This is a sad story. 42-year-old man has a malfunctioning heart. The rhythm is off. This medical condition is sometimes referred to as atrial fibrillation. His electrophysiologist (a type of cardiologist) decides to perform an ablation procedure on the heart to restore normal rhythm. This involves putting a catheter through the femoral artery up into the heart and delivering focused doses of energy to the heart to create scar tissue. By selectively creating scar tissue in a malfunctioning heart, normal rhythm can be restored. (There are hundreds of thousands of ablation procedures performed ev ..read more

Common Post-Surgery Complications: Understanding the Risks First and foremost, recognize the recovery for weight loss surgery is six months to one year, not two weeks. One of the biggest risks after weight loss surgery is that the patient will develop chronic malnutrition. This can be incredibly serious. In extreme cases, a patient deprived of thiamine can go on to develop something called Wernicke encephalopathy/Korsakoff syndrome – a very serious neurological disease which can be permanent if thiamine is not restored to the patient’s system on time. We have two of these cases right now in wh ..read more

Here is something we have learned at G. Eric Nielsen & Associates from hard experience over many years: People who undergo weight loss surgery (bariatric surgery) are at risk for severe post-surgical complications for several months. Bariatric surgery is not like gallbladder surgery. It is not like an appendectomy. When the surgeon removes your diseased gallbladder or your infected appendix, you will typically require 2 to 4 weeks to completely heal. You will be at risk for severe postoperative complications for only a few days. Bariatric surgery patients are different. When a patient unde ..read more

Allegations have recently come to light that Dr. David Broadbent, an OB/GYN in Provo, Utah, has been sexually abusing many of his female patients.   Over 100 women have courageously come forward and disclosed the abuse that was perpetrated against them by their trusted doctor. Apparently the abuse had been going on for decades and many of Dr. Broadbent’s victims were college students or women who immigrated to Utah from other countries.  These women would often end up in the emergency room after experiencing bleeding from Dr. Broadbent’s abusive exams. As is often the case, most ..read more

One of the biggest scams in contemporary medicine is the notion that anyone can do plastic surgery if they take a weekend course and choose to call themselves a “cosmetic” surgeon. Why do so many non-plastic surgeons pretend to be plastic surgeons? Because there is a lot of money in it. The answer is simple. Plastic surgery is extremely lucrative. That is why so many doctors who don’t really have the training to do tummy tucks, facelifts, breast augmentations and liposuction are trying to cash in on the work of board-certified plastic surgeons. First, some background: It is hard to get into me ..read more

The delivery of a newborn child is one of life’s most miraculous events. Often, it is the culmination of months of preparation and effort, and results in a joyful addition to a family. It is during this process that expectant mothers and fathers put their trust in the care and professionalism of their doctors and nurses. With so much at stake, parents put a great deal of faith and trust in their health care providers. In many cases, that trust pays off, and through the efforts of conscientious doctors and medical staff, new babies are born healthy and happy. But mistakes happen. The birth of ..read more

One of the first things to understand about a breast cancer case is staging.  Breast cancer stages range from 0 to IV, with many subcategories. Lower numbers indicate earlier stages of cancer, while higher numbers reflect late-stage cancers.  If a doctor waits too long to order the appropriate tests, the disease can progress without treatment.  This delay in diagnosis is a common form of medical malpractice. Stage 0 This stage describes noninvasive (in situ) breast cancer. Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is an example of stage 0 cancer. Stage I This stage is an early stage ..read more

Perhaps no other cancer is more a casualty of the “doctor knows best” fallacy than prostate cancer. Over 1.2 million men a year are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States. If you are a man over the age of 40, your doctor should be talking to you about prostate cancer. That discussion should include a decision by you about whether you want to be tested on a regular basis. Over the years, different medical organizations have changed their recommendations about when, and even if, doctors should screen men for prostate cancer. They have also changed their positions about when a man sh ..read more

On July 19, 2019, G. Eric Nielson & Associates celebrated a substantial victory for victims of medical malpractice in the State of Utah. In the landmark case of Vega v. Jordan Valley Medical Center, et al., our firm, on behalf of all our present and future clients, persuaded the Utah Supreme Court to declare that the Utah Healthcare Malpractice Act’s Affidavit of Merit Requirement is unconstitutional. In 2010, the Utah legislature, in a bid to make it even more difficult for victims of malpractice to obtain justice against negligent medical care providers, added an onerous affidavit of mer ..read more

Something that a young woman never expects to feel is a lump in her breast, especially if breast implants have previously been placed. Everything checked out during the implant surgery so the lump must be a cyst, right? Wrong! Physicians who treat young women with lumps in their breasts must be vigilant in making sure the lump isn’t cancerous. Approximately 80% of young women who discover a lump find their breast lump during self-examinations and see a doctor after they find it. Young women who have breast cancer tend to have a more aggressive cancer with a higher mortality rate and a higher r ..read more