Articles Posted in Nursing Negligence

Three-month-old Emma Takacs developed a poor appetite. She had a fever that was in excess of 103 degrees Fahrenheit. Emma’s mom and dad took her to a hospital’s emergency room where a nurse documented Emma’s abnormal vital signs and fussiness.

An emergency department doctor, Duane Siberski, M.D., examined Emma. Dr. Siberski diagnosed an ear infection.  Emma was discharged with a prescription for an oral antibiotic and her parents were given instructions to take her to see a pediatrician, if needed.

A few days later, Emma was found to be lethargic and her skin was cool to the touch. Emma’s parents brought her to another hospital where she was diagnosed as having bacterial meningitis, a hypoxic brain injury and hydrocephalous.  Hydrocephalous is a medical term for what is known as “water on the brain.”  The condition is one in which an abnormal accumulation of cerebral spinal fluid lodges in the ventricles or cavities of the brain. It can be caused by and is connected with the bacterial meningitis that results in an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and the spinal cord. That tissue is called “meninges.”  Acute bacterial meningitis is a very serious condition.

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Anthony Waring was a worker for a company that owned and operated an assisted-living facility. Waring was in the process of retrieving a snow shovel from a shed on the facility’s grounds. He fell on snow and ice as he was walking down the ramp leading from the shed.

Waring was 22 years old at the time and suffered herniated disks at L3-S1 and bulging disks at C4-6. He also developed radiculopathy, which caused pain radiating from his lower back into both of his legs. 

After the injury, Waring underwent four months of physical therapy and epidural steroid injections, but he continued to suffer pain. He might in the future require the implanting of a spinal stimulator to help with his pain problem.  Since the incident, he has not returned to work.

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Following an automobile accident, Cody Wade, 17, was hospitalized. The injuries he suffered in the car crash led the hospital’s staff to place a tracheostomy tube to help with Cody’s breathing. A tracheostomy is a surgical procedure in which a doctor creates an opening through the neck to the patient’s windpipe or trachea. The tube is placed through that opening to give the patient an airway and to allow for the removal of other secretions from the lungs. The tube itself is called a tracheostomy tube or a trach tube.

About a month after the tracheostomy, a hospital staff person removed the trach tube in anticipation of Cody’s transferral to a rehabilitation hospital. When the tube was removed, Cody experienced tachycardia and labored breathing. Tachycardia is a condition of rapid heartbeat. Generally, a resting heart rate over 100 beats per minute is considered tachycardic. 

Because of Cody’s condition, the trach tube was reinserted. Medical tests revealed that there was swelling in Cody’s airway.

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