San Antonio Legal Blog

Court: Missed diagnosis resulted in young woman’s death

On behalf of Law Office of Jeffrey C. Anderson posted in VA Hospital Negligence on Wednesday, August 15, 2018.

The 23-year-old woman who suffered from lupus showed up at the emergency room with shortness of breath and neurological symptoms that included facial numbness and slurred speech. The symptoms necessitated that a routine blood test (a CBC and a Chem-7 test) be performed.

The test was not performed, however, and the woman’s blood disorder (thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura) was not detected. The disorder, often referred to as TPP, can be fatal if not treated. The woman was discharged from the hospital without a diagnosis or treatment. She returned to the facility 32 hours later, but it “it was too late to save her life,” a medical malpractice attorney argued in court.

Court: Vet’s widow waited too long to file medical malpractice claim

On behalf of Law Office of Jeffrey C. Anderson posted in VA Hospital Negligence on Thursday, August 2, 2018.

Her husband was a Navy veteran who died from kidney disease after a Veterans Affairs hospital delayed treatment. Two weeks after his death, his widow received a letter from the VA addressed to her husband, urging him to get immediate care.

She cannot sue for medical malpractice, however, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided. She waited too long to file a malpractice claim after the 2009 death of her husband.

Impaired VA physician leads to misdiagnoses, including one death

On behalf of Law Office of Jeffrey C. Anderson on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.

An impaired pathologist has officials scrambling to uncover the extent of his mistakes. At least one person has died because of a misdiagnosis.

The physician at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks in Fayetteville, Arkansas, was intoxicated while on duty in 2016. He was removed from his job for a time but returned to work a few months later before getting caught again last year. That doctor is now out of a job and medical staff are currently investigating to assess how many patients he misdiagnosed.

Court awards damages after finding VA liable in vet’s suicide

On behalf of Law Office of Jeffrey C. Anderson posted in VA Hospital Negligence on Wednesday, July 18, 2018.

Regular readers of our San Antonio legal blog know that we frequently focus on our nation’s veterans and the medical care that they receive. You might have heard of a case in which a federal judge early this year found the Veterans Health Administration liable for the tragic suicide of an Iraq war veteran.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson recently awarded more than $480,000 to the vet’s two children and his father. The family charged the VA with negligence in the Marine veteran's care and said the agency directly contributed to the death of 28-year-old Cpl. William Draughon.

Vet fighting VA’s attempt to use medical malpractice loophole

On behalf of Law Office of Jeffrey C. Anderson posted in Military Medical Malpractice on Saturday, July 7, 2018.

Few celebrations of freedom and the Fourth of July are more enthusiastic than what we have here in San Antonio. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to celebrate Independence Day with family and friends as they would have liked.

A Marine Corp veteran is struggling daily with serious health issues that are a result of a misdiagnosis that has left him in permanent pain. Because of a legal loophole, the US Department of Veterans Affairs has been able to evade financial responsibility for the medical error, the Marine said recently.

Failure to test results in ruined career, lifetime of misery

On behalf of Law Office of Jeffrey C. Anderson posted in VA Hospital Negligence on Friday, June 22, 2018.

Sometimes it is the things that doctors don’t do that wind up being more harmful than the things that they do. An example of this can be found in the man whose doctors for years failed to test him for HIV despite known risk factors. When he was finally tested, the test came back positive.

There was much worse news, however: it had already progressed to AIDS, which was causing brain damage. The damage brought an end to the 48-year-old man’s career as an attorney. News media reported recently that a federal jury has awarded him $18.4 million in his medical malpractice lawsuit.

Military medical malpractice attributed to lack of experience

On behalf of Law Office of Jeffrey C. Anderson on Monday, June 18, 2018.

We have seen countless stories and reports over the years describing the different sufferings caused by medical malpractices by various military hospitals, but have seen little improvement from within as the statistics have rarely changed.

A recent article from U.S. News & World Report helps us understand at least one reason why. Nearly every military hospital in the nation deal with far less high-risk surgeries than non-military hospitals, leaving most of their medical team unprepared when they do get assigned one.

The sound of silence: Veteran sues VA for medical malpractice

On behalf of Law Office of Jeffrey C. Anderson posted in VA Hospital Negligence on Thursday, June 7, 2018.

When his country was at war, he answered loudly and clearly. Today, the 66-year-old Viet Nam veteran can't say a word.

Back in 2015, he went to his local VA to have an outpatient procedure to help cure a phlegm buildup in his throat. Doctors said Botox injections would resolve his throat issue with no permanent side effects. Three years later, he can barely make a sound with his paralyzed vocal chords.

Number of civil actions filed against former VA worker

On behalf of Law Office of Jeffrey C. Anderson on Wednesday, May 30, 2018.

A former physician’s assistant currently in prison for sexually assaulting veterans during medical exams is the subject of a slew of civil lawsuits, including medical malpractice. Mark E. Wisner is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for crimes committed while he worked at the Eisenhower Veterans Administration Medical Center in Leavenworth, Kansas, from 2008 to 2014.

The attorneys representing nearly 70 veteran victims so far predicted that as many as 100 civil lawsuits will be filed against Wisner seeking damages of $2 million or more. In addition, the legal team said the number of victims actually may be as high as nearly 200.

Jury awards mom $4 million in medical malpractice case

On behalf of Law Office of Jeffrey C. Anderson posted in Military Medical Malpractice on Wednesday, May 23, 2018.

As regular readers of our San Antonio legal blog know, we have repeatedly covered serious problems in military and civilian hospitals with negligent doctors and staff. Perhaps no case of medical malpractice is more heartbreaking than those that involve birth injuries.

We read recently of a Pennsylvania mom who fought for justice for her 32-day-old daughter who died because of preventable medical errors that included a failure to diagnose a serious, though common ailment.