phone
267-587-6240
Home  Camden  Camden Distracted Doctor Attorney

So you know that distracted driving is an issue in Camden and across the country, but what about distracted doctoring? Yes, doctors have smartphones too, but do they actually get distracted by their smartphones while they are performing procedures or prescribing medicine? Yes, unfortunately, it happens and it may happen more often than you think.

Doctors rely on their smartphones in their medical practice in a number of ways. They use their phones to write prescriptions, review and refer to research, they look at electronic health records, and communicate with colleagues via text messaging and video conferencing. There are many healthcare apps that doctors use and easy access to medical information can make their practice much more efficient. But what happens when a doctor decides to text his wife about dinner plans or checks Facebook on his phone while in the operating room and a patient is injured as a result?

Distracted doctor cases

Distracted doctor cases may be more common than you think and the facts of the cases are often extremely disturbing. See below for some examples of distracted doctor cases.

  • A patient died during a procedure in Texas after his blood oxygen levels dropped too low. Evidence showed that the anesthesiologist responsible for monitoring the patient had been texting during the procedure and even posted to Facebook.
  • In Colorado a patient was left partially paralyzed after a surgery. The neurosurgeon was said to have made over ten cell phone calls during the surgery.
  • A resident doctor in Massachusetts was entering patient information via email and was distracted by a text from a friend about an upcoming party. After responding to the text she failed to input instructions to stop a patient’s medication. The medication was given to the patient for the next three days and the patient ended up having emergency open-heart surgery allegedly as a result of receiving the medicine that should have been stopped.
  • In Florida, parents of a child injured during birth alleged that the doctor was distracted by cell phone calls with a BMW service station because his BMW had broken down that day.
  • A patient went to the emergency room and was not admitted for 14 hours and was not given antibiotics until 4 hours after being admitted. Subsequently, she contracted sepsis and died. During the time that the deceased was waiting for treatment, witnesses saw five nurses on their cell phones and when questioned, they claimed to be texting with doctors about patients. Cell records at trial showed that there were no texts with doctors about patients.

Smartphone use may not prove medical malpractice occurred, but it can certainly be used as supporting evidence in a medical malpractice case. If you have been injured due to medical malpractice, contact a Camden distracted doctor attorney at The Weitz Firm, LLC. We will review the facts of your case including your medical records. We will question witnesses and seek smartphone activity records. If you have been injured due to a medical professional’s negligent activity, you deserve to be fully compensated and our team will work to see that happen.

Click To Call