Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

A recent study suggests that a common pre-term labor drug, magnesium sulfate, is more likely to cause serious side effects compared to other pre-term labor drugs, such as nifedipine. Magnesium sulfate is the more commonly prescribed drug out of industry custom, even though both drugs achieve the same benefits. The study indicated that magnesium sulfate caused side effects including shortness of breath and fluid build-up in the lungs. In addition, the study noted a trend that mothers who received magnesium sulfate were more likely to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit than mothers receiving the alternative.

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The family of the woman who died while waiting in a hospital emergency room has indicated its intent to file a wrongful death suit against the hospital. The 43 year old woman died of a perforated bowel, vomiting blood and suffering pain for 45 minutes in the hospital's emergency room without ever getting treated. The woman's boyfriend even called 911 in an attempt to get immediate medical attention. A subsequent 911 call then tried unsuccessfully to get an ambulance to take the woman to another hotel. The 911 tapes further show that the staff at the emergency room did nothing but watch as the woman slowly bled to death. The hospital had a record of failing to provide care and was under investigation at the time of the incident.

Click here for the full article on the lawsuit.
Click here for the full article on the 911 calls.

A recent study indicates that psychiatrists have been receiving more money from drug companies than the doctors of any medical specialty. Drug companies have recently made efforts to increase the amount of money they spend on marketing fees and expenses targeted to psychiatrists. Their efforts have been largely successful. The amount of drugs that psychiatrists have been prescribing doubled last year, with most of the increase attributable to antipsychotic medications for children. The report mirrors accounts from other states that have observed similar increases in drugs being prescribed by psychiatrists.

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Joint ventures between store-based health clinics and pharmacy chains have been touted as providing convenient and affording health care, but the American Medical Association has expressed concerns over possible conflicts of interest. Retailers have been using the joint ventures as a way to increase in-store sales of prescription as well as non-health related items. The AMA has announced that it will begin calling for states to begin looking into these types of arrangements. Their concern was spurned by informal reports stating that these clnic members earn more money or get promotions based on the number of prescriptions that they write. While the AMA believes that most of the store-based health clinics will improve patients' access to health care overall, the call for state oversight aims to ensure that any potential conflicts of interest get resolved in the patients' favor.

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Click here for the AMA press release

Since 2003, the American Medical Association has been pushing for the creation of specialty courts that would hear only medical malpractice cases. These alternative courts proposed by the AMA would consist of judges with special training in medical standards. In addition, the health courts proposed by the AMA would cap non-economic damages according to a predetermined schedule, following the model of the caps on non-economic damages in California. The AMA's report states that medical liability insurance premiums have remained low in California and touts the state's recovery caps as a success. However, the report does not indicate whether patients in California are receiving a level of care equivalent to other states that do not have statutory caps.

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Click here for the AMA report

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation suspended both the physician and surgeon license of Gerald Saul Kane, M.D., of Chicago suburb Highland Park. Three patients treated by Dr. Kane received a surplus of multiple prescriptions in a short period of time. This included more than 20,000 doses of OxyContin and other pain killers and controlled substances. Two patients died of drug overdoses shortly after receiving their last prescriptions from Dr. Kane. The department alleges that the doctor did not appropriately treat these patients by failing to prescribe medically appropriate amounts of controlled substances and failed to monitor the patients for signs of dependence on these drugs, leading to the wrongful death of the two patients. The department issued his summary claiming that allowing Dr. Kane to continue to practice medicine after this medical malpractice would put the safety of the public in danger. His license has been suspended and his license to prescribe controlled substances has been revoked.

Pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers have access to information regarding which medications doctors prescribe for the reason that they are able to buy the information from the American Medical Association (AMA), and from companies that match the AMA’s data with pharmacy records. The AMA is holding its annual meeting in Chicago, where this topic is sure to be raised as an important issue. Some groups are planning to protest during the meeting in front of the Hilton Chicago. The information is being used to increase the sales of newer, more expensive drugs whereas it could be used to improve quality, safety of care, and lower drug prices. Many states, including Illinois, are proposing bills after noticing the correlation between the release of such information and the rising health care costs consumers face. Doctors that are not members of the AMA, about two thirds, are unaware that this information is being released. The AMA is planning to publish ads in medical journals to spread the information to doctors unaware of the fact that they can opt out of this practice.

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A personal injury suit between a Chicago area dentist and a man who died while in the dentist's care was settled for $1,135,000. The wrongful death action alleged that the dentist administered intravenous sedation but failed to properly monitor the Chicago, Illinois man. When the dentist realized that the man had stopped breathing, he then administered the wrong drug in an attempt to resuscitate him. Paramedics were called, but they were unable to revive the man.

The Chicago area resident went to the dentist to have a tooth pulled.

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The parents of a child with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy is suing the hospital for medical malpractice. The birth injury lawsuit alleges that the hospital failed to properly monitor for signs of fetal distress during delivery. Doctors had given the mother pitocin to induce labor. During delivery, fetal heatrate dropped into the 100s, a dangerously low level, for 80 seconds. The hospital continued to administer pitocin for the next hour and a half. According to the medical malpractice suit, the baby was born "blue, not breathing, had no heartbeat, and had a scalp hematoma with a laceration." Because of the lack of oxygen to the brain during delivery, the child now suffers from cerebral palsy.

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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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The third Judicial Circuit’s Medical-Legal Committee in Madison County, Illinois met with members of the legal and medical community, including doctors from the Illinois State Medical Society, and both plaintiff and defense lawyers who specialize in medical malpractice law. The preface to the rules states, “In order to alleviate the burden to the parties of protracted litigation in medical malpractice actions, to further the administration of justice, and to prevent unnecessary delay, the court hereby implements the... local rules.”

The first rule mandates mediation in medical malpractice cases. Mediation must occur within 90 days of the depositions of all Plaintiffs and Defendants, or their legal representatives. The court will also set a deadline for depositions at the Initial Case Management Conference, which will also address Certificates of Merit and early settlement possibilities. A circuit judge of Madison County, Illinois who is not assigned to the case and is a certified mediator will mediate the case. The second rule says that all medical malpractice cases will be reviewed by a panel of circuit judges, who will meet monthly, to enhance the advancement of the deposition of cases, and to refer all applicable cases to mediation. The third rule allows plaintiffs 45 days to file an amended Certificate of Merit to comply with new regulations.

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Chicago area drug company Advanced Life Sciences Holding Inc. has successfully completed primary trial goal for a new one dose drug for pneumonia treatment. A thirty day course of the drug was also 100% effective against a lethal dose of inhaled anthrax. The drug, cethromycin, met the trial goal set by another long-acting antibiotic, clarithromycin, with similar safety risks.

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Recently, judges in Madison County met with the Illinois State Medical Society and its insurance company (the largest medical malpractice insurer in the state), and included numerous lawyers. There were concerns, however, that judges may have been succumbing to political forces influenced by the insurance companies. The meeting ultimately resulted in the implementation of new tort rules, which were announced Monday, June 18, 2007. The rules include mandatory mediation for all malpractice lawsuits in an effort to encourage settlements out of court and required monthly meetings of a panel of judges to discuss pending medical malpractice lawsuits.

Plaintiffs will have the opportunity to amend complaints in order to comply with the Illinois state law requiring all cases to be reviewed by physicians prior to filing. Additionally, plaintiffs are not going to be forced into settlement agreements, and participating in the mediation will not imply guilt for defendants who deny liability. There is no harm for either side in promoting controlled mediation to encourage settlements over expensive and drawn-out trials if they are unnecessary. However, the impact of these new regulations could prove to be marginal at best.

Continue reading "Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits to be impacted by Madison County Court rules" »

President Bush has vetoed a measure promoting embryonic stem cell research for the second time. This time, however, he simultaneously announced a related and symbolic executive order. The order, a new scientific initiative, will have three parts: allowing research involving other stem cells to be eligible for federal financing if they have the same properties as embryonic stem cells, ordering the Secretary of Health and Human Services to support alternate techniques and the exploration of new scientific theories involving stem cells obtained from amniotic fluid or cells that have been deemed “clinically dead”. The initiative appears to be symbolic because there is no money attached. Also, Bush’s initiative pushes for the National Institute of Health to focus on a recent study involving possible reassignment of the skin cells of mice. Leading scientific researchers contend that this alternative has not been replicated in humans and is not a sufficient substitute to research and progress made with embryonic stem cell research. Embryonic stem cells can develop into any type of tissue in the body, possibly resulting in the discovery of new treatments and cures for the sick and injured. Researchers, advocates and politicians, including many from the President’s own party, will inevitably be questioning and criticizing Bush’s veto and virtually symbolic initiative.

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As the country transitions to a more electronic world, hospitals and healthcare providers are implementing electronic record-keeping systems. Electronic healthcare records (EHRs), would allow healthcare practitioners and hospitals to provide higher quality care because records would be kept and recorded more accurately in an electronic record world. Medical malpractice lawsuits may decrease and medical malpractice cases against hospitals will be easier to prosecute as the country’s healthcare system transitions to EHRs. If patients are receiving higher quality of care, fewer errors and incidents of malpractice will occur and lawsuits will decrease. On the other hand, medical malpractice lawsuits that are sometimes hindered by inaccurate or incomplete record-keeping, will become easier to prosecute if all records pertaining to the patient are centralized and accessible in an electronic world. Further, many records or documents claimed to be “lost” by hospitals and doctors may be easier to recover during the discovery process.

Of course, EHRs are not without risks. Hospitals will need to implement polices and procedures to ensure that address the risks of EHRs are addressed. These risks include doctors spending more time in front of computer screens than with patients, inaccurate data entry, and unauthorized access and errors related to problems that arise during the transition to EHRs.

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States are beginning to make information regarding quality and costs of medical services at different hospitals in the state available to the public. And the information shows that there is no correlation between cost and quality of care. In the study, it was shown that the two highest paid hospitals in the state actually had death rates that were higher than expected. The study also illuminated the problem that good care can go unrewarded; one hospital with a high success rate in a large number of bypass surgeries, for instance, was paid an average payment less than half the amount of the state average.

Insurance providers are aware of the fact that their payment policies and practices do nothing to promote better care in hospitals. Medicare, for example, pays a relatively flat fee depending on location and type of hospital rather than outcome or quality of care. Medicare pays for the services hospitals provide, even if those services are only necessary because of medical mistakes or avoidable hospital infections. This study may put more pressure on insurance carriers and hospitals to be more transparent regarding quality of care, and may give insurance companies a reason to consider distinctions in the care provided.

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The State has announced that it would pay $1.25 million to the family of a 14 year-old girl who died while in the State's care. The girl in the wrongful death suit was a patient in a state mental hospital. When she vomitted several times during the middle of the night, a doctor was called to the check on her condition. However, the doctor failed to perform a physical evaluation and failed to diagnose the intestinal blockage that ultimately led to the girl's death. In addition, even though the doctor ordered that the girl be checked on periodically throughout the night, neglect by the hospital staff left the girl unmonitored for as long as four hours.

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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.

Continue reading "State Supreme Court allows medical malpractice claim after patient's death" »

A lawsuit was filed today against ManorCare Health Services and other health care providers in Illinois on behalf of a man who was the victim of medical malpractice.

The family of an Illinois man is suing an out of state hospital for negligence. The personal injury suit alleges that inattention and the failure to provide ordinary care resulted in the Illinois' man's fall. This fall would be fatal, as injuries from the fall ultimately led to the wrongful death. If the hospital had provided adequate care, the fall could have been avoided.

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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.

A state supreme court has agreed to hear a case that would challenge the constitutionality of the state's medical malpractice litigation reform. The statute requires that, when a medical malpractice suit is filed, the plaintiff must also file a certificate stating that a physician has reviewed the case and believes that it has merit. Without the certification, the court will dismiss the claim.

Continue reading "Constitutionality of med mal reform questioned" »

In a case now before a state Supreme Court, hospital lawyers are trying to limit the amount of information that patients can receive regarding previous mistakes made by a hospital and its doctors. In 2004, state voters passed an amendment to the state constitution that would give patients the right to know about previous medical malpractice events. The current dispute is over whether that Patient's Right to Know amendment applies to events that occurred before the amendment was passed. However, if the amendment can not provide access to information prior to 2004, it will be years if not decades before the amendment can provide any meaningful way to let patients check on the past performance of health care providers.

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The Fifth Annual ACS National Convention will take place the weekend of July 27-28, 2007 in Washington, DC. As in the past, this year's convention will feature exciting speakers and rigorous debate and discussion of important legal and policy issues.

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A Kane County jury recently awarded $1.3 million in a medical malpractice suit over a surgical error occuring in 2000. For several weeks, an Illinois woman who had surgery for her endometriosis had a surgical sponge left inside her. The sponge was not detected until the woman's post-surgergy pain resulted in an emergency room visit. The sponge caused an abcess, necessitating a second surgery to remove the woman's ovaries and fallopian tubes. Permanent nerve damage prevents the woman from sitting or standing for more than 45 minutes at a time, and pain from the nerve damage required a morphine pump implant. In addition, the woman will need to undergo hormone therapy for the rest of her life.

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A study conducted shows that there is no connection between the quality of health care provided and the cost of that health care. The study compared the costs of a given medical procedure against the length of hospital stay required or against the death rates associated with that procedure. Suprisingly, there not only seemed to be no correlation between an increase cost of health care and an increase in the quality of that care, but the most expensive health care providers actually provided lower quality care in some instances.

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The Illinois appellate court recently vacated a ruling that would have dismissed a personal injury claim. The plaintiffs alleged medical malpractice against both a hospital and a physician, Dr. Richard Sandore. The plaintiff's wife was experiencing difficulty with her pregnancy and was brought to the hospital by ambulance. She requested that she be taken to a specific hospital, but the urgency of her condition required that paramedics instead take her to the nearest one. Despite this urgency, the plaintiff was not seen by a gynecologist for one and a half hours after she had been admitted. Even then, although Sandore decided that a c-section was needed, the baby was not born for another hour after that. As a result of these delays, the baby was born with severe neurological damage.

Continue reading "Plaintiffs can sue doctor even after settling with hospital" »

A jury awarded $2.15 million in a medical malpractice suit for injuries sustained during a botched hip arthroscopy. The surgergy was unnecessary and was performed by a doctor who used the then-17-year-old patient as a "guinea pig," according to the plaintiff's attorney. The plaintiff had been an aspiring ballerina since she was two years old and had plans to continue dancing while in college. Ten years after the surgery, however, the woman continues to experience pain, needs a cane to walk, and will require further surgeries.

Continue reading "Jury awards $2.15M for unnecessary surgergy" »

Ovarian cancer has long been one of the deadliest types of cancer due to its inability to be diagnosed early. However, cancer experts claim to have identified a set of health problems that may be symptoms of ovarian cancer. This new discovery urges women who exhibit these symptoms for more than a few weeks to see their doctors. Early detection is the only way to combat this deadly disease, which will claim around 15,000 lives in the United States alone this year.

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Despite efforts by the federal government to reduce the costs of health care, insurance premiums have continued to rise. A recent article blames the incentive structure for doctors. When the government limited the amount of profit that doctors could make on drugs that they administered in their offices, doctors responded by simply administering more drugs to more patients for whom the medicines would not help.

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A State Supreme Court has recently invalidated a section of a recently enacted tort reform package because it was inconsistent with federal regulations. OCGA section 9-11-9.2 required medical malpractice plaintiffs to sign a waiver releasing all medical records to the defendant. Failure to provide this waiver at the time a plaintiff files suit would result in a dismissal.

Continue reading "State Supreme Court strikes down part of state tort reform" »

Victims of medical malpractice are mobilizing to help prevent medical errors and promote patient safety. Sorrel King created the Josie King Foundation to fund safety initiatives at hospitals in honor of her 18-month-old daughter who died after a series of medical mistakes. She also donated some of the financial settlement to the hospital where the errors occurred in order to start a children’s safety program. King launched a new web site, josieking.org, with advice and information for patients and the medical community on how to increase patient safety and what to do if medical errors do occur.

Continue reading "Patients and families affected by medical errors organize a grass-roots movement" »

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 Supreme Court was recently asked by hospital lawyers to postpone the implementation of a state constitutional amendment called “the Patients’ Right to Know Amendment”. The amendment allows patients to inquire about doctors’ and hospitals’ medical malpractice history. The delay was brought on by a disagreement in the appellate courts on whether the amendment should apply to past records or those created since the voters approved the measure in 2004. If it only covers new records, the amendment will only reach its intended purpose in many years. Some justices argue, however, that the confidentiality rights of doctors and hospitals during peer reviews should prevent the amendment from being applied retroactively. Others contend that confidentiality rights are not absolute and can be lifted by new laws. The Supreme Court will vote at a later date. In 2004, Florida voters also passed an amendment barring doctors with three medical malpractice judgments from practicing.

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A state court of appeals reversed the dismissal of a medical malpractice suit filed on behalf of a child who was conceived but not yet born at the time a doctor failed to diagnose colon cancer in the child's father. The failure to diagnose occurred approximately one month after the deceased and his wife learned that they were pregnant. The father died of cancer four months after the child was born. Although the trial court initially dismissed the case for lack of standing, the appellate court ruled that the child conceived but unborn at the time of the injury could file a negligence suit and sue for loss of companionship.

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John J. Perconti and Patricia L. M. Gifford of Levin & Perconti recently settled a medical malpractice lawsuit for $4,000,000 involving conduct by an unidentified defendant to a liver transplant recipient causing a liver transplant rejection necessitating a second liver transplant causing end-stage renal disease and hemodialysis.

A recent multinational study of 602 patients with advanced liver cancer showed promising results. Half of the patients were given two tablets a day of a drug called sorafenib, while the other half received a placebo. On average, those who took the sorafenib survived much longer than those who received the placebo. Sorafenib zeros in on malignant cells and cuts off the blood supply feeding the cancerous tumor.

Liver cancer is notoriously resistant to modern cancer treatments such as chemotherapy. Over 19,000 Americans are diagnosed with liver cancer annually. This study gives hope to the millions worldwide who have this deadly disease.

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After several days of deliberation, a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the medical malpractice suit alleging that nurses and doctors breached the ordinary standard of care. The family of the deceased sought $3 million because when the deceased arrived in the emergency room, nurses only spent fourteen minutes with him before leaving for a lunch break. Had the nurses performed an adequate physical examination, the plaintiff argued, the nurses would have been able to discover and treat the fatal condition.

The defendants argued that the deceased suffered from overwhelming infection and should have gone to the hospital the day before.

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A man who suffered back pain has recently filed a medical malpractice suit, alleging that his doctor did not provide proper medical care. In trying to remove a seroma from his back, the plaintiff's doctor removed a portion of an intrathecal narcotic catheter. This compromised the plaintiff's ability to treat the pain in his lower back and legs. The plaintiff alleges malpractice in that he should have been referred back to his original physician because the seroma did not present a medical emergency. The plaintiff is suing for medical expenses, mental anguish, and pain and suffering.

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A powerful senator is found to have assisted a family physician in regaining his medical license six years before his probation was set to expire. The doctor had fraud and drug convictions and spent eight months in jail, but was also a 20-year friend of the senator. The senator also received a significant sum of campaign contributions for the doctor, and personally appeared before the medical board in support of the doctor. Some patients are threatening to file medical malpractice lawsuits.

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A Chicago family was awarded $14 million in a recent birth injury settlement. A boy suffered a severe brain injury during birth as a result of medical malpractice and negligence. The hospital staff members confused his heart rate and his mother’s pulse, and the baby was born not breathing. The emergency staff was not prepared for resuscitation as a result of the monitoring error. The obstetrician and nurse did not realize that the baby was in fetal distress and the seven minute lapse without oxygen resulted in cerebral palsy, leaving his arms and legs paralyzed. The judge approved the settlement, allowing the family to be able to provide for the boy for the rest of his life.

Click here for the Chicago Tribune article.

A recent HealthGrades study revelaed that 248,000 patient deaths over a three-year period were preventable, and mistakes multiply during the night shift. Every type of patient is at danger during the night.

Studies have shown that babies born at night are 16% more likely to die than babies born during the day. Patients going into cardiac arrest at night were also more likely to die. Pediatric patients admitted at night are more likely to die within two days. The risks appear even more serious when birth injuries and pediatric injuries also occur preventably. Medication administration errors also multiply at night. Weekends are also dangerous for patients.

Because workers with seniority get priority shifts, night time staffers are not only fewer, but less experienced. Night staffing issues are not limited to doctors and nurses; mental health, social services, directors, and administrators are also understaffed on the night shift. Not only are night workers less experienced, they also suffer from fatigue- a major contributor to night shift errors.

Beware of the danger that medical errors are more frequently made at night. Click here to read the full article, including a personal account of a preventable death occuring during the night shift.