Medical Malpractice Attorneys: Woman Lost Legs and Nearly Lost Life

Sharlee Ann Smoyer was only fifty five years old when she was the victim of medical negligence that changed her life forever. Smoyer’s medical malpractice attorneys argued that a home care nurse, who was treating Smoyer for complications associated with her Crohn’s Disease, did not report a bacteria-infected catheter while caring for the plaintiff. The infection, which became quite serious and nearly killed the 55 year-old woman, led to the amputation of both legs below the knees and a finger on the left hand.

Woman Awarded $23 Million in Damage

new jersey philadelphia medical malpractice attorneys Sharlee Ann Smoyer case

Judge Carol McGinley oversaw seven days of testimony in the case. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found the nurse, Jolynn Yurchak, and her employer, St. Luke’s Miners Memorial Home Care, liable. The plaintiff was awarded $23 million in order to compensate for pain and suffering, medical expenses, and lost wages. The plaintiff’s lawyers stated,

“Sharlee Smoyer was one of St. Luke’s most vulnerable home-care nursing patients and they refused during this trial to accept even the most basic responsibility for mistakes made in her care.”

The medical malpractice attorneys concluded,

“Ms. Smoyer hopes that the verdict will result in St. Luke’s redoubling its efforts to help prevent catheter-related bloodstream infections in the home-care setting.”

Although the plaintiff was awarded an enormous amount of money, this amount is necessary to help her adjust to the drastic changes that will now shape her life.

Medical Malpractice Attorneys in New Jersey and Philadelphia

If you or a family member have recently been the victim of medical negligence, it is possible that you would like to speak with our professionals. Please contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation, or call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.

Medical Malpractice Lawyers Find Fault in Texas Tort Reform

In 2003, Texas government passed tort reform legislation regarding medical malpractice lawsuits within the state. The new legislation capped medical malpractice payouts at $250,000 per provider, with a maximum of $750,000 all together. It also stated that in order for emergency room physicians to be responsible for civil damages, they would have to act with “willful and wanton” negligence.
In other words, they have to purposefully and knowingly put their patients’ lives in danger.

A San Antonio medical malpractice lawyer, Jon Powell, commented on the “willful and wanton” standard, saying:

You’d have to be a Nazi death camp guard to meet this standard.

The liability caps and impossible standards are making victims of medical malpractice weary as they find that, in Texas, they simply do not have a case.

Medical Malpractice Leads to Amputation

new jersey philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers willful wanton connie spears texas Connie Spears, a 54 year-old woman with a history of blood clots, went the the emergency room at the Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, complaining of excrutiating leg pain. She was discharged with “bilateral leg pain” and told to follow up with her primary care physician.
Three days later, Connie’s legs were purple. An ambulance took her to another area hospital where doctors determined that a filter that had been installed in her heart years before was severely clotted, which led to tissue death in her legs, as well as kidney failure. Weeks later, Connie awoke to find that both of her legs had been amputated in order to save her life.

Now, she can’t find an attorney who will take her case, because in Texas, she doesn’t have one. Clear negligence exists, yet attorneys no longer have confidence in their judicial system due to the new standards set forth by tort reform. They also argue that this “willful and wanton” standard for medical malpractice allows for a serious decline in the standard of care provided to patients in Texas, and could allow Texas ER’s to become the most dangerous in the country.

Medical Malpractice Lawyers in New Jersey and Philadelphia

Tort Reform has significantly and severely damaged a medical malpractice victim’s chance at justice in Texas. Connie Spears will live the rest of her life without her legs due to a careless misdiagnosis, yet because of the standards Texas tort reform has put forward, she may never be able to gain the compensation she needs and is entitled to.

Medical malpractice affects many patients in the US, and victims should know that when doctors act negligently, they are liable for damages. If you or a loved one have suffered at the hands of a negligent and/or careless doctor, contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation or call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
Let our team earn you the full and fair compensation that you need and deserve.

Arbitration Clauses Allow for Continued Nursing Home Abuse

new jersey philadelphia nursing home abuse attorneys mandatory arbitration agreements Congress is considering the Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act of 2009, which would invalidate mandatory arbitration agreements in nursing homes. This is an important law that needs to be passed in order to advance in the fight against nursing home abuse.

Nursing homes make you sign a mandatory arbitration agreement when they accept your loved one for admission. Initially, nursing homes win you over with their promises of good, attentive, compassionate, and empathetic care. The last thing you are thinking about at that time is a nursing home abuse lawsuit. If, however, your family does find itself in the midst of injuries suffered by your loved due to nursing home abuse and neglect, you bet that nursing home will be quick to remind you of the mandatory arbitration agreement they made you sign. This agreement means you cannot sue the facility. Since the nursing home has eliminated the chance a jury could punish them for providing the bad care that injured your loved one, the nursing home had very little incentive to make sure they provided good care. When your family wants to know how your loved one was injured, the promises made during admission will be replaced with excuses. Excuses cannot return your loved one’s dignity, or the pain these injuries force your loved one to endure during their limited remaining days on this earth. The nursing home also has little incentive to make sure it does not happen to the next family in your position, because they will be forced to sign a mandatory arbitration agreement too.

How does this happen?

You can’t provide the care and support your loved one needs, and you arrive at the realization you must place them in a nursing home. The reason may be for long term care, although hopefully it is for rehabilitation with the goal of sending them back home. You choose a nursing home to place your loved one. When signing the package of numerous documents presented to you during the admission process (picture all of the documents you signed when you bought your first house being presented to you one after the other), you will eventually be presented with a mandatory arbitration agreement. Unfortunately, few people understand what they are signing, or why they are signing it.

Many nursing home admissions are directly from a hospital, and occur after a medical emergency such as a stroke or broken hip. Families often have no choice but to accept the first available nursing home with an available bed. When families unknowingly sign away their right to sue the nursing home, they believe they will get the good care they are promised. The last thing on their mind is that the nursing homes will injure their loved one by allowing pressure sores that lead to infections and amputation of limbs; suffocation on bedrails and other restraining devices; serious fractures from preventable falls; physical and sexual assault; renal failure from dehydration; malnutrition; medication errors; and death from fires in unsafe buildings.

Mandatory Arbitration Agreements are Unfair

Now that you know what a mandatory arbitration agreement is, and what it means to the family of an abused nursing home resident, ask yourself if that is fair. What does it say to you about an industry that promises good care and at the same time asks you to sign a mandatory arbitration agreement that protects them from being held accountable for bad care? Nursing homes know that if a court upholds a mandatory arbitration agreement, a jury with the power to punish the nursing home for often deplorable conduct will never have a chance to hurt their nursing home in the only place that matters to them – the pocketbook.
The Fairness in Nursing Home Arbitration Act would end the practice of making families agree to give up the right to a jury trial in order to get their loved one accepted by a nursing home. Congress should send a message to the industry that injuring residents is not simply a cost of doing business. Compassion should be enough of a reason for a nursing home to provide the good care they promise. Since the industry has proven time and a gain that they will not do this voluntarily, Congress must keep open the only avenue that does hold them accountable – a jury who can listens to the evidence and judge their conduct.

NJ and PA Nursing Home Abuse and Wrongful Death Attorneys

If you or a loved one have suffered the effects of nursing negligence or abuse, call an experienced New Jersey or Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse attorney at the Mininno Law Office. We will work hard to get you to compensation you deserve!
Contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation or call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.

FDA requires Strongest Warning Label on Nausea Drug

On Thursday September 17^th the Food and Drug Administration required that the strongest warning label be placed on a nausea drug known as Phenegran. This new warning label is due to the fact that after Diane Levine took this drug through an IV push for migraine related nausea and it then led to infection and gangrene. This caused her to have to have her lower right arm amputated. She sued the drug company Wyeth claiming that the warning label was not sufficient enough to warn against the effects of this drug especially in an IV push. This case made it to the Supreme Court and won Diane 6.7 million dollars. This then led to the FDA requiring this strong warning. This will warn users and medical professionals about the possibility of gangrene and also to let them know that IV drugs should be used in low doses and low concentration. This warning is the FDA’s strongest and is called a “black box” warning. The Court agreed that having the Food and Drug Administration’s approval and new warnings help cut down on medical device lawsuits.

For more information on Food and Drug Administration and improper warning labels you may visit:

This link.

If you or a loved one have experienced a situation similar to this or have been injured due to a medical device or product, please contact a defective product lawyer right away. They will help you fight for your rights to be heard and get the care you or loved one deserve.