Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

A woman who claims she was misdiagnosed at a hospital who confused her x-rays filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital. The woman claims while at the hospital suffering from a ruptured diaphragm, miscommunication ensued over her x-rays which led doctors to diagnose her with a urinary tract infection and muscle strain. When the emergency room finally corrected this medical misdiagnosis several weeks later, doctors had to surgically remove a third of her stomach. The woman’s medical malpractice attorney claims the woman has had six corrective surgeries since the hospital’s negligence. A jury awarded her $5 million against the hospital.

Read more about the medical malpractice jury award here.

A man with a staph infection was misdiagnosed and filed a medical malpractice suit. The man’s medical malpractice attorney claims his client went to the emergency room complaining of headaches, shakes, and fever. The doctor on duty told the man he had a strain of flu and just needed rest. Instead the man had a staph infection in which he almost lost his life. The jury awarded the man $5.45 million dollars for medical malpractice.

Read more about the medical misdiagnosis here.

A woman who complained of chest pains was misdiagnosed by a physician which led to permanent heart damage. The woman later filed a medical malpractice claim against the physician for misdiagnosing her chest pains. The medical insurer for the physician group the doctor belonged to also claimed that the group did not properly report the medical malpractice claim. The judge for the medical malpractice suit concluded that the woman should receive $2 million in damages.

Read more about the medical malpractice settlement here.

A man filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a medical center claiming they made a series of medical mistakes while treating him for severe abdominal pain. The man was rushed to the hospital where he claims he was misdiagnosed and told he needed surgery. When undergoing surgery, the man claims the doctors realized they were wrong about needing to perform the surgery in the first place on the man. Later, the man was diagnosed with a digital hernia from the surgical procedure.

Read more about the medical negligence lawsuithere.

A man died from a bowel obstruction after a hospital sent him home days earlier when he reported abdominal pain. The family claims the hospital was negligent and thus decided to file a medical malpractice claim against the hospital. X-rays show that the emergency room doctor failed to recognize a bowel obstruction in the man’s stomach, according to the deceased’s family.

Read more about the hospital malpractice here.

Medical malpractice lawyers recently argued their client’s case in front of a judge and jury and received a reward of $12 million for the 33-year-old woman who suffered disability and brain damage during a routine colonoscopy and endoscopy. During the procedure, the doctor perforated her small intestine. After the procedure, the plaintiff developed common symptoms of a perforated small intestine, including severe pain and vomiting. When she contacted the doctor, he prescribed her anti-vomiting medications. The next day, her pain continued and she was taken to the emergency room where they diagnosed her condition. Because of this delayed diagnosis, she went into cardiac arrest, leading to brain damage and permanent disability. Follow the link to read the full article about this medical negligence case.

Malrotation is an “abnormal alignment of the bowels that can cut off blood flow to the intestines,” according to the article. Doctors told a woman not to worry when they misdiagnosed her baby's conditions. They assumed the baby was only spitting up when he really suffered from malrotation. According to the article, “treatment is often delayed because parents and pediatricians mistake the symptoms for those of other, less serious conditions.” This condition is fatal. Failure to diagnose medical conditions often leads to medical malpractice suits.

Read more about diagnosing this medical condition here.

A man’s death brings a lawsuit against a hospital and doctor for lack of treatment. The deceased’s family alleges that when he was admitted to the emergency room at the hospital for a fever the doctor failed to diagnose the man for an ulcer that developed. According to his family, the failed diagnosis brought the man pain, suffering, and ultimately his death.

Read more about the alleged failed diagnosis here.

A military officer’s skin cancer was overlooked and later misdiagnosed as a wart by two different military doctors. When seeking out a third opinion after his tour was over, he learned he had stage three skin cancer and died 18 months later. The medical misdiagnosis led to legislation introduced in the House. The legislation allows military personnel to sue the government for medical malpractice.

Read more about the medical malpractice legislation here.

A doctor at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois misdiagnosed an Air Force officer’s ex-wife’s rash on her arm. He told the woman to go home and take over-the-counter medication for her rash. The condition was not a rash but a flesh eating bacteria. The medical misdiagnosis caused the woman to lose the use of her arm. The woman was awarded $8.5 million for her medical malpractice claim.

Read more about the medical misdiagnosis here.

A hospital’s misdiagnosis a boy’s cancer led to his death according to his family’s complaint filed against the hospital. The hospital originally diagnosed the son with bacterial meningitis and released him. The condition later was determined to be an aggressive form of anaplastic central nervous system T-cell lymphoma cancer that killed the boy. Two of the four patients that received the boy’s organs have died from the cancer. The lawsuit also claims doctor negligence.

Read more about the hospital’s misdiagnosis lawsuit here.

A doctor accused of molesting female patients during medical procedures was told to suspend practice and turn in his license, according to the news article. The cosmetic surgeon was charged with sexual battery by fraud, sexual battery, and rape by a foreign object. Most of the women complainants were under anesthesia when molested. The doctor had also been accused of medical negligence . That patient claimed the doctor never reviewed a cancerous cyst removed from the patient.

Read more about the doctor’s legal battles here.

Medical professionals have a tendency to speak in abbreviations. In such a busy, hectic setting such as an emergency room or a doctor’s office, abbreviations shorten time. However, some patients do not follow and are left in the dust. Here is a website where you can enter the abbreviation and then the search engine provides the definition.

Abbreviations can lead to medical malpractice when a handwritten abbreviation is misinterpreted as meaning something different than what the physician intended. In fact, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has issued a “do-not-use” list because of their probability of misinterpretation, leading to dosing errors and serious medical malpractice.

For the website.

One doctor believes if patients are treated at home it will reduce the cost of Medicare and medical outcomes will improve. The article provides a solution for healthcare reform. The doctor noticed through his years working with the elderly that his patients were aware of hospital dangers. He discusses false diagnoses by doctors attending to patients they do not regularly see. The doctor is adamant house calls will reduce mishaps that commonly occur due to hospital error.

For the full story, click here.

The failure to diagnose acute appendicitis is one of the most common medical mistakes leading to medical malpractice lawsuits. As many as 30% of patients with acute appendicitis were initially misdiagnosed by a physician at a pervious medical examination. The most common diagnosis in missed appendicitis cases is Agastroenteritis. Delayed or missed diagnosis of acute appendicitis can have serious consequences including death, recurrent small bowel obstruction, impaired fertility in women, and extended hospital stays. Acute appendicitis should be considered a possible diagnosis with all complaints of abdominal pain. For the full article, click here.

The family of a 47 year-old man who died as a result of a misdiagnosed skin cancer that spread to his brain has been awarded $5.8 million by a jury in a medical malpractice lawsuit. A tort reform damages cap however reduces the verdict to $3.6 million.

The medical malpractice lawsuit alleged that the doctors failed to properly diagnose and remove a mole on his back following examinations in both 1998 and 2004. By the time it was discovered that the mole was cancerous in 2006, the cancer spread to his brain and other parts of the body.

For the full article.

More than ten years ago, a woman was given Dilantin because her doctor misdiagnosed her, wrongfully thinking that she suffered a stroke. She had not suffered a stroke. The drug made the woman develop Stevens-Johnson Sydrome. The woman died a horrific and painful death after this medical malpractice.

For the full article.

A state’s Supreme Court has upheld a $4 million award given to the family of a woman misdiagnosed with cancer. The woman was then given a lethal dose of painkillers. The court did throw out the $500,000 awarded in punitive damages to the woman’s family. The medical malpractice suit was brought by the daughter of the victim against the Hospice and the physician. The Hospice had settled their medical malpractice suit earlier for $1 million. The victim had been diagnosed in 2001 with pancreatic cancer and was sent to a hospice where she died about a month later. It turns out that the woman never had cancer. The victim had received massive doses of painkillers at the hospice for cancer, which an autopsy showed she never had. To read the full story, click here.

One woman had an MRI performed on her foot after she injured her forefoot running. The MRI at a local radiology center found nothing wrong, so she decided to take an anti-inflammatory and do low-impact workouts. However, when the pain got worse she saw a sports doctor who performed another MRI, and she discovered she had a stress fracture in her foot. This happened to another man who had an MRI that did not reveal he had a nerve impingement that was so serious that he warned permanent paralysis if he did not have surgery. Oftentimes, patients are not made aware of the nature of the injuries because the MRIs are inconclusive. MRI’s differ because the quality of the imaging coils they put around the body part being scanned and the computer programs they use to control the imaging and to analyze the images all differ. Additionally, there is a huge variability in skill among the technicians doing the scans. Experts recommend that patients should go to radiology centers accredited by the American College of Radiology. They also state that you should check the credentials of the radiologist who read your scans. By using this advice, patients can avoid the risk of misdiagnosis and decrease the need for medical malpractice suits. To read the full story, click here.

An East Chicago hospital misdiagnosed a man in 2003 and the man has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit. The personal injury lawsuit claims that the East Chicago man went to the hospital complaining of breathing problems and underwent tests. The doctors at the East Chicago hospital informed the medical malpractice victim that he had lung cancer. Later in 2003, the medical malpractice victim was told that the doctor had switched his tissue samples with another patient, resulting in a misdiagnosis.

For the full article.

A family from north suburban Chicago will never know for certain if a tumor removed from their daughter two years ago is cancerous because Children’s Memorial Hospital lost the tumor. After the 16 year old underwent surgery to remove the tumor from her thyroid, Children’s Memorial Hospital lost the tumor before a biopsy could be performed. The family, along with the attorneys, at Levin & Perconti filed a medical malpractice suit against the hospital so that other families do not have to go through the anguish that they are facing. The young woman will never be certain as to whether or not she had cancer. To read the full story, click here.

The attorneys at Levin & Perconti have filed a medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of a Chicago suburban teen that underwent surgery at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago in 2006. The teen is claiming that the hospital lost a tumor removed from her thyroid before it could be biopsied. The medical malpractice suit claims that after having surgery to remove a tumor encased in the girl’s thyroid, Children’s Hospital lost the tumor before they could determine if it was cancerous. This hospital negligence caused and continues to cause emotional stress and anxiety for the teen, as she will never know for certain if she does or does not have cancer. During the surgery doctors removed the tumor and a portion of the teen’s thyroid. When her and her family returned to receive the biopsy results, the family told them that because they lost the sample no biopsy could be performed and no determination regarding the presence of cancer could be made. The young teen cannot go a day without thinking about it, because she is always uncertain as to whether she has cancer. The attorneys at Levin & Perconti filed the medical malpractice lawsuit because Children’s Hospital’s inexcusable loss of the tumor will cause her lifelong stress. To read the full story, click here.

A woman has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit after she was misdiagnosed and underwent treatment for cancer that she did not have. She went to the doctor with flu-like symptoms and a density was found on her lung which was later diagnosed as cancer. After undergoing treatments and the density not responding as expected, doctors realized that it was not cancerous (only a benign tumor) and that she was being mistreated with the cancer treatment. The medical malpractice lawsuit states that she has suffered multiple medical issues as a result of the cancer treatment that she did not need. The doctor who misdiagnosed says that it is not possible to diagnose every case correctly. For the full story click here.

Medical malpractice and medical negligence are documented in a new book "Truth, Lies, and the O.R.," which is written by two doctors. The book chronicles the frightening experiences that patients faced with a negligent doctor and with a negligent hospital may come across. The book helps to show patients how to choose an adequate physician or an adequate health care facility in order to prevent a misdiagnosis or to avoid coming across a negligent physician. To read more on this fascinating book that sheds light on a nationwide problem of medical negligence suits and medical malpractice lawsuits click here.

http://www.levinperconti.com/lawyer-attorney-1090334.htmlA deadly meningitis virus left an eighteen month old dead six year ago. His family finally sought justice last month when they reached a personal injury lawsuit settlement in the amount of 1.25 million dollars. The settlement arose out of a finding that the doctor treating the toddler had engaged in medical malpractice. The negligent doctor was not in tune with a correct diagnosis and the doctor misdiagnosis lead to the boy’s death from meningitis, the doctor believe the toddler simply had a stomach problem. The community hospital malpractice was settled in a suit last month but the toddler’s parents will still never be able to get their son back. To read the full story click here.

Following the lead of a Midwestern hospital, facilities throughout the country are taking a novel approach to medical malpractice – honesty. In an effort to limit liability, hospitals are calling patients’ families for meetings where they inform the family members that their loved one died, not because of natural causes, but physician malpractice or negligence. Surprisingly, the approach has worked to the extent that most family members appreciate an honest account of the cause of death.

However, there is an invidious motive behind this new policy. Hospitals are finding that by calling family members into their facility and telling them what happened, they are able to force ignorant or misinformed grieving family members into an emotional decision to settle before even consulting an attorney. This has the potential to create problems where settlements are far below fair compensation for the pain and suffering experienced by the family or even insufficient to cover basic medical expenses. Many of these cases involve gross negligence on the part of physicians where a patient is administered the wrong medication or a fundamental test is not performed that could have prevented death.

Ultimately, the policy of honesty has potential in wrongful death situations. However, patients and family members should be cautious when faced with a sudden decision to settle. At the very least, these individuals should avoid making an emotional decision on-the-spot. To this extent, consulting an attorney would help improve and refine this new approach to medical malpractice.

For further information, click here:

Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago recently settled a case for nearly $8 Million based on medical malpractice and negligence. The settlement comes following a physician’s failure to diagnose a nurse with meningitis even though she complained of sudden, severe joint pain, headaches and neck stiffness. Her meningitis was left undiagnosed for three days, leading to severe mental and physical disabilities. Further, she became dependent on others for nearly all aspects of self-care and mobility and suffered from severe deficits in social skills. Had the emergency room staff properly diagnosed the woman, she could have avoided severe life-long damage.

For the full article, click here:

After actor John Ritter died in 2003 from an aortic dissection, his family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against multiple doctors and a hospital. The family settled with the hospital and other people involved for $14 million but sought another $67 million at trial against remaining doctors, alleging that Ritter’s cardiologist misdiagnosed his aortic dissection as a heart attack, consequently mistreating it. Further, the suit alleged that a radiologist failed to perform an x-ray which could have shown the aortic dissection, leading to a missed opportunity for Ritter to receive potentially life-saving surgery. The jury, however, disagreed with his family’s arguments and found in favor of the defendant doctors.

While the Ritter family did not receive the $67 million they asked for, the case still showed the inequities of capping medical malpractice awards. For loss of income, there is normally no cap or a very high one, where as loss of companionship has very low limits. This means that wealthy people, who would have made more in their lifetime, can be awarded larger settlements for the same issues. Often this means that a case on behalf of a decedent who was retired, unemployed, or otherwise not making much money will not be worth filing because of caps on potential awards. Conversely, the same case on behalf of a decedent who was making a large amount of money will be worth filing because the award may be greater since loss of income will have a high cap, if one at all. For example, Ritter’s family could have been awarded a large amount because he had huge earning potential, whereas an unemployed person who died in the same manner would not have been able to receive nearly as large an award because their earning potential was so much smaller.

Read more here.

A hospital patient has sued his former doctors and their hospital in a medical malpractice lawsuit for mistaken diagnosis that lead to unnecessary surgery. The man was initially diagnosed with cancer and doctors told him he may die. The doctors then performed surgery to remove part of his lung that they claimed was cancerous. However, the patient now believes that the diagnosis was based on the medical information of another patient, not him, that was diagnosed with breast cancer. The medical malpractice lawsuit also claims that the doctors knew of the mistake after the surgery and failed to tell the patient.

Read more here.

An East Chicago jury has awarded $4.5 million dollars in a medical malpractice lawsuit against St. Catherine Hospital. The man entered the hospital and was misdiagnosed as having a kidney stone. However, the hospital and doctors treating him should have performed a necessary procedure to rule out other conditions. Instead, the doctors and hospital failed to perform the test. The man died 12 hours after being discharged from an abdominal aortic aneurysm that could have been diagnosed earlier.

Read the story here.

A study in the May issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery shows that the rate of limb amputation is higher in Chicago’s black communities than in suburban white communities. The data showed that blacks in Chicago are five times more likely to have a limb amputated than suburban whites. Notably, many amputations are preventable. Limb amputations can often be the product of low quality health care and doctor errors, poor access to health care resources, and a doctor's failure to give information about procedures and treatments. One of the more common causes of amputations is untreated pressure sores that may result from diabetes and heart disease.

Read the news story here.

One of the greatest organizational problems facing hospitals today is the battle over medical records. Many patients find that it can take months or years to get a hold of their own medical records after treatment. Even worse, some families of victims of medical malpractice or wrongful death have waited for years to obtain their loved one’s medical records from hospitals. Often, lost or missing records are simply part of hospital error and not a deliberate attempt to delay, but on some occasions hospitals may frustrate a patient’s records request purposefully. Patients and victims’ families must be aware that statutes of limitation often require that medical malpractice lawsuits be filed within a certain period of time after the injury occurs or is discovered. This means that patients and victims’ families must decide to file a medical malpractice lawsuit and contact their medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible and begin the medical records request process.

Read more here.

An Illinois Appellate Court once again limited the rights of wronged patients in medical malpractice and negligence cases by affirming a trial court’s grant of summary judgment under the Illinois Tort Immunity Act. The court determined that the Tort Immunity Act immunizes a defendant for failing to make an adequate examination and for a failure to diagnose an illness.

In this case, due to the failure of the hospital staff to diagnose a precancerous condition or cancer, a woman died from cervical cancer. Physicians had diagnosed her with a vaginal infection, but it nearly six months to discover her cancer, at which point it was too late. The plaintiff argued that the lack of a follow-up pap smear constituted negligence related to the treatment of her vaginal infection, not her diagnosis because a repeat pap smear should have been part of her treatment plan. Had the follow-up pap smear been conducted, physicians may have discovered and treated the cancer.

This case limits the rights of patients because it immunizes physicians failure to diagnose where the diagnosis should have been a natural result of a prior treatment plan. Physicians should have held accountable where diagnosis and treatment are so intertwined, especially where the failure to diagnose directly leads to a patient’s death.

Full article

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a class-action lawsuit against the governor of Nevada and other state officials last week, alleging they had failed to rectify “a pervasive pattern of gross medical malpractice at the state’s maximum security prison. According to the medical malpractice lawsuit: “These deprivations are so extreme that they subject all the men confined there to constant significant risk of serious injury, medical harm [and] premature death.”

For the full article.

A woman and her husband have filed a lawsuit against a hospital saying that doctors performed unnecessary surgery on her that led to health problems. According to the medical malpractice lawsuit filed, the woman was admitted to the hospital for a heart attack. She had a cardiac-bypass surgery five days later. While at the hospital, she contracted a bacterial infection that the couple says was misdiagnosed. Doctors did not realize the infection and removed part of her colon. The surgery was unnecessary and the woman now suffers health issues from the medical malpractice.

The medical malpractice lawsuit also states that the woman developed bed sores while in the hospital that the doctors could have prevented.

For the full article.

A physician facing 122 charges of medical malpractice and negligence is finally facing the possibility of losing his license. After repeated acts of medical malpractice, including allegations in pending lawsuits by patients that the physician sent one patient into a coma and caused great pain to another, the physician may finally be unable to practice.

These allegations of negligence and medical malpractice are even more egregious considering he has surrendered his license, lost his license, or had his license revoked in at least six other states. Unfortunately, it is still unclear whether the physician will or will not be allowed to practice in the future.

Such cases illustrate the need for continued lawsuits for negligence and medical malpractice because of the medical community’s inability to police itself. Perhaps further litigation will cause physicians to realize that repeat acts of negligence and medical malpractice are unacceptable.

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A lawsuit has been filed against a county medical examiner, paramedics, and county Emergency Medical Services after a man who was declared dead at the scene of an automobile accident but was found to be alive hours later sustained permanent injuries. Paramedics responded to calls after the car accident but negligently failed to check the man's vital signs properly not noticing his faintly beating heart. The paramedics made a further medical mistake when they failed to use monitors to check the status of the victim and when they failed to make resuscitation efforts even though it is mandated by policy. The medical examiner is being accused of medical malpractice in that he disregarded signs that the man was still alive, such as eye twitching and chest movements, for hours after the accident. The medical examiner has claimed that it was not his job to determine whether the victim was alive or dead. The man suffered a severe head injury along with a broken leg and other injuries. Now five months after the accident, the victim is just learning how to speak again. He might never fully recover as he would have if treated properly. The man's mother witnessed the accident and suffered severe trauma and distress when she was told that her son was dead.

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In a recent medical malpractice lawsuit, a birth injury that was allegedly caused by a nurse-doctor communication breakdown yielded a $1.2 million settlement. Nurses were concerned that the birth was taking too long, but were hesitant to consult the doctor about these fears due to his reputation of angry responses to perceived criticism. The infant developed cerebral palsy.

Physicians too commonly react harshly to instances where they feel bothered by the nursing staff, such as late-night clarification requests, difficulties with procedures, changes in patient condition and more. The negative consequences of verbal abuse or disruption in hospitals are significant; reduced communication, team collaboration, information transfer and concentration are all reported as responses to disruptive behavior. Patient safety is compromised in many ways by these reported breakdowns. Medical errors increase in disruptive or abusive situations and the quality of care decreases. Patient mortality increases with these outbursts. Medication errors have also been caused by verbally abusive hospital staff relations.

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Continue reading "Hospital conduct leads to reduced patient safety and medical malpractice lawsuits" »

A $4.5 million medical malpractice award was recently made in Illinois following the wrongful death of a woman infected with AIDS. Because the woman was being treated at a federal clinic, the case was tried under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The doctors at the Chicago clinic allegedly failed to recognize the complaints and symptoms of the patient which would have led to the diagnosis of lactic acidosis, a potentially fatal side-effect of some HIV/AIDS treatment drugs. The woman's lawyers contended that had the diagnosis been made earlier, the patient would have survived.

The mother of a 22-year-old victim of medical malpractice has recently sponsored a new law requiring doctors to make past medical malpractice settlements and verdicts against them public. The mother claims that her son was given an unnecessary surgery causing a brain injury that made him partly-paralyzed, half-blind and psychotic after his brain was jostled by the neurosurgeon. The surgeon claimed that the patient would make a full recovery after rehab but his injuries ultimately resulted in his death. When the patient's mother learned that the surgeon had done the procedure only once before and had a malpractice settlement and claims in another state, she decided to take action. The law stipulates that only settlements or final judgments will be publicized on the internet database. The Colorado bill was passed into law in early January 2008.

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A wrongful death lawsuit is being contemplated by the family of a man who died of a "medical related" cause while an inmate in a jail. The investigation is still continuing; the coroner's report said that the death was caused by medical reasons, implying negligence. The 27-year-old inmate was found dead in his cell. His family said that the man was sick but didn't receive help. According to the inmate's girlfriend she tried to get the man medical assistance but the jail said it was only a cold and refused to help. The man's mother said that in addition to the wrongful death and medical neglect accusations in the lawsuit, she is also hoping to send a message to prisons so that no inmates ever have to go through her pain.

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An Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit trial recently began where a Springfield, Illinois pathologist misdiagnosed an infection in the medical malpractice victim’s back as cancer in 1998. This misdiagnosis caused preventable spine damage that required several surgeries and left the victim unable to work. Both the Illinois medical malpractice victim and the defendant hospital agree that a medical technician mistakenly included a biopsy sample from another patient among the nine samples that the doctor thought were from the Illinois medical malpractice victim. The other patient’s sample led to the doctor making a diagnosis that prompted the hospital to give him useless radiation treatment.

For the full article.

A woman who was prescribed a regimen of powerful drugs for several years after being misdiagnosed with HIV recently received a $2.5 million jury award in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The 45 year-old brought the medical malpractice lawsuit against one of the doctors who treated her after being misdiagnosed with HIV in 1994. Due to the combination of medications prescribed for her by the treating physician, the medical malpractice victim suffered depression, fatigue, weight loss, and intestinal problems.

For the full article.

A Chicago medical malpractice lawsuit was filed today by John J. Perconti of Chicago medical malpractice law firm Levin & Perconti against St. Anthony Hospital and an emergency room physician. The lawsuit alleges that the hospital and doctor failed to diagnose meningitis in a 14-year old baby girl which caused her death.

The baby was evaluated and treated in the emergency room at St. Anthony on March 14, 2006. A blood culture test was ordered and Motrin, Tylenol, and IV fluids were prescribed. The child was sent home with her mother. At 7:00 p.m. that evening, the emergency room nurse was notified by the laboratory that Anna’s blood culture (test) showed the presence of gram positive cocci (multiple forms of bacteria).

Attorney John Perconti explained the medical error: “When the emergency room nurse and doctor learned the abnormal results of the blood culture they should have notified Elizabeth Nunez immediately and advised her to bring Anna back to the ER for further evaluation, hospitalization and antibiotic therapy. Instead, Dr. Lachica called Elizabeth at home to check on Anna’s condition and advised her to see her own pediatrician in the morning. St. Anthony’s nd Dr. Lachica failed to inform Elizabeth that Anna had tested positive for gram positive cocci, a life-threatening bacteria. They also failed to notify Anna’s pediatrician about this abnormal result. With this type of infection, you must err on the side of caution or face the risk of losing a life.”

Click here for the press release

The husband of a 23 year-old woman who died at the Naval Medical Center has filed a $5 million medical malpractice lawsuit and wrongful death lawsuit against the Naval Medical Center claiming medical staff misdiagnosed a urinary tract infection that led to the victim’s death. The 23 year-old woman died of heart failure three days after she was sent home from the Medical Center with a diagnosis of muscle spasms. The couple had been married just five months before the woman’s death.

When the woman went to the Medical Center, a nurse ordered a urinalysis and a pregnancy test. A physician’s assistant saw the victim and diagnosed her with muscle spasms. The physician’s assistant then discharged her without waiting for the results of the urine test.

For the full article.

A medical malpractice lawsuit has recently been filed on the behalf of an imprisoned man who was misdiagnosed and is permanently disfigured as a result. The inmate's pleas for medical attention relating to an infected hemorrhoid were ignored until his pain was unbearable, his genitals swollen, he was bleeding from the rectum, had a rash on his torso and had a fever. The prison doctor diagnosed him as having an allergic reaction. As the man's fever rose and blisters developed on his skin, the doctor issued a pain reliever and a prescription steroid that lowers immune system capabilities. When the man was taken to the hospital after his symptoms continued to worsen, he was immediately diagnosed with Fournier's gangrene, a type of necrotizing fasciitis that kills about a fourth of the people who get it. The editor of Prison Legal News in Seattle called it, "the most outrageous case of medical neglect in a prison or jail... I've seen where the patient lived." The 60-year-old man is disabled and deformed after six pounds of flesh were removed from his pelvis, he lost one testicle and had his penis reconstructed.

Continue reading "Med mal lawsuit filed by deformed man misdiagnosed by prison doctor" »

An Illinois medical malpractice trial recently began involving a 57 year-old stroke victim. The 57 year-old Illinois victim in the case was a picture of health up until a stroke he endured in January 2003. In February 2003, the victim suffered a second stroke. Due to his strokes, the victim damaged the right side of his brain and caused permanent damage to the left side of his body. The Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit filed against the victim’s family physician alleges that the physician did not provide proper care for the victim after the first small stroke. The Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit alleges that the doctor incorrectly assumed that the victim simply had a brain tumor when he in fact had a mini-stroke that required immediate treatment. To date, the victim’s medical bills have topped $300,000 and the victim’s wife spends $22,000 annually for his in-home care.

For the full article.

The wife of an Illinois man who bled to death after routine surgery at Downstate VA Hospital in southern Illinois recently began filing a lawsuit against the US Department of Veteran Affairs. A surgeon, who was barred from practicing in another state, was the doctor caring for that Illinois patient. The doctor had been accused of causing life-threatening complications and deaths by providing "grossly substandard care" and making repeated medical mistakes. Downstate VA Hospital in southern Illinois suspended inpatient surgeries shortly after the man bled to death in response to an increasing amount of post-surgical deaths. The hospital serves veterans in southern Illinois and other nearby areas in other states. The surgeon who spurred the chain of events had been linked to deaths all over the country. A surgical error caused a death after the doctor caused a blood infection and respiratory failure by allowing a stitch to dislodge in a man's esophagus. On another occasion he mistakenly put stitches in a patient's bladder during a hernia repair causing years of pain. He made misdiagnoses, delayed diagnoses, and used improper surgical methods, all leading to unnecessary surgeries, pain, and hospitalizations. The list does not stop there. The State of Illinois continued his license after learning it was revoked in another state. It was not difficult to find his record status even if the state hadn't been alerted. The Illinois VA hospital was responsible for a mortality rate over four times the normal amount. The barred surgeon was involved in all of them.

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A woman who had both breasts removed in error because of a biopsy result that was later found not to be hers appeared on Good Morning America and told her story. Due to a lab mixup, the 35 year-old woman had a double mastectomy. The 35 year-old’s biopsy sample had been mislabeled at the laboratory. The victim has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the laboratory.

For the full article.

A Cook County, Illinois jury recently awarded the family of a victim of medical malpractice $7,000,000. The victim died of a pulmonary embolism after knee surgery at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. The man's wife alleged that the negligence of a doctor and a physician's assistant caused the untimely death of her husband. The health care providers failed to review the patient's records, overlooking a medical history of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. As a result, the Illinois man was not administered the proper medication in a timely manner, allowing the formation of blood clots and allowing other blood clots to continue growing. This medical mistake ultimately led to the patient's wrongful death.

The family of a woman who died as a result of medical malpractice was recently awarded $5,200,000 by a Cook County, Illinois jury. The woman, who was treated at Palos Community Hospital for stomach pain, was diagnosed with a colon infection (diverticulitis) among other problems. The woman was treated by removal of a portion of her colon and a primary anastomosis. Neglecting standard procedure, the doctor failed to perform a colostomy. When the patient returned to the hospital shortly after, the staples used in the anastomosis had come undone. At that point, the doctor performed the colostomy but it was too late. The woman ultimately died.

Access to quality health care is urged by the American Cancer Society for all Americans. When cancer diagnosis or treatment is delayed, it can be fatal. This is felt even more so among the uninsured or under insured, whose life savings can be wiped out treating cancer.

According to the New York Times, 47 million Americans are without health insurance with millions more having only minimal or poor insurance. The American Cancer Society’s alert stems from the statistic that those suffering from breast, larynx and mouth cancers who are uninsured are more likely than the insured to have these cancers diagnosed at a late stage.

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Misdiagnosis of a brain tumor can lead to wrong treatment. Because diagnosis depends largely on a pathologist’s reading of a slide, medical malpractice may happen. Experts state that brain tumors are sometimes diagnosed when they are not tumors at all.

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In a recent CNN article, experts suggested that a recommendation for a hysterectomy should be quickly followed by a second opinion. Sometimes doctors misdiagnose and recommend surgical removal of the uterus for bleeding orpelvic pain when the uterus is not the problem at all. One doctor stated that on almost a monthly basis, he sees patients whose doctors have misdiagnosed them, telling them to get a hysterectomy when they actually have myofascial pain. Myofascial pain can be treated with icing, stretching, and anesthesia injections.

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A recent CNN article highlighted five common diagnoses thin which patients should automatically seek a second opinion. One such diagnosis was heart bypass surgery. Heart bypass surgery carries serious risks including death, stroke, and severe infection due to medical malpractice. Additionally, alternatives now exist to the severe surgery.

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Scott Clewis of Levin & Perconti recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor and Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois for the wrongful death of a patient. The complaint alleges that the victim's doctor negligently failed to diagnose her cardiomyapathy. He failed to take an adequate medical history, failed to suspect a cardiac condition as a cause of the woman's symptoms and perform appropriate testing and order appropriate medication. The victim's condition of cardiomyopathy went undiagnosed and untreated and ultimately resulted in her death.

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A 64-year-old woman has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the federal government as a result of the negligence of an Army surgeon. During a routine surgery, the doctor punctured her right hepatic duct, causing the contents to leak into her peritoneum. The surgeon failed to detect or diagnose the medical mistake and sent the woman home the next day. When she returned a few days later, as her condition was deteriorating, she stayed at the hospital for three more days until the doctor realized his mistake. The lawsuit alleges that the doctor was negligent before and after the surgery. In addition to medical bills and loss of wages, the woman suffers from pain, loss of quality of life, severe emotional distress, disfigurement and permanency of injury.

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A legal malpractice lawsuit was filed in St. Clair, Illinois recently by a man whose lawyer failed to file his medical malpractice claim within the necessary statute of limitation. The Illinois man was injured by a bullet wound and was treated by the hospital. He was discharged even though he was suffering from a high fever and severe pain at the wound site. A few days later, the man was diagnosed with gangrene and the delay in the diagnosis resulted in injuries to his bones, soft tissues, ligaments, tendons, muscles and blood vessels. The man alleges that his attorney's negligence caused significant financial damage and the loss of his medical malpractice claim.

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A jury has recently awarded $1.8M against a hospital for medical malpractice when an anesthesiologist failed to treat symptoms of paralysis that arose after surgery. The anesthesiologist initially decided that these symptoms, which included progressive weakness in the patient's arms and hands and involuntary movement of his right arm away from his body, did not warrant surgery. This failure to correctly diagnose central cord syndrome delayed the necessary surgery for 15 hours and led to personal injuries including paralysis. The man, who drove himself to the hospital for bladder surgery, now needs full-time, round the clock care for all his hygiene needs, as well as ongoing treatment for permanent kidney damage. Unfortunately, Michigan's caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases will limit the amount the man will be able to recover from the hospital to an amount that is less than what the jury believed was appropriate for this man's pain and suffering.

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After a state Supreme Court ruled against her and held that the Carnival cruise line was not liable for the medical malpractice of one of its doctors, the girl, who was rendered sterile from an infection caused by the doctor’s failure to diagnose appendicitis, has filed a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court. In the petition, lawyers for the girl argue that the cruise line should be held liable under theories of agency and control. Passengers were made to believe that the doctor was a part of the cruise line's crew, and passengers requiring medical care had no choice but to use the doctor selected by the cruise line.

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A recent report regarding medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, focusing on surgical errors, was recently released by the Patient Safety Authority. 175 errors were made in the state during the past two and a half years, not including 253 close calls. These errors can lead to serious physical and financial strain, or even wrongful death. "Wrong-site" surgeries are a persistent problem and are clearly avoidable. Pennsylvania is a leader in public accountability for medical and surgical errors. In an effort to reduce the costs of health care, the Governor proposed that the state should cease to pay for care involving hospital-acquired infections, wrong-site surgeries, and other instances of medical malpractice. It is also the only state that requires hospitals to report near-misses.

The report cited wrong-site surgeries including the removal of a patient's healthy thyroid and incorrect cancer diagnosis as the result of a laboratory mix-up, an incorrect incision on the wrong side of a brain injury patient's head, and a surgeon inserting a needle into a patient's right knee when the surgery was planned for the other leg. In 83 reported cases of wrong-site surgeries in the state, the procedure was completed before the mistake was detected.

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A medical malpractice lawsuit has been filed against an Illinois doctor in the wrongful death of a 16 year old patient due to a failure to diagnose meningitis. The teen was first seen by the doctor when the teen came to the emergency room complaining of migraines. Sent home with pain killers, the teen continued to suffer severe headaches two days later. In addition, the teen also suffered from fever and and a decreased appetite. After blood tests and CT, the teen was admitted with a diagnosis of sinusitis. At that point, the teen began to experience stiffness in his neck, in addition to his previous symptoms of severe headache, fever, and a decreased appetite.

Four days after his first visit to the emergency room, a different doctor examined the teen and had him immediately transferred to a different hospital. One day later, the teen died of acute bacterial meningitis and related periventriculitis.

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A jury awarded $11 million in a medical malpractice suit against an emergency room physician for failing to diagnose a condition that led to stroke and paralysis. The man went to the emergency room with a severe headache, and doctor's failed to diagnose an infection that had spread to his brain. While the emergency room technician ordered a CT scan that should have detected the infection, the treating physician sent the man home with a painkiller. Days later, the man suffered a stroke and slipped into a coma. Had the man been properly treated by the emergency room physician, the stroke and its debilitating repercussions could have been avoided.

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Doctors argued to a State Supreme Court that they could not be sued by the family of a deceased woman, even though it was their medical malpractice and failure to diagnose cancer that contributed to her death. They said that, when the woman died, her medical malpractice suit "evaporated" and her surviving sons did not have standing to pursue the claims. Fortunately, the irony of this argument was not lost on the high court, and the sons' victory will provide them with the opportunity to present their mother's case before a jury.

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An Illinois law firm recently settled a $9 million personal injury lawsuit against a Chicago medical provider for a child who suffers from a permanent brain injury as a result of medical malpractice during delivery. The birth injury was sustained after a 7-11 minute delay in delivering the child by a necessary emergent c-section.

The Hampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center has recently settled a medical malpractice suit in which the mental health department failed to correcly diagnose a patient's physical ailments. The $210,000 settlement resulted when a died of a drug overdose, resulting from an attempt to self-medicate the pain from what was later discovered to be a fractured vertebra. As part of the settlement, the hospital acknowledged that it was responsible for the patient's death.

This settlement is not the first incident in which the Hampton VA has been cited for failing to treat its mental health patients for physical ailments. Another mental health patient died earlier this year due to a pulmonary embolism which was misdiagnosed as an anxiety attack. Even after frequent complaints of shortness of breath, the hospital breached its standard of care by failing to take regular vital signs and by failing to measure the oxygen levels in the patient's blood until shortly before his death. Furthermore, the VA continued to prescribe anti-anxiety medications, even though the patient continued to complain of shortness of breath. Had the Hampton VA taken earlier blood oxygen level measurements, the fatal blood clot in the patient's lung could have been avoided. An autopsy revealed that the patient also had several areas of dead tissue in his lungs, indicating that he had suffered several smaller blood clots prior to his death.

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A doctor who failed to diagnose diabetes, which led to a patient's death, settled the medical malpractice lawsuit after admitting in court that he was the author of a blog against medical malpractice litigation. The defendant admitted in court that he was the author of the blog, which contained information regarding his attorney's trial strategy. The defendant then settled the lawsuit the next day. Posts from "drfleablog" have since been deleted.

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A state bill that would allow residents to have full access to a physician’s history was approved by the state House and sent to the Senate last week. The bill was named after Michael Skolnik who died at age 25 due to medical malpractice when he underwent unnecessary brain surgery after a misdiagnosis of a brain cyst. His neurosurgeon had been previously accused of medical malpractice in lawsuits in multiple states. If passed, the bill would require the state Board of Medical Examiners to collect information on physicians’ history of disciplinary action, malpractice and license probation, their criminal records, limits on their hospital privileges and their ownership and employment affiliation. This information would then be made public.

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Men who take medication to reduce hair loss may have the side effect of reducing their levels of P.S.A., which is a marker for prostate cancer. Although it lowers the P.S.A., it does not lower the risk of cancer. Unfortunately, it can mislead a doctor into concluding that a patient’s risk is lower than it really is. This potential misdiagnosis could prevent patients from helpful treatment.

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Two doctors will likely face fines in a proposed settlement from the state Board of Medicine disciplinary committee for their medical malpractice.

In one case, the physician failed to comply with patient care standards with regard to a seriously injured patient in the ER when he did not perform a rectal exam despite signs of pelvic trauma and rectal bleeding. More than a week later, a pelvic CT scan revealed that the patient had a rare flesh-eating disease. A medical malpractice lawsuit filed in this case settled out of court for $345,000. The fine imposed by the Board of Medicine would require this doctor to pay $4,000 and reimburse the state $5,500 for its costs. It would also require the doctor to take five hours of continuing medical education.

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$15.4 million was recently paid by a city hospital to resolve both state and federal claims against it. The lawsuit, brought by the government, alleged violations of the False Claims Act, stating that the hospital conspired to increase Medicare bills by paying physicians kickbacks to steer patients to the facility, where they frequency received unnecessary treatment. One of the defendants was a party to a $14 million settlement for a similar scheme he ran at a Chicago facility involving Chicago medical malpractice and Medicare fraud.

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A jury recently awarded a widow and her five children $2.2 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit accusing the treating physician and nurse of negligence in the death of the 34 year-old husband. The suit focused on the care received by the husband in the days preceding his untimely death. The man went to see his doctor after having chills, shortness of breath, a high temperature, and leg pain. He received painkillers and muscle relaxers. Three days later, he returned to the doctor’s office and again received no exam or lab analysis, returning home with painkillers. The following day the 34 year-old died of organ failure related to a strep infection. Unfortunately, state law in this case hinders justice and the award will be reduced to $1.7 million, the state cap for medical malpractice lawsuits.

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A 49 year-old woman entered a Waukegan hospital complaining of typical heart attack symptoms: nausea, shortness of breath, and chest pain. A triage nurse saw the woman fifteen minutes after arrival, classifying her condition as “semi-emergent.”

Twice over the next excruciating two hours, the woman’s daughter asked nurses when her mother would be admitted to see a physician. When her name was eventually called, a nurse found the woman slumped in a waiting room chair without a pulse. Shortly thereafter, she was pronounced dead.

The coroner’s jury concluded that the 49 year-old woman died of a heart attack but also indicated that the death was a result of negligent medical malpractice: gross deviations from the standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in this situation.

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A jury recently awarded the family of a 33 year-old man $5 million. The man bled to death while being transferred from one hospital to another. Due to state medical malpractice lawsuit caps, the man's family will get only $359,000 in noneconomic damages. The man entered the hospital with a broken leg after a car accident. He was soon transferred to a hospital 40 miles away. Before the transfer, a nurse noted in the 33 year-old's chart that he was “spurting blood." Additionally, a medical technician noted he was losing “copious amounts of blood.” Despite the warnings, that man was transferred in violation of Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986 which requires emergency rooms to screen patients and prevent discharges and transfers of patients with serious medical conditions. In this man’s case, he went into cardiac arrest on the transfer and was later pronounced dead.

The man’s widow was awarded $5 million by a jury, however the 6th circuit reduced the award to $359,000 on appeal, due to that state's cap on noneconomic damages. This is a prime example of why tort reform is contrary to notions of fairness and justice. In this case a very young man with a full life ahead of him bled to death due to easily avoidable miscommunication and negligence of hospital staff and contrary to the established laws.

The large disparity in what the jury awarded the widow and what the law allowed the widow to recover demonstrates that there are two sides to the so-called "tort reform" debate. While doctors often complain of frivolous lawsuits, the fact remains that many cases are screened out of the system before a jury even has a chance to consider the facts. In fact, if a case goes to jury, only one-third of plaintiffs will prevail. On the other hand, in a case like this, the award allowed by applicable state law is grossly and unjustly lower than what a jury of peers believes the man’s estate is entitled to recover.