Cherry Hill, New Jersey Personal Injury Lawyer - New Jersey

New Jersey Hospitals Must Now Publicly Report Serious Medical Errors

Camryn Hansen — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:35:49 GMT

Governor Jon Corzine signed a new law earlier this week that will require New Jersey hospitals to publicly report on their performance in areas of patient safety, including serious medical errors.

Because of this law, patients will no longer be required to pay for any medical errors committed during their treatment—something that patients in many states around the country are still required to do.

Annual reports from the Department of Health and Senior Services will now include patient-safety statistics, including numbers of surgeries done on the wrong body part; surgical objects accidently left inside patients’ bodies; and injuries from preventable post-surgery falls. Though this kind of data was already being collected internally, it will now be made public.

Armed with this kind of patient safety information, patients will now have more control over their health care options, and be able to make more informed decisions about the care they receive.

"Patients and families have a right to know which hospitals have the higher and lowest error rates so they can compare and make responsible health care choices," said Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, D-Washington Township.

Nationwide, excess charges due to preventable medical errors exceed $9 billion a year, observed Sy Larson, president of AARP New Jersey, which supports the new law.

"We know that public reporting of hospital performance improves quality," said Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard. Similar reporting standards have produced "dramatic decreases in cardiac surgery deaths," she said. -NJ Courier-Post

More reporting on preventable medical errors will translate to better health care and lower health care costs. The rest of the country could benefit from following New Jersey’s example and enacting mandatory error-reporting legislation.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Camryn Hansen

NJ Judge Says Blogs Not News; Blogger Open to Defamation Suit

Camryn Hansen — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:54:55 GMT

In the trial of Washington State blogger Shellee Hale, Superior Court Judge Louis Locascio of Monmouth County has ruled that Hale is not protected under New Jersey’s journalist shield law because she is a blogger rather than a mainstream media journalist.

Acknowledging that he was wading into largely uncharted legal waters, said Shellee Hale's message board postings last year about a Freehold-based computer software company were nothing more than the rants of "private person with unexplained motives for her postings" and cannot be given the same protections as information compiled though the process of news gathering.

"To extend the newsperson's privilege to such posters would mean anyone with an email address, with no connection to any legitimate news publication, would post anything on the internet and hide behind the shield law's protections," Locascio wrote.

"The rate at which the internet has grown and evolved into a universal source of news and information has left the legal community in its dust," Locascio wrote in his 19-page opinion. "The time has come for the law to begin establishing its place in this vast abyss." -MaryAnn Spoto, The Star-Ledger

The ruling also means that Hale can be sued for slander for the allegedly defamatory statements she posted on an Internet message board about a software company based in Freehold. Hale had asked to be protected from the lawsuit by the shield law, which states that journalists can’t be forced to reveal their information sources.

Hale, a licensed private investigator with four blogs, was sued last year by Too Much Media LLC, a company that supplies computer software to online porn sites, for claiming in her posts that the company had threatened her life and violated New Jersey consumer identity theft laws; and for refusing to reveal her sources when asked. Hale argued that she was protected under the New Jersey shield law because she was writing an article about a Too Much Media internet security breach. In a hearing last April, she testified that she had never published this article out of fear for her own safety.

Though calling New Jersey's shield law one of the nation's broadest, Locascio denied Hale's motion because she failed to make a prima facie case that she was connected with the news media. The law protects persons "engaged on, engaged in, connected with, or employed by news media for the purpose of gathering, procuring, transmitting, compiling, editing or disseminating news for the general public." -law.com

With the number of blogs and bloggers growing exponentially, it’s important to remember just how open bloggers are open to defamation suits. This case in particular highlights the nature of defamation with respect to Internet materials. Hale was a Washington resident but went to court in New Jersey because defamation occurs anywhere somebody downloads defamatory materials. This means that bloggers can be sued under the laws of any state in the country, even when they post the materials in their home state.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Camryn Hansen

Quit Smoking in New Jersey!

Mike Ferrara — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:50:28 GMT

According to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), about 17% of New Jersey adults are smokers. About 76% of smokers want to quit, but only about 10% successfully quit without outside help.

What this means is that people need help to quit. Understanding this, the DHSS offers a broad spectrum of quit services that not a lot of people know about. If you are a smoker and want to quit, you can get friendly and effective help here:

New Jersey Quitcenters: a network of seven smoking cessation clinics located across the state that offers a customized, face-to-face approach to quitting. The New Jersey Quitcenter program combines intensive individual or group counseling with the supervised use of nicotine patches, gum and inhalers. Centers provide services on a sliding-fee scale according to income and clients can purchase over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapy products at a reduced cost. For New Jersey Quitcenter locations, visit www.nj.quitnet.com or call 1-866-NJ ÐSTOPS.

New Jersey Quitline: (1-866-NJ-STOPS) a free, telephone-based counseling and referral service, available six days a week in 26 different languages. New Jersey Quitline counselors have been trained by the American Cancer Society and work with clients to develop an individualized treatment plan including ongoing support and follow-up. Using New Jersey Quitline, smokers are three times more likely to succeed - with more than 30 percent of registered users reporting they were tobacco free after six months.

New Jersey QuitNet: (www.nj.quitnet.com) a free, online information, counseling and referral service that offers a variety of resources to help people break the control of nicotine. This service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. New Jersey QuitNet users have access to trained counselors. Online chat rooms provide real-time support from other smokers using New Jersey QuitNet to quit smoking. Other tools include a quitting calendar, quitting strategies and a directory of local treatment programs and support groups.-nj.com

Anyone interested in quitting smoking or helping a friend, family member, patient, or employee quit smoking can visit New Jersey’s Quit Services Web site to learn more.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Ferrara

Levaquin Users Requesting Mass Tort Treatment from NJ Supreme Court

Mike Ferrara — Sat, 16 May 2009 20:44:51 GMT

Levaquin users are requesting that the New Jersey Supreme Court accord mass-tort treatment to their lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson, a subsidiary of Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc. for claims involving muscle problems resulting from using the drug.

Levaquin, a synthetic broad spectrum antibiotic, is prescribed to treat bacterial infections of the skin, urinary tract, and respiratory system. According to the FDA, patients who use it are at an increased risk for tendonitis and tendon rupture in the shoulder, biceps, hand and thumb.

The risk is greater in older patients, those taking corticosteroids, such as prednisone, and those with kidney, heart and lung transplants, the FDA said. -Law.com

In July 2008, at the request of the DC-based patient advocacy group Public Citizen, the FDA began requiring Ortho-McNeil to include a black box warning label on Levaquin about the increased risk of tendon injury. From November 1997 to December 2005, Public Citizen found 258 cases of tendonitis and 274 cases of other tendon disorders in the FDA Adverse Event database connected directly to the use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics; 61% of which were Levaquin.

Since the black box warning, more and more lawsuits involving Levaquin have emerged.

There will likely be thousands of suits involving the same defendants, similar complex issues of law and fact and plaintiffs with a high degree of commonality in their injuries and damages, making the litigation ideally suited for central management, says plaintiffs lawyer Michael London.

In requesting mass-tort treatment last month, London also asked that the litigation be centralized with Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee in Atlantic County, where he has already filed six suits. London says his firm, Douglas & London in New York, represents more than 200 plaintiffs from 38 states and expects to file many additional suits.

London also said Judge Higbee has significant experience handling complex mass tort and product liability actions and a staff equipped to handle thousands of cases. Higbee was in charge of New Jersey Vioxx mass-tort litigation, presiding over 16,400 cases -- 61 percent of the national total -- before Merck & Co. announced a $4.85 billion global settlement of Vioxx cases in late 2007. -Charles Toutant, Law.com

If you have experienced tendon injuries while taking Levaquin, contact The Ferrara Law Firm to learn more about your right to compensation.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Ferrara

Fiery Crash on New Jersey Turnpike Killed Five when Tractor Trailer Struck Stopped Car

Mike Ferrara — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:10:55 GMT

Last Saturday, an accident on the Mt. Laurel section of the New Jersey Turnpike involving 10 cars and a tractor trailer killed five people and injured three others.

Investigators took a blood sample from the driver of the tractor trailer, who had ploughed from behind into a 2004 Buick LeSabre stopped in traffic. Standard procedure in fatal crashes is to test for the presence of drugs, alcohol, or impairing substances.

The Buick, initially in the right lane, was launched into the center lane, where it hit other cars and burst into flames.

All five passengers in the Buick were killed in the crash: Jeanette Urbano, 72 and Salvatore Urbano, 74 of Passaic, NJ; and Anna Kane, 76, Rose Kane, 75, and Francis Kane, 78, all of Kearny, NJ. Three passengers traveling in a 1999 Jeep Cherokee were also injured—one critically.

The tractor trailer driver was not immediately charged with anything; investigators have 30 days to file charges.

Along with the American Association for Justice, we need to support reforms on truck safety immediately. Implementing better driver fatigue standards can help prevent more fatal highway accidents like this one.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Ferrara

Great Victory for New Jersey Consumers in Bosland v. Warnock Dodge

Mike Ferrara — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:27:20 GMT

In a major victory for New Jersey consumers, the Supreme Court decided this week in Bosland v. Warnock Dodge that the Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) does not require a consumer to seek a refund from an offending merchant before filing a complaint against it.

In March 2003, plaintiff Rhonda Bosland purchased a new Jeep Grand Cherokee from Warnock Dodge, paying for the vehicle in full at the time of the sale. The dealership charged her $117 for what was listed in the paperwork only as a “registration fee”—a price that Bosland later learned was significantly higher than what the Motor Vehicle Commission actually charged New Jersey drivers for vehicle registration.

Upon deducing that the dealership was fraudulently profiting from this transaction by not disclosing or itemizing documentary fees associated with her vehicle registration, as required by automobile sales regulations, Bosland did not contact Warnock to ask for a refund for the amount she had been overcharged. Rather, she filed a complaint, seeking relief for herself as well as for a class of similarly situated car buyers. The complaint’s two statutory claims asserted that Warnock had violated the CFA as well as the Truth-in-Consumer Contract, Warranty, and Notice Act.

The trial court dismissed this case, in part due to the conclusion that Bosland’s CFA claim was barred by her failure to seek a refund prior to filing her complaint. The Appellate Division disagreed with this reasoning, rejecting the earlier findings in the relevant Feinberg v. Red Bank Volvo that asking for a refund first was a “necessary element of proof” of the claim’s legitimacy.

The Supreme Court’s decision in Bosland v. Warnock Dodge marks a great step forward for consumer rights.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Ferrara

Hospitals are Still Neglecting to Report Serious Mistakes - Are Medical Malpractice Lawsuits the Public’s Only Hope?

Mike Ferrara — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:12:19 GMT

Despite laws in New Jersey and Pennsylvania requiring hospitals to report major medical errors, unanticipated complications, and near misses to stage agencies for the purpose of reducing medical mistakes, experts say that hospitals in both states are neglecting to report these kinds of incidents.

In 2007, major medical errors in Pennsylvania included accidentally leaving surgical equipment inside two separate patients at Fox Chase Cancer Center. At Abington Memorial Hospital in 2005, a woman recovering from hip surgery developed open bed sores after being left lying on a bedpan for several hours. In a total violation of state law, none of these incidents was reported by the hospitals responsible.

These individual reporting failures are indicative of a larger trend across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 2007, 5 out of the 80 hospitals in New Jersey neglected to report a single preventable medical error to state agencies. Similarly, a handful of Pennsylvania hospitals reported no serious events and no near misses that could have hurt patients.

To put this in perspective, James Conway, a quality expert at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Mass., says that on average, 100 patient medical charts document about 40 instances of patient harm.

When we compare these statistics to the ones coming in from hospitals, it becomes apparent that underreporting is both pervasive and profound.

"Anybody that is supposed to report close calls and has zero reports is clueless," said James Bagian, head of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for Patient Safety. "Management is asleep at the switch and just waiting until they kill someone." -Josh Goldstein, Philadelphia Inquirer

On the consumer level, patients have no way of knowing how well local hospitals are performing. State agencies do not release reports from individual hospitals regarding their rate of medical errors. Oftentimes, it is not until the health department cites a hospital for violating state laws that the public even hears of the hospital’s failing.

Since 2003, though the health department has cited four hospitals in Southeastern Pennsylvania for failing to report serious medical errors, none of these hospitals has been fined.

In the current climate of sloppy enforcement, medical malpractice lawsuits may be one of the only ways to make certain that hospitals and doctors are held responsible for serious patient harm.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Ferrara

New Jersey Hospital Accidentally Throws Baby’s Body in Trash

Mike Ferrara — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:07:52 GMT

Jersey City’s Christ Hospital seems to have made a gross and alarming error by accidentally throwing the body of a deceased premature baby boy into the trash.

Though hospital spokespersons insist that Bashere Davon Moyd Jr., delivered by local woman Kalynn Moore, 26, on December 21, was stillborn, Moore reported in a news conference today that the baby was born alive, and that she held him for a moment before he died when doctors failed to stabilize his heart rate.

The baby’s body was first missed on January 2, when a funeral home representative came to pick it up at the morgue. Jersey City Police has since determined that it must have been discarded in hospital trash, and are now searching New Jersey and Pennsylvania garbage dumps for it.

The issue of whether the boy was born dead or not is crucial to any potential lawsuit against the hospital, since New Jersey State law does not consider a stillborn baby to be a person.

Moore's lawyer, Michael Anise, said a lawsuit is likely and that there is no reason that a body of a baby — born alive or not — should be placed in the trash. -Geoff Mulvihill, AP

Though police are not currently pursuing this case as a criminal investigation, there is speculation that it could ultimately become one.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Ferrara

Federal Government Rates Nursing Homes around the Country – Learn the Truth

Mike Ferrara — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:56:35 GMT

At medicare.gov, you can now read US government reports of nursing home inspections all across the country.

On the Medicare website, you can type in the name of a specific nursing home, find all nursing homes within a certain distance of a zip code or city, within a particular state, or within a particular county.

The US government has rated each nursing home in three different categories: health inspections (the rating assesses nursing home environment, resident care and care process, and staff and resident interactions); nursing home staffing (the rating assesses overall staffing hours, including those staffed by licensed professionals); and quality measures (the rating assesses various data about the residents themselves). It also averages the different categories together to come up with a telling overall rating. All ratings range from one to five stars—one being the lowest and five being the highest.

In the 25 mile radius outside Cherry Hill, NJ, there are more than 125 nursing homes. Out of the 125 the site would display, a full 37 nursing homes received an overall rating of only one star—the lowest rating possible.

Nursing homes that earn a one star rating on health inspections typically rate poorly on the ability to protect their residents from abuse (this includes hiring staff with no patient abuse history); on the capacity to keep the nursing home environment clean and safe from accidents; on the error-free administration of medication; and on the effort to ensure that care is given in a way that allows residents to build dignity and self-respect.

To learn more about a particular nursing home, visit the Medicare website. If you are concerned that a family member in a nursing home is receiving sub-standard care or is being neglected or abused by nursing home staff, contact attorney Mike Ferrara at info@ferraralawfirm.com to learn more about your rights. The initial consultation with an attorney who handles nursing home abuse case is free.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Ferrara

Fatal Hospital Errors - New Jersey Reports 71 Percent Increase

Mike Ferrara — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:29:43 GMT

The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services has announced the results of its third annual Patient Safety Act report, which show that in 2007, a full 72 New Jersey hospital patients died as a result of preventable medical errors.

This figure represents a 30% from 2006 figures—a potentially disturbing finding, considering the deliberate effort New Jersey has been taking in recent years to reduce the number of medical errors (particularly “never events”—errors so egregious, they should absolutely never happen) in its hospitals.

Officials are saying that the increase may be due to more widespread reporting of error-related deaths, since the 2004 Patient Safety Act requires that New Jersey hospitals report every serious accident, as well as every serious surgical or medical error made by their staff. Since the 2004 Act, the number of total reported preventable errors has increased every year, peaking last year at 456.

Despite the mandate, data suggests that NJ hospitals are still vastly under-reporting their medical errors and accidents—which inevitably deters the implementation of effective preventative and corrective measures, ultimately leading to more errors and accordingly, to more of the medical malpractice lawsuits that those without the facts are citing as the greatest financial problem in the health care system.

Lawsuits are not the problem. They happen after the problem, because there’s a problem, to help fix the problem.

If you would like a free consultation by an experienced New Jersey attorney to tell you whether or not you have a meritorious medical malpractice case, contact New Jersey medical malpractice attorney Michael A. Ferrara, Jr. at mferrara@ferraralawfirm.com.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Ferrara