Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

The Tribune Star shared the details last week of a verdict in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The case was filed against a doctor who failed to diagnose colon cancer in a patient in 2004. The victim, a former police officer, alleged that his doctor at the AP&S Clinic failed to perform necessary tests that could have detected his colon cancer. With earlier detection, the victim would have had a better chance of beating the deadly disease.

The victim, then only 35 year old, visited the doctor with rectal bleeding and other gastric problems. However, the doctor failed to order a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy to determine if cancer was present. A reasonable physician would have performed those tests under the circumstances. A while later the patient went to another doctor who performed the necessary tests and discovered that the cancer had developed, was at Stage 4, and incurable. He has been given less than a year to live.

The medical malpractice lawsuit went to trial last month, with the jury reaching a verdict in favor of the victim. They awarded him $2.5 million for medical expenses, pain and suffering, and decreased life expectancy. However, that award will be cut in half because of an arbitrary cap on damages that exists in medical malpractice cases in the state.

The doctors’ failure to diagnose life-threatening problems with their patients is one of the more egregious forms of medical malpractice. Patients have the reasonable expectation that when they visit a doctor with medical concerns, the doctor will be able to properly diagnose their problems if possible. All too often however, they are sent home before receiving the proper care—often with deadly consequences.

Continue reading "Failure to Diagnose Cancer Leads to Lawsuit" »

A trial began this week in southern Illinois involving a long-lasting medical malpractice lawsuit stemming from a doctor’s failure to diagnose skin cancer. The Madison-St. Clair Record is reporting on the trial which was originally filed in 2003 by Maria Storm and her husband against Dr. Patrick Zimmerman.

Ms. Storm visited Dr. Zimmerman in 2003 to have a lesion removed from her back in 1999. After removing the lesion, Dr. Zimmerman told Ms. Storm that her problem was all resolved and that she had nothing else to worry about. Four years later, however, it became clear that Maria did in fact have something to worry about. A different doctor discovered that Maria actually had skin cancer.

Upon learning of the cancer, Maria and her husband filed suit against Dr. Zimmerman for his failure to diagnose the skin cancer during her earlier visits with the doctor. Unfortunately, Maria endured two years of treatment only to succumb to the skin cancer in 2005, before the trial could officially begin.

Failure to diagnose is a serious issue with many patients. Even slight delays in catching medical problems can be the difference between life and death. Maria’s chances of beating her skin cancer would have been much higher if only Dr. Zimmerman had caught it four years earlier. Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti have fought legal battles exactly like this one. In one case, we won a record $14 million verdict against a doctor who misread x-rays leading to a failure to diagnose lung cancer. Our lawyers understand that when a patient visits a doctor, they deserve a certain standard of care to be provided, including the diagnoses of potentially life-threatening medical problems. Patients rely on their heath care provider’s expert medical advice, and they suffer the consequences of those medical mistakes.

Contact an experienced, reliable medical malpractice lawyer if you or someone you know was a similar victim of an expert’s failure to diagnose a serious medical problem.

A common form of medical malpractice occurs when a provider carelessly or negligently fails to identify medical conditions or properly treat a patient in his or her care. While a health care provider’s liability under medical malpractice law does vary from state to state; all states recognize “failure to diagnose” as an actionable offense under certain circumstances.

According to 24-7 press release, the term failure to diagnose does encompass a wide variety of medical negligent practices. These include misdiagnosis, failure to provide appropriate treatment, unreasonable delay in treating and explicit failure to diagnose a medical injury. It is important for providers to diagnose cancer as early as possible, for a delay in treatment may greatly affect the patient’s prognosis. When cancer goes untreated it requires more aggressive and invasive forms of treatment. When this happens, health care providers may become liable for these medical expenses.

One recent medical error study shows that twelve percent of cancer cases are misdiagnosed as a result of reader error and poor sampling techniques. Certain cancers are more likely to be misdiagnosed than the others. Lung cancer is oftentimes diagnosed as bronchitis or tuberculosis. Colon cancer can be diagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome. This type of cancer is easily diagnosed with a routine colonoscopy. Cervical cancers can easily be detected by yearly pap smears. However, if a physician misinterprets the results of the exam the cancer can go into advance stages causing infertility. If you have had misdiagnosed cancer, please consult a Chicago medical malpractice attorney. To learn more about cancer misdiagnosis, please click the link.

A gynecologist failed to discover a growing mass on a woman’s breast. The mass was then detected a year later by her family physician and was determined to be terminal cancer. The 34-year-old woman has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against her gynecologist claiming that the doctor failed to discover the cancer during her exam. The woman had filled out a form that clearly stated she had a pain in her breast. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the family doctor had felt something in the victim’s breast during a breast exam and encouraged her to seek a mammogram. It was then discovered that she had a cancerous tumor growing in her breast. The cancer spread to a bone in her back and it was determined that the cancer was incurable. To learn more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

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

A woman is suing a hospital and two physicians for negligence and wrongful death after a hospital failed to diagnose a cancerous nodule. The man was given diagnostics tests, including a CT scan of his chest, which revealed a nodule on his lung that should have been considered malignant, but was considered to be negative. The man was discharged from the hospital unaware of the fact that he had a malignant nodule on his lung. Following his discharge, the man was admitted to the hospital again for experiencing extreme pain in multiple areas his body and it was then discovered that he was suffering from metastatic lung disease. The cancer had already spread to his bones. The man claims that the negligence and carelessness of the hospital caused a significant delay in the victim’s treatment. The surviving relatives are suing for medical malpractice and wrongful death damages. To read more about the misdiagnosis, please click the link.

A misdiagnosis of cancer led to a woman’s death. The woman’s mother had died of cancer so she was particularly concerned when she discovered a large bump on the top of her head. After seeing her doctor, he claimed the cyst was nonmalignant. It was removed a week later by a medical technician who then disposed of the cyst and did not send it for medical testing. A year later, the cyst came back but could not be removed because the woman was pregnant. The new doctor diagnosed it as sarcoma. The woman died later. Her husband filed a wrongful death medical malpractice suit against the original doctor. The jury found for the widow and held he should receive 1.5 million dollars in a medical malpractice award.

Read more about the large medical malpractice award here.

A woman was awarded $24 million in a medical malpractice suit against her doctors for the failure to diagnose her breast cancer lump. The woman claims she had complained of a lump in her breast to her doctor but her doctor assured her not to worry about the lump until her next visit. At the next visit, the doctor decided not to order a mammogram. Not until the woman saw her doctor’s partner was her lump diagnosed as breast cancer that had spread to her liver. The medical malpractice jury verdict is believed to be one of the largest in the state’s history.

Read more about the failure to diagnose cancer case here.

A patient filed a medical malpractice case against her OB/GYN physician for neglect in diagnosing her of cancer. The patient complained of a lump in her breast to her physician who then failed to diagnose the lump in a timely matter for breast cancer. Not until after the woman became pregnant did her OB/GYN take a mammogram and ultrasound to determine the lump was in fact breast cancer. The failure to diagnose cancer and subsequent surgeries and chemotherapy left the woman extremely leak and unable to come to trial. The woman was awarded $24 million for medical malpractice against her doctors.

Read more about the medical malpractice case here.

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.