Dialysis Injuries

The kidneys are two organs located in the back of the abdominal cavity that filter waste from the blood and regulate fluid balance, among other things. Dialysis is a procedure that performs the job of failed kidneys. The two types of dialysis are peritoneal and hemodialysis. In hemodialysis, which can be performed at a dialysis facility or in the home, blood is put in a filter outside a patient's body, cleaned, and then put back. In peritoneal dialysis, a particular fluid is put into a patient's abdomen to absorb waste and clean the blood that moves through the small vessels of the abdominal cavity, and then the fluid with the waste is drained away. Staff members and medical professionals should look for possible side effects and problems involving dialysis. If you suffer this type of injury, you should retain an experienced Syracuse dialysis injury lawyer at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano.

There are many different side effects and problems that can arise in connection with dialysis, resulting in injuries. For example, fistulas can clot and fail. Sometimes surgery is required to repair a dialysis access path or create a new one. In other cases, the ultrafiltration of the blood results in low blood pressure, or the low oxygen in the blood creates hypoxemia, which has serious side effects when left untreated. There has been a Class 1 recall of the dialysis drugs Naturalyte and GranuFlo, which have been found to increase bicarbonate levels such that cardiovascular issues and death can result. Another common risk is falling and developing injuries.

Although dialysis is a crucial procedure for people with kidney problems, it can cause injuries. A facility or health care provider that does dialysis should know what the risks are, how to minimize them, and how to recognize them. In some cases, for example, a patient on dialysis has suffered a fatal cardiac arrest, due to a failure to recognize the risks of the fluid used to cleanse the blood.

A dialysis injury attorney at our Syracuse firm can help you bring a medical malpractice claim if you were harmed by a health care provider’s negligence. However, not every error counts as medical malpractice. To prove medical malpractice, you will need to show a health care provider-patient relationship, a deviation from the professional standard of care, causation, and damages. The professional standard of care is the accepted practices and standards of the medical community when faced with a similar patient. Medical errors that can result in serious dialysis complications and injuries can include needle errors, medication errors, improper reuse of a dialysis machine, failure to monitor, and equipment errors. An equipment error could result in a product liability lawsuit rather than a medical malpractice claim. Any of these errors could cause serious or even fatal injuries.

Damages that your Syracuse dialysis injury attorney may be able to recover through a medical malpractice lawsuit include both economic and noneconomic losses. Economic losses can include all tangible losses, such as lost wages, medical bills, out-of-pocket expenses, and loss of earning capacity. In the case of a wrongful death, they may also include funeral and burial expenses. Noneconomic losses are intangible losses, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life. In New York, family members cannot recover compensation for their own pain and suffering, loss of companionship, or mental anguish in a wrongful death lawsuit. However, they can recover the value of support, the value of lost parental guidance and nurturing, and the conscious pain and suffering of the deceased victim after their final injury but prior to dying.

When you seek medical treatment, you expect to be treated with a high degree of care. If you have been harmed due to the improper use of dialysis, our law firm may be able to help you recover damages from the responsible parties. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano represents injured individuals in the areas around Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, Auburn, Elmira, Norwich, Cortland, Delhi, Herkimer, Watertown, Lowville, Oneida, Wampsville, Utica, Canandaigua, Oswego, Cooperstown, Ithaca, and Lyons. Call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.