Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

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.

Medical malpractice attorneys for the family of the nurse who died after liposuction treatment at a tanning salon said her medical records show that she could have been given too high a dosage of drugs. The 37-year-old slipped into a coma and was declared brain-dead after a doctor performed the procedure at a Medspa. She was removed from life support and died. The lawyers have said that they will file a medical malpractice lawsuit against both the doctor and the Medspa. The medical experts reviewed the records and determined that the victim had been given too high a dose of the local anesthetic lidocaine. The victims also criticized the doctor for using Propofol which is the same anesthetic thought to have contributed to the death of Michael Jackson. They argue that this type of drug should not be administered in a tanning salon. To read more about the tanning salon death, please click the link.

The federal government has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle a medical malpractice case filed by the family of a woman who died at a Naval Medical Center after a routine surgery to remove an infected boil. The federal government admitted no wrongdoing in the medical malpractice settlement. The woman died after anesthesiologist failed to intubate her after the surgery. Her airway became obstructed and she stopped breathing, causing cardiac arrest. According to the medical malpractice complaint, the victim was being treated at a hospital for an infected boil and when it worsened they determined emergency surgery was necessary. The surgery was successful but the victim was left without a breathing tube for at least 15 minutes while being transferred from the operating room to the intensive care unit. The anesthesiologist should have known that the woman had other medical issues, which included diabetes, and but a breathing tube in place. When she finally arrived in the ICU she had no pulse or blood pressure. This victim represents one of the 98,000 people who die annually from medical mistake. To read more about the medical mistake, please click the link.

The family of a high school senior who died in connection to a surgery 18 months ago is suing the surgeon and anesthesiologist who preformed the corrective procedure. The young woman experienced a reaction to the anesthesia known as malignant hypothermia while undergoing surgery to rearrange asymmetrical breasts. The medical malpractice lawsuit alleges that the victim’s surgeon and anesthesiologist were negligent in failing to diagnose their patient’s condition and denying her care. Experts have said that the intravenous muscle relaxant called Dantrolene sodium can be administered to counteract the effects of the malignant hypothermia. The patient’s mother told Avvo that “People survive malignant hypothermia episodes if treated quickly and properly.” This could account for one of the 98,000 people that die from medical mistakes each year. To read more about the medical error, please click the link.

Recently, a jury awarded a 20-year-old woman $872,000 in a medical malpractice case for the severe burns she suffered on her face and neck during surgery. The woman was having a mole removed from her eyebrow and was anesthetized during the procedure. The plastic surgeon was found negligent when he failed to communicate to the anesthesia assistant that he was using a device that could cause an operating room fire when administered near oxygen. Due to this failure to communicate, the device ignited a fire that severely burned the patient. The jury also learned that the negligent doctor did not reveal the cause of the fire to the patient’s family. Read more about this successful medical malpractice case.

Researchers received $3.7 million to find ways to reduce medical error in various hospital and pharmacy departments. Researchers will try to develop safe ways in handling patient test results because receiving results are more difficult in larger hospital institutions. Also, the researchers will try and find safer ambulatory sedations. Another goal is to reduce medication error from high-risk medications.

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The family of a 35-year-old who died after getting a heart pacemaker was awarded a $4.6 million medical malpractice verdict against the three doctors who performed the surgery at the hospital. The jury found that the victim developed lung problems that should have delayed the surgery. Instead, the procedure was done as scheduled and he died 17 days later of respiratory failure. The medical malpractice award will go the man’s wife and 12-year-old daughter. The medical malpractice verdict was against the two anesthesiologists and the cardiologist. The cardiologist had already settled with the family earlier for an undisclosed amount. To read the full story, click here.

One of the greatest organizational problems facing hospitals today is the battle over medical records. Many patients find that it can take months or years to get a hold of their own medical records after treatment. Even worse, some families of victims of medical malpractice or wrongful death have waited for years to obtain their loved one’s medical records from hospitals. Often, lost or missing records are simply part of hospital error and not a deliberate attempt to delay, but on some occasions hospitals may frustrate a patient’s records request purposefully. Patients and victims’ families must be aware that statutes of limitation often require that medical malpractice lawsuits be filed within a certain period of time after the injury occurs or is discovered. This means that patients and victims’ families must decide to file a medical malpractice lawsuit and contact their medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible and begin the medical records request process.

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No one knew that the 18 year-old had a rare, genetic condition that cause a fatal reaction to the anesthesia when she decided to have plastic surgery and chose a surgeon to correct a congenital defect that left her with asymmetrical breasts and inverted nipples. Everything seemed very routine and nobody thought there would be risk involved. The condition that the family believes killed the 18 year-old is an extremely rare genetic disorder that causes a reaction to common types of anesthesia. The reaction is called malignant hyperthermia – it causes the patient’s temperature to spike to 110 degrees or higher. Salts precipitate out of the blood and organs collapse, leading to death.

More adequate care could have prevented this reaction because there is an antidote called Dantrolene that can reverse the effects of malignant hyperthermia. If administered in proper dosages in a timely fashion, the effects can be successfully reversed. However, according to the medical malpractice lawsuit attorney, the anesthesiologist administered only one dose when at least eight were required.

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Surgery poses many risks. One, flash fires, has recently been shown to be more common than previously thought. In one of the states with the most comprehensive collection of statistics, 28 fires a year in operating rooms has been the average over the last three years. Medical malpractice lawsuits have not been uncommon results of surgical fires. Fires in operating rooms have not gained as much attention as other surgical hazards, such as wrong-site surgery, but these fires have proven themselves dangerous by causing serious injuries and deaths. One of the most fatal surgical fires occurs during throat surgery. Common fire hazards in todays operating rooms include the use of 100% oxygen, which can increase the flammability of gauze and hair when leaked into the air; alcohol-based skin cleansers; and the increasing use of advanced surgical tools like lasers and electrocautery devices. One of the most commonly cited causes of surgical fires is poor communication between surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists. Prevention policies have been on the rise as more oversight groups have recommended them.

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Unintended intraoperative awareness, also called anesthesia awareness, is a well-documented risk of surgery. A study published in the Anesthesia & Analgesia Journal concluded that about 0.13% of patients experience anesthesia awareness during surgery. One woman recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against her doctor for an experience that she claims was unintended intraoperative awareness. The woman said that she was paralyzed during an operation on her sinuses, but was conscious and able to feel pain. She also claims that the experience left her with posttraumatic stress disorder. Both sides in the trial concluded that the patient did display symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, but claimed that what caused it was different. The anesthesiologist argued that the consciousness the woman recalled was not during the surgery itself, but that it was during the recovery period. While there is no dispute that anesthesia awareness occurs, the jury ruled that the patient in this case was not conscious until after the surgery had been performed. The woman stated that although she did not win her lawsuit, she will work to spread the word about anesthesia awareness and the technology that can be, but is not, regularly used to monitor brain activity to prevent the experience.

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A jury has recently awarded $1.8M against a hospital for medical malpractice when an anesthesiologist failed to treat symptoms of paralysis that arose after surgery. The anesthesiologist initially decided that these symptoms, which included progressive weakness in the patient's arms and hands and involuntary movement of his right arm away from his body, did not warrant surgery. This failure to correctly diagnose central cord syndrome delayed the necessary surgery for 15 hours and led to personal injuries including paralysis. The man, who drove himself to the hospital for bladder surgery, now needs full-time, round the clock care for all his hygiene needs, as well as ongoing treatment for permanent kidney damage. Unfortunately, Michigan's caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases will limit the amount the man will be able to recover from the hospital to an amount that is less than what the jury believed was appropriate for this man's pain and suffering.

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A transplant surgeon was recently charged with purposely advancing the death of a patient in order to recover his organs. A medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit was filed. The transplant community is extremely worried that this allegation could steer people away from offering their organs for donation. When people are deciding whether or not to donate their organs, one of the biggest fears and deterrents is that doctors will hasten their death. The transplant community has been working hard to reverse this mentality and this recent charge is a serious setback. There are about 97,000 people nationally are currently awaiting a transplant.

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The mother of a 26-year-old man has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the doctor and others she alleges prescribed overdoses of medication to speed up his death. The claim alleges that the doctor prescribed overdoses of morphine and Ativan and injected a topical antiseptic into the man's stomach. As a result of the alleged medical malpractice, the man had suffered irreversible brain damage and was put on a respirator. When his mother gave approval to donate his organs, the California Transplant Donor Network sent a surgical team to handle the transplant. In California, however, it is illegal for transplant doctors to treat potential organ donors before they are declared dead. The doctor is charged with felony counts of dependent adult abuse, administering a harmful substance and unlawful prescription of a controlled substance.

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A recent report regarding medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, focusing on surgical errors, was recently released by the Patient Safety Authority. 175 errors were made in the state during the past two and a half years, not including 253 close calls. These errors can lead to serious physical and financial strain, or even wrongful death. "Wrong-site" surgeries are a persistent problem and are clearly avoidable. Pennsylvania is a leader in public accountability for medical and surgical errors. In an effort to reduce the costs of health care, the Governor proposed that the state should cease to pay for care involving hospital-acquired infections, wrong-site surgeries, and other instances of medical malpractice. It is also the only state that requires hospitals to report near-misses.

The report cited wrong-site surgeries including the removal of a patient's healthy thyroid and incorrect cancer diagnosis as the result of a laboratory mix-up, an incorrect incision on the wrong side of a brain injury patient's head, and a surgeon inserting a needle into a patient's right knee when the surgery was planned for the other leg. In 83 reported cases of wrong-site surgeries in the state, the procedure was completed before the mistake was detected.

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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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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.

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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.

A hospital and attending anesthesiologists have recently settled a malpractice lawsuit regarding gross negligence during a face-lift procedure for $3.1 million dollars. A 56 year-old-woman died of cardiac failure caused by an overdose of local anesthetic. Alarms that monitored the woman’s blood oxygen “were turned down so that they were inaudible”. That same year, author Olivia Goldsmith died during cosmetic surgery at that hospital as a result of medical malpractice. Another woman suffered brain damage after a face-lift and settled for $7 million.

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