Contact: Doug Perkins: doug@legalpr.net
800-704-9033 or 904-838-7801

Claudia Oltean: claudia@legalpr.net
800-704-9033 or 904-838-7807

JACKSONVILLE JURY FINDS HCA-MEMORIAL HOSPITAL NEGILIGENT, FRAUDULENT; AWARDS FAMILY $178 MILLION

A lawsuit conducted in Duval County Circuit Court against Memorial Hospital concluded today when the jury awarded Clay Chandler and his family $ 10 Million in punitive damages. This amount is in addition to the $168 million in liability this jury awarded last Friday. In addition to the compensation awarded, the jury found that Memorial Hospital committed medical negligence and fraud in the Chandler case. This verdict is one of the largest seen in Northeast Florida and the charge of fraud is a rare occurrence in a civil case.

Clay Chandler, a former Lieutenant in the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, was a patient at Memorial Hospital between March and May 2007. He was admitted to Memorial Hospital to undergo laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery under the care of Dr. John Deperi. Complications arising from the surgery were severe and went undiagnosed or treated in a timely manner causing Chandler to go into cardiac arrest and septic shock. He ultimately suffered a hypoxic brain injury and was in a coma from March 17, 2007 through approximately April 4, 2007. While Chandler was in ICU in a comatose state, physician orders directed health care personnel to apply two drops to both eyes every 8 hours for three days. Hospital records indicate that only two applications of drops to his eyes were performed. During that period Chandler’s eyes were described as being red with drainage and edema, and he suffered permanent damage to both corneas. While a patient in Memorial’s critical care unit, he also suffered contractures (frozen joints) and bedsores – all due to a lack of basic human care and absolutely below the standard of care for which hospitals are universally responsible.

“This case was about honesty and safety rules and a hospital corporation that ignored them,” said Chandler’s attorney Tom Edwards, of the Jacksonville trial law firm Edwards & Ragatz. “The evidence presented to the jury showed that HCA – Memorial Hospital deceived the public and the Chandlers about their bariatric program that they call the Memorial Bariatric Surgery Center. They obtained a prestigious national certification called the “Bariatric Center of Excellence” but evidence showed they then did not follow the basic patient safety standards that were a part of this program – including letting a surgeon do these very complex surgeries unsupervised when his file showed he was not qualified to do the surgery. Because of the failure to follow basic safety standards, Clay is brain damaged, permanently disabled and needs full time care for the rest of his life.”

“The Chandlers are pleased that this Jury found that HCA/Memorial Hospital should be responsible for Clay’s care and not the tax payers and health insurers of the state of Florida,” said Edward’s law partner Eric Ragatz.

Memorial Hospital of Jacksonville is part of HCA, the nation’s leading provider of healthcare services that includes 164 hospitals and 11 freestanding surgery centers in 20 states and England. HCA revenues in 2010 were more than $30 billion.

Previous Coverage
Motion for Punitive Damages
Original Suit- February 2010

Media Coverage
Jacksonville.com
First Coast News
Action News Jax
News4Jax
WOKV

ADR.com
Clay Today
MSNBC
Tennessean
Wall Street Journal

AAJ News Brief 1/24/12

Fox Business
Nashville Business Journal
Lawyers.com
Jacksonville Business Journal

• An estimated 13.5 percent of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events during their hospital stays
• An additional 13.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced events during their hospital stays that resulted in temporary harm.
• Physician reviewers determined that 44 percent of adverse and temporary harm events were clearly or likely preventable.

See link below to read the rest of the report:

Levinson, DR.  Adverse Events in Hospitals:  National Incidence Among Medicare Beneficiaries.  Nov. 2010  OEI-06-09-00090 

If you believe you or a loved one are a victim of medical negligence please don’t hesitate to contact one of our attorneys today for a free case evaluation.

Lechner has served on the JJA Executive Board for the past two years. This year he received an AV rating from Martindale- Hubbell, the highest rating available by the national attorney peer-review rating service and became a Board Certified Trial attorney, meaning the Florida Bar recognizes him as an expert in his field of law.

The Jacksonville Justice Association (JJA) is a non-profit organization of civil justice attorneys that represent those injured by negligence or malpractice. It was established in 1996 with the goal of providing civil justice attorneys with the tools and resources needed to improve and enhance their trial practices.  Members benefit from quarterly networking meetings, continuing legal education seminars and an extensive deposition and legal document databank.

 Edwards & Ragatz, P.A., is a law firm located inJacksonville,Florida, that represents the injured, victims and consumers in all courts. The firm’s attorneys are experienced in handling all types of personal injury and death cases, as well as complex commercial litigation. The firm’s attorneys are recognized nationally as trial experts. The attorneys serve in prominent positions in local and state trial lawyers’ associations and have testified before the legislature on issues of importance to the justice system.

Best Lawyers

Edwards was the ABOTA- “Jacksonville Trial Lawyer of the Year” in 2009. ABOTA is a selective peer organization of both plaintiff and defense trial lawyers. Edwards has served as President of the Jacksonville Bar Association, President of the Florida Justice Association, President of ABOTA Jacksonville and numerous other organizations- including the area grievance committee which is responsible for prosecuting attorneys accused of ethics violations. He also served on numerous committees appointed by our Supreme Court, including the committee that drafted the Judge’s code of ethics and the committee that writes the jury instructions for trial. 

Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. The current, 18th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2012) is based on more than 3.9 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

The lawyers being honored as “Lawyers of the Year” have received particularly high ratings in our surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for their abilities, professionalism, and integrity.

Steven Naifeh, President of Best Lawyers, says, “We continue to believe – as we have believed for more than 25 years – that recognition by one’s peers is the most meaningful form of praise in the legal profession. We would like to congratulate Thomas S. Edwards, Jr. on being selected as the ‘Jacksonville Best Lawyers Medical Malpractice Law Lawyer of the Year’ for 2012.”

Edwards & Ragatz, P.A., is a law firm located in Jacksonville, Florida, that represents the injured, victims and consumers in all courts. The firm’s attorneys are experienced in handling all types of personal injury and death cases, as well as complex commercial litigation. The firm’s attorneys are recognized nationally as trial experts. The attorneys serve in prominent positions in local and state trial lawyers’ associations and have testified before the legislature on issues of importance to the justice system.

Selection to Best Lawyers is based on an extensive and rigorous peer-review survey, comprising of more than 3.9 million confidential evaluations by fellow top attorneys.

 Edwards is the senior partner of Edwards & Ragatz, P.A. His other accomplishments include being a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer, rated AV by Martindale Hubbell, awarded the “Spartans at Thermopylae” award for extraordinary work in protecting the court system, and membership in Florida Trend Magazine’s Legal Elite and Florida’s Super Lawyers.

 Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. Best Lawyers compiles lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. In the U.S., Best Lawyers publishes an annual referral guide, The Best Lawyers in America, which includes 41,149 attorneys in 126 practice areas, covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The current, 17th edition of The Best Lawyers in America (2011), is based on more than 3.1 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

CDC Supports National Initiative to Improve Patient Safety

On Tuesday, April 12, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced an initiative, the Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs, aimed at protecting patients in America’s health care facilities through the prevention of health care-acquired conditions. CDC is one of several federal agencies participating in the initiative. Medical advances have brought lifesaving care to patients in need, but many of these advances come with a risk of health care-acquired conditions, including infections, falls, pressure ulcers (or bed sores), and blood clots (known as deep vein thrombosis).

“Americans expect and deserve safe health care,” said CDC director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. who has made patient safety a top priority at CDC. “CDC has an established track record of improving the quality of health care delivery. This new initiative will help protect patients and ensure that they live healthier, longer, and more productive lives while reducing healthcare costs.”

Health care-acquired conditions represent a significant burden on the health care system. At any given time, about 1 in 20 patients has an infection related to hospital care. These infections cost the U.S. health care system billions of dollars each year and lead to the loss of tens of thousands of lives.

In hospitals and other health care facilities, falls are among the most frequently reported incidents for inpatients. Pressure ulcers, which can occur in health care settings or at home, affect more than 2.5 million people annually. In total, health care-acquired conditions can have devastating emotional, financial, and medical consequences.

Public health officials and clinicians know how to prevent many health care-acquired conditions. However, the problem has been in getting proven protective measures adopted and used consistently in all health care facilities. CDC works with federal, state and local public health and healthcare partners to prevent these conditions.

• CDC conducts rapid field investigations to address emerging health care safety issues.
• CDC conducts cutting-edge infection prevention research, turning that knowledge into evidence-based guidelines that health care providers can use.
  • Several published studies have shown that health care-associated infections (HAIs) can be decreased as much as 70 percent when existing CDC prevention recommendations are put into place. [See top CDC prevention recommendations]
• CDC has funded 51 locally based HAI coordinators and has supported 30 state-based HAI prevention networks to drive progress toward goals in the HHS Action Plan to Eliminate Healthcare-associated Infections.
• CDC is working with patient and professional organizations to raise awareness and promote the implementation of current clinical guidelines for the prevention of deep vein thrombosis. CDC has been actively working to prevent deep vein thrombosis by collecting statewide registry data and tracking the quality of hospitalized stroke patients for the past decade through the Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry.
• CDC has developed a fall risk assessment tool for practitioners that can be used in clinical settings, because the most effective single approach for fall prevention is an individualized risk factor assessment by a physician or health care provider coupled with referral and treatment.

Tracking progress toward prevention is key to achieving success in improving patient safety. CDC provides the nation’s health care facilities with a free system to track infections, monitor prevention progress, and collaborate with peers. The system, called the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), is used in over 4500 U.S. hospitals and is part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pay-for-reporting program. CDC is enhancing NHSN to track the occurrence of deep vein thrombosis and the implementation and impact of prevention measures in participating hospitals. CDC also is beginning work with the acute care community to provide guidance for tracking and preventing pressure ulcers in high-risk injured patients.

Together, public and private partners can expand upon the successes seen in individual healthcare facilities and employ these best practices nationwide to protect all Americans and ensure safe healthcare.

For more information about the Partnership for Patients, visit http://www.HealthCare.gov/center/programs/partnership.

For more information about preventing healthcare-associated infections (www.cdc.gov/hai), falls (http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/), pressure ulcers, or blood clots (http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dvt/), please see the CDC resources provided.

Source of Media Release: http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2011/s0415_patientsafety.html

Distraction is defined by NHTSA as a specific type of inattention that occurs when drivers divert their attention away from the task of driving to focus on another activity instead. These distractions can be electronics, such as navigation systems and cell phones, or more conventional distractions, such as interacting with passengers and eating. These  tasks can affect drivers in different ways and are categorized into the following three types:

Drivers Simply Can’t Do Two Things At Once.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers who use hand-held devices while driving are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves or others.

• Drivers who use hand-held devices while driving are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves or others.
• The portion of drivers reportedly distracted at the time of the fatal crashes increased from 7 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2009.
• One of the most commonly recognized distractions is cell phone use. About 89 percent, or approximately 277 million of all Americans, have a cell phone, according to CTIA – The Wireless Association. For many, it is the only kind of telephone they possess.
   
• In a recent NHTSA survey, most individuals (77 percent) reported that they talk on the phone while driving at least some of the time.

It is not just Distracting Behavior- it can be Deadly Behavior
In 2008 alone, nearly 6,000 people died and more than half-a-million injuries occurred simply because people were not paying attention to the road. People’s conversations can wait. The chances of causing a crash that could ruin lives is just too great.
 
Young Drivers Are Especially At Risk.
Young drivers are at risk of distracted driving—especially men and women under 20 years of age. Their lack of driving experience can contribute to critical misjudgments if they become distracted. Not surprisingly, they text more than any other age group and the numbers of young drivers who text are only increasing.

Everyone Has A Personal Responsibility
With more portable technology now than ever, driver distractions have risen to unprecedented numbers. We live in a world where people expect instant, real-time information 24 hours-a-day and those desires do not stop just because people get behind the wheel. Drivers simply do not realize the dangers that are posed when they take their eyes and minds off the road and their hands off the wheel and focus on activities other than driving.

Tweet

 Martindale-Hubbell has maintained Ratings for lawyers for more than a century. Ratings reflect the confidential opinions of bar members and the judiciary, and attest to the individual lawyer’s legal ability and adherence to accepted professional standards of ethics. Exclusively developed and assigned by the Martindale-Hubbell ® Law Directory, ratings are considered valuable benchmarks intended for use by members of the profession. 

 Albert practices law in the following areas: personal injury, nursing home negligence, medical malpractice, and auto accidents

 Edwards and Ragatz, is a law firm located in Jacksonville, Florida, that represents the injured, victims and consumers in all courts. The firm’s attorneys are experienced in handling all types of personal injury and death cases, as well as complex commercial litigation. They also serve in prominent positions in local and state trial lawyers’ associations and have testified before the legislature on issues of importance to the justice system.

 Martindale-Hubbell is a service mark and a registered trademark and CV, BV and AV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties, Inc., used under license.

Tweet