Working together as a team to help you succeed.
Practice Areas
Blog 
Dangerous and Defective Products
Drugs for Osteoporosis Prescribed Unecessarily?
Defective Children’s Products & Toys are Constantly Recalled
Food manufacturers make consumers responsible
Defibrillator recalled by ZOLL Medical Corporation
Birth Injury
Understanding the Severity of Shoulder Dystocia
Warning Signs of Brachial Palsy Every Parent Should Know
The Scary Truth About Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy
Birth Injuries Can Lead to Neonatal Death
Semi-Truck and Auto Accidents
Cell Phones and Kentucky Car Accidents
Defective Maintenance Issues Can Cause Kentucky Truck Wrecks
Texting Ban on Kentucky Motorists passed by House
Medical Mistakes
Fewer complications from heart device specialists
Pain Pumps
Pain Pumps: FDA Requires Warning that Use in Joint Causes Chondrolysis and Cartilage Damage
YAZ Lawsuits
Yaz and Yasmin May Cause Stroke
Taking Yaz or Yasmin May Cause Deep Vein Thrombosis
Yaz Can Lead to Irregular Heartbeat
Hyperkalemia is a Potential Complication of Yaz Birth Control
Lawsuit Filed Against Bayer for Misrepresenting Safety and Effectiveness of Yaz
General
Types of sports-related injuries
Protecting children from unintentional injuries
Safety issues for children in hot weather
Zicam Recall Result of FDA Warning
Zicam Maker violated FDA Regulations
Library
Birth Injury
Do You Know What Caused Your Baby to Suffer from Shoulder Dystocia?
Common Causes of Brachial Palsy
Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy Can Often Be Prevented
What is traumatic brain injury?
Semi-Truck and Auto Accidents
Ten Factors That Can Lead to a Serious Kentucky Truck Accident
Cell Phones Are Blamed For Many Kentucky Car Accidents
There Are An Alarming Amount of Kentucky Car Accidents Every Year
Dangerous and Defective Products
Kentucky Lawsuits Filed Over Toyota’s Defective Accelerator Pedal
Fosamax osteoporosis drug prescribed when women only has osteopenia
Zicam cases in Kentucky and Ohio
Fentanyl pain patch being abused
Medical Mistakes
Common Drug Errors to Watch Out For
One in Fifteen Children Injured by Medicine Mistakes
One in 50 Heart Attack Victims Sent Home by Emergency Room Doctors
Surgical Errors Cost Billions of Dollars Every Year
How to prevent medical mistakes
Pain Pumps
Knees and Pain Pumps: New Evidence Linking Cartilage Loss in Knee Joint to Pain Pumps
YAZ Lawsuits
Signs and Treatment of Kidney Failure
Yaz or Yasmin Birth Control Can Cause Deep Vein Thrombosis
Symptoms of Pulmonary Embolism Caused by Yaz and Yasmin Birth Control
General
Types of sports-related injuries
Treatment of children's sports-related injuries
Protecting children from unintentional injuries
Keeping children safe in hot weather
Fewer complications from heart device specialists
Attorney Ronald E. Johnson of Schachter & Hendy concentrates on legal issues regarding defective medical devices. A recent article in The New York Times cited a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association that reviewed the experiences of patients who received defibrillators and heart devices.The researchers reviewed more than 1110,000 cases between January 2006 and June 2007, and analyzed how the patients did both during and following the procedure.
The research, headed by Dr. Jeptha P. Curtis, a cardiologist at Yale University, found that the rate of serious complications was lowest, 1.7%, when the device was implanted by an electrophysiologist, a specialized cardiologist. About 70% of the procedures were performed by electrophysiologists. Some were done by other types of cardiologists, who had a rate of 2.5% serious complications.
The researchers then examined complication rates during implant procedures based both on the type of doctor involved and the type of device implanted. In recent years, the question of how much training doctors receive before they start implanting heart devices has taken on added importance because of the growing number of people getting defibrillators.
There has been an increase in the number of people getting defibrillators that send out electrical jolts to stop potentially fatal heart rhythms, so some defibrillator makers are teaching the implant procedures to doctors who are not electrophysiologists. A 2006 New York Times article detailed how one small heart device manufacturer, Biotronik, spent more than $50,000 to provide implant training to several South Carolina doctors, who then tended to use mainly Biotronik devices on their patients.
Electrophysiologists have claimed that physicians need to be highly trained to successfully implant heart devices. But other doctors have countered that the specialists are simply trying to protect their lucrative practices, and they have argued that there are too few specialists to meet patient demand, particularly in rural areas.
The research from the new study was based on records recorded in a national database set up in 2005 that was required by Medicare to approve payments for the procedure. Electrophysiologists are using this data to show that doctors need to be highly trained to successfully implant heart devices.
In another article in the medical journal, Dr. James Coromilas, a professor at the
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in New Brunswick, said the new report suggested that patients requiring an implant should seek out an electrophysiologist. He also said that the study showed that many medical centers have both specialists and nonspecialists implanting heart devices so patients have access to an electrophysiologist if they want one.
While the study showed that the national database set up at Medicare’s behest has been useful in providing information about complications from defibrillator procedures, many experts say the database has not yielded much information about which types of patients are actually benefiting from the use of heart devices.
Free Consultation
Please fill out the form and we will be in touch with you shortly.
Schachter, Hendy & Johnson, Attorneys At Law
909 Wrights Summit Parkway
Suite 210
Fort Wright, KY 41011
Phone: (859) 578-4444
Fax: (859) 578-4440
Toll Free: (888) 606-5297
Get Directions
Contact Us
Schachter, Hendy & Johnson, Attorneys At Law
909 Wrights Summit Parkway
Suite 210
Fort Wright, KY 41011
Phone: (859) 578-4444
Fax: (859) 578-4440
Toll Free: (888) 606-5297
Videos
Pain Pumps:
FAQs
Pain Pumps
Can pain pumps injure knees as well as shoulders?
How do I know if my shoulder pain is the result of a defective pain pump?
YAZ Lawsuits
- If I have had a stroke, heart attack, blood clots of another condition caused by YAZ birth control, what are my legal rights?
- How do I know if my stroke, heart attack or blood clots were caused by YAZ birth control?