A North Fort Myers man has filed a federal lawsuit against the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Prison Health Services, claiming that in 2007 he was denied medical treatment and deteriorated from healthy to paralyzed.

Brett Allen Fields, 26, was booked into the Lee County Jail on July 6, 2007 charged with violating an injunction, criminal mischief and a probation violation. His lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, legal costs and a violation of his constitutional rights.

According to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday afternoon in federal, Fields requested medical attention for a wound in his left arm on July 10, 2007. A nurse identified his wound as a boil caused by Staphylococci and tried to treat it with a medication called Bactrim.

Two weeks later, Fields filled out an Inmate Medical Request Form stating the medication didn’t work, but he claims his request was ignored.

via North Fort Myers man files lawsuit against Lee County Sheriff’s Office | news-press.com | The News-Press.

THE Scottish Government has set up a task force of experts to examine a possible change in the way patients could obtain compensation from the NHS.

Medical negligence claims currently require the victim’s solicitor to prove that the problem was caused by the NHS or its staff, that they had a legal responsibility to prevent the problem occurring, and that there was clinical negligence.  A “no-fault” style of approach is being suggested, which would mean that while the injuries would still need to be shown to be related to the treatment, the patient would not have to establish any responsibility or blame. This proposed system of claiming would mean that time delays for patients making compensation claims might be significantly reduced.

A no-fault system would also allow patients who have contracted hospital acquired infections such as MRSA or C diff to make claims more easily without having to show that the hospital was in breach of its duties.

via Avoiding fault in compensation does no-one full justice – Scotsman.com News.

A Silsbee man has filed suit against Christus Hospital St. Elizabeth, alleging he developed ulcers, an infection and pneumonia after his stay at the hospital.  Ronald Lee Lewis says he was a patient at Christus for continuing medical care from Feb. 14, 2007, until March 24, 2007.  During his treatment, however, Lewis claims he suffered from a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection, ventilator-associated pneumonia and several decubitus ulcers due to the hospital’s failure to have an adequate pressure ulcer prevention program.

via Southeast Texas Record | Silsbee man says hospital to blame for MRSA infection.

A Dallas jury has awarded David Fritzgerald $17.5 million in a medical malpractice suit. The suit is the largest ever in Dallas county for a medical malpractice suit. David Fritzgerald lost both his arms and legs when he contracted Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus–more commonly known as MRSA. The suit alleged that had the doctor attending to Fritzgerald treated him correctly, Fritzgerald would not have lost his limbs

via Dallas Jury Awards $17.5 Million in MRSA Infection Case.

A Florida medical malpractice lawsuit has been filed against doctors who failed to properly diagnose a man with a MRSA skin infection, which ultimately led to his death. In the wrongful death lawsuit filed December 29, 2008, the widow of Ronald Carl alleges that doctors at Oak Hill Hospital in Brooksville, Florida, negligently failed to evaluate and treat a boil, which was a virulent staph infection known as MRSA, or Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.

According to the complaint, Carl presented to the hospital in July with the boil, but was sent home with antibiotics and no culture test was taken to determine the nature of the condition. When he returned to the hospital a few days later to control his blood sugar, a culture was taken that indicated he had a MRSA infection, but he was not notified and this was not noted in his medical records. Approximately two months after the hospital failed to properly diagnose the MRSA skin infection, Carl was readmitted to the hospital and there was a 21 hour delay before he was examined and determined to be septic with MRSA. He was placed in the intensive care unit (ICU), but suffered a cardiac arrest hours later and died the following morning.

via MRSA Skin Infection Misdiagnosis Lawsuit Filed in Florida : AboutLawsuits.com.

A borough woman who claimed she contracted a staph infection which caused facial scarring while working as a prison guard at Graterford Prison in 2003 recently settled for $226,000, according to her attorney.

“It’s a large settlement in terms of worker’s compensation,” said Gerard K. Schrom, the attorney who represented Carol Snyder.

Schrom said Snyder, who is in her 40s and worked at the prison for more than 10 years, filed the worker’s compensation claim in February 2007 and it was settled on Dec. 8, 2008.

via Guard receives court settlement in MRSA case – The Mercury News: Pottstown, PA and The Tri County areas of Montgomery, Berks and Chester Counties (pottsmerc.com).

Legal representatives for Ionia County are currently awaiting an answer from U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker on their request to have a civil lawsuit against them thrown out.

The lawsuit, filed by former Ionia County Jail inmate John Molinares, 30, claims former county jail guard Anthony Limon – currently serving a prison sentence for second degree criminal sexual conduct – allegedly broke Molinares’ foot and made disparaging comments against him.

Molinares also makes a claim that county policies allegedly resulted in the incident and also states that he contracted MRSA from spending time at the jail.

via Ionia Sentinel-Standard – News.

A widow filed court papers last week that blame local health care providers for her husband’s death from a virulent staph infection.

The Dec. 29 lawsuit alleges that doctors failed to diagnose Ronald Carl with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — better known as MRSA — when he went to a doctor to have a boil lanced last July.

The bacteria that causes MRSA has a variety of symptoms including abscesses that require surgical draining.

Instead of taking a culture to determine the type of infection affecting Carl, he was prescribed antibiotics and sent home, the lawsuit states.

Several days later, Carl was admitted to Oak Hill Hospital to control his high blood sugar and tests revealed he had MRSA. However, he was not told of the infection, nor did staff write the results on his chart or notify his doctor, according to the lawsuit.

via Lawsuit Blames Doctors For Alleged MRSA Death.