Snyder & Wenner

Aortic Dissection – Medical Malpractice

snyder-wenner · Aug 22, 2020 ·

What Is An Aortic Dissection?

Did you know the aorta is the largest artery in the body? It connects to the heart and transports blood to the entire body by delivering blood to other vessels. The aorta can tear because of a birth defect or an acquired problem. This is known as an aortic dissection. According to a recent article published by the University of Chicago, aortic dissection is to blame for more than 13,000 deaths every year in the United States.

Aortic dissections can be caused by any of the following:

High blood pressure
Atherosclerosis
Aneurysm
Aortic valve defect
Certain genetic conditions like Marfan syndrome
Birth defects
Connective tissue diseases
Trauma (such as from a car crash or a fall)
Previous heart surgery

What Are The Signs and Symptoms Of An Aortic Dissection?

Symptoms of an aortic dissection can be similar to a heart attack and can include:

Sudden severe chest or upper back pain
Sudden severe abdominal pain
Loss of consciousness
Shortness of breath
Sudden difficulty speaking, loss of vision, weakness or paralysis of one side of your body
Weak pulse in one arm
Leg pain
Difficulty walking
Leg paralysis

Aortic dissections can be diagnosed through several different diagnostic tests like an X-ray, CT Scan, Transesophageal Echocardiogram, MRI Scan, and MRA.

How Does Medical Malpractice Factor In?

Aortic dissections are an emergency condition. Because of that, an emergency room doctor, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners, or nurse may fail to recognize the signs and symptoms of an aortic dissection. As a result, they failing to order the tests needed for an accurate diagnosis. Even when the provider does order the appropriate tests, radiologists can fail to timely diagnose the aortic dissections. Failure to do properly and timely diagnose the condition can lead to permanent catastrophic injuries or death. This may be the basis for a medical malpractice case.

If you or a loved one suffered an aortic dissection that was not timely diagnosed and treated and caused catastrophic injury or death, you need to contact the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Snyder & Wenner, P.C.

Wrongful Death Cases in Phoenix, Arizona

snyder-wenner · Aug 15, 2020 ·

What is “wrongful death”?

A wrongful death lawsuit is a different type of lawsuit that can be filed when a person dies as the result of a wrongful act, neglect, or default of another person or corporation. A wrongful death can arise due to:

Medical malpractice
Nursing home abuse or neglect
Birth trauma
Car, truck, or commercial vehicle crash
Product defect

To qualify as a plaintiff to bring a wrongful death lawsuit you must be any one of the following: the surviving (1) husband, (2) wife, (3) child, (4) parent or guardian, or (5) personal representative of the deceased person for and on behalf of the husband, wife, child, parent or guardian, or if none exist, on behalf of the deceased’s estate. Wrongful death lawsuits must be filed within the applicable statute of limitations. In Arizona, typically statute of limitations for a wrongful death case is two years from the date of death. There are some exceptions to that rule. For example, if the death was caused by a governmental entity or employee, you must file what is known as a notice of claim within 180 days of the death. Additionally, if you are under the age of 18, you may be able to wait to file a wrongful death lawsuit until two years after your 18th birthday or 180 days after your 18th birthday if the death was caused by a governmental entity or employee. Failure to file a lawsuit or notice of claim by the applicable statute of limitations may preclude you from ever doing so.

What are the damages in a wrongful death lawsuit?

In a wrongful death case, you may be entitled to seek damages for:

The loss of love, affection, companionship, care, protection, and guidance since the death of the deceased and in the future.
The pain, grief, sorrow, anguish, stress, shock, and mental suffering already experienced, and reasonably probable to be experienced in the future.
The income and services that have already been lost as a result of the 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 injuries that resulted in the death.

In addition to those damages, if the death was caused as a result of the intentional, knowing, or reckless conduct or by the conscious disregard of another, you may be entitled to seek what are known as punitive damages to punish the person or corporation for the death.

What else do you need to know about wrongful death cases?

Losing a loved one is a terrible experience which is only made worse by the negligent or intentional acts of another. The cases can be very complicated, so it is critically important that you and your family have a law firm representing you that not only has the experience in litigating wrongful death cases, but also the financial resources to do so. Insurance companies (even those for doctors and hospitals) will always try to convince you to settle your claim for less than it is worth. If you do not have proper representation, you could fall victim to that scheme.

If you or a loved one believe has lost a family member due to negligence, contact the experienced wrongful death lawyers at Snyder & Wenner, P.C.

Medical Malpractice at Tucson Urgent Care Facilities

snyder-wenner · Aug 6, 2020 ·

Urgent care facilities can diagnose and treat common, non-life threatening conditions. Unfortunately, medical malpractice at Tucson urgent care facilities is a relatively common occurrence, as they a that do not have the knowledge, experience, or capabilities to handle serious, life-threatening conditions. The Tucson metropolitan area is home to many urgent care facilities owned by large health care institutions like Banner Health, NextCare, FastMed, and Concentra as well as smaller urgent care chains and individually owned urgent cares.

If you seek treatment at a Tucson area urgent care, you could be treated by a doctor, physician’s assistant, or nurse practitioner for your medical condition. It is not uncommon for you to be seen by a physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner and not a doctor when you go to a Tucson area urgent care. Physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners do not have the length of education or training as a doctor does which can lead to a lack of understanding of certain medical conditions and how to diagnose and treat them. Moreover, doctors, physician’s assistants, and nurse practitioners working at Tucson area urgent care facilities may not have training or experience in emergency medicine or pediatrics. This lack of education, training, and experience can lead to catastrophic injury or death, which is why medical malpractice at Tucson urgent cares is on the rise.

Much like a hospital or doctor’s office, you can sue an urgent care for medical malpractice resulting from a catastrophic injury or death. Some common types of medical malpractice cases arising from a Tucson urgent care include:

Failure to diagnose
Misdiagnosis
Failure to treat
Inadequate examination
Inadequate testing
Inadequate instructions to follow-up with your primary care doctor or emergency room if your condition worsens
Prescribing the wrong medication

If you or a loved one suffered a catastrophic injury or death as a result of negligence occurring at a Tucson area urgent care, you need to contact the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Snyder & Wenner, P.C.

Banner University Medical Center Tucson: Computer System Errors

snyder-wenner · May 11, 2020 ·

An investigative report from the Arizona Department of Health Services detailed serious patient safety problems when Banner University Medical Center Tucson was working on their computer system.

While upgrading its health records system, Banner University Medical Center Tucson experienced a significant number of computer glitches during the upgrade causing problems in delivering medications, ordering tests, and caring for critically ill patients. The hospital also had problems delivering and administering chemotherapy for patients in the hospital and outpatients.

Some of the most problematic findings included:

a physician who ordered a larger dose of medication for an infant than was needed; and
nurses who had difficulty calculating the appropriate dosage of a blood thinning medication for a patient who had undergone a kidney transplant. The patient was internally bleeding and needed to be resuscitated twice.

Were these issues caused by the failure of Banner University Medical Center Tucson to train its doctors and staff on the differences between the old and new health records system? Only time will tell. It appears that perhaps too many doctors, nurses, and staff were not properly equipped to deal with the transition which led to patient injuries and near-misses. The simple fact is that medical malpractice rates continue to rise throughout the country. Computer systems should make malpractice less likely for various reasons, but electronic records also have their own inherent problems. Since patients can be injured due to a host of issues, it is important to find a medical malpractice lawyer that has significant experience in all aspects of malpractice cases. This includes the electronic medical record system, and proving that doctors and/or nurses had access to certain information in the chart even if they claim they did not.

Contact Snyder & Wenner today for more information on medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuits in Tucson, Arizona.

Hernia Mesh Lawsuits On The Rise

snyderwenn2 · Jun 10, 2019 ·

Frequently Asked Questions About Hernia Mesh Lawsuits

It is not uncommon to be sitting on your couch while watching television when a commercial advertises for a lawsuit for a defective product. Only, this time, you identified with the product, and that product wasn’t just a product, it was a product that was implanted inside of you with the purpose to help you start living your life again and reduce your pain. You’re not alone. Hernia Mesh defects have affected countless people from all walks of life. So, you may be asking, “how did we get here?” or maybe even, “where do we go from here?” We understand this is a complex and life-altering event in many circumstances, so we hope to shed some light on what the hernia mesh lawsuits are and how they may affect you.