A Connecticut medical malpractice lawsuit filed in December 2024 alleges that during a left knee replacement surgery in 2023 in a Connecticut hospital, a right knee implant was wrongfully implanted in the patient’s left knee, and that no one in the operating room discovered the error before the surgery or after the surgery while the patient was still in the operating room.
The patient, who has multiple sclerosis, cannot undergo further surgery to remove the wrong implant due to underlying medical conditions. The Connecticut medical malpractice lawsuit filed on December 27, 2024 on behalf of the patient and his wife against the surgeon, the hospital, and others, states, in part: “A surgical correction, which requires anesthesia, poses unacceptable health risks to Michael, who manages the central nervous system disease, multiple sclerosis.” The patient is left with impaired range of motion of his left knee, the snapping of the knee joint, and chronic inflammation, according to the lawsuit.
The Connecticut medical malpractice lawsuit further alleges, “Remarkably, not one of at least six individuals in the operating room that day identified the safety lapse or implant error: Michael was discharged to home the next day to ambulate with two right knees.”
The Connecticut medical malpractice lawsuit alleges that the defendants falsely documented that they had verified that the implant was for the left knee before implanting the right knee implant, and that the defendant hospital where the surgery took place “improperly permitted the use of pre-populated electronic medical record templates that documented care not rendered.”
Pre-Populated Electronic Health Records (EHR)
The Doctors Company (the largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurance company in the United States) provides the following five tips to avoid electronic health records (EHR)-related medical malpractice claims:
- Risk: Copy/paste may perpetuate incorrect or outdated information.
Solution: Avoid copying and pasting except when describing the patient’s past medical history. - Risk: Many EHRs auto-populate fields in the patient’s history and physical exam and in procedure notes, causing the entering of erroneous or outdated clinical information.
Solution: Contact your organization’s IT department or your vendor if you notice that the auto population feature causes erroneous data to be recorded. If the auto populated information is incorrect, note it and document the correct information. - Risk: Templates with drop-down menus facilitate data entry, but an entry error may be perpetuated elsewhere in the EHR.
Solution: Review your entry after you make a choice from a drop-down menu. - Risk: Doctors are responsible for the information to which they have reasonable access. EHR metadata documents what was reviewed. A patient injury may result from a failure to access or make use of available patient information.
Solution: Review all available data and information prior to treating a patient. - Risk: The computer may become a barrier between the doctor and the patient.
Solution: Relocate the computer so the physician’s back is not to the patient and so the patient can view the screen. Remind the patient that you are listening carefully, even though you may be typing during the appointment and summarize or read the note to demonstrate you have listened.
If you or a loved one suffered serious harm as a result of a surgical implant in Connecticut or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Connecticut medical malpractice lawyer, or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state, who may investigate your surgical implant malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a surgical implant malpractice case, if appropriate.
Visit our website or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to find medical malpractice attorneys in your state who may assist you.
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