Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

A woman’s dental surgery has spurred a medical malpractice suit. The lawsuit claims that the oral surgeon left a drill bit in the victim’s right maxillary sinus. This left her with dizziness, pain, nosebleeds and a sinus infection. The medical malpractice lawsuit named the oral surgeon and the health group in the suit. The oral surgeon had used a burr to separate her teeth and make the extraction easier. However, somewhere in the surgery the burr became detached and lost. When the victim came back to the dentist’s office he stated that she was feeling normal pain. She later had to go to the hospital to receive medical attention for the dental error. Doctors performed a magnetic scan in order to find the drill bit which only caused it to move further within her head. The drill bit has now been removed but she still may suffer from nickel poisoning. This type of dental error could have implications on the victim’s health for years to come. To read more about the dental malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

A state’s officials have fined 13 hospitals for medical errors that have killed or seriously injured patients. A report shows that one hospital was fined $50,000 with the death of a patient that died after he pulled out his tracheotomy tube although there were instructions that that patient be restrained and supervised. There was also a fine given to a hospital that misdiagnosed an ectopic pregnancy. A woman’s oxygen levels were not monitored correctly, leading to another fine. A patient died after nurses failed to notice that his heart monitor was disconnected. These are just a few of the examples of the 98,000 people who die every year as a result of medical error. To learn more about the hospital fines, please click the link.

Medical malpractice attorneys have filed a class action lawsuit against a hospital after it informed more than 350 patients that they may have received unnecessary heart stents. The hospital had recently sent letters to the patients informing them that they may have received stents even though their arteries were not in fact clogged enough that they would need such a stent. The class-action lawyers state that the stents were implemented because of their $10,000 procedure costs. The hospital did not comment on the medical malpractice lawsuit.. Surgeries should only be performed if they are in the interest of the patient. To read into the class-action lawsuit, please click the link.

Cookson v. Price, No. 109321 presented the question as to whether trial court properly dismissed plaintiff's medical malpractice claim for failure to provide sufficient physician's report required under 735 ILCS 5/2-622 where plaintiff attempted to amend insufficient report with second report that had been authored by different medical professional. Trial court found that plaintiff was not seeking to amend consultation report, but was attempting to substitute wholly new report that was not timely since it had been tendered after 90-day extension of time that had previously been granted to plaintiff under section 2-622. Appellate Court, in reversing trial court, found that plaintiff could amend initial report since there was no statutory bar to substituting report by new author. This case will impact medical malpractice cases.

Recently Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated on Meet the Press that the health care overhaul should reduce the number of medical malpractice lawsuits. He believes that malpractice is an area where Democrats should show more flexibility in the revised health care legislation. However, what Mr. McConnell failed to tell the American public is that every year 98,000 people die as a result of medical error. Additionally, studies show that provisions such as medical malpractice caps do not lower insurance premiums. Republicans and Democrats alike should work towards changing health care in a way that does not limit a patient’s rights. To read more about the health care debate, please click the link.

A woman claims a doctor and a hospital failed to properly interpret the results of a biopsied piece of vaginal tissue that turned out to be malignant. The medical malpractice lawsuit was filed after the doctors failed to diagnose her with cancer. Doctors first removed the vaginal tissue samples from her and performed a biopsy. The results then were sent to a specialist who failed to recognize that the biopsy and tissue samples showed presence of cancer. The cancer remained untreated for “a substantial period of time” which caused the victim to sustain severe injuries. The woman claims that the medical error caused her to lose wages; experienced pain, suffering, disability, loss of a normal life, disfigurement, an increased risk of future injuries and diminished her life expectancy. The medical malpractice lawsuit stated that if the cancer were treated sooner then she would have incurred less medical expenses. The lawsuit seeks a judgment of more than $150,000 plus costs. To learn more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

A Collinsville, Illinois woman claims her daughter died after her doctor allegedly failed to provide her with proper pre-natal care. She filed the medical malpractice lawsuit against both the hospital and physician. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the doctor breached her duty of care by failing to monitor or assess the fetal viability during the pregnancy in light of the existing medical conditions. Also, the doctor failed to treat the mother’s diabetes in order to properly ensure fetal development. Finally, the medical malpractice lawsuit states that because the doctor failed to intervene when the fetus became distressed her daughter died. The Illinois lawsuit seeks more than $400,000 in damages. To read all of the medical malpractice counts, please click the link.

Despite Republican efforts to enact tort reform, the recent healthcare bills leave the country’s medical malpractice system in tact. This is because medical malpractice lawsuits are often the only recourse for thousands victimized by medical error. Studies show that approximately 98,000 patients are killed each year by medical errors. Forty-six states have passed some sort of tort reform, and these states do not have lower costs or coverage for the uninsured. This proves that attempts to limit patient rights should not be included in the health care bill. By focusing on reducing medical errors, the healthcare system can help avoid the 98,000 wrongful deaths each year. Please contact your congressman and voice your opposition to medical malpractice reform. To read more of the ongoing debate, click the link.

A woman blames her third degree burns on the medical negligence of doctors at a children’s hospital before she went into surgery. A medical malpractice attorney has filed a lawsuit against the hospital on her behalf. The woman claims she became a patient in 2002 for surgery to treat her hyperparathyroidism. During the surgery, she received third-degree burns when doctors negligently allowed heat or a hot object to burn her back. She also claimed they failed to properly supervise her preparation for the surgery. The doctor at the hospital failed to guide his assistants in the proper placement of surgical devices to avoid the burning. Since the incident, she has been forced to endure additional surgeries and suffered disfigurement. This type of medical negligence will have a life long effect on the woman. To read more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

Although efforts have been made to make medications safer, medication errors take place in hospitals throughout the country. Studies show that medication errors cause at least one death every day and injure approximately 1.3 million people annually. A new effort is being made to quickly spread the word about such errors and offer guidance on how to prevent similar mistakes. The National Alert Network for Serious Medication Errors will send email alerts to 35,000 pharmacists working in hospitals and health systems. This will hopefully help diminish the number of life-threatening errors. Also, consumers can sign up for customized alerts about the medications they take. To learn more about the new measures to prevent prescription medication errors, please click the link.

According to WBBM.com, a Chicago man has filed a dental malpractice lawsuit against his dentist after he claims he underwent an unnecessary root canal and extraction. According to the dental malpractice lawsuit, the man visited a doctor complaining of pain in his 20th tooth. The dentist subsequently performed a root canal on the tooth, but the pain came back. He then planned to extract the tooth and replace it with an implant. A year later, the man went back to the dentist with a fracture in the 19th tooth. It was discovered that the source of the man’s pain and the root canal and extraction of the 20th tooth was unnecessary. The two count medical malpractice suit also accuses the doctor of lack of informed consent and seeks $50,000 plus legal costs. To learn more about the Chicago dental malpractice, lawsuit please click the link.

A couple is suing their doctor for medical malpractice claiming that the physician deviated from appropriate medical standards. A medical malpractice attorney filed the lawsuit on their behalf, claiming that the plaintiff was injured as a result of this negligence. The lawsuit claims that the doctor supposedly failed to see the patient for almost 10 days post-surgery and that the patient was prematurely discharged from the hospital. The victim then suffered a severe infection that required multiple treatments, great physical pain and suffering, and mental anguish and anxiety. The patient has acquired over $200,000 in medical expenses. To learn more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

A woman went to the hospital to have her fallopian tubes tied and left with two punctured holes in her bladder. This near-death experience resulted in the woman having chronic pain and a flesh eating virus. The victim couldn’t move, speak and she had no muscle control. Her medical expenses for the process totaled $1.9 million. Medical malpractice lawyers state that if she hadn’t received the settlement she would be homeless or living in public housing. The woman fortunately filed the medical malpractice lawsuit in the state of Iowa where no medical malpractice caps exist, despite the lobbying of the insurance companies. While insurance companies boast that caps will lower the cost of health care, history shows that the medical malpractice caps do not lower insurance rates for doctors or patients. They simply make more money for insurance corporations. Statistics show that malpractice insurance profits are 24 percent higher in states with caps on malpractice damages than in states who do not have medical malpractice caps. Medical malpractice attorneys know the cost of bringing a case to trial, and due to this only take those that are meritorious. This helps dispute the insurance companies argument that medical malpractice suits are too commonplace and that caps are needed to decrease the costs. To learn more about the medical malpractice case, please click the link.

A man who developed an infection after donating blood at a hospital has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit. In the past 10 years, the 43 year old had regularly donated his O-positive type blood for free at the blood center. However, in April 2009 he came down with a debilitating infection. When he could no longer afford the hospital expenses anymore, he was denied care. The man filed a medical malpractice lawsuit alleging that they took his blood and backed out of a promise to take care of him if anything happened to him by virtue of his donations. The medical malpractice furthermore accuses the hospital of being unjustly enriched by taking his blood under false pretenses and selling it. The director of communications for the hospital stated that there is a possibility that donors may get infections from sources unrelated to a blood donation. To look further into the allegations, please click the link.

Martinez v. Elias, No. 1-08-0265, (12-28-09) found that the court properly denied a motion in limine to bar evidence of financial motive to perform surgery, which plaintiff claimed was unnecessarily performed by defendant orthopedic surgeon; proper to permit evidence of financial motive in limited and specific manner to address the issue of compliance with standard of care. Motion for new trial was properly denied, as evidence was sufficient for jury to have established requisite elements, including proximate cause based on testimony of plaintiff and admission of defense expert that surgery caused or contributed to pain after surgery. Remittitur for $100,000 in error, as treating physician testified that fee for necessary future surgery would be $55,000, plus one-week hospital stay and charges for radiology, anesthesiology, and physical therapy, and that testimony was sufficient to support jury's award of $100,000 for non-itemized future medical expenses. This case will have an effect on medical malpractice lawyers.

According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, an Illinois man lost his wife to medical negligence after she suffered a perforated bowel. The retired police office and his sons settled a wrongful-death lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against the Little Company of Mary Hospital in Chicago and two other entities. The $7.5 million settlement with the hospital set a Cook County record for a settlement in a wrongful death of an adult without minor children.

The victim was chairperson of ten community mental health advisory boards in Chicago. She was diagnosed with stage three endometrial cancers and began radiation therapy at the Chicago hospital. There, she was over-radiated, causing a perforated bowel and a bacterial infection in her blood. This medical mistake ultimately caused her wrongful death. According to the family's medical malpractice lawyer, the victim received and overdose in radiation. To read about the landmark Chicago medical malpractice , settlement please click the link.

An undisclosed settlement was reached in a medical malpractice trial involving a woman who became disabled following a surgery. The woman filed the medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital and the estate of her surgery. She had undergone surgery for a perforated ulcer. Six days after the surgery she was readmitted to the hospital with internal bleeding. The blood loss caused her brain damage and she lost her teeth. The medical malpractice lawsuit also alleged that she lost a thumb and parts of two fingers. The terms of the medical malpractice lawsuit were required to be confidential. If you have been a victim of medical malpractice, find an Illinois lawyer. To read more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

Patients are contending that a hospital is liable for deaths after Hurricane Katrina because the hospital failed to adequately prepare for the disaster. This is the first trial that accuses a health-care institution of general negligence. Medical malpractice lawyers for the family hope to convince the jury that executives at the hospital were aware that generators were inadequate and deliberately put off costly emergency preparedness improvements. A 73-year-old victim wrongfully died after generators at the hospital failed. The fact that the case is labeled a negligence trial greatly affects the damages because Louisiana caps medical malpractice awards at $500,000 but does not impose caps in negligence trials. Hospitals must be ready for emergencies in order to avoid medical error. To read about the upcoming trial, please check out the link.

A man says he suffered 10 weeks of pain and stiffness before his doctors discovered that they had left a broken device in his knee during his surgery. The man has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit after the event and is suing for unspecified damages. He also names an orthopedic and sports medicine center in the malpractice lawsuit and the hospital where the surgery was performed. An x-ray performed two months after his surgery showed a “foreign body’ in his knee. The medical malpractice lawsuit states that the doctor performed follow-up surgery the next day and removed what looked like a broken surgical device from the victim’s knee. To learn more about the malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

A former student athlete and his parents have filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against his doctors and hospitals nearly a year after a flesh-eating bacterium led to the amputation of his legs. The medical malpractice lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $25,000 and was filed against more than 15 doctors, their companies and two hospitals. The young athlete was a captain of the rowing team last year when he felt pain in his lower calf muscle. This sent him to the emergency room where doctors diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis which is a rare strep infection. He was on life support four days later and flown to a medical center. Doctors had to amputate both his legs above the knee and he was given less than a 20 percent chance of survival. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that his care fell below accepted medical standards and that his parents were not properly informed of a treatment plan. To learn more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

Last month the Illinois Supreme Court decided to delay its ruling on the constitutionality of the Illinois Medical Malpractice Act of 2005. This ruling would determine whether or not medical malpractice caps were legal in Illinois. The issue came before the Court in the 2007 Abigaile Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital case where a Cook County Circuit Court Judge deemed the caps unconstitutional. Attorney Frank Perrecone stated the caps do nothing but injure victims of malpractice claims. He stated that “it’s a one size-fits-all solution on noneconomic damages, and it will affect those victims of medical error who are most seriously injured.” Medical malpractice caps will do nothing to decrease health care costs and will simply injure victims of medical error even further. To look more at opinions about medical malpractice caps, check out the link.

The Vice President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Greg Shevlin recently wrote a letter to the editor concerning the upcoming medical malpractice debate. Currently important legislation is facing the Illinois Supreme Court concerning medical malpractice caps. The case before the Illinois Supreme Court is about a little girl named Abigaile LeBron. This child’s life was forever altered as a result of the medical errors she encountered during her birth. However, there are many that want to cap the amount of damages she can receive in the name of brining down medical malpractice insurance rates. Caps have not lowered malpractice rates for doctors. The answer to fixing our health care situation is insurance reform, not taking away patients’ rights through medical malpractice caps. We must hold the insurance industry accountable for a health care system that is spiraling out of control. To learn more about how medical malpractice caps will injure patient’s rights, contact an Chicago personal injury lawyer.

A 35-year-old mother of nine has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital, three doctors and two nurses alleging that they sterilized her against her will. The lawsuit claims that this violated her reproductive rights. The woman has nine children aged 3 to 21 and claims that the doctors were supposed to implant an intrauterine device, which is a kind of reversible birth control, after she gave birth to her soon. However, the mother alleges that a permanent sterilization known as tubal litigation was performed. This left her mentally distraught and incapable of bearing more children. The mother is upset because there was no medical reason for the procedure and she did not sign consent for a tubal litigation. Written consent is required by federal law for at least 30 days in advance for all patients who want a permanent sterilization procedure. This type of medical error is but another form of medical malpractice. To read more into the forced sterilization, please click the link.

A doctor who specializes in pain and addition is facing a wrongful death lawsuit. This lawsuit was filed by the family of a former patient who state that the victim became addicted to drugs while under the doctor’s care before he committed suicide. The medical malpractice lawsuit states that the doctor turned the victim into a drug addict through a regular regimen of addictive painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs. The 30-year-old then killed himself with an overdose of pills prescribed from the pain clinic where the doctor works. The victim first sought out the doctor for back pain and was prescribed oxycodone months before the MRI confirmed an injury. The doctor never referred the victim to a drug addiction specialist. The doctor actually specializes in urology despite his advertisements which state that he works in pain and addiction. The doctor’s deception could lead to medical malpractice. To learn more about the wrongful death lawsuit, please click the link.

Ten years ago a report stated medical mistakes kill up to 98,000 Americans yearly. In 2005, Illinois legislators finally decided to do something and passed a measure requiring hospitals to report the deadliest kind. However, the law has yet to be implemented and it still won’t be for at least another year. There are glimmers of progress. This includes recent launch of a related state Web site that tracks hospital infection rates and staff levels, and the imminent start of a search for a vendor to help put the law in place. The proposed medical malpractice law will require hospitals to publicly report so-called “never” mistakes. These medical errors are mostly preventable with potentially life-threatening consequences. One example is the wrong-knee surgery one victim says Chicago-area doctors performed on him last year. There was also the woman who had a forgotten sponge left inside her during a breast tumor surgery. With the law fully in place, hospitals will be required to report major medical errors within 30 days to the state’s public health department. This law needs to be implemented so that hospitals and doctors can learn form the misses and near-misses of others. To see what other changes will be made with the medical malpractice law, please click the link.

A county is paying $1.3 million to settle a medical malpractice lawsuit over the injuries suffered by a mentally disturbed patient. This patient injured himself when escaping out of a window of a county-owned mental hospital. Court documents say that in the 2004 incident, the 27-year-old mentally handicapped person was in a seclusion room on the hospital’s fifth floor when he climbed out a window and tried to jump 15 to 20 to a fire escape landing. He suffered multiple fractures in the fall. The family alleges he was not adequately monitored by staff at the hospital. The $1.3 million medical malpractice settlement was reached on December 23. To read more about the medical malpractice settlement, please click the link.

Keeple and Company v. Cardiac, Thoracic and Endovascular Therapies, No. 3-09-003 (12-16-09) affirmed that a fee-sharing provision in a contract between a medical clinic and a medical billing company violated the Medical Practice Act, and as it was an essential part of contract, the remaining provisions of the contract are not severable from the unenforceable provision. The court found that the nonsolicitation clause which prohibited the clinic from soliciting billing company's employees was thus void and unenforceable. This case will impact medical malpractice law.

Kaufmann v. Jersey Community Hospital, No. 4-08-0909 (12-8-09) affirmed that a one-year statute of limitations, rather than two-year statute should be applied to bar patient's claim against community hospital, under the Tort Immunity Act, because claims against the hospital for physician's deviant sexual act while she was sedated for examination did not arise out of patient care, but out of the physician's own desire for sexual gratification. Equitable tolling was found to be inapplicable; even though patient waited to file suit per request of State Police during their investigation, when physician was indicted several months remained when patient could have filed within one-year statute of limitations, and patient was under no legal disability. This case will have a huge impact on how the Tort Immunity Act is applied in Illinois.

Hospital doctors have settled a medical malpractice lawsuit filed with a couple for $2.5 million. The victim was treated for dehydration which was the result of a gastrointestinal-related condition. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims doctors infused her with nutritional supplements through an IV in her subclavian artery, just below the collarbone, instead of the subclavian vein, where it was supposed to go. The medical malpractice lawsuit alleges that the erroneous placement caused fatty blockages to travel to her brain for five consecutive days which caused severe and debilitating stokes and neurological and cognitive devastation. The victim is now mentally and physically handicapped. The lawsuit alleged that the strokes were the result of improper medical care. Avoidable medical error can drastically change a person’s life. To learn more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

A jury has returned a $20 million verdict in an anesthesia medical malpractice lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who died during surgery when bile entered her lungs. The wrongful death lawsuit alleged that the anesthetists failed to identify that the victim had risk factors for breathing fluid into her lungs, despite the information being available in her medical record. The victim was preparing to receive exploratory surgery to determine the cause of severe stomach pains when she received the anesthesia. Once anesthetized, she began breathing bile into her lungs. She then later died. The victim’s family alleged that the defendants did not examine the victim’s abdomen or medical records before giving her anesthesia. If they had examined the patient they could have prevented her wrongful death. The jury awarded $20 million in favor of the plaintiff. Anesthesia deaths accounted for more than 2,200 deaths between 1999 and 2005. A little over 46% of those deaths are due to anesthesia overdose. To read more about the jury verdict, please click the link.

A $1.2 million medical malpractice settlement was reached for a woman who lost the vision in one eye due to complications resulting from negligently performed cataract surgery. The damage to the patient’s eye occurred when the surgeon attempted to inject anesthesia at the state of the operation, through what is known as a peribulbar block. The medical error occurred when the needle was misdirected. This was caused by inadequate preinjection anesthesia which caused the patient to feel the injection and move. The result was the victim’s loss of eyesight in the damaged eye. Anesthesia medical errors are some of the most common and destructive types of medical malpractice in America. To take a closer look at the medical malpractice settlement, please click the link.