The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are currently working with local health officials to determine the exact source of an E. coli outbreak that began in October of 2015.

As of December, 140 people in 9 different states had reportedly been infected with E. coli after eating at Chipotle Mexican Grill Restaurants. Twenty of those infected have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been linked to the outbreak.

The original reports of infection started in Washington and Oregon with later reports coming from California, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The CDC has suggested that anyone who became ill with diarrhea after eating at a Chipotle restaurant should see a health care provider to determine if they were infected.

If a person is infected, he or she will develop diarrhea (often bloody) and severe stomach cramps within about four days of the initial infection. The restaurant chain has already been served with a lawsuit on behalf of one of the infected and more are expected. The federal government has also served the chain with a subpoena to appear before a grand jury that has been called to investigate the outbreak.

Florida Medical Negligence Cases

It takes years and years of education, training, constant retraining, and lots of experience to be a good doctor. But doctors are human, and humans make mistakes. While some small degree of mistakes may be excusable, what about these mistakes? Our Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyers have put together a few examples of some of the most shocking Florida negligence cases in recent years:

Examples of Medical Malpractice

1) Having somebody operating on your brain is scary enough, but one prestigious Rhode Island Hospital operated on the wrong side of a patient’s brain. Not just once – but three times in one year. How could something like this happen?

• The first time a third-year resident failed to mark which side of the brain should be operated on. Both the doctor and nurse responsible for the operation said they were never trained in how to use a checklist. (It makes you wonder if they were ever trained to be doctors or nurses?)
• The second time, a doctor with over 20 years of experience never wrote on a consent form which side of an 86-year-old man’s head he would operate on to remove a blood clot. He assured the nurse he remembered, but low and behold, he proceeded to operate on the wrong side.
• The third time, the chief resident neurosurgeon and a nurse both clarified which side of the brain was to be operated on beforehand. But for reasons that are not clear, the doctor marked and cut into the woman’s scalp on the wrong side, and the nurse did not stop him.  

2) A former Mr. Mexico and runner-up for Mr. Universe, this bodybuilder was shocked when he went to get pec implants. When he awoke from his surgery, he was given implants alright, except they were C-cup breast implants. Florida police found out the man operating wasn’t a doctor and had no legitimate medical credentials. Two other of his victims who lived in Florida said he operated on them using kitchen utensils.

3) A woman who suffered severe and ongoing pain in her right eye was advised by her doctor to have her eye removed. The surgery lasted five and a half hours and for two of those hours, she was awake. Halfway through the operation, she woke up but couldn’t move. She was shocked to hear the surgeon saying things like “cut deeper, pull harder”. The poor woman was awake for the exact moment they removed the eye. Eventually, the doctor realized she was conscious and administered more nerve-blocking anesthesia. That’s certainly an example of “too little, too late.”

4) You’ve probably read or heard stories about somebody who was operated on and later found out that a foreign object was left inside their body. It sounds like an urban legend, but it’s not. There are about 1,500 such reports every year in the US. But for one patient, a ten-inch-long retractor was left in his chest causing him a lot of pain. Instead of taking him seriously the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre, where he was a patient, told him he should seek psychiatric care. Only after a month of agonizing pain, multiple complaints, and repeatedly being told the problem was in his head, the man finally received a CT scan, at which time the item was discovered and removed.

Contact Experienced Lawyers At The Law Offices Of Wolf & Pravato

The Florida medical malpractice lawyers from the law offices of Wolf & Pravato will investigate your case, hire expert witnesses if necessary, and do what it takes to prove your case.

We also help the victims of medical malpractice in the following cities:

• Florida medical malpractice lawyer
• Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyer
• Fort Myers medical malpractice lawyer
• Miami medical malpractice lawyer
• West Palm Beach medical malpractice lawyer
• Boynton Beach medical malpractice lawyer