A new study led by Dr. Sana M. Al-Khatib, an associate professor of medicine at Duke University, shows that 22.5% of patients implanted with internal cardiac defibrillators may have received the devices unnecessarily. Read the study in it’s entirely below.
The study, being published in The Journal of the American Medical Association today, examined the records of over 111,707 people and 1,227 hospitals from 2006 to 2009 and determined that 22.5% of people fell outside the guidelines of patients who should receive internal cardiac defibrillators as determined by the American Heart Association. For example, according to two clinical studies, there is no benefit from an internal cardiac defibrillator in patients who have recently had a heart attack yet 37% of people who received a device improperly had a heart attack in the past 4 months.
Medical Malpractice and Cardiac Defibrillators
Even more surprising is that 30% of people who should be receiving internal cardiac defibrillators are not receiving them. Failure to diagnose a heart condition properly can lead to serious problems including death. The instances of medical malpractice could be widespread in respect to implanting cardiac defibrillators when they’re not needed or when doctors fail to implant them when they are.
If you or a loved one has suffered from your doctor’s malpractice, contact the experienced New York attorneys of Rheingold Giuffra Ruffo Plotkin & Hellman LLP for a free consultation.
Edward A. Ruffo, Partner
Mr. Ruffo currently litigates cases at the state and federal levels in New York and New Jersey and has obtained numerous multi-million dollar medical damage awards for his clients. He has been annually ranked as a Top 10 and Top 100 Trial Lawyer by numerous professional societies including The National Trial Lawyers Association.
