Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

A recent Crain’s Chicago Business letter to the editor entitled “Illinois needs new rules against frivolous lawsuits” angered many civil liberties advocates. Today, the record was set straight. A civil rights advocate wrote a response to Crain’s Chicago Business stating that the survey cited in the article was deceptive and misleading. The survey cited supposedly ranked the best and worst state legal systems in the country; however, the poll surveyed only corporate lawyers working for companies with $100 million or more in annual revenues. Such people make more money when civil rights are hindered. We must fight against the insurance industry, big business, and their front groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who have been trying to take over the courts in Illinois and across the country.

To read the full letter.

The FDA is looking into whether Eli Lilly & Company, a pharmaceutical company, provided it with accurate data about the side effects of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. The drug has been linked to weight gain and diabetes and has been the subject of numerous lawsuits. The FDA is questioning in particular a document from February 2000 where the company found the patients taking Zyprexa were three and a half times as likely to develop high blood sugar as those who did not. The FDA did not receive that document. However, a few months later, Lilly gave data to the FDA that showed very little difference in blood sugar between patients taking the drug and those not taking the drug.

For the full article.

A recent study by two hospitals said that overcrowded hospitals are pushing too hard to streamline and cut costs. These goals are putting their patients at risk of medical malpractice such as medication errors, nerve injuries, infections, and other easily preventable mistakes. The study found that hospital goals of cutting costs and improving patient safety are working against each other.

For the full article.

Today, Merck announced that the FDA rejected its request to market a successor to its withdrawn arthritis drug Vioxx in the U.S. The move was widely expected after a panel of FDA advisers two weeks ago voted 20-1 against approving the drug Arcoxia.

For the full article.

FDA whistle-blower isn’t content with helping the fight to keep Merck’s drug Arcoxia off the U.S. market; he’s beginning to move the fight to the other 63 countries where the arthritis medication is sold. The whistle-blower warned that Arcoxia would be a potential public health disaster because it raises heart attack and stroke risk. The panel voted 20 to 1 against recommending approval of the drug, which critics have compared to the infamous Merck drug Vioxx.

For the full article.

As we know, drug makers are often accused of playing down harmful side effects in marketing their drugs for the highest profits. Nearly 500 individuals have joined a lawsuit against drug maker Hoffman-La Roche Inc for the acne drug Accutane. The trial started last week and the issue involves whether the company downplayed the risk that the medication could cause serious gastrointestinal diseases. The pharmaceutical giant flatly denies the allegations and states that there is no reliable evidence linking Accutane to causing inflammatory bowel disease.

For the full article.

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.

For the full article.

A recent study showed that big for-profit dialysis chains give far higher doses of anemia drugs to their kidney patients than do nonprofit centers. The study found that for-profit dialysis chains may dose some patients with the Amgen drug at levels up to three times as high as nonprofit centers.

For the full article.

Recent debate has centered around whether antidepressants can cause suicidal behavior. A new analysis concludes that the benefits of antidepressants outweigh the risk of suicidal behavior in young people. The report published recently in the Journal of American Medical Association analyzed 27 studies of young people being treated with antidepressants for depression as well as obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety disorders and found that the risk of suicidal thinking is smaller than previously thought.

For the full article.

A 22 year-old woman recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a group of surgeons, including one who is a candidate for governor of his state. The lawsuit alleges the 22 year-old had to receive a new hip after surgeons committed medical malpractice surgical error, damaging the bone during an operation. The complaint further alleges that the surgeons failed to check X-rays later that would have revealed their mistake.

For the full article.

Currently, a jury is instructed not to award damages for grief and sorrow in wrongful death lawsuits. The Illinois House of Representatives will be voting on HB 1798 next week (April 24-28). HB 1798 would allow damages for grief, sorrow, and mental anguish for the wrongful death of a loved one.

To locate the phone numbers of your legislators.
For the full text of the bill.

The “Insurance Industry Competition Act” was recently introduced in both the U.S. House of Representatives and in the Senate. For more than 60 years, the insurance industry has operated beyond the reach of Federal anti-trust laws. This legislation, however, would repeal the industry’s anti-trust exemption and give the Federal government the authority to hold insurance companies accountable for their behavior.

For more information.

A new study found that ibuprofen may increase the odds of heart problems in patients who have osteoarthritis and are taking daily aspirin to help lower their cardiovascular risk. The authors of the study speculated that ibuprofen may cancel out the cardio-protective effects of daily low-dose aspirin. Use of ibuprofen and aspirin boosted arthritis patients’ one-year heart attack and stroke risk ninefold compared to patients who were taking a cox-2 inhibitor pain reliever.

For the full article.

Two prominent U.S. heart experts recently stated that studies of Merck’s new arthritis drug Arcoxia revealed risks that should prevent its FDA approval. Further, the drug has posed unacceptable dangers in the 63 countries where it is currently sold. The doctors stated in interviews that they were concerned that patients taking Arcoxia in a large international trial had a higher incidence of edema, elevated blood pressure, and congestive heart failure than patients taking the standard treatment diclofenac.

For the full article.

The FDA announced last week that it was asking manufacturers of a certain type of nausea-treating drug to stop making and marketing the products. Specifically, the FDA targeted manufacturers of suppository drug products containing trimethobenzamide hydrochloride because they are not FDA-approved. This action is part of an ongoing FDA effort to root out prescription drugs that do not have FDA approval.

For the full article.

The FDA recently stated that a drug used to treat overactive-bladder conditions needs more specific warnings about the potential to cause hallucinations and agitation in children. The agency said it was proposing to update the precautions section to note reports of hallucinations and agitation were “prominent among pediatric cases.” The proposed label would also direct doctors to carefully monitor patients on the drug for central-nervous-system side effects.

For the full article.

Public Citizen is requesting that the FDA order Pfizer, Inc. to withdraw its new television commercial for Celebrex. Pfizer recently started running its Celebrex ads again last week after halting them in 2004 at the FDA’s request over concerns that the drug raised the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Merck & Co. had pulled a similar arthritis drug, Vioxx. Celebrex was allowed to stay on the market with a strong black box warning label.

For the full article.

Each year, roughly 100,000 patients die in hospitals because of medical malpractice and another 100,000 develop infections while in the hospital. Over the past six years, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has sharply cut down on common errors. Discharge delays and post-surgery infections are down 50%, deadly infections from ventilators are down 90%. At the same time, admissions are up 30%, the size of the staff has increased 50%, and revenue has doubled to $1 billion.

The hospital implemented various procedures to correct common errors. For example, to fight surgical infections often caused by busy doctors forgetting to administer preoperative antibiotics, the hospital initiated a “pre-op pause” (similar to one for pilots before a takeoff). Everyone stops for 30 seconds to make sure every safety step has been taken.

For the full article.

According to Kaiser’s first election ’08 tracking poll, health care reform ranks as the second most important issue for the government after the Iraq war. Overall, half of the public (52%) say they would like to see candidates propose a major new health plan that would provide coverage to all or nearly all Americans and would involve a substantial increase in spending. There are big party differences in these views, with Democrats far more likely than Republicans (66% vs. 38%) to favor a bigger plan that costs more. Independents fell in the middle at 52%.

For the full article.

Amgen, the world’s largest biotech company, recently got defensive after safety questions emerged about two of its largest drugs, which treat anemia in cancer and kidney-failure patients. A black-box warning was placed on those and other anemia drugs on March 9, urging doctors to use the smallest possible dose of the drugs. Amgen previously enjoyed a market capitalization above $80 billion, but its stock plunged wiping out roughly $20 billion in market value.

For the full article.

The Kimberly Linn McDonald Foundation recently sponsored an event to raise awareness for patients, doctors, hospitals, and health care organizations. The Foundation was created to honor Kimberly Linn, a high school student who at age 15 died from medical malpractice surgical error after a relatively minor medical procedure. In addition to educating the community, the Foundation provides scholarships for students who emulate Kimberly’s standards.

Continue reading "Kimberly Linn McDonald Foundation rallies for patient awareness" »

If all hospitals performed at the level of the top-ranked hospitals, approximately 34,393 Medicare deaths could have been prevented from 2003 through 2005, a recent Healthgrades study reports. Further, approximately 206,286 patient safety incidents would not have occurred and the U.S. could have saved $1.74 billion.

For the full study.

A recent Healthgrades study found that there were wide, highly significant gaps in patient safety incidents and overall performance between the top 15% of ranked hospitals and the bottom ranked hospitals. Specifically, the study found that the top-ranked hospitals significantly outperformed the bottom-ranked hospitals in every incident category. As a group, the top-ranked hospitals had an overall patient safety performance equaling a 40.77% lower risk of occurrence of experiencing an incident compared to the bottom 15%.

For the full study.

More than half of the patient safety incident rates worsened from 2003 to 2005. On average, the rates worsened by over 11.5%, according to a recent Healthgrades study. The incidents with the greatest increases in rates were post-operative sepsis and post-operative respiratory failure. Failure to monitor a patient post-operation could result in medical malpractice and the recent increases in patient safety incident rates associated with post-operative care are frightening.

To read the full study.

When the 47 year-old Air Force veteran and father of four went to the a VA Medical Center to remove his potentially cancerous left testicle, he was not fearful. He new that he could function normally with a single, healthy testicle. However, last year, the 47 year-old was a victim to medical malpractice in a major surgical error. His doctors performed wrong site surgery when they mistakenly removed his right testicle instead of his left. He and his wife recently filed a claim against the hospital.

For the full article.

Although most people would assume that a hospital would be able to handle a medical emergency, some hospitals may find the staff resorting to what you do in a crisis: call 911. This recently happened when a 44 year-old man developing breathing problems after a spine surgery. When the staff first realized that the man was in trouble, no physician was working. So, the staff called 911 and the man was taken to a nearby full-service hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The delay in treatment may have contributed to the 44 year-old’s death. This hospital is one of 140 in the nation owned and managed by doctors specializing in certain types of profitable procedures. These hospitals have been criticized for cherry-picking expensive and profitable procedures from full-service hospitals. As evidence by this incident, such specialization may end up harming patients in the long run.

For the full article.

Five recent deaths at the nation’s largest Veterans Affairs medical complex are troubling and members of Congress say that they could be a sign of a system badly in need of closer oversight. The deaths occurred in residential rehabilitation or emergency housing programs at the West Los Angeles Healthcare Center between November and February. One Congressman stated that there are medical errors all the time, but he is skeptical about the situation because it seems that the Veterans Affairs medical complex wants to cover up these errors.

For the full article.

In March 2004 when Sanofi-Aventis SA reported data on their "miracle" obesity drug, it attracted instant attention. To date, however, the drug has not hit the U.S. market. The FDA has asked for more research and has delayed approval for the drug as an obesity treatment and rejected it for smoking cessation. The side effects associated with the drug Acomplia include depression and anxiety and are giving the FDA cause for concern. The FDA has a meeting scheduled for June 13 to review Acomplia, which could be a precursor to a final decision.

For the full article.

Vioxx's maker, Merck & Co., is asking the Food and Drug Administration to approve a successor to the pulled drug Vioxx that was found to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. This week, an FDA advisory committee will hold a public meeting on the new drug Arcoxia, a Cox-2 inhibitor. The FDA is expected to rule before May on whether to the Vioxx successor.

For the full article.

A woman went into the hospital for a routine knee replacement in March 2003, but never came out. Her daughter filed a medical malpractice lawsuit and the case settled out of court. But, the money brought little comfort. Her daughter was finally able to achieve some peace through the establishment of an online support group for medical malpractice victims called The Tresa E. Speer Medical Malpractice Support Group for Malpractice Survivors and Families. The website is devoted to offering support and information about medical malpractice.

For the full article.
For the online support website.

With the lost of her son still plaguing her mind, mother Patty Skolnik is determined to make her state join 15 others that publicize medical malpractice judgments. Information on malpractice judgments, settlements and arbitration awards against doctors from 15 states is available at www.healthgrades.com. The state legislature is currently working on the Michael Skolnik Medical Transparency Act, which would require all doctors to report final malpractice judgments.

Michael Skolnik was 22 when he blacked out playing with his dog. A series of medical malpractice mistakes led him to receiving unnecessary surgery from an inexperienced doctor who jostled his brain and ultimately led to his death.

For the full article.

A woman contracted flesh-eating bacteria after giving birth at a hospital. She has since lost her arms and legs due to the virus. Her attorney recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital, seeking not only damages but also explanations for how a routine childbirth became such a tragedy.

For the full article.

A Personal Injury Practice Update will be held on June 15, 2007 in Chicago at the UBS Tower and on June 29, 2007 at Crowne Plaza in Springfield. Topics include effective use of legal nurse consultants, medical negligence in the context of obstetric litigation, and products liability. Additionally, Michael F. Bonamarte IV of Levin & Perconti will be discussing wrongful death and nursing home negligence.

To register.

For more information.

60 Minutes recently aired a special on pharmaceutical lobbyists and the roles they play in Congress. One of the reasons why pharmaceutical profits are so high is because of the Medicare prescription drug bill. It was passed three and a half years ago in the middle of the night, long after most people had switched off C-SPAN and gone to sleep. The only witnesses were staffers, lobbyists, and U.S. Representatives. According to Representative Walter Jones, the pharmaceutical lobbyists wrote the bill, which was over 1,000 pages. People were being coerced to vote for the bill, with much of the credit to former Congressman Billy Tauzin, a Republican from Louisiana who steered it through the House.

To read the full CBS report on the pharmaceutical lobbying campaign.