Sara Tschop and her husband, Kenneth L. Tschop, of Ohio have filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a West Virginia doctor and her practice.  In May 2008, Sara Tschop went in to see Dr. Linda Savoy at University Physicians & Surgeons in Huntington, West Virginia for pain on her left side and back and nausea.  

Tschop was seen for two follow-up appointments with Dr. Savoy in June and July before Savoy referred her to a urologist or endocrinologist for further treatment of a kidney stone.  In August, Tschop went to a urologist who performed multiple procedures to try and save her left kidney.  In March 2009, tests revealed that Tschop's left kidney was only functioning at 6.6 percent and needed to be removed.

The Tschops have filed suit against Savoy and UP&S for delaying Sara's treatment and referral, which lead to the removal of her left kidney. 

If you or someone you know has suffered due to medical malpractice involving delayed treatment, contact the Washington delayed treatment lawyers of Fuller & Fuller at 800-570-4878 to learn more about your rights. 

ProPublica, a non-profit news group, reports that certain states are organized into compacts, allowing nursing licenses to transfer between them. It was designed to help alleviate nursing shortages in individual states. ProPublica reveals and USA Today reports that this compact system has actually allowed bad nurses to move freely between the participating states. If a nurse is disciplined for misconduct in one state, they just pack their things and head to another member of the compact of states.

The screening systems in some of the state groups are lagging. USA Today writes that, "Nurse Craig Peske was fired from a hospital in Wausau, Wis., in 2007 after stealing the powerful painkiller Dilaudid 'whenever the opportunity arose,' state records say. In one three-month period, he signed out 245 syringes full of the drug — nine times the average of hisfellow nurses." He was reported to Wisconsin police. So, Peske moved to North Carolina and became a nurse there, where he could continue his habit.

This lack of screening can significantly affect patient care. If you or someone you know has suffered as a result of hospital negligence, contact experienced Washington medical malpractice lawyers at Fuller & Fuller today.

The state of Washington will be receiving four grants from the Department of Health and Human Services.  The money will be going to state programs that will work to provide and evaluate patient safety standards.  President Barack Obama announced in September 2009 that he would be passing a new health care bill that reformed United States healthcare.  The Washington investments are part of the patient safety and medical liability initiative that Obama included in the bill. 

The projects that will be funded by the grants will involve communication training for healthcare workers, implementation of a plan for integrating a medical liability and patient safety program, contributing to fostering patient-friendly shared decision making tools for patients undergoing surgery and evaluating the best practices for medication risk management.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of medical malpractice or has been medically mistreated in any way, contact the Washington medical malpractice attorneys of Fuller & Fuller by calling 800-570-4878.