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The history of medical malpractice -

Malpractice in medicine is an unfortunate but ever-present reality in healthcare, and has been since the beginning of the profession. The first written acknowledgement of medical malpractice can be found in the ancient Code of Hammurabi, the exhaustive legal document from the ancient civilization of Babylon. Dated around 1755 BCE, the code proclaims that if a nobleman dies during surgery, the surgeon must have both his hands cut off as punishment.

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America's third leading cause of death -

Healthcare has come a long way in the nearly 3,000 years since the days of Hammurabi, but malpractice remains a serious and all too-common-occurrence. According to Johns Hopkins University, medical malpractice remains the third leading cause of death in the United States.

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The "four Cs" that help avoid malpractice -

An old adage in the world of medicine describes the four common practices that can help doctors avoid committing malpractice, known as the "four Cs": compassion, communication, competence, and charting.

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Medieval malpractice -

The first official and verifiable case of malpractice since ancient times may have occurred in England in 1164. One document found from that year describes the case of Ervrad v. Hoskins, in which a doctor faced the cryptic accusation of practicing "unwholesome medicine."

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1374: the first malpractice case -

Some 200 years later, a more descriptive case of medical malpractice was recorded in England. In the 1374 case of Stratton vs. Swanlond, one Agnes Stratton claimed that a surgeon, John Swanlond, had promised to heal her deformed hand. When Swanlond ultimately failed, Stratton sued. Ultimately, the case was thrown out due to a clerical error, but the case started a conversation about a doctor's obligations to their patients.

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The first case of malpractice in the United States -

In 1794, the young nation of the United States saw their first legal case relating to medical malpractice. A patient claimed that her doctor promised to perform an unspecified surgery in a "skillful and safe manner," and then failed to do so. Despite the vague wording, the plaintiff was awarded 40 English pounds in damages. But that would hardly be the last such case...

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The wrong patient receives heart surgery -

It's pretty hard to perform a surgery correctly if you have the wrong patient on the table! That is precisely what happened in 2002, at an undisclosed teaching hospital, with a woman who was admitted for brain exams relating to an aneurism. Due to a number of logistical errors, the woman, referred to by the pseudonym Joan Morris, ended up on an operating table and had an invasive heart surgery performed on her.

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Willie King's feet -

In 1995, a 51-year-old man named Willie King was admitted to the University Community Hospital in Tampa, Florida, awaiting an amputation of his right foot. While King rested peacefully under anesthesia, the attending surgeon went to work on his left foot. By the time the unnamed surgeon realized the error of his ways, they were past the point of no return and had to complete the amputation. The hospital was forced to pay Mr. King US$900,000 in damages, and the surgeon added an additional $250,000 of monetary relief for his negligence.

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Incompatible blood types -

The 2003 death of 17-year-old Jesica Santillan could have been easily avoided if her surgeons paid more attention. Santillan, a Mexican national who was taken into the United States by her parents in hopes of finding a doctor who would perform life-saving heart and lung transplants on their daughter, perished after the surgeons tried to implant a heart and a pair of lungs from a donor whose blood type didn't match her own.

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Sherman Sizemore's anesthesia awareness -

Sherman Sizemore, then 73, experienced a true nightmare-turned-reality in a West Virginia hospital in 2006. During an exploratory surgery performed in order to find the source of Sizemore's abdominal pain, he experienced a phenomenon known as anesthesia awareness, during which his brain and nervous system "woke up," although his body stayed paralyzed. Sizemore was able to feel every sensation of the incredibly painful and invasive surgery, but not able to react or protest. Investigations into the surgery showed that the attending anesthesiologist didn't administer Sizemore's general anesthetic in time for it to properly keep Sizemore sedated. Sizemore's family claims that the trauma inflicted upon Sizemore caused him to take his own life just two weeks after the surgery.

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Tools left behind -

While it may be comforting to assume that surgical instruments being left inside of patients is only the stuff of television dramas, it is actually a far-too-common occurrence. One of the most famous instances of forgotten tools took place at the Washington Medical Center in 2000. A relatively simple surgery with the goal of removing a tumor from the patient's abdomen seemed to go off without a hitch, until it was discovered that a 13-inch (33-cm) retractor tool was left inside. The attending surgeons went back in and safely removed the instrument, but the patient, 49-year-old Donald Church, still received US$97,000 in damages in a legal settlement.

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Julie Andrews loses her voice -

It isn't only everyday citizens who become the victims of medical malpractice; celebrities aren't immune either. Julie Andrews, the movie star with the golden voice, lost her iconic voice as a result of a surgeon's negligence. A botched 1997 surgery meant to remove small, non-cancerous lumps from Andrew's vocal chords left the actress never able to sing again.

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The death of Michael Jackson -

One of the most high-profile cases of malpractice concerned Michael Jackson, the King of Pop himself. Investigations showed that Jackson's sudden death was caused by an overdose on prescription drugs. Those drugs, a court case decided, were improperly prescribed by Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. Murray was consequently convicted of manslaughter and forced to pay US$100 million in damages to the Jackson estate.

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Surgeon signs his work -

A gross story of medical narcissism unfolded in 1999, after the successful cesarian section of Liana Gedz. The gross misconduct occurred when the surgeon, one Allan Zarkin, decided to carve his initials on Gedz's stomach. The ensuing civil malpractice suit cost Zarkin's hospital over US$5 million.

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The story of Jan Karbaat -

One of the most disturbing stories of medical misconduct revolved around the Dutch doctor Jan Karbaat. Dr. Karbaat was a trusted specialist in artificial insemination, and exploited this trust for his own strange aspirations.

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The story of Jan Karbaat -

Over the course of his career, Karbaat secretly used his own sperm in his artificial insemination procedures. As of 2022, Karbaat has been proven the father of no less than 71 children conceived through artificial insemination.

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Dr. Cline, the Karbaat copycat -

One would hope that such a dastardly act could only be conceived by a singularly awful individual. Unfortunately, that is not the case. American doctor Donald Cline is the biological father of some 94 children conceived through artificial insemination.

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Dr. Cline, the Karbaat copycat -

In 2017, Cline was convicted of multiple charges of obstruction of justice during an investigation into his illicit and non-consensual sperm 'donations.' Not only did Dr. Cline's actions severely impact the families he was hired to assist, but his own genetic deficiencies, which would have made him an unsuitable donor by most legal standards, haunt his biological children. Many of the "Cline children" suffer from auto-immune disorders and arthritis.

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Patient catches fire during surgery -

An exceptionally dramatic example of malpractice occurred in 2012 when a patient named Enrique Ruiz caught on fire during what should have been a simple tracheotomy surgery. The fire was apparently caused by the heat of an electronic scalpel.

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A screwdriver in the back -

No incidences of medical malpractice are acceptable, but some, at the very least, are understandable. It remains impossibly difficult to understand why Dr. Robert Ricketson decided to place a screwdriver in the back of patient Arturo Iturralde in place of a medical-grade surgical rod. Mr. Iturralde died as a result, and his family eventually received US$5.6 million in damages.

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The tragic story of Libby Zion -

Medical malpractice isn't always the sole fault of the doctors involved. In the case of 19-year-old Libby Zion, her tragic and unavoidable death was caused in part by the general climate of the healthcare profession. Zion died as the result of negligence, but the negligence itself was caused by her attending physicians being stretched impossibly thin, forced to work long hours and being responsible for dozens of patients at a time.

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The most expensive malpractice suit in history -

In court, malpractice cases are almost always solved with money. Damages frequently amount to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, but some settlements surpass even that. In 2006, a Florida court decided that Allan Navarro was owed US$216.7 million in damages after doctors ignored his stroke-like symptoms, resulting in Navarro suffering severe brain damage and losing his ability to walk.

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The horrendous story of Nikita Levy -

One of the most disturbing stories of medical misconduct in recent history involves one Dr. Nikita Levy. Levy was a gynecologist under the employ of Johns Hopkins University, one of the most trusted and celebrated institutions in the United States.

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The horrendous story of Nikita Levy -

Levy was accused and later convicted of taking pictures and videos of his female patients in compromising situations without their knowledge or consent throughout the many years of his career. Levy's victims might number over 1,000. Levy's gross misconduct came to light in 2013, and he took his own life shortly afterwards.

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Jim the horse -

During the turn of the 19th century, a horse named Jim was renowned across the United States for providing over 7.5 gallons (28.5 liters) of diphtheria antitoxins to countless children. The doctors responsible for extracting and distributing Jim's gift weren't in the habit of testing every single batch, until the deaths of 13 children were traced back to Jim's antitoxins. Studies showed that Jim had been contaminated with tetanus, and none of his doctors had caught it before spreading the deadly illness to the unsuspecting children.

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Rhode Island's poor track record of brain surgeries -

Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, has a historically questionable reputation when it comes to brain surgeries. Three malpractice suits have come from botched brain surgeries performed at the hospital, the most dramatic of which involved a patient having a hole drilled into the wrong side of their head.

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Alexander Baez's pec implants -

Alexander Baez, a one-time Mr. Mexico winner, suffered physically and emotionally at the hands of a crooked plastic surgeon in Miami, Florida. The bodybuilder had sought the help of Dr. Reinaldo Silvestre in his quest for pec implants, but when Baez awoke, he was horrified to see he had been given full breast implants instead. According to his attorney, Baez had to go about life with his new chest for months before he could have the implants properly and safely removed by a more upstanding doctor.

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Graham Reeves' kidneys -

In Wales in 2000, Korean War veteran Graham Reeves was admitted to Prince Philip Hospital for a simple kidney removal surgery. The attending surgeons, for reasons unknown, took Reeves' one working kidney instead of the one flagged for removal, leading to Reeves' death only a short time later.

Sources: (Ranker) (Meinhart, Smith & Manning, PLLC) (Hampton & King)

See more: Diseases doctors often get wrong

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