Denver Trial Attorney Blog | Leventhal Puga Braley P.C.
The Terrible Cost of the Cone of Silence
Nobody wants to think about medical mistakes, but they happen all the time. What is even more frustrating is hospitals and doctors do all they can to hide the mistakes and avoid taking responsibility for failures in their systems.
This so-called cone of silence occurs when information is kept confidential among a select few. In the medical field, doctors may feel they need to protect other doctors, and hospitals may feel they need to protect their bottom line. But covering up medical malpractice is never acceptable. Here’s why. Read the rest »
The Unacceptable Cost of Poor Maternal Care in the U.S.
Think the United States is the leader in providing healthcare and state-of-the-art treatment to patients—especially for new babies and mothers? Think again. The U.S. actually has the highest maternal mortality rate of all first-world countries. An estimated 700-900 women died in 2016 due to pregnancy-related causes. Additionally, maternal deaths in the United States increased between 2000 and 2014, and 60% of these maternal deaths were considered preventable. Read the rest »
Leventhal & Puga, P.C., Partners with The Gathering Place
The partners, associates, and staff at Leventhal & Puga, P.C., chose to make The Gathering Place our partner in our yuletide celebration of giving for 2018. We want to take this opportunity to say thank you to The Gathering Place for allowing us to be a part of their community and for taking the time to give us a tour of their amazing facility where they provide shelter, a mailing address, daycare, food, clothing, toiletries, medical and dental check-ups, access to governmental resources/programs, and an arts center where they make and sell amazing individual works of art. Read the rest »
The Unexpected Costs of Spinal Trauma
A spinal cord injury can change your life—and rarely for the better. In fact, the ripple effect of trauma to the spinal cord is usually so severe that a patient will be impacted in ways they never expected. Read the rest »
“Pit to Distress” – Medical Malpractice in Its Purest Form
If you are an expecting parent or ever plan to be, you should know the term “pit to distress.” This is an oblique order doctors give to increase the levels of a synthetic hormone, Pitocin, to a mother during childbirth in order to speed up the labor and delivery process.
At best, doctors do this because they believe it to be standard procedure that speeds up a painful childbirth.
At worst, doctors crank up the Pitocin so they can go home early and turn over the patient’s bed more quickly, creating more profit. Never mind the fact that babies and mothers can be seriously hurt by the practice. Read the rest »
If My Child Has Cerebral Palsy, Will There Be Other Conditions?
Cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability in childhood. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in 345 children have cerebral palsy. But cerebral palsy is rarely all that a family will have to deal with after a diagnosis. When a child has another medical condition in addition to cerebral palsy, it is called a “co-occurring,” “associated,” or “coexisting” condition. Read the rest »
How Does a Medical Device Wind Up in Your Body?
A shocking documentary called The Bleeding Edge was released in July of 2018. This “searing” exposé looked at select cases of patients who were seriously injured by medical devices, and their attempts to find answers for why this had been allowed to happen to them. Recently, The Danger Within Us – a book by a former physician turned investigative journalist – covered the same thing: an estimated $156 billion medical device industry gone wild. Read the rest »
Kentucky Woman Wins $8.2 Million Verdict
A 35-year-old Kentucky mother went to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Edgewood with the worst headache of her life. The emergency room doctor ordered a CT exam to evaluate her headache. The CT showed evidence of a brain bleed, but the scan was misread by the radiologist. Another test was required, but instead the ER doctor told her it was just a migraine, and sent her on her way. Twelve days later, a blood vessel burst in her brain, and the woman was paralyzed from the neck down, unable to speak. An undetected brain aneurysm was to blame. Read the rest »
Uninsured Motorist Coverage May Be Your Best Friend in a Crash
Approximately 12.6% of United States drivers are driving their vehicles without the coverage of an auto insurance policy. In Colorado, the rate of uninsured drivers is higher at 16.2%, according to the Insurance Research Council. That’s one in six drivers breezing by you on the road without insurance.
If you are involved in an auto collision with one of those drivers, your first thought may well be that you’ve landed in a worst-possible scenario. But if you have uninsured motorist coverage, it will definitely help. Read the rest »
Why There Is No Such Thing as an “Accident”
Negligence Is Not an Accident – It’s a Choice
“For years our country has accepted unintentional injuries as an unavoidable reality. The truth is, there is no such thing as an accident. Every single one of these deaths was preventable. We know what to do to save lives, but collectively we have failed to prioritize safety at work, at home, and on the road.” So stated Deborah A. P. Hersman, president and CEO of the National Safety Council (NSC), in a news release lamenting the fact that unintentional injuries are now the third leading cause of death in the United States.
She brings up a very good point, one that Leventhal & Puga, P.C. often makes, both to our clients and our opponents: there are no such things as accidents. Read the rest »