Lubin & Meyer Represents Family in "Alarm Fatigue" Settlement

Attorney Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. represented the family of an 89-year-old cardiac patient who died at Mass. General Hospital in Boston when nurses failed to respond to cardiac monitor alarms. The case, as well as a series of investigative articles by The Boston Globe, has spurred national attention around the issue of "alarm fatigue." The settlement for $850,000.00 was made public this week.

What is alarm fatigue?

As reported in The Boston Globe on November 28, 2011:

"Although monitors can save lives when they alert nurses to dangerous changes in a patient’s condition, most alarms are false, triggered by  patients shifting in bed or minor changes. According to a Globe investigation published earlier this year, repeated false alarms can desensitize nurses, causing them to tune out alarms that turn out to be critical — a phenomenon called alarm fatigue linked to hundreds of patient deaths."

Andrew Meyer is quoted in the article:

“Much to Mass. General’s credit, they recognized the error and tried to do right by the family. They are in good faith trying to prevent the problem from occurring in the future. The family was appreciative.’’

Learn more about alarm fatigue in this series of reports from The Boston Globe. 

Added February 2012: While as of this writing there have been no deaths attributed to alarm fatigue in Rhode Island, awareness to the issue is high. See related news story covered by Providence's WPRI News 12:

Alarm fatigue can be life-threatening

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