Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

Unfortunately, hospitals are not a place where you can let your guard down. You must be cognizant of potential for medical malpractice in Illinois and take preventative measures. SmartMoney Magazine addressed ways to take preventative measures during hospital visits in their eye-opening article entitled “10 Things Your Hospital Won’t Tell You.”

1. “Oops, wrong kidney.” – Treatment errors have become very problematic for hospitals.
2. “You may leave sicker than when you came in.” – Almost 2 million people a year contract infections related to their hospital stays.
3. “Good luck finding the person in charge.” – Getting the attention of the right person can be difficult especially if the hospital is a teaching hospital.
4. “Everything is negotiable, even your hospital bill.” – Hospitals frequently negotiate with patients and offer payment plans or discounts.
5. “Yes, we take your insurance – but we’re not sure about the anesthesiologist.” – Some insurance plans do not cover anesthesiologists.
6. “Sometimes we bill you twice.” – Request itemized bills to avoid being billed for services not received or items that should be free.
7. “All hospitals are not created equal.” – Check with the hospital’s quality-control or risk-management office to get infection statistics.
8. “Most ERs are in need of some urgent care themselves.” – Because of overcrowding, an ambulance is turned away from an ER once every minute.
9. “Avoid hospitals in July like the plague.” – Every July, turnover occurs in the hospital and a good portion of the staff at any given teaching hospital are new on the job.
10. “Sometimes we don’t keep our mouths zipped.” – Sharing information with a third party is actually often legal.

To read the full article.

Crain's Business quoted Steve Levin of the law firm Levin & Perconti this week for a case he is working on. The case involves a 71-year-old man who developed pressure ulcers, or bed sores, during two extended stays at Advocate Trinity Hospital last fall.

To read the full article.

The family of a woman who was a patient at city hospital in February 2005 is suing the hospital for failing to provide a safe environment, failing to prevent multiple falls, and failing to properly monitor the victim whiles she was a patient. According to the complaint, the hospital negligently failed to place the woman on a “fall precaution” list.

While a patient at the hospital, the victim fractured her right hip, which required surgery and the placement of a compression screw and a side plate. The family states that the victim endured serious pain and suffering, mental anguish and emotional distress. Her ability to enjoy life was adversely affected.

For the full article.

In one state, lawsuits where testimony is needed by an out-of-state doctor in medical malpractice lawsuits are going to become tougher to litigate. In June 2006, with the backing of the state Board of Medical Examiners, the state legislature passed a new law requiring out-of-state doctors to obtain a temporary medical license before testifying in state court. The law imposes a cost on out-of-state doctors to pay for a temporary license ($75.00) and also imposes stricter requirements to obtain documents from out of state.

Continue reading "State attempts to hinder justice by restricting doctors testimony" »

A third infant has died after having been given an adult dosage of blood thinner medication heparin at Methodist Hospital. The mistake was made when a pharmacy technician accidentally stored adult doses in the neonatal unit's drug cabinet. Six infants were affected by the error, two had died previously and three others are in critical condition.

The families have retained a lawyer and will likely file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

For the full article.

The Illinois legislature passed a law strictly limiting the ability of medical malpractice victims to hold hospitals and health care workers accountable for negligence over a year ago. Although limiting what a victim can seek from a negligent health care worker or hospital is clearly unfair, proponents promised that it would lower Illinois doctors’ insurance premiums.

They are now proven wrong. Illinois medical malpractice victims continue to be restricted under the law and the medical malpractice cap has done nothing to decrease premiums for physicians. In fact, insurance industry premiums are rising!

According to Illinois’ largest medical insurer itself, it will pay out 20% less from 2005 claims than 2004 claims despite the fact that its income increased significantly (from $11.5 to $23.6 million).

Continue reading "Illinois physicians continue to see increases in insurance despite civil justice restrictions law" »

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.

For the full article.

After reviewing the statistics of the prison health care system, a District Judge appointed an overseer to directly monitor the progress in the system which he called “broken beyond repair.” The prison health care system had been killing an average of one inmate per week due to negligence or medical malpractice.

The suggested wage increases will allow the prisons to fill vacancies and obtain more qualified personnel to work in the prison health care system.

For the full article.

Five years ago, a 45 year-old woman underwent a mini-facelift at a clinic. During the cosmetic surgery, her former high school classmate administered an excessive dose of fentanyl, a narcotic. The victim suffered respiratory arrest in the recovery room due to the lethal dose of fentanyl.

Although in 2001 the death was ruled as an accidental poisoning, police recently concluded that it was intentional. Police stated that the nurse was a certified nurse anesthetist and monitored the victim in recovery.

In addition to the criminal charges, the nurse faced a medical malpractice lawsuit from the victim’s family. The state Board of Nursing charged the nurse with failure to maintain an accurate record and failure to report information crucial to the safety of the patient. The Board also said that the nurse failed to alert the doctor about the victim’s deteriorating condition.

For the full article.

Eleven years ago, a 15 year-old girl was about to undergo a knee repair surgery. During the course of that 1995 surgery, she contracted an infection that painstakingly led to an additional seven surgeries. Although the hospitals knew that they were experiencing unusually high levels of infections near the time she was infected, they did not inform their physicians or patients.

The jury award is being threatened by the close ties between the hospital and the state legislature. Senator Evan Jenkins, who also acts as the executive director of the state Medical Association, states that he hopes the judge will decrease the award.

Others remain hopeful that the judge will heed to the strong message that the jurors sent: that hospitals will not go unpunished for its negligent acts and refusing to take responsibility for its failures.

For the full article.

A jury awarded a 45 year-old former TV reporter $1.4 million in his malpractice lawsuit against physicians who negligently performed surgery on him. The surgery’s painful effects on the man include his constant pain in his right arm and his deprivation of most fine motor skills. The victim is unable to type or even button shirts with his right arm. $1 million of the award consists of punitive damages against the physicians.

For the full article.

A central Illinois woman and her husband filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a Peoria neurosurgeon and his practice on September 1. The woman suffered paralysis after her 2004 back surgery. The married couple alleges that during the woman’s back surgery, the physician failed to perform decompression surgery in an appropriate fashion, injured the dura, and caused injury to the nerves resulting in paralysis.

For the full article.

In part of a series of articles exploring problem doctors, a Sun-Times reporter discussed the serious consequences when doctors are addicted to pharmaceutical drugs.

One doctor’s addiction to the pain-killer Demerol resulted in the commitment of severe medical malpractice after administering anesthesia to a patient who was having her tubes tied. The doctor failed to give the woman, a mother of three, the proper drug to wake her up. Additionally, he removed the woman’s breathing tube before she was able to breathe on her own. Moreover, the doctor failed to notice that she was not getting oxygen on her own.

This woman suffered severe brain damage. Today, she resides in a nursing home in a nearly vegetative state, unable to talk, move, or feed herself.

This problem may be more common than you think. According to the Federation of State Medical Boards, addiction to drugs and alcohol is the number one reason that doctors lose their licenses or are otherwise disciplined.

For the full article.

Getting through one state's medical disciplinary process is like getting through an obstacle course filled with loopholes and opposition. After experiencing a traumatic medical experience, victims begin an arduous journey that could take more than seven years.

First, a victim of medical malpractice files a complaint. Next, the complaint and case file are sent to an investigator who reviews documents, interviews witnesses, and issues a report. The investigator then sends the case and his report to a prosecuting attorney who collects more evidence. The prosecutor is then given discretion whether or not the case should continue. If the victim’s complaint makes it through this obstacle, it soon faces another one: the probable cause panel. This panel determines whether there is enough evidence to send the case to the full board. In the event that the victim’s case passes this barrier, they finally face the medical board who ultimately decides the proper punishment for the physician.

Though grateful for making it this far in the process, the victim at this stage still faces two huge obstacles. First, the board is composed of 15 governor-appointed members, 12 of whom are themselves physicians. Second, the victim has a heavier burden than in civil matters. In civil cases, victims must prove that a physician is liable by a “preponderance of the evidence,” while the Florida medical disciplinary process requires “clear and convincing evidence.”

Continue reading "One state's lengthy medical disciplinary process overflows with obstacles and offers little justice" »

The family of a man will be receiving more than $6 million in a medical malpractice settlement. The victim died after undergoing heart surgery when his sutures came undone because they were not tied properly.

For the full article.