As a Houston, Texas medical malpractice attorney, I represent patients and their families in medical negligence and wrongful death lawsuits involving numerous hospitals.
Three hospital chains have opened facilities all over the Houston/Harris County area. These chains include Houston Methodist, CHI St. Luke’s, and Memorial Hermann.
Houston Methodist West Hospital
Houston Methodist West Hospital is the fifth hospital in the Houston Methodist system. It is located in the West Houston/Katy area, at 18500 Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas 77094.
Houston Methodist West Hospital has nearly 200 beds and offers services including cancer care, heart and vascular, spine and orthopedics, sports medicine, diagnostic imaging, breast imaging, stroke care, labor and delivery care, and an emergency room.
Quality of care issues
When a client hires our law firm to investigate care at the hospital, one of the early steps that we do is investigate past reports of quality of care issues. In addition to reviewing prior lawsuits against the hospital, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services survey violation reports provide additional information.
While the State of Texas is rather lax on regulatory oversight of hospitals, in my opinion, Medicare and Medicaid regularly send surveyors to perform on-site inspections of hospitals.
On April 17, 2015, a Medicare/Medicaid surveyor cited Houston Methodist West Hospital with a violation for its infection control officers. The surveyor found that the facility did not ensure that its staff followed its infection control policy, including appropriate use of gloves, handwashing after removing gloves, and safe handling of soiled linen to prevent cross contamination. In the violation citation, the surveyor noted that the hospital’s failed practice had the potential to adversely affect staff and patients in the operating room department.
Hospital-acquired infections
In my experience as a medical negligence lawyer, hospital-acquired infections (also called nosocomial or healthcare-associated infections) are a significant problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on any given day, about one and 25 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection.
According to the most recent CDC data, for 2011, there are an estimated 722,000 hospital-acquired infections in US acute care hospitals, resulting in 75,000 patient deaths during their hospitalizations. Over half of all of the hospital-acquired infections occurred outside of the intensive care unit.
From the CDC data, the most common hospital-acquired infections include the following, with estimated number of annual cases: pneumonia (157,500), gastrointestinal illness (123,100), urinary tract infections (93,300), primary bloodstream infections (71,900), surgical site infections from any inpatient surgery (157,500), and other types of infections (118,500).
Expert research has shown that when hospitals, doctors, and nurses are aware of infection problems and take specific steps to prevent them, rates of some targeted hospital-acquired infections, like central line associated bloodstream infections, can decrease by more than 70%.
We are here to help
If you or someone you care for has been seriously injured as a result of care at Houston Methodist West Hospital, or any other facility, call the experienced medical negligence lawyers at Painter Law Firm, in Houston, Texas, at 281-580-8800, for a free consultation about your potential case.
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Robert Painter is an attorney at Painter Law Firm PLLC, in Houston, Texas, where he focuses his practice on medical malpractice cases. He represents patients and their families in medical negligence and wrongful death lawsuits against surgeons, doctors, and hospitals.
