Lexington Kentucky Personal Injury Law Blog

An editorial published by Annals of Emergency Medicine advances an argument that a care bundle developed by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign may actually increase the risk of inappropriate treatment or misdiagnosis in Kentucky and across the country. The care bundle is supposed to help medical professionals quickly treat and identify sepsis in emergency departments. It is based on guidelines from 2016 and includes a recommendation that certain treatments begin within one hour of identifying sepsis in a patient.

Similar previous care bundles recommended three- or six-hour care bundles. The new one-hour recommendation was designed to shorten the amount of time between recognition and treatment. If the diagnosis is inaccurate, though, the risk of overtreatment or unnecessary treatment is significantly increased. According to researchers, the three- and six-hour care protocols were sufficient to treat many patients and to prevent dangerous complications. Patients who have early-stage sepsis may not need treatment immediately, and there are potentially serious consequences of administering antibiotics and other care to patients who do not need them.

As Kentucky drivers know, car accidents are a constant risk on U.S. roadways. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, approximately 6,452,000 American drivers were involved in motor vehicle crashes in 2017. One might think these accidents were spread evenly across the country, but a report by Allstate Insurance found that some areas have more accident-prone drivers than others.

For example, the riskiest place to drive in 2019 is Baltimore, Maryland, where drivers go an average of just 4.2 years between crashes. In comparison, the national average between car crashes is 10.57. The next riskiest place for motorists is Washington, D.C., where drivers go just 4.4 years between accidents. Boston, Massachusetts, comes in third on the list, with drivers averaging just 4.9 years between collisions. Other risky cities on the list include Worcester, Massachusetts; Glendale, California; Los Angeles, California; and Springfield, Massachusetts.

The way that a surgeon interacts with co-workers could influence outcomes for patients in Kentucky and around the country. A study published in JAMA Surgery looked at 202 surgeons who had reports of negative behavior filed against them by co-workers. The researchers then compared this data to patient outcomes and discovered a link between unprofessional behavior and an increased risk of post-surgical complications.

The medical records of 13,653 patients showed that 1,583 of them experienced a medical complication within 30 days of their surgeries. Patients operated on by surgeons with complaints on file against them had complications at a greater rate than patients cared for by surgeons with clean records. Surgeons who had between one and three complaints created an 18% higher risk of complications for patients. When surgeons had four or more complaints, their patients faced a 32% higher risk of surgical complications.

Wrong-site surgeries are all too frequent in Kentucky and the rest of the U.S. In fact, some reports say there are 20 to 40 wrong-site surgeries every week in this country. Orthopedic, dental and spinal surgeries are often wrong-site surgeries. WSS most often occurs with the laterality surgery, where an organ or extremity on the left or right side is operated on.

A WSS can arise from many issues, such as lack of teamwork (often the result of a silo mentality), lack of communication, communication errors on written or electronic orders and failure to educate employees on new policies. Above all, errors are rife wherever there is no safety-minded culture.