A recent medical study reveals an alarming increase in the amount of narcotic painkillers that are being prescribed to pregnant women. Researchers involved with the study are calling for more research to be done to determine what health risks these strongly addictive drugs may have on the women’s unborn children.

The study was conducted at Harvard Medical School by analyzing the medical data of more than 500,000 pregnant women who had been prescribed opioids for pain and discomfort. This data came from a commercial insurance plan from which the women were enrolled. The average age of the women was 31 years old.

Some of the factors the research team looked at included the most common medications prescribed, the most frequent medical complaints for which the drugs were prescribed, and what, if any, difference did geographical location make.

The most common condition doctors prescribed these narcotics for was back pain—almost 40 percent. Other medical complaints that doctors felt necessitated opioids were joint pain, abdominal pain and fibromyalgia.

The most common drug prescribed was hydrocodone (Vicodin), which was given to 6.8 percent of the women. Six percent were given codeine, 2 percent were given oxycodone (Oxycodone), and propoxyphene (Darvon) was given to another 1.6 percent.

The heaviest concentration of prescriptions were given to women who lived in the southern part of the country, with Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi each having rates at 20 percent or more.

The lead researcher, Dr. Brian Bateman, wrote, “Nearly all women experience some pain during pregnancy. However, the safety of using opioids … remains unclear. Ultimately, we need more data to assess the risk/benefit ratio of prescribing these drugs to women and how it may affect their babies.”

If you have been prescribed medication that has caused serious side-effects, or a medication has caused your condition to worsen, contact an experienced Westport medical malpractice attorney to find out what compensation you may be entitled to for pain and loss.

Medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Journal of American Medicine and as reported by Forbes. In the U.S., a malpractice payout is made every 43 minutes and amounts to a stunning $3 billion in 2012.

However, according to Forbes, there are several steps a person can take to avoid malpractice suits—the most important of which is to be your own healthcare advocate. Understanding medical malpractice and how to approach it is the most important step to dealing with it and getting your life back on track in the event of a malpractice issue.

To begin, you have the right to file a malpractice claim if “a provider’s negligence causes injury or damages to a patient,” reports Forbes. Negative results from medical care do not always amount to a malpractice claim, however, and there are certain limitations regulated by the state when it comes to what types of incidents can be considered malpractice, as well as the timeframe for which a claim can be filed.

More than 80 percent of all malpractice claims filed in the U.S. every year do not result in payouts to the patients or the survivors of affected patients. In addition, there is a statute of limitations in which the claim can be filed. This varies from state to state. In Connecticut, according to the office of the state’s Chief Attorney, Connecticut state law requires that a medical malpractice suit be filed within two years from the date “when the injury is first sustained or discovered or in the exercise of reasonable care should have been discovered.”

The Chief Attorney’s Office notes, however, that if a patient can prove that the medical professional had a continuing duty to warn him or her about the consequences of malpractice or possible negative effects of procedure, the statute of limitations can be extended. There must be evidence that the doctor failed to fulfill his duty in the period that follows the original wrong, and that duty must be proved to be within the typical standard of care.

If you suspect you have been victim of medical malpractice and have questions regarding the medical malpractice statute of limitations, the most important step is to seek legal counsel. Contact a Westport medical malpractice attorney today.

A study conducted by researchers at John Hopkins University School of Medicine reveals that the most dangerous and costly mistakes made by doctors are diagnostic errors. According to the study, more than 160,000 people die in the United States each year because of physician misdiagnosis.

A diagnostic error can hamper the treatment of a patient’s condition and can cause serious injury or even death.

The research team examined more than 350,000 paid-out malpractice claims which had occurred between 1986 through 2010. They obtained the information from the National Practitioner Data Bank. The majority of the claims paid outX—28.6 percent—were due to misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose on the part of physicians. These claims typically resulted in extreme harm to the patient.

These claims were also the highest paid out claims and accounted for 35 percent of the total amount of medical malpractice claims paid. The payout of diagnostic error claims totaled almost $40 billion.

There were 69 percent of outpatient diagnostic error claims and 31 inpatient claims. There were more deaths that occurred for the inpatient claims.

The majority of diagnostic errors analyzed in the study were classified as failed diagnosis, with misdiagnosis errors coming in second. Errors involving neurological diagnosis were the most common.

The head of the research team, Dr. David E. Newman-Toker, an associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University, estimates that diagnostic errors occur in almost 15 percent of patients on their initial visit to a doctor for a new medical issue.

Dr. Newman-Toker said of his team’s findings, “Overall, diagnostic errors have been under appreciated and under-recognized because they’re difficult to measure and keep track of owing to the frequent gap between the time the error occurs and when it’s detected. These are frequent problems that have played second fiddle to medical and surgical errors, which are evident more immediately.”

If you have suffered permanent disabilities or illness due to a diagnostic error, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact an experienced Westport medical malpractice attorney to discuss your legal options.