yet healed.

The problem is not his chest. The operation was successful.

It’s the bedsores.

Words can’t capture the horror of severe bedsores, or “decubitus ulcers.”

One of Bush’s bedsores was the size of a salad plate, covering his buttocks and sinking deep to the tailbone, the lawsuit alleges. The bedsores on his heels were bigger than golf balls and to the bone. Almost two years later the sores are healing, but are still craters of exposed flesh surrounded by necrotic skin.

Bush, 60, was working full time as a maintenance man before entering Desert Springs. Now he’s lost his job and is struggling to heal.

For almost two years, his life has been measured by changing dressings and weekly doctor appointments. Often that means debridement — an excruciating process of scraping the dead flesh from the wounds without anesthetic so they can heal from the inside out. With his buttocks exposed, the appointments are as humiliating as they are painful.

Bedsores occur when patients are not turned or moved in bed. The pressure of body weight can cut off the blood flow to the fleshy pressure points on the underside of the body, often the buttocks and heels. Hospital employees are supposed to assist and encourage patients to reposition themselves to prevent bedsores. Hospitals also have special air beds that help shift the patient so no one body part bears the brunt of body weight.

Bush, who is overweight, said he was in a regular hospital bed until the sores were severe. He said nurses did not help shift his weight, and because he suffers from gout, he struggled to move himself.

Even after the bedsores were identified, hospital staff did not address them for about five days, according to the lawsuit the Bushes have filed against Desert Springs.

The legal response by the hospital blames the Bushes for Tyrone’s bedsores, although it includes no detailed explanation of how the sores were caused. Bush consented to care and the hospital did nothing wrong, the defense alleges in its response to the lawsuit. Hospital officials declined to comment further.

Desert Springs is part of Valley Health System locally and owned by Universal Health Services, a for-profit chain based in Pennsylvania.

Find this article at: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jun/27/inadequate-care-unspeakable-pain/