Tampa Personal Injury Blog

Fame, wealth, beauty and celebrity are not equally distributed in this world -- but health problems can affect just about everyone, regardless of their social stature. So can medical malpractice.

If you want to see how little wealth and fame can protect you against medical mistakes, you only have to consider the following examples:

• Michael Jackson died from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol, which was administered by the singer's own private doctor to treat his chronic insomnia.
• Julie Andrews lost her iconic singing ability when a negligent throat procedure destroyed her voice.
• Glenn Frey was well-known for being the guitarist and founders of The Eagles. He's less well-known for his death from multiple medical mistakes involved in the treatment for his ulcerative colitis.
• John Ritter's sudden death broke a lot of hearts, and the tragedy was compounded by the fact that it was preventable. Doctors misdiagnosed his condition when he was taken to the hospital and gave him the wrong treatment.
• Ed McMahon was a beloved game show host, comedian and announcer -- but doctors still failed to diagnose his broken neck and caused him significant long-term injuries.
• When Prince died, many areas played tribute to his contributions to music and popular culture by lighting up the night with purple lights -- but it didn't take long for the news to break that his overdose death could have been prevented if doctors hadn't failed to treat him for addiction after an earlier overdose.
• Comedienne Joan Rivers was famous for her sharp wit and biting commentary -- but her death highlighted the all-too-human capacity of doctors to become starstruck and make foolish mistakes that violate medical protocols.

If you were to ask most expectant parents about what is most important about their unborn child, they will very likely express a desire for a healthy child. Unfortunately, the difficult process of bringing new life into this world can sometimes result in serious injuries to both mother and baby.

In some cases, medical intervention can reduce the risks of harm and improve the outcome for mother and child. Other times, the actions or inaction of the physicians and nurses involved in the labor and delivery process can cause direct, lifelong harm to the child and indirect harm to the parents who must then absorb the financial and practical cost of caring for a child with a serious birth injury.

Drug addiction and alcoholism are complex problems that most people cannot fight on their own. Many turn to rehab facilities for assistance. Unfortunately, some of those facilities are less successful than they should be -- and others are downright harmful. Far too often, addicts and their families spend thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for substandard care that may leave the victim worse off than he or she was before.

What does negligent rehab care look like?

A horrific accident between a sports utility vehicle and an Amtrak train claimed the life of a 58-year old Florida woman her two young grandsons, ages 8 and 10.

The grandmother was taking the boys to a Boy Scout camp when she failed to yield when turning left. That put her SUV right in the train's path. The train struck the vehicle and propelled it along the tracks for about a half mile before it could stop.