Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

A man filed a medical malpractice claim against his wife’s doctor who allegedly failed to diagnose her with ovarian cancer when giving birth to their son. She died a year later. The man asserts the doctor missed a tumor on his wife’s uterus that was visible on six different ultrasounds. The man has received a jury verdict awarding him $2.9 million for medical malpractice.

Read more about the failed diagnosis here.

A deceased man’s wife was awarded a large jury award of $1.88 million for medical malpractice regarding the deceased. The man died of cancer even though his doctors had seen him several times before ever being diagnosed. The failure to diagnose the man’s bladder cancer spurred his wife to seek a medical malpractice attorney.

Read more about the alleged medical malpractice here.

The son of a deceased man claims doctors failed to diagnose his father for prostate cancer, although they had been seeing the man up until his death. The son is now filing a medical malpractice suit against the doctors for failure to diagnose. However, the deceased man’s death certificate lists several causes of death.

Read more about the alleged failure to diagnose medical malpractice suit here.

A deceased woman’s estate has filed a medical malpractice suit after the woman died of cancer. The estate alleges her physicians failed to diagnose a lesion on her scalp as cancerous in a timely fashion. The doctors did not diagnose the woman’s lesion as cancer until the lesion had returned and two different tests were sent to labs. The woman underwent four different surgeries to remove cancer that had spread to other parts of her body by the time she was diagnosed. The estate now amends is medical malpractice complaint to include a wrongful death action.

Read more about the medical malpractice suit here.

A deceased woman’s estate has filed a medical malpractice suit after the woman died of cancer. The estate alleges her physicians failed to diagnose a lesion on her scalp as cancerous in a timely fashion. The doctors did not diagnose the woman’s lesion as cancer until the lesion had returned and two different tests were sent to labs. The woman underwent four different surgeries to remove cancer that had spread to other parts of her body by the time she was diagnosed. The estate now amends is medical malpractice complaint to include a wrongful death action.

Read more about the medical malpractice suit here.

An Indiana surgeon with a practice in Chicago’s suburbs has fled to Greece after being found guilty of medical malpractice by a panel of three physicians. The man was found guilty of medical negligence after misdiagnosing a patient. He diagnosed the patient as requiring sinus surgery when in turn the patient died of throat cancer.

Read more about the fugitive surgeon here.

According to a patient of Gregory and Musick Dermatology, a doctor failed to diagnose her basal cell carcinoma. After visiting the doctor on two different occasions, carcinoma on her left facial cheek was detected. The woman claims the failed diagnosis has caused her additional surgery and has suffered disfigurement and disability. In her complaint, she alleges the doctor was medically negligent when he failed to diagnosis her condition and failed to refer her to anyone else for treatment.

Read more about the failed diagnosis here.

A hospital’s misdiagnosis a boy’s cancer led to his death according to his family’s complaint filed against the hospital. The hospital originally diagnosed the son with bacterial meningitis and released him. The condition later was determined to be an aggressive form of anaplastic central nervous system T-cell lymphoma cancer that killed the boy. Two of the four patients that received the boy’s organs have died from the cancer. The lawsuit also claims doctor negligence.

Read more about the hospital’s misdiagnosis lawsuit here.

A jury found a doctor’s misdiagnosis of cancer led to the death of a young woman. If not for the delay in treatment, the woman’s survival chances were strong. The 24-year old woman had rectal and colon cancer that went undiagnosed for seven months by her doctor. The family brought a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor in which they were awarded $2.5 million dollars by the jury.

Read more about the misdiagnosis story here.

A jury has returned a $5.8 million medical-malpractice verdict in the wrongful death of a 47-year lawyer whose untreated mole turned into a skin cancer that spread to his brain. The award will be reduced to $3.6 million due to the state’s cap on non-economic damages in medical-malpractice cases. The jury found that the lawyer’s death was caused by the negligence of a doctor who was employed with a physician’s association. Although the jury found that the doctor was not personally liable, they determined that the medical practice was responsible for the damage award. The medical malpractice suit alleged that the medical practice had negligently left untreated a mole that doctors had examined in 1998 and again in 2004 that turned out to be cancerous. The victim had gone to a dermatology practice for a checkup in 1998 and the doctor recommended that another physician remove it. Each doctor then mistakenly assumed that the other had taken care of it. The man then returned 6 years later for a full-body skin check because he had painful boils and his upper back. Upon returning the doctors concluded that although the mole had more than doubled in size it was still not cancerous. The doctor was unaware of the mole’s growth because he did not have access to the victim’s 1998 record. Soon the patient was diagnosed with skin cancer which had spread to his lymph nodes in his groin and lower abdomen. Although he received many treatments, the cancer remained and he died. To read the full story, click here.

A Chicago suburban family says they will never know for certain if a tumor removed from their daughter two years ago was cancerous, since Children’s Memorial Hospital lost the tumor. A negligence medical malpractice lawsuit was filed this week in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of Kara Morris by the lawyers at Levin & Perconti. The medical malpractice lawsuit alleges that the surgeons removed a tumor and lost it before a biopsy could determine whether it was cancerous. The 16 year old patient was informed that she would never know whether or not the tumor was malignant. In addition to the stress of the situation, the teen will most likely face great difficulties obtaining individual insurance as she moves into adulthood because of her uncertain health status. To read the full story, click here.

A jury found a podiatrist liable for medical malpractice after he removed a growth from a woman’s big toe. The man did not check the growth for cancer, yet the podiatrist did no such tests. The mother of two was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma a year after having the growth removed. The jury concluded that the woman’s chances of beating the cancer were greatly reduced because the podiatrist failed to have tissue from the excised growth tested for cancer. According to the patient, the podiatrist placed the lesion in the container and told them he would take it for testing. The woman is now in stage three of the cancer and she has just a 17 percent chance of living another 12 years. The trial lasted 5 days and the jury returned a verdict of more than $8.1 million in damages. To read the full story, click here.

A family from north suburban Chicago will never know for certain if a tumor removed from their daughter two years ago is cancerous because Children’s Memorial Hospital lost the tumor. After the 16 year old underwent surgery to remove the tumor from her thyroid, Children’s Memorial Hospital lost the tumor before a biopsy could be performed. The family, along with the attorneys, at Levin & Perconti filed a medical malpractice suit against the hospital so that other families do not have to go through the anguish that they are facing. The young woman will never be certain as to whether or not she had cancer. To read the full story, click here.

The attorneys at Levin & Perconti have filed a medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of a Chicago suburban teen that underwent surgery at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago in 2006. The teen is claiming that the hospital lost a tumor removed from her thyroid before it could be biopsied. The medical malpractice suit claims that after having surgery to remove a tumor encased in the girl’s thyroid, Children’s Hospital lost the tumor before they could determine if it was cancerous. This hospital negligence caused and continues to cause emotional stress and anxiety for the teen, as she will never know for certain if she does or does not have cancer. During the surgery doctors removed the tumor and a portion of the teen’s thyroid. When her and her family returned to receive the biopsy results, the family told them that because they lost the sample no biopsy could be performed and no determination regarding the presence of cancer could be made. The young teen cannot go a day without thinking about it, because she is always uncertain as to whether she has cancer. The attorneys at Levin & Perconti filed the medical malpractice lawsuit because Children’s Hospital’s inexcusable loss of the tumor will cause her lifelong stress. To read the full story, click here.

An Illinois family is suing a hospital alleging that the hospital is responsible for losing a tumor before they analyzed the tumor for cancer. The teen’s tumor was never tested to see if it was cancerous. Levin & Perconti filed a medical malpractice lawsuit last week in the Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of Kara Morris of Chicago Suburb Highland Park, Illinois. The suit claims that Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago removed a tumor from the teen’s thyroid and lost it before a biopsy. The surgery was in October of 2006 and a week after the surgery the family was told that the hospital lost the sample and that no determination could be made as to whether the tumor was cancerous. The family continues to stress over the incident and the hospital’s negligence may have an affect on the teen’s ability to obtain health insurance in the future. This may be difficult because she is never certain as to her health status. To read the full story, click here.

A family from the North Chicago suburb of Highland Park is suing Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago claiming doctors lost a tumor removed from their teenaged daughter. The teen had a tumor removed from her thyroid in 2006. The family claims that Children’s Memorial Hospital lost the tumor before performing a biopsy to determine if it was cancerous. The family alleges that without the tumor, they will never know whether their daughter has a potentially deadly disease. Her mother claims that the teen lives everyday in fear. The attorneys at Levin & Perconti filed the lawsuit on behalf of the family because they and the teen’s family does not want any other family to go through this turmoil. To read the full story, click here.

The attorneys at Levin & Perconti filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of a teen whose tumor was lost by Children’s Memorial Hospital before the doctors could perform a biopsy. A week after the surgery the young woman and her family returned to the hospital to receive the biopsy results, but the hospital informed them that they could not tell her whether or not it was cancerous because they had lost the tumor. The young woman not only must now endure ultrasounds every six months to monitor her thyroid, she also may have great difficulties obtaining individual insurance in adulthood. To read the full story, click here.

The lawyers of Levin & Perconti filed a negligence lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County against Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago on behalf of a young adult. After having surgery to remove a tumor encased in the girl’s thyroid, the hospital negligently lost the tumor before performing a biopsy to determine if it was cancerous. This negligence caused, and continues to cause, the young woman significant emotional stress and anxiety because she will never know for certain if she does or does not have cancer. The surgery was a fairly routine surgery where the doctors removed the tumor and a portion of her thyroid. A week later, when the victim and her family came into hear the results, the hospital informed them that they had negligently lost the tumor and no biopsy could be performed. Two years later, the young woman is still worried everyday that she might have cancer. She must undergo ultrasounds every six months to monitor her thyroid to ensure there is no new growth or changes. The attorneys at Levin & Perconti hope that this suit will reveal where the system broke down and how it can be corrected.

A Midwestern woman recently was awarded $2.75 Million following an incident of medical malpractice and negligence. Physicians failed to test a tumor that was removed from her foot, which had they tested it, would likely have tested positive for melanoma cancer. Instead, one year later, another tumor was removed that, when tested, revealed the cancer. However, due to state damage limit laws, she will likely only receive $1.25 Million.

For the full article, click here:

Congressman Hinchey unveiled a new bill that would allow victims of medical malpractice in military hospitals to file medical malpractice lawsuits against the military. The bill will be called the Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act of 2008 after Sgt. Rodriguez who died after a serious of catastrophic medical mistakes that lead to his death. When Rodriguez entered the military, a routine examination revealed melanoma. However the doctor did not tell him about the cancer and failed to refer him to a specialist. A subsequent doctor misdiagnosed the melanoma. Rodriguez soon died from the melanoma. This bill would allow families and individuals to assert medical malpractice claims against military doctors, effectively reversing the Feres Doctrine which prevents military members and their families from suing over medical care received in service.

Read more about the new bill 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.

Read more here.

A lawsuit surrounding the wrongful death of a patient after he received cancerous lung transplants may go to trial. Though many medical malpractice lawsuitssettle, parties in this suit may seek justice in court. The medical malpractice lawsuit surrounds a lung transplant operation that led to the patient’s death: the doctors transplanted cancerous lungs. Attorneys for the victim state that the doctors knew the lung was cancerous and misrepresented the health of the donor.

Read more of the story here.

An Illinois Appellate Court once again limited the rights of wronged patients in medical malpractice and negligence cases by affirming a trial court’s grant of summary judgment under the Illinois Tort Immunity Act. The court determined that the Tort Immunity Act immunizes a defendant for failing to make an adequate examination and for a failure to diagnose an illness.

In this case, due to the failure of the hospital staff to diagnose a precancerous condition or cancer, a woman died from cervical cancer. Physicians had diagnosed her with a vaginal infection, but it nearly six months to discover her cancer, at which point it was too late. The plaintiff argued that the lack of a follow-up pap smear constituted negligence related to the treatment of her vaginal infection, not her diagnosis because a repeat pap smear should have been part of her treatment plan. Had the follow-up pap smear been conducted, physicians may have discovered and treated the cancer.

This case limits the rights of patients because it immunizes physicians failure to diagnose where the diagnosis should have been a natural result of a prior treatment plan. Physicians should have held accountable where diagnosis and treatment are so intertwined, especially where the failure to diagnose directly leads to a patient’s death.

Full article

In a recent medical malpractice lawsuit, a birth injury that was allegedly caused by a nurse-doctor communication breakdown yielded a $1.2 million settlement. Nurses were concerned that the birth was taking too long, but were hesitant to consult the doctor about these fears due to his reputation of angry responses to perceived criticism. The infant developed cerebral palsy.

Physicians too commonly react harshly to instances where they feel bothered by the nursing staff, such as late-night clarification requests, difficulties with procedures, changes in patient condition and more. The negative consequences of verbal abuse or disruption in hospitals are significant; reduced communication, team collaboration, information transfer and concentration are all reported as responses to disruptive behavior. Patient safety is compromised in many ways by these reported breakdowns. Medical errors increase in disruptive or abusive situations and the quality of care decreases. Patient mortality increases with these outbursts. Medication errors have also been caused by verbally abusive hospital staff relations.

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Continue reading "Hospital conduct leads to reduced patient safety and medical malpractice lawsuits" »

Stroger Hospital in Chicago, Illinois and other Cook County medical clinics face Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits over faulty mammograms in two separate cases. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of an Illinois medical malpractice victim who passed away from breast cancer. The Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the victim was not told about her cancer soon enough to save her life. The lawsuit claims that the victim went to a Chicago Clinic in early 2005 and was told that the abnormal appearance of her breasts was just because she was “just old.” A mammogram just a few months later showed stage 3 breast cancer.

For the full article.

In 1999, a 52 year-old woman had serious back pain and drove with her husband to the busy clinic of a doctor, whom they immediately liked because of his concern for the woman. Thirteen months later, that woman died from aggressive lymphoma that her husband now believes could have been the cause of the terrible back pain. Seven years after that, the doctor accused in a lawsuit of disregarding a sonogram that should have raised alarms about Joan’s cancer, settled with her estate for $925,000. The medical malpractice lawsuit settled six months before the state Health Department revealed that the doctor may have exposed thousands to hepatitis C and other bloodborne diseases by reusing syringes from multi-dose medicine vials.

For the full article.

The American Cancer Society has recently produced an ad campaign stressing the need of adequate quality health care for Americans in order to lower cancer death rates. Among the poorly insured and uninsured, cancer is most often detected at an advanced stage, too frequently proving fatal. The American Cancer Society's goals of reducing cancer death and incidence rates by 2015, beginning in 1990, will not be met unless access to screening and treatment becomes available to all patients. The society's chief executive stated that, "lack of access will be a bigger cancer killer than tobacco," unless the health care system is amended. The delay in diagnosing poorly or uninsured patients causes them to bear the costs of more expensive and difficult treatments. Within families afflicted with cancer, one in four will use most or all of their savings, including one in five insured families, to fight the disease. 47 million Americans do not have health insurance, and millions more only have limited coverage. Access to health care for all Americans will lower cancer death rates, among innumerable other health ailments.

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Access to quality health care is urged by the American Cancer Society for all Americans. When cancer diagnosis or treatment is delayed, it can be fatal. This is felt even more so among the uninsured or under insured, whose life savings can be wiped out treating cancer.

According to the New York Times, 47 million Americans are without health insurance with millions more having only minimal or poor insurance. The American Cancer Society’s alert stems from the statistic that those suffering from breast, larynx and mouth cancers who are uninsured are more likely than the insured to have these cancers diagnosed at a late stage.

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An Illinois jury recently awarded $1.6 million to a man who suffered medical malpractice when his doctor failed to diagnose bladder cancer. The man went to his doctor, complaining of frequent urination and other issues. A mass in the man’s bladder was obstructing his kidneys, which led to renal failure. When the man went to see another doctor, that is when his condition was correctly diagnosed as bladder cancer. However, by that point, the cancer had already progressed to stage-four bladder cancer, which severely limited the man’s treatment options.

Click here for the full article.

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.

Click here for the full article

Doctors argued to a State Supreme Court that they could not be sued by the family of a deceased woman, even though it was their medical malpractice and failure to diagnose cancer that contributed to her death. They said that, when the woman died, her medical malpractice suit "evaporated" and her surviving sons did not have standing to pursue the claims. Fortunately, the irony of this argument was not lost on the high court, and the sons' victory will provide them with the opportunity to present their mother's case before a jury.

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

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

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

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

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A medical malpractice lawsuit was recently filed against a cancer doctor who told a 65 year-old woman that her breast cancer had returned and prescribed chemotherapy for treatment. A second opinion told the 65 year-old that she had no evidence of recurrent breast cancer. State regulators have found 19 other patients allegedly mistreated or misdiagnosed by the cancer specialist. The state claims that the patients were needlessly or excessively exposed to toxic cancer-fighting agents that endangered their health. For now, the doctor is still practicing! A January hearing before the state Medical Licensure Commission will issue the final authority over the validity of the doctor’s license.

For the full article.

The Orange County Register reported that a sixty-one year old man won a $3.3 million jury award in a medical malpractice case against his primary care physician.

The victim initially saw the doctor in June 2002 after he had been urinating blood. The doctor concluded that the man had a kidney stone and instructed him to do nothing unless his symptoms resurfaced.

Only six months down the road, the victim was diagnosed with bladder cancer. After enduring multiple surgeries and several months of physical therapy, he continues to walk with a cane and has to urinate into a bag attached to his stomach.

For the full article.

During the 1990’s, due to rising medical costs, the median income of primary care physicians remained relatively flat. In response, many physicians organized their offices into corporate practices to save money by assigning more nurses and physician’s assistants to more technical tasks

Often, these practices are flawed because not all patients are able to see a doctor during their visits. Some physicians have their physicians assistants or nurse practitioners see the less serious patients which may result in a misdiagnosis. On a more extreme end, due to more volume in patient visits, doctors, particularly specialists may not have a chance to follow up with patients or patients’ primary care physicians.

For example, someone who was diagnosed with cancer may not receive the kind of immediate follow up and care given by smaller practices if sent to a corporate physician practice. This lag in time could be crucial to someone with cancer diagnosed at an early stage so that the cancer doesn’t metastasize or spread while the patient is waiting for a course of treatment.

For the full article.

An August Reader’s Digest article examines mistakes made in the diagnosis of diseases and medical conditions in the lab.

An example of the horrifying impact a mistaken diagnosis can have is a 61-year-old Chicago woman who was diagnosed with intestinal cancer after a routine colonoscopy. The diagnosis was particularly frightening because the woman had fought intestinal cancer—and won—10 years earlier.

After a two foot portion of the woman’s small and large intestines were removed, the woman began experiencing pain and digestive troubles. Her immediate thought was that they hadn’t removed all of the cancer. When she visited her doctor during a six-week checkup, she received troubling news. She didn’t have cancer at all. She had been misdiagnosed when her tissue sample had been contaminated with another person’s cancerous cells. She had endured unnecessary surgery.

This story illustrates the different forms medical errors and medical malpractice can take. Misdiagnosis in labs is a serious problem, particularly when the diagnosis leads to potentially life threatening surgery.

For the full article.

Medical malpractice investigation into the healthcare inmates receive at correctional facilities

As part of a Free Press investigation into the medical care provided by the state Department of Corrections and Correctional Medical Services Inc. of Missouri, a discovery was made that in hundreds of cases, diseases have been misdiagnosed, undiagnosed or treatment is delayed or denied.

In one instance, an inmate’s cancer went undiagnosed for twenty months. Many of the inmates’ families are the only outside people who know about the illnesses the inmates suffer, and they can't even get a return phone call from prison medical staff.

For the full article.

Thanks to Connecticut's civil union law, which allows gay to sue for loss of consortium, a lesbian couple has sued two doctors for medical malpractice. The suit alleges the doctors of treated one of the women for ovarian cancer when she actually had cancer of the appendix. As a result, the patient underwent years of chemotherapy while the cancer spread.

The woman is suing for damages and the woman’s partner is suing for damages on her behalf for loss of consortium. This is the first suit of its kinds since the state enacted its civil union law last year.

For the full article.

A doctor is the subject of a medical malpractice lawsuit in the death of a woman for whom the doctor illegally prescribed a hydrogen-peroxide solution to treat her multiple sclerosis.

The same doctor is being sued in a second medical malpractice case by the widow of a man who died of prostate cancer in 2004. The man sought treatment form the doctor who gave him intravenous hydrogen-peroxide treatments and falsely diagnosed him as having Lyme disease. The doctor next prescribed testosterone, which caused the man’s prostate cancer to rapidly advance and resulted in his death about six weeks later.

For the full article.

Levin & Perconti is currently litigating a medical malpractice case against 2 physicians and the University of Chicago hospital for negligently performing brachytherapy on a patient with prostate cancer. The doctors placed radioactive seeds in or near the rectal wall causing a burn injury, radiation proctitis, and the loss of the patient’s colon and bladder.

The seeds should have been implanted within the prostate and many seeds were not, therefore causing the rectal burn injury.

The case is expected to go to trial later this year.

Levin & Perconti has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in Cook County against Advocate Health Care Systems and various doctors for failure to diagnose bladder cancer in a 59 year old woman.

The failure was due to poor communication between the woman’s primary care physicians and a specialist. This poor communication resulted in the woman not having a crucial cystoscopy that would have diagnosed her cancer at a time when the cancer would have been treatable. Instead, the test was given to the woman when it was too late – the cancer had spread to her bowel, colon and eventually throughout her abdomen.

The primary care physicians misunderstood the woman’s symptoms and their significance and failed to inform the patient that failure to have a cystoscopy could be fatal. The woman’s symptoms included blood in her urine, and painful and frequent urination.

The woman’s family is suing the hospital and the doctors for wrongful death in failing to diagnose and treat bladder cancer.