Boston Medical Malpractice and Workers' Compensation Blog

In prior centuries, a severe crushing injury or spreading infection in the limbs ended in either the patient's death or with the amputation of the mangled or diseased limb. Fortunately, modern medicine has advanced to the point where an affected limb may often be salvaged by a gifted orthopedic surgeon.

With limb salvage, the surgeon's goal is to maintain and restore stability to the limb, and when it is the legs that are affected, to allow the patient to remain ambulatory.

Anyone who has ever broken a bone knows just how painful a fracture can be. In fact, part of the reason why fractures are treated as emergencies is the pain they cause to the patients.

However, in some cases, a broken bone may not be immediately recognized by the doctors in the emergency room. Some minor fractures don't readily show up on X-rays, especially if the patient is older and the break is to the hip or wrist. Regardless, when there is pain in the area that does not fade, orthopedic surgeons should employ other diagnostic tools in their arsenals, like bone scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), angiograms or computed tomography (CT) scans.

It is devastating to learn that the Massachusetts doctor you trusted to care for you, provide you with the right medical care and give you the right diagnosis let you down. No doctor is perfect, and there are times when an honest mistake happens or there is an unavoidable issue. This is why medicine is a practice and not an exact science, but how can you know when a mistake is more than just a mistake? 

The main reason for most medical malpractice claims is negligence. If you think your doctor acted negligently, how can you prove your case? It is in your interests to review the circumstances of your case and determine if you have grounds to move forward with a claim against your doctor. If you are suffering due to the reckless or negligent actions or decisions of a medical professional, you do not have to suffer in silence.

The opioid crisis that hit the Boston area hard has also left an indelible impact on the medical profession. From over-prescribing physicians to addicted nurses, the shock waves continue to reverberate throughout the Boston medical community.

It can take a while to spot an addicted nurse on the job. After all, an addict's descent into addiction is typically slow and incremental. On the job, where they are responsible for patient care, an addicted nurse may be able to inflict substantial harm to their patients before ever drawing the patients' ire or the attention of those in supervisory roles.