Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

An Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit is essentially an accusation by a former patient (or their family members) that medical professionals failed to act reasonably when providing care. This is a form of a negligence lawsuit, which in the civil justice system is known as a “tort.” The tort of negligence is based upon standards of reasonableness. Generally, this means that all community members are expect to act in a reasonable way and can be held liable for the damage they cause when they fail to do so.

In the medical malpractice context, however, the reasonableness standard is one based on what other reasonable medical professionals would have done in a certain situation. In other words, a doctor’s actions are not compared with the actions of just any other community member but with other doctors in his area. In this way, patients are protected even though they do not personally understand what a reasonable doctor would have done.

Our Illinois medical malpractice lawyers work with many patients who believe that they may have suffered harm because of errors by their doctor. Yet, many are not sure exactly what types of mistakes were made. That is understandable. It is often only after a thorough investigation, examination of the record, discussion with other expert doctors, and similar activities that a true understanding of what went wrong emerges. Understanding how to compare the actions of one doctor against the actions that a reasonable doctor would have taken is exactly why patients hire a medical malpractice attorney.

The amount of investigation needed varies considerably from case to case. Sometimes the problems require exhaustive examination of detailed and voluminous documents. In other instances, the error is glaring. In legal lingo those glaring mistakes sometimes include use of the doctrine known as “res ipsa loquitor” – Latin for “the thing speaks for itself.”

For example, About Lawsuits recently discussed a jury verdict in a medical malpractice case where a surgical team left a sponge inside a patient’s body after a surgical procedure. Obviously, patients do not usually have sponges randomly found inside their body. Therefore, when a medical device is found inside a body the negligence generally “speaks for itself.” The New England Journal of Medicine reports that there are about 1,500 of these cases every year. Shockingly, it is often years before the mistake is actually uncovered, usually after a patient begins suffering from some unique symptoms.

In this case, the sponge caused the patient a string of problems. She had intense abdominal pain, a severe infection, bowel perforation and obstruction. She was eventually forced to undergo additional surgery where 16 inches of her small bowel were removed. Even then, her condition has not entirely returned to normal. She filed suit against the medical team that performed her surgery. The jury found in favor of the victim, awarding her $525,000. The jury concluded that the nursing team involved in the procedure failed to conduct a proper count of medical equipment which led to the sponge being left in the body.

If you have suspicions that you or a loved one suffered harm because of mistakes made by a doctor, nurse, nurse’s assistant, or other medical employee, be sure to share your story and learn about your legal rights.

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Many contracts come with a provision that states that “time is of the essence.” Legally, that generally means that the timing of various contract terms are particularly important to the agreement. Beyond contract law, there are many other instances when timing is particularly important. Our Illinois medical malpractice lawyers know well that in the medical world timing may have life or death consequences.

When a patient visits a medical professional because they are experiencing health problems, they have a reasonable expectation that the professional will conduct necessary testing and tell them what is ailing them. The patient and professional can then work together to make decisions on treatment plans. However, if the doctor does not timely diagnose a problem then necessary treatment is not received—or it is delayed. In those cases, timing often dictates whether a condition is treatable or whether it will likely be fatal.

When area doctors make these mistakes, an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit is often filed due to the failure to diagnose. For example, the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin recently profiled a Levin & Perconti case involving a delayed diagnosis. Our attorney filed suit against a negligent medical professionals on behalf of a young woman who suffered significant medical complications after the doctor’s failure to recognize an adrenal gland tumor.

The victim was only 19 years old when she visited a physician with various symptoms including abdominal weight gain, facial weight gain, and abnormal emotional responses. Without looking at her medical history, performing a physical exam, or conducting other routines tests, the doctor diagnosed the woman with polycystic ovary syndrome. Unfortunately, she did not have the syndrome. She actually had an adrenal gland tumor as well as cancer in her lungs and liver. As a result of the incorrect diagnosis, however, those ailments went untreated for a year and a half.

On top of all of that, the doctors also failed to diagnose the fact that girl was suffering from Cushing’s syndrome. The victim’s mother had shared many of the symptoms from which her daughter was suffering with nurses who were working on her care. However, those nurses never informed the doctor about those symptoms, and so they never were considered when the physician was making his diagnoses.

Doctor’s explain that the chances of the young woman surviving more than a year from now are quite slim. In fact, it has been deemed a medical miracle that she is still alive today. There is a chance she may have been cured had she been diagnosed properly. Our attorneys recently settled the case on behalf of the victim for $4.5 million.

Timely diagnosis is an essential element of proper medical care. All patients should be able to expect that their physicians to will identify their medical problems in a reasonable manner. If a doctor fails to diagnose a problem that a reasonable doctor would have identified, then medical malpractice may have occurred. If you or someone you know may have been harmed because of a diagnosis error, be sure to contact a legal professional to share your story and learn what can be done.

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Federal lawmakers continue to work on various proposals related to the federal deficit and current disagreements about raising the nation’s debt ceiling. The debt issue has wide-ranging ramifications for so many areas, including the quality of healthcare throughout the country. An Illinois medical malpractice attorney knows that tens of thousands of area patients are harmed each year because of mistakes made by their physicians that should have been prevented. Preventing these Illinois medical errors—and the subsequent corrective medical care—presents the opportunity to reduce overall medical costs by tens of billions of dollars.

Healthcare costs constitute a large portion of our nation’s annual budget. All legislative proposals and discussions aimed at reducing strains on the budget must include strategies to rein in unnecessary medical spending. Unfortunately, some big businesses and insurance companies have used the opportunity to try to slide in so-called “medical malpractice reform.” As has been exhaustively detailed, this “reform” is nothing more than an attempt to take away the rights of injured victims of medical errors.

Late last week Congressman Bruce Braley sent a letter to the Senate Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary urging him to reject the misguided “tort reform” efforts. Instead, Congressman Braley urged the influential Senate leader to remember that the single most effective way to reduce medical costs it to reduce medical errors.

The letter explains how costs associated with medical negligence claims only account for 1.36% of all healthcare spending. Conversely, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has found that as many 98,000 Americans are killed each and every year because of preventable medical errors. If it were included in the Centers for Disease Control figures, preventable medical errors would be the sixth leading cause of death in the country. Overall, there are 15 million incidents of medical harm every year.

The IOM has found that between $17 billion and $39 billion is spent annually because of those errors. Over ten years, therefore, these errors account for upwards of $300 billion in spending and several hundred thousand lives. With those stark numbers, it is shocking that more attention is not being paid to efforts that seek to strengthen patient safety. Instead, “tort reform’ measures are being pursued which would actually weaken one of the few patient safety tools currently available—the civil justice system.

Our Illinois medical malpractice lawyers are committed to fighting all efforts that take away rights of injured victims. The civil justice system has shown time and again that it is an important way to encourage better patient safety measures. Big businesses and insurance companies may have money and lobbyists on their side, but they do not have facts. There is no reason why innocent victims should have basic legal rights stripped from them because those who played a role in causing their injury do not want to pay for the consequences of their actions.

We encourage all patient rights’ advocates to contact their local, state, and federal lawmakers and encourage them to stand for victim’s rights. The current debt crisis cannot be used as an opportunity for big interests to push through misguided “tort reform” proposals.

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Without giving it much thought, you’d expect a surgeon to wash his or her hands before starting an operation. Unfortunately, however, that isn’t always the case.

According to the Hartford Courant, the World Health Organization estimates that more than 50 percent of acquired infections could be prevented if health care workers cleaned their hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based handrub before treating patients.

World Health Organization statistics show that each year in the United States alone, approximately 1.7 million infections are acquired from contaminated hospital settings; of those, 100,000 deaths occur across the country from infections acquired in U.S. hospitals. Health care has the potential to be an extremely risky process given that it often occurs in a setting rife with contagious individuals, but despite the potential situational hazard, many of these infections could have been avoided.

Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits arise when health care professionals, by way of an act or omission, violate the standard of care owed to their patients. By failing to maintain a safe environment in which to treat patients, doctors, hospitals, and other providers become liable when their medical negligence leads to a patient’s illness, injury, or death.

There are numerous occasions that arise during which we have no choice but to go to a hospital for treatment. So how do we keep ourselves safe?

Fortunately the World Health Organization has taken strides to reduce the likelihood of infections acquired from disease-ridden hospital settings. The WHO has published a surgical safety checklist, the use of which has become mandatory in more than 100,000 hospitals worldwide. Representatives on behalf of the World Health Organization have said that the program has been proven to reduce surgical complications by one-third (33%), and related deaths by 50%. With risks so grave, it’s a statistic we can’t afford to ignore. As a result, choosing a hospital that follows WHO procedures may be a matter of life and death.

According to former English Chief Medical Examiner Liam Donaldson, approximately 500,000 deaths could have been prevented each year if more hospitals had instituted the WHO’s infection prevention guidelines.

When millions of people die each year in cases of medical malpractice worldwide, it’s even more devastating to hear that these losses could have been avoided. Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys understand the physical and emotional difficulties associated with Illinois medical negligence cases. Our attorneys fought vigorously to win a $2.25 million medical malpractice settlement for failure to diagnose an infection in a 5 year-old boy who became contaminated after a bone-marrow transplant, and died as a result of the infection. If you or a loved one have been the victim of medical malpractice, including acquiring a disease from a health care provider’s failure to maintain a safe and clean environment, an attorney may be able to help you determine your rights.

A hospital in Texas now has to answer to charges of egregious negligent behavior in a medical malpractice lawsuit brought by the family of a woman who bled out following routine surgery at the hospital.

According to Outpatient Surgery Magazine, the hospital granted privileges to a surgeon who had a “well documented history of malpractice, drug addiction, mental problems, and loss of privileges at other hospitals. The information was readily available, and the hospital either knew or should have known, but chose to grant privileges to the surgeon despite his inability to properly perform.

The patient went in to Renaissance Hospital for non-emergency spinal surgery, and during the operation, the surgeon severed a major artery. Failing to notice the mistake, the surgeon closed the incision, and the patient suffered massive internal hemorrhaging, cardiac arrest, and ultimately death.

Another doctor working for a clinic branch of the hospital had referred the patient to this surgeon. Both the referring doctor and the hospital were negligent in failing to take into account the surgeon’s rocky past, and continuing to grant referrals and privileges, respectively.

However, the attending surgeon wasn’t the only one making critical medical negligence errors that day; Post-Anesthesia Care Unit nurses also failed to recognize and respond to signs that the patient was in danger, following the surgery.

Post-Anesthesia Care Unit nurses are generally highly trained, and charged with essential post-operative care of patients, including monitoring vital signs and ensuring that the patient is responding properly in accordance with normal post-operative behavior.

According to court documents, the patient’s abdomen was visibly expanded due to her severe internal bleeding, and expert witnesses stated that trained nurses ought to have easily been able to recognize that the patient was in trouble.

The nurses breached the standard of care owed to the patient by negligently failing to note her symptoms. Experts believe that had they been properly paying attention, the problem may have been able to be corrected in time.

The hospital filed a motion to dismiss the medical malpractice lawsuit and the trial court denied the motion. On June 30, a Texas court of appeals upheld the trial court’s ruling; as a result, the case will move forward and go to trial, if the hospital doesn’t offer to settle prior to trial.

Unfortunately, though many hospitals are careful in their treatment of patients, a number of health care providers and institutions simply are not. Devastatingly these situations often result in severe permanent injuries, and even death. Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys have seen hundreds of Illinois medical malpractice cases and understand the pain caused not only to the victim, but to friends and loved ones who must also share the loss caused by the medical negligence. If you or someone you love has been the victim of medical malpractice, you should contact an attorney immediately to determine your rights.

It seems like the fodder for urban legends. A woman went in to a Philadelphia hospital for a cesarean-section delivery, and ended up with a large sponge left inside her abdomen when the incision was closed.

According to the Courier Times of Philadelphia two nurses acted negligently when they failed to remove one of the sponges used during the surgery performed at Lower Bucks Hospital, and acted negligently when they failed to perform a required sponge count following the surgery.

Standard medical procedures require that three sponge counts be completed during the course of the operation: once before surgery, once before the abdomen is closed, and once when the surgery is completed. The fact that, despite these requirements, a sponge was still left inside the patient shows an egregious lack of care.

The doctor performing the surgery maintained that he relied on the two nurses to accurately complete the sponge count.

As a result of this medical negligence, the victim suffered a perforated bowel, bowel obstruction that required subsequent surgery, extreme pain, and numerous other complications. A jury awarded more than $500,000 in a medical malpractice lawsuit against the two nurses and the hospital at which the surgery was performed.

The jury’s verdict has the potential to be increased to more than three-quarters of a million dollars which would represent the interest accrued on the verdict since 2005, when the suit was filed.

Fortunately cases involving sponges left inside surgery patients are relatively uncommon, but medical malpractice cases can have devastating consequences. Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys have seen hundreds of cases of medical negligence, and have fought tirelessly for the rights of those harmed by health care providers. If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, an attorney may be the right person to help you determine your rights.

A California man went in for routine eye surgery and left with serious, permanent brain damage from the anesthesia. The gentleman intended to have the lens on one eye replaced with an artificial lens, which is a standard outpatient procedure, generally lasting fewer than two hours.

However, the physician was exorbitantly negligent. After anesthetizing the man, the anesthesiologist recklessly left the man unattended while he was under the effects of anesthesia. According to Becker’s ASC Review, the [medical malpractice case lawsuit] arose because the patient had an adverse reaction to the anesthesia and went into a deeper level of sedation than was planned; as a result the man suffered a lack of oxygen which caused an anoxic brain injury.

Anoxic brain injuries are serious, life-threatening injuries that can cause permanent mental and cognitive damage. The anesthesiologist responsible negligently failed to meet the standards of care to which health care professionals are held, and as a result of his medical malpractice, was found to be responsible for the man’s permanent cognitive brain injuries.

Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys have handled hundreds of medical malpractice cases in Illinois and understand the emotional struggle that comes as a result of these long-lasting injuries. If you or a loved one have been the victim of medical malpractice, an attorney may be able to help you determine your rights.

Babies come into the world with almost unlimited opportunities for their futures. But when mistakes are made during delivery and the baby is harmed, the child may suffer life-long permanent damage.

The brachial plexus is a system of nerves in the human body that sends signals from an individual’s brain to his or her shoulder, arm, and hand. When the chain of nerves is broken, the result can be as devastating as a dead or unusable limb.

Brachial plexus injuries can occur as a result of traumatic injury, or medical malpractice mistakes made during the labor and delivery process of childbirth. Obstetric errors may arise when, after delivery of the baby’s head, the infant’s shoulder requires significant mechanical manipulation to breach the barrier of the mother’s pelvis.

In this type of situation, if the baby is not delivered quickly, the infant is at risk for death because the umbilical cord is compressed within the birth canal. However, if instead, in a rush to deliver the infant, a doctor or nurse is forceful in the mechanical delivery, the baby’s brachial plexus nerve may be torn along with the shoulder, and the child may permanently lose use of the arm or hand.

This month, a jury in Cedar Falls, Iowa awarded $1.314 million to a couple whose infant was injured during childbirth. According to the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier, the doctor responsible failed to diagnose the fact that the baby’s shoulder was stuck during birth, and used excessive force to pull her from the mother’s pelvis.

Rather than using force, the doctor had the option of using other techniques to free the baby’s shoulder, or undertake a C-section. Instead, the girl has permanent injuries to her brachial plexus nerve, and life-long limited use of her left arm.

Though at first glance, the verdict seems like a large number, it is hardly a windfall; it includes $550,000 for loss of the child’s future earnings as an adult, $380,000 for loss of full mind and body abilities, and $258,000 for pain and suffering that the girl will endure for the rest of her life.

Treatment for brachial plexus injuries often includes physical therapy, and sometimes surgery to correct the damage and compensate for nerve defects. Although some brachial plexus injuries may heal on their own, those that do not have very limited chance of recovery.

Our Chicago birth injury attorneys have handled hundreds of birth injury cases that arise as a result of medical malpractice in Illinois, and understand the emotional agony and stress that families suffer as a result of these long-lasting injuries. Our experienced attorneys won a $6.71 million verdict against a hospital because an inexperienced resident performed a vaginal delivery that resulted in a crippling brachial plexus arm injury. If you or a loved one have had a similar experience, an attorney may be able to help you determine your rights.

In March of 2006, a man arrived at the Alton emergency room complaining of tightness in his throat, neck pain, blurred vision, and tightness in his chest. All of his symptoms pointed to an aortic aneurysm. However, doctors failed to properly examine the gentleman, and shortly thereafter he died from heart complications.

By definition, medical malpractice lawsuits arise when health care professionals are negligent in their care, and their acts and/or omissions not only violate accepted standards, but cause harm to the patient as well. Often hospitals, doctors, nurses, and other types of health care providers are covered by a form of professional liability insurance to offset the costs of lawsuits that occur as the result of malpractice.

But liability insurance serves another purpose: the costs of future medical care may be enormous if the injury is pervasive; but more than that, though money can never replace the life of a lost loved one, monetary penalties may serve as a message to health care professionals, motivating them to change their practices to avoid future litigation.

The family of the 2006 victim is likewise trying to send a message to the negligent doctors who were supposed to be responsible for the man’s care. According to the Madison St. Clair Record, the trial was set to start Monday morning at 9 a.m. in the Madison County Circuit Court with jury selection.

Wrongful death cases that result from medical malpractice are devastating. Not only does the victim bear pain and suffering, but his family and friends are robbed of his love, and companionship, as well as expected to bear the burden of large sums of hospital, medical, and related bills, arising from the health care professional’s negligence.

Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys have handled hundreds of cases of injuries brought on by negligence on the part of the care provider, and have worked tirelessly to fight for the rights of victims. Our attorneys are also responsible for bringing justice in the form of a record-high $14 million verdict against a doctor and hospital that failed to ignore abnormal chest x-ray results, which caused a substantial delay in the diagnosis of lung cancer. If you believe that you or someone you love may have been the victim of medical negligence, an attorney may be able to help you determine your rights.

The most frightening part of routine medical procedures is the “what-if-?” factor. Laypersons place their trust entirely in the hands of medical professionals who they hope will be knowledgeable, skillful, and thorough. But unfortunately that isn’t always the case.

This past May, a jury in North Carolina awarded seven million dollars to the family of a patient who died from medical malpractice injuries that occurred during what should have been routine surgery. According to Outpatient Surgery Magazine, a 54-year-old patient was admitted to the hospital for a hysterectomy. During the surgery, her colon was mistakenly perforated, which led to months of suffering, and ultimately death.

The victim's family brought the lawsuit for medical malpractice against the doctor who performed the surgery, for failing to recognize that the doctor had punctured the patient’s colon, and for discharging her from the hospital when her bloodwork and vital signs showed abnormalities following the surgery.

Terrifyingly, incidents of medical malpractice are all too common. According to an article published in the Chicago Sun Times earlier this month, incidents occur “as often as 40 times per week in the United States; patients come out of surgery to learn that their doctor operated on the wrong body part, did the wrong procedure, or mixed them up with the wrong patient.”

Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys have seen hundreds of cases of medical negligence, and have fought tirelessly to come out victorious. For instance, our attorneys handled a case in which the court awarded $14 million dollars to the family of a patient whose doctor and hospital ignored abnormal chest x-ray results, which in turn caused a substantial delay in the diagnosis of ling cancer. Similarly, our attorneys won a$ 7.62 million dollar verdict against an HMO doctor who disregarded a mother’s complaints of postpartum bleeding, which ultimately resulted in her bleeding to death. When putting faith in the doctors who are supposed to help and heal it can be a traumatic experience, both physically and emotionally, when that trust is violated. If you or someone you know have been the victim of medical malpractice, an attorney might be able to help you determine your rights.

A medical malpractice attorney has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the husband of a woman who died as a result of an obstetrical error during the birth of her child, reports the Mount Airy News. According to the report, the defendant obstetrician-gynecologist cut her small bowel while performing a cesarean section to deliver the victim’s first child.

After the surgery, the doctor closed her up without properly examining her. In the following days, she complained on nausea, abdominal pains and not being able to have a bowel movement, but her physician and hospital staff ignored these complaints. She was released home where her problems continued, until she returned to the hospital where lab tests revealed that her kidneys had stopped functioning. She was transferred to a larger hospital, but unfortunately died soon after transfer. According to the lawsuit, the woman was most likely suffering from sepsis as a result of the doctor’s surgical mistakes.

When the woman’s small bowel was severed during the cesarean, the doctor did not realize the mistake or take action to remedy it. When tears or perforations to the small bowel occur, the contents of the bowel can leak into a person’s abdominal cavity which can lead to a sepsis infection. When left untreated, sepsis infections can be fatal such as in this woman’s case.

Our attorneys see a number of cases where preventable medical errors and mistakes go unnoticed, untreated, and lead to further injury or death. One of the goals of a medical malpractice lawsuit is to hold all wrongdoers responsible for lapses in care that cause someone else to suffer serious injuries or death. In this particular lawsuit, the victim’s family’s lawyer not only named the physician, but also the hospital and physician’s practice group as defendants, alleging that the doctor released the victim without properly examining her, the hospital failed to attend to her complaints of abdominal pain, and the practice group is negligent for lack of informed consent.

Wrongful death lawsuits also work to recover economic and non-economic damages for injured victims or the families of those wrongfully killed. In this particular case, the family will seek damages for funeral expenses and pain and suffering. The family can also seek damages to receive compensation for the victim’s lost future income.

Often, we report on lawsuits involving injuries to babies at birth. However, as with any medical procedure, labor and delivery also bring significant risks to the mother, and our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys have experience in these types of cases. We represented the family of a mother who died two weeks after her daughter’s birth because her doctor failed to diagnose or treat her abnormal bleeding after a cesarean. Our wrongful death lawyers received a $7 million jury verdict for the woman’s husband and child. We pride ourselves in our extensive experience handling cases involving complex medical issues, including those involving the injuries or death of a mother during childbirth, and work to help others achieve justice for the harms caused.

Medical malpractice injuries can take many forms and can occur to patients in any age group. Regrettably, birth injury cases in Illinois account for many of those injuries. The most recent available statistics from the Illinois Department of Public Health show that in the years 2006-2008, approximately 27 out of every 1000 births in Illinois involved some form of birth-related injury, and another approximately 6 out of every 1000 births resulted in death as a result of health-care provider injury. Though at first glance it may seem like a small percentage, the Illinois Department of Public Health reports that 180,503 babies were born in Illinois in the year 2006; if the statistics are correct, more than 4,800 babies were seriously harmed, and another almost 1,100 killed in cases of Illinois medical malpractice.

Certainly in some instances, birth injuries occur by no fault of the doctors or nurses, but the truth is that many, if not most of these injuries result from negligence and/or mistakes on the part of health care providers. Parents place their trust in hospitals and doctors, and when babies are harmed the effects of the negligence are devastating.

Injuries to the baby can happen at almost any stage of the delivery or labor process. When errors are made and doctors or nurses are careless, birth injuries may result. Although some babies with birth injuries may ultimately recover quickly, unfortunately many more end up suffering from permanent debilitating mental or physical conditions, treatment for which may be life-long.

Birth injury lawsuits allow the parents to collect damages from the insurers of the negligent health care providers so that the parents can have help with the costs of providing care for the child throughout the duration of the child’s life. Some of these expenses may include:

• Past and future medical expenses for treating the injury,
• The cost of providing care for the child,
• The cost of specialized schooling for the child,
• Emotional and physical pain and suffering experienced by the child,
• The costs of future earnings that the child may have received, had he or she lived a normal life,
• And many others.

In these cases, the life-long effects can be overwhelming, and sometimes the only way to get retribution is to have those who caused the injury help pay for the cost of future remedies. When you add up the expenses for the effects of a birth injury, it’s easy to see that future care for a birth injury is both emotionally and monetarily costly. Doctors and hospitals are often insured, which allows parents of an injured child to be able to provide the best possible care for the child – something that wouldn’t likely be feasible on an average family’s salary.

Our Chicago birth injury attorneys have seen hundreds of cases in which children are harmed during labor or delivery, and understand the tremendous struggle that parents with injured children have to endure. If you or a loved one have had a child who has suffered a birth injury, an attorney may be the best person to help you understand your rights.

Chicago medical malpractice lawyers applaud the new safety checklist guidelines for outpatient facilities. According to Kaiser Health News, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention were concerned with the number of outpatient infections caused by facilities not following the standard infection prevention practices. Michael Bell, the deputy director of the CDC’s division of health care quality promotion, reported to Kaiser Health News that “repeated outbreaks resulting from unsafe practices, along with breaches of infection control noted in ambulatory surgical centers during inspections by the [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] indicate the need for better infection prevention.”

The checklist includes a general list of practices and procedures that each facility should have in place. The checklist asks the facility whether it has policies regarding practices such as hand hygiene, surveillance and disease reporting, and sterilization of reusable instruments and devices. For example, the checklist inquires whether the outpatient facility executes does maintenance for the equipment that sterilizes other tools according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Illinois medical malpractice attorneys anticipate that compliance with the checklist will reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections each year.

According to the CDC, each year more than 2 million hospital-acquired infections occur in U.S. hospitals. 99,000 of the patients who acquire an infection from a hospital die as a result of the infection. These numbers do not include the non-hospital based clinics, physician offices, urgent care centers, outpatient surgical centers, public health clinics, imaging centers, and oncology clinics that the new checklist was made for. With outpatient facilities performing more than 75% of all operations, and many not adhering to standard infection prevention practices, the checklist will have an enormous effect on patient safety.

Continue reading "CDC Issues New Safety Checklist Guidelines for Outpatient Facilities" »

Chicago medical malpractice lawyers applaud the recent multi-million dollar verdict for mother of a family who suffered a severe brain injury after a visit to a community hospital. The Times Herald-Record reported that the mother of five children was experiencing very low sodium levels when she went to the hospital. In order to improve her conditions, doctors rapidly infused her with saline solution. Unfortunately for the 42 year-old mother, the physicians raised her sodium levels too quickly, causing her to fall into a coma and have osmotic demyelination syndrome.

According to PubMed Health, osmotic demyelination syndrome is a condition where the layer that insulates the nerve cells in the brain stem is destroyed. Without the layer, impulses along the nerve cells are not properly and efficiently transmitted to the nerve cell. Instead, the impulses are slowed down, which decreases the nerve’s ability to communicate with other cells. The most common cause of osmotic demyelination syndrome is when a person’s sodium levels rise too quickly when being treated for low sodium levels. This was the exact situation for the mother in the instant case.

As a result of the doctor’s negligence, the mother suffered a severe brain injury. She is unable to read books, follow the plot in television programs, and even struggles to speak. Due to her medical needs, the family had to move her to a supported living facility in another state. The family that brought the medical malpractice brain injury lawsuit will use the money for home health services so that their mother can come home permanently. After three and a half weeks of trial, they were awarded $19.5 million for future medical and rehabilitation expenses.

Continue reading "$34 Million Malpractice Verdict Awarded to Family of Mother of Five " »

It’s what’s known as the “July Effect” – a spike in medical malpractice incidents as a result of new medical trainees beginning work at hospitals across the country. Though it sounds like fodder for a horror film, the New York Times recently reported on a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine demonstrating the phenomenon.

Data produced in this latest study showed an 8% increase in patient deaths, and even higher rates of other instances of medical malpractice, including higher hospital charges in the month of July.

The reason behind this phenomenon is that medical students begin internships in July, and in addition to the risks that come with their newness to the profession, those just starting out replace the trainees who have had a year or more’s worth of experience in the position. Moreover, students are unfamiliar with systems in place in the hospitals, and when transitioning between health care workers, sometimes not all of the information about each patient is passed along to the new provider.

With more than 20 hospitals in Illinois designated as Teaching Hospitals – hospitals in which the July changeover is an annual occurrence – the risk of medical malpractice in Illinois is alarming. Certainly hospitals can implement better precautionary and supervisory measures, and many do, but the numbers still seem to show that isn’t enough.

What can you do to protect yourself?

Unquestionably situations will arise in which you simply can’t avoid the need for medical treatment, and it is your right as a patient to receive the best possible care. Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys have seen hundreds of cases where unfortunate mistakes could have been avoided, and deaths could have been prevented. If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, in the month of July or in any other month, you may have a valid claim for medical negligence. An attorney specializing in medical malpractice will be able to help you establish your rights.

Our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers believe justice has been done with the recent 4.5 million dollar medical malpractice settlement between an Illinois woman and a fertility center. On Friday, attorneys Jeffrey Martin and John Perconti settled our client's case.

At the time of the misdiagnosis, our client was only 19 and just starting her college career. She developed irregular menstrual cycles, gained weight in her stomach and face, and became emotionally labile. To discover the cause of her symptoms, she sought treatment from an endocrinologist at the fertility center.

The doctor diagnosed her with polycystic ovary syndrome without ruling out other possible causes, such as Cushing’s syndrome or adrenal cancer. Over the next fourteen months, she was treated for a disease she did not have. When new symptoms appeared, her mother spoke to the nurses about the new symptoms. However, the nurses failed to follow the standard of care for nurses when they did not document or report the development to the physician. As a result of the negligence acts of the physician and the nurses,our client’s cancer went untreated and undiagnosed for fourteen months.

For a cancer patient, fourteen months can mean the difference between life and death. In the plaintiff’s case, fourteen months meant the difference between catching the cancer at Stage 1 or Stage 2 instead of allowing the cancer to progress and develop into a Stage 4. At Stage 1, she could have treated the cancer with surgery. At Stage 2, she would have only required medical treatment in addition to surgery. Instead, due to the misdiagnosis of the physicians and failure of the nurses to conform to the standard of care, the cancer spread to her liver and her lungs. When the tumor was taken out, it weighed two pounds and measured 14cm x 13.5cm x 9.5cm.

Her case is just one of many Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits filed by our lawyers every year. Although the monetary settlement can never truly make up for the emotional stress and shortened lifespan of a promising young girl, it will help with the monumental medical expenses incurred from chemotherapy, surgery, and other treatments. Cancer is an unanticipated and immense expense for any family, especially those parents who believe their children will outlive them.

Continue reading "Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyers Obtain $4.5 Million in Failure to Diagnose Cancer Case" »

In August of 2010, DePuy Orthopedics, a division of Johnson & Johnson, issued a recall for two of its widely used hip replacement products, ASR™ XL Acetabular Hip System and the DePuy ASR™ Hip Resurfacing System, after it was determined that the metal-on-metal design of the prosthetic hip could be harmful to the individual recipients. The metal-on-metal devices have caused issues for thousands of recipients because of the deterioration of the metal once implanted in a patient’s body. The metal-on-metal design can lead to the release of small metal particles into the recipient’s body. This can lead to a slew of health problems including infection, necrosis, allergic problems or even heart and neurological system problems.

The company estimated that between 2003 and 2009 over 90,000 patients received one of the now recalled DePuy hip replacement systems. Research has shown that nearly one in eight recipients of a DePuy Hip Replacement required a revision surgery to correct the issues associated with the faulty hip replacements.

With approximately 90,000 faulty hip replacements used and a one in eight chance of issues occurring, it is safe to assume that well over 11,000 patients will require a revision surgery to correct the problems suffered because of the faulty metal-on-metal design. “Anyone who received a recalled DePuy hip implant may be eligible to receive compensation for these defective products, even if they have not yet experienced pain or symptoms,” said attorney Steven Levin of Levin & Perconti.

With the large number of potential claimants DePuy is expected to face an increased amount of litigation.

The Chicago hip implant attorneys at Levin and Perconti believe that the number of claims already filed against DePuy may only be the tip of the iceberg. It is impossible to know whether the tens of thousands DePuy hip replacement recipients that have not yet incurred problems will in the future.

Patients who must undergo complex or essential surgeries depend on receiving attentive and thorough care from their healthcare providers. Unfortunately, patient injuries experienced during surgery often result from entirely preventable errors made by surgeons and other caregivers. In many instances, a medical malpractice lawsuit is an injured patient’s only recourse to redress the harm suffered.

Surgical errors commonly include foreign objects left inside patients, organ puncture and other surgical tool errors, errors in administering anesthesia, and performing an operation on either the wrong patient or the wrong body part. It is imperative that healthcare organizations adequately train their staff and follow a strict safety protocol to avoid these potentially devastating errors.

Furthermore, clear communication between caregivers is critical to preventing surgical errors. The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare estimates that 80 percent of serious surgical errors involve miscommunication between caregivers. These communication breakdowns can occur at one or more points before, after, or during an operation.

A 2007 study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons found that the most common communication breakdowns involved staff failing to notify the surgeon of critical data about the patient’s status and defective patient handoffs between attending physicians. Likewise, the Joint Commission recently found that handoffs were defective more than 37 percent of the time, threatening the safety of the patient’s care. These handoff defects involve senders with limited knowledge of the patient’s condition, inaccurate information provided to the receiver, and little to no contact between the sender and receiver.

Healthcare organizations often fail to implement or follow an effective protocol for communicating necessary patient information from one caregiver to another. Such breakdowns can cause surgical errors that result in serious injury and death. The patient can recover compensation for those injuries if the error was preventable. An experienced Illinois surgical error attorney can investigate and initiate a lawsuit if a caregiver failed to follow accepted medical standards and procedures.

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Recently, an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in Madison County after an eye doctor failed to diagnose his patient’s eye condition. According to the Madison Record, the patient claims that the doctor failed to even specify what eye condition the man suffered from, nevertheless monitor or treat the condition. The man continued to remain a patient of the eye doctor for over two years until his problem became debilitating.

In the claim, filed June 9, the plaintiff asserts that as a result of the doctor’s ophthalmological error, he sustained much pain and suffering due to the undiagnosed eye condition. Subsequently, the plaintiff suffered a permanent disability to his eye which ultimately caused his inability to work and lost wages. The plaintiff seeks an undisclosed judgment in this two count lawsuit.

In order to deliver the most relevant medical malpractice news to our readers, we are continuously reading reports about new cases. We have observed that the number of malpractice cases against ophthalmologists and optometrists is on the up-rise. Although this report does not specify the specific condition the plaintiff’s suffered, we read a lot about cases involving complications during Lasik eye surgery. This voluntary, permanent corrective eye surgery has unfortunately caused various complications, especially if performed by a negligent doctor. In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, a self-proclaimed “World’s Best Eye Surgeon” was sued for medical malpractice when he improperly performed Lasik surgery four times on a single patient whose vision did not improved after the previous surgeries. Ultimately, the patient was rendered legally blind.

While ophthalmological medical malpractice is not as commonly thought of as other types of malpractice, the results of it can be devastating, so patients must be careful when choosing which procedures to undergo. In addition to losing one’s sight as the result of an error, other risk factors include dry eyes, infections, or even the development of cataracts. Our Illinois medical malpractice lawyers strongly encourage our readers to do your research before you embark on an elective surgery of any kind, and always make sure you understand the risks involved.

Much ado has recently been made about efforts to increase use of technology in terms of medical record-keeping. This is particularly true when it comes to use of electronic prescriptions. However, new research reported this weekend in Medical News Today explained how medication errors seemed to continue at the same rate with electronic prescriptions.

The study published in the Journal of American Medical Information Association comes as a disappointment for all those hoping the “E-prescriptions” would help improve medical care by limiting the prevalence of mistake. That does not appear to be the case. The 2008 research examined nearly 4,000 prescriptions from three pharmacy chains over a 4-week period.

The results indicated that about 11.7% of those electronically filed prescriptions contained some form of error. Thirty five percent of those mistakes were of a severity that could cause serious harm to the patient. For example, many of the more serious errors involved dose duration, and frequency omissions. Without that information included patients are at a significant risk of suffering injury. These error rates were about the same as has been found in handwritten prescriptions.

The researchers found that the vast majority of these mistakes could have been eliminated with software improvements. Specifically, more advanced versions of these computer programs could include “forcing functions” which would not allow a doctor to submit the prescription without ensuring that all of the required fields are filled out.

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The surviving family members of a 20-year old girl who died of heart problem recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit. The Times Tribune reported on the suit which claims that the hospital was negligent in treating the victim, leading to her death.

The victim—who had had a heart transplant 13 years earlier—was rushed to the emergency room after experiencing abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. The woman and her mother suspected that the symptoms were related to her heart condition. They explained to the doctor that when she was suffering cardiac problems her liver would become enlarged leading to stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting.

However, her doctor did not properly understand the situation and instead believed that a gastrointestinal illness was the actual issue. As a result, she was treated for two and a half hours for the stomach virus instead of her actual acute cardiac condition. She died shortly after. The lawsuit alleges that the woman should have been immediately placed on a heart monitor which would have revealed the problem. In addition, the hospital should have quickly contacted the victim’s cardiologist to better understand what was happening.

Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis like the one that occurred here can have fatal consequences. It is malpractice for a medical professional to fail to timely diagnose a patient with the proper ailment in situations in which a reasonable doctor would have made the correct diagnosis.

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A medical malpractice lawsuit was recently filed in a tragic case that we have previously reported on involving a medication error. A family was devastated when their toddler was killed at a hospital shortly before her second birthday. It was only later that they realized that her death was caused by an egregious medical mistake.

According to the report at Omaha News, the toddler was given ten times the normal dose of the blood thinner known as heparin. The medication is commonly used before and after surgery to prevent blood clots. In this case, the young girl was given the medication while undergoing kidney dialysis.

Apparently an assistant at the hospital incorrectly programmed a pump that delivered the drug to the child. The programming error was not discovered for five hours, and by the time it was fixed too much of the drug had entered the baby’s body. The girl suffered bleeding on her brain and passed away two days later.

Upon learning of the reason for her death, the family filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the negligent hospital. They are also seeking to overturn a law in that state which places a limit on the damages that a jury can award them in the case. The hospital held a press conference after the error was discovered explaining that they were going to take steps to ensure that no similar errors occur.

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The Sun Journal reported early last month on the end of a medical malpractice lawsuit resulting from problems during childbirth. The lawsuit was filed against a hospital and the midwife who helped in the delivery.

The child, now 10 years old, was born with severe medical problems. She now has Kabuki Syndrome—a rare genetic disorder that comes with a variety of issues. The victim has severe mental retardation, is confined to a wheelchair, and requires a feeding tube to survive. On top of that, the young girl is blind and cannot verbally communicate.

The child’s attorney argued that the girl’s injuries were caused by a lack of oxygen during childbirth. Specifically, the midwife should have known that problems were developing that needed injury when the fetal monitor indicated that there was a problem.

The midwife lost a similar suit following the birth of another child in which she was aiding the delivery. In that case the family of a 5-year old recovered $6.71 million after their son was born with cerebral palsy. As in the most recent case, the child suffered injury because of a lack of blood and oxygen to his brain. In each of these cases, the midwife should have recognized the signs of fetal distress and recommended an emergency Cesarean section.

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Perhaps the single most egregious form of Illinois medical malpractice involves “wrong-site surgeries.” These occur when surgeons perform operations on the wrong part of the body—such as amputating a patient’s left leg instead of his right. To the average observer, it seems that this type of error should never happen. Even the most basic safety checks should catch this mistake.

Yet a new study from the Joint Commission reveals that each and every week about 40 patients fall victim to surgeries on the wrong part of their body. Medscape News recently covered the report. Wrong-site surgeries actually have three forms: operation on the wrong patient, the wrong body part, or performing the wrong type of operation. In total, about 40 of these mistakes are made each week.

How do they occur? One of the study’s authors explained, “The biggest [reason] was inadequate information about the patient. Often, the information is taken by a staffer in the surgeon’s office, who may have to deal with several hospitals and different protocols. Confusion can result. The solution is a carefully standardized way of collecting information.”

The “marking” of the location on the body where the operation will be performed is the key step in the process. Each hospital has different ways of performing the marking, with some styles more open to error. The best methods involve the mark being made in the holding area, with second checks being performed in the actual operating room.

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It is well established that sleep deprivation in care workers poses a threat to the patients that they treat. Doctors, nurses, and assistants who are tired are less likely to catch all types of mistakes that can result in harm to those who depend on their accuracy and precision. It is no exaggeration to note that Illinois medical malpractice can be lessened with more reasonable working hours for new doctors.

This awareness began forty years ago when a study involving “new” doctors or resident physicians revealed that twice as many errors were made by sleep-deprived residents when compared to those who had the proper amount of sleep.

Today the Los Angeles Times ran an article by patient safety advocates on the problem of overworked medical residents. New rules will take effect this year which will limit the total number of hours that a first year medical resident can work to no longer than 16 hours a day. However, second and third year residents will still be able to work 28 hour shifts—often with no sleep. The story explains how the new limits on resident work hours are a step in the right direction, but they remain insufficient.

One study requested by the Institute of Medicine found that “the scientific evidence establishes that human performance begins to deteriorate after 16 hours of wakefulness.” This notion that prioritizes wakefulness was met with anger from many physicians who believed that long hours were necessary for learning. However, the studies showed that little learning occurred after 16 hours on the job.

In fact, experts believe that besides saving patient lives more reasonable work hours actually improve resident morale and maximize their education. Limiting hours has also not been shown to burden teaching hospital staffing.

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