Abington Hospital wants to send medical malpractice victims to mediation to keep them out of court (listen to report on ABC News). Sounds good right? Don’t be fooled. “Sue happy” people aren’t driving the doctors out of town. That’s only what they want you to believe.
Lets face the facts. The Institute of Medicine released a study which states 98,000 people DIE each year from medical errors. That doesn’t even account for the other patients that are permanently disabled or disfigured by the hands of doctors.
To add insult to injury, the medical community has a longstanding tradition of covering up medical mistakes. As a patient, if my doctor screwed up, I want some answers. I want you to be honest and I want you to tell me how your gonna fix it. When you pretend like my suffering isn’t your fault, i’m gonna get mad and i’m gonna call a lawyer.
And to be honest, that’s the consensus among 99% of our clients. However, according to Abington, mediation will solve all of these problems. After all, the doctors will all come back to town, the “sue happy, money hungry” patients get their settlement and we all call it a day. Does anyone else feel like Abington is shifting some blame here on the patient without addressing the real problem that doctors are hurting patients at an alarming rate?
I have a better idea for you Abington Memorial Hospital– why don’t you take some of the money that you are spending on mediators and hire some more doctors? Studies clearly show that medical errors are caused by sleep deprived doctors who work “marathon” shifts of 24 hours or more. Its also common knowledge that going 24 hours with no sleep is equivalent to having a .10 blood alchol level (which either meets or exceds the legal limit in all 50 states).
Quite frankly, I am reminded of that old saying “you made your bed, now lie in it“. If you want to unleash sleep deprived doctors into the operating room, so be it. But at the same time, be prepared to face lawsuits when they make mistakes.
That’s just one of many ways that hospitals can do something constructive to fix this problem. Let’s stop blaming the victims for “our good doctors leaving town“. Step up and take some real responsibility Abington. That’s the only real way to bring the doctors back to town.
Free Legal Advice: Nursing Home Abuse
The headline “Hey Abington…” sent chills down my spine. May 10, 2006 my Dad (then 82yrs) had surgery @ Abington for bilateral subdural hematomas. He did well considering his age & his prognosis was good. May 11, my Dad fell out of bed in Abington’s ICU and hit his head! The nurse didn’t heed my family’s request for guard rails to be up; nor was she watching as he slid himself off the front of the bed. May 12, Dad was rushed to the O/R for emergency surgery for an intercranial bleed. Here’s where it gets interesting. Dr. Barrer himself came to dispell the “confusion” of my family. He heard that we actually believed Dad’s second surgery was directly related to the fall. Of course, we do! Abington discharged Dad after 2 months’ stay, to a nursing home. His prognosis was gloomy. We took Dad out of the home in August, 2006. He requires 24-7 care which my son gives. My Parents and I bought a house together to facilitate this. In the meantime we met with Safety Officers; Nursing Supervisers, and Doctors from Abington. The Risk Management consisted of some parking passes and meal tickets. We were in disbelief…this is compensation for denying our Dad one of every patient’s rights-to be SAFE. In the 2 years till the statute of limitations arrived; I contacted lawyer after lawyer. All agreed there was a case. None would take the case. As you know, legal matters are settled more by mathematical formula than by rules of ethics. Simply put, Dad was too old to have value. Had he been 30yrs old, law firms would be biting at the bit to take his case. Unfortunately, in our society, we are likened to new cars who begin to depreciate in value as soon as they leave the showroom. We are grateful we have Dad around and are providing him the best quality of life he can have. He can never eat again (has a feeding tube); but we talk and laugh every day. That is a gift. The sad thing is, while my Parent’s life changed drastically in an instance; Abington wins awards for Patient Safety, and Ruth Pearce (his nurse) still enjoys her employment. No one at Abington has accepted accountability for this horrific “accident”; so I guess it is the patient’s fault.
This is amazing! How Abington is allowed to get away with this, among other “Paitent Care Facilities.” Here’s one for you. Aug 25th 2007 (the day before dads birthday) One year ago, my mother came out of the hospital after her 1st round of Chemo.( She was in the Frankford-Bucks Hospital for a little over 1 week. WELL, Before her Dr. called my home telling us to rush her there, because she was “too sick”.) She made not one (8/5/07) but two (8/14/07- the day after my birthday) trips to Abington Hospital 9 days apart form each other. She complained of saver stomach pain, not eating, and inproper bowl movments among a few other symptoms, both times. The first trip they gave her a script for antacids and a few other drugs, then sent her on her way. Nine days later she went back. The ER staff did blood work and seen barbituates in her system. They immediatly treated her like a drug addict. The one nurse/Dr popped his head in the room and said “you know… you have barbituats in your system”. My mother whom has NEVER touched drugs, did not drink and barly took an asprin in her life told this “medicaly educated” man “yeah, maybe its from the phyobarbatol. You gave me a perscription for it, the last time (9days prior) i was her.” this “medicaly educated” men never returned to the room. So, this leaves me to believe the not only do they not follow their own oath to take care of paintents, but they dont even look at nine day old records for the same paitent. When mom was in the ER the 1st time the educated personel told her to follow up with her P.C.P. She did. He ordered a colonocsopy, blood work, and a AULTRASOUND on her abomen. She made her apointments and got her blood work, but she would be back to Abington before her appointments. We told the nurses AND the DR that these test were orderd. This DR. told us that “its not medicaly nessicary” to do these test. we’ll guess what?! she had a tumor the size of a grape furit on her pelvis. she had a high stage 3 non-hodgkins lymphoma. we’ll its a year later now, almost to the day of her 1st treatment and return from the hospital to my home, she now resides at Cold Springs Cemetary in Cape May nj. Mom died May 7th 2008, We viewed her on May11th (the 100th year of Mothers Day). Burried her in the middle of a Nor-easter. 8days before My 9th wedding anniversary, 11days before Her Daughters 27th Birthday, and 13 days Before her 36th Wedding anniversary. So, Thank you Abington Memorial for the fine work and fantastic life long memoeries. Maybe there should be a “Memorial” for all the people that have died or been harmed do to your neglect and incompitane educated personel.And we’ll call it. “THE ABINGTON MAMORIAL HOSPITAL – MAMORIAL OF MISDIOGNOSIS”
I am so sorry for your loss and the horror stories- I delivered a baby 5 years ago not at abington but at holy redeemer however they both seem to be a part of the fighting docs against malpractice group and they insure themselves- i am completely disabled because of something they did during the delivery- i was hospitalized twice and all they said was oh you have a fever and we have to put you on antibiotics- i spent the last 5 years going from doctor to doctor and lawyers ad cannot get help- today i am completely disabled- have damage to my brai ad spinal cord- I am in a wheelchair I have vision problems i my right eye I am losing my hearing on right side i am incontinent ad am supposed to catheter however cant feel my right hand since its numb so I cant do it- i have multiple lesions on my liver spinal cord ovaries and many nodules on lungs- oone will diagnose me or help me- it seems holy redeemer and abington are 2 of the most untouchable hospitals out there- sad part is the doctor who delivered me has 29 counts of malpractice against him- now i pray i will live until i get a diagnosis and treatment ad one day take care of my daughter myself- things dont look good though- up until the day i went in for my delivery I was a successful management consultant for a software firm and was up for a promotion to vice president I am now disabled and in a wheelchair- kudos!!!!
I worked at Abington Memorial Hospital for nearly 5 years.
Working in the data center we had to help the new interns
with their passwords etc…. We had to make sure they could log onto the computer. One weekend we were told to expect to assist, approximately,300 new interns. Thats an awful lot of students to be entering a hospital at once.
When I was a child growing in the area I swear by Abington.
But now I don’t let a physician down there teach me unless I have a history with them. I only take family memembers to Holy Redeemer. Abington is busy growing, buying more buildings, expanding. BIGGER DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN BETTER!!
And from I’ve seen first hand “The quality of CARE you give SUCKS”.
I had my 85 yr old mother removed from ICU and taken to Holy Redeemer. The way she was treated was horrible. Laying in ICU w/out blankets over her. Her health deteriorated so quickly it was unbelieveable. She wasn’t bathed properly. Over all care wasn’t good. I had her transferred in the middle of the evening.
One time we took her there she walked in and didn’t have the strength to walk out. No she had no surgery or any procedure that should have caused that much weakness. Just think twice before taking your loved ones there. The care isn’t what it used to be!!!!!