Blog

St. Joseph’s Medical Center Fined by DHHS

snyder-wenner · Nov 11, 2020 ·

This month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center (St. Joe’s) has agreed to pay a $160,000 fine and 2 years of monitoring for failing to provide a patient with his entire medical record for nearly 2 years. The OCR determined that St. Joe’s committed a possible violation of HIPAA by failing to provide the entire medical record to the patient. In addition to the fine, St. Joe’s provided the OCR with a 2-year corrective action plan to ensure proper compliance with HIPAA and grants 2 years of federal government monitoring over St. Joe’s to ensure compliance with the plan. OCR Director Roger Severino was quoted saying, “It shouldn’t take a federal investigation to secure access to patient medical records, but too often that’s what it takes when healthcare providers don’t take their HIPAA obligations seriously.”

A recent JAMA medical journal article found that many healthcare providers, not just St. Joe’s, are failing to follow the HIPAA requirements to provide the patient’s entire medical record. This is a disturbing trend that hopefully will soon be reversed.

Birth Injury In Tucson, Arizona

snyder-wenner · Nov 4, 2020 ·

What Is a Birth Injury?

As the name suggests, a birth injury is an injury to a baby caused during labor and/or delivery. Birth injuries caused by doctors, nurses, or midwives can take what should be one of the most memorable times in your and your child’s life and turn things upside-down. Tucson healthcare providers who are negligent during the birthing process can cause life-long injuries and, in certain cases, the death of your baby.

What types of birth injuries are there?

Some of the more serious Tucson birth injuries include:

Cerebral palsy
Erb’s palsy
Asphyxia
Neonatal stroke
Brachial plexus injury
Facial paralysis
Spinal cord injury

Doctors, nurses, and midwives in Tucson have to act as a reasonable, prudent provider to prevent these common birth injuries. Although there is no cure for any of these injuries and the attendant life-long consequences, prompt intervention is critical to a better developmental outcome. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that early diagnosis and treatment will result in a better outcome, it is very important you get your baby the best care possible to reduce the effects of a medical negligence induced birth injury in Tucson.

If your baby or a loved one’s baby sustained a birth injury in Tucson, contact the experienced Tucson birth injury lawyers at Snyder & Wenner, P.C. now for a free consultation at 602-224-0005.

Wrongful Death Cases in Phoenix, Arizona

snyder-wenner · Oct 26, 2020 ·

What is “wrongful death”?

Wrongful death is a legal term that means a person’s death was negligently caused by someone else. For medical malpractice cases, A.R.S. Section 12-561 is what permits a family to file a lawsuit. That statute says:

“Medical malpractice action” or “cause of action for medical malpractice” means an action for injury or death against a licensed health care provider based upon such provider’s alleged negligence, misconduct, errors or omissions, or breach of contract in the rendering of health care, medical services, nursing services or other health-related services or for the rendering of such health care, medical services, nursing services or other health-related services, without express or implied consent including an action based upon the alleged negligence, misconduct, errors or omissions or breach of contract in collecting, processing or distributing whole human blood, blood components, plasma, blood fractions or blood derivatives.

Who can file a wrongful death case?

Under Arizona law, to file wrongful death lawsuit, you must be the surviving husband or wife, child, parent, guardian, or personal representative of the person who passed away. The personal representative can only sue for the estate, which limits the type of damages he or she can claim.

If a loved one has died as a result of the negligence of another person or a company in Phoenix, Arizona law permits you to file a wrongful death lawsuit to recover money damages against them within two years of their death. However, it is important to note that if the death was caused by any governmental entity or employee, you must file a notice of claim within 180 days of their death to preserve your claim.

What type of damages can I claim in a wrongful death case?

Arizona law is what determines what a person can claim in a wrongful death case. Some of these elements may not apply to every specific case. According to the Revised Arizona Jury Instructions, a plaintiff in a wrongful death case can claim:

The loss of love, affection, companionship, care, protection, and guidance since the death of your loved one now and in the future.
The pain, grief, sorrow, anguish, stress, shock, and mental suffering you have already experienced, and will experience in the future.
The loss of income and services you have lost since the wrongful death and that are reasonably probable to be lost in the future.
The reasonable expenses of funeral and burial.
The reasonable expenses of necessary medical care and services for the injury that resulted in the death.

What type of cases can be considered wrongful death?

Any negligent act that causes death fits into a wrongful death case. That said, the most common types of cases we handle are:

Phoenix wrongful death cases Snyder & Wenner handles include:

Medical malpractice
Birth Injuries Causing Death
Car Crashes
Motorcycle Crashes
Truck Crashes
Commercial Vehicle Crashes
Nursing Home Injuries Causing Death
Product Malfunction or Product Liability

What should I do if I have a case?

If you have a case due to the loss of a family member, you should contact an attorney right away. Since no two cases are alike, you need to be sure you find a firm with the experience and skills necessary to take your case through trial. Snyder & Wenner has been handling wrongful death cases in Phoenix, Arizona for over 35 years. We have extensive trial experience. Contact us today for a free case consultation.

Banner Health Starts Using Artificial Intelligence To Help Radiologists

snyder-wenner · Oct 22, 2020 ·

Medical malpractice stemming from radiology is a growing concern. Banner Health partnered with an artificial intelligence company, Viz.ai, to help diagnose and treat stroke patients faster. This technology will supposedly supplement the radiologist looking at the stroke patient’s imaging studies. Banner and Viz.ai believe it will help diagnose strokes faster than a radiologist could. According to Dr. Jeremy Payne, Director of the Stroke Center at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix, the artificial intelligence scans CT imaging and notifies the doctors “where a stroke is happening, how much damage has been done and how much tissue is still salvageable before the patient has left the CT.” Dr. Payne further stated, “every second someone is having a stroke, we estimate 32 thousand brain cells are dying.”

Banner Health utilizes this technology at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix, Banner Del Webb, and Banner Desert. More Banner hospitals will be added to the list within the next few months.

With the implementation of this technology across the Banner Health network, it remains to be seen if there will be issues or glitches with the system. If you or a loved one has suffered a stroke resulting from medical malpractice at Banner Health, contact the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Snyder & Wenner, P.C. today.

How Do I Research My Doctor’s Background?

snyder-wenner · Oct 15, 2020 ·

Our clients often ask us if they did something wrong by not doing more research on their doctor before a surgery that led to medical malpractice. This question is difficult to answer, though, because doctors and hospitals do their best to mislead patients into thinking that they are the best of the best. No matter how much research you do, you are bound to only find self-congratulatory posts and videos. Doctors claim (without supporting documents) that they are the “top surgeon” in Phoenix or that they are “the most respected physician” in their specialty. All of this is fluff to convince patients to use the doctor.

If you would like to do research, a good place to start is www.azmd.gov. You can look-up your doctor to see if he or she has been sanctioned by the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners. This, however, will not show everything. You can also check the website for the Maricopa County Superior Court to see if your doctor has been sued. After that, a simple google search of the doctor will show how other patients rate him or her on websites like Healthgrades, Sharecare, and Doximity. If you are looking for a specific type of specialist, you can go to the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) website certificationmatters.org to see if the doctor you are considering has the appropriate board certification(s) required to treat your illness or condition. If the doctor practices at a hospital or a group, you can go to your state’s department of health services and research the facility or group on their website where you can find information about complaints against them.

Before making your final decision, you can always set an appointment with the doctor and ask them questions specific to medical conditions you have and/or medications you take to see if they are the best fit for you. Do not let the doctor give you answers that do not make sense. If he/she tells you he/she has performed this surgery in the past, ask how many times. Ask if there were any unexpected outcomes. The doctor may not tell you the truth, but hopefully you will get an honest answer.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice due to the negligence of a doctor of hospital, contact the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Snyder & Wenner, P.C.