Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

A heartbreaking story about a medical error that took the life of a 7-month old baby is being reported at KTLA News.

Tressel was the only child for Emilie and Scott Meinardi. Since birth, Tressel had heart issues; however, they knew that with surgery, the issues could be corrected. Last week the scheduled surgery date finally arrived, and the family headed to Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital for the operation.

Tragically, Tressel would not make it out of the facility.

In the middle of the procedure, a technician made a terrible medical mistake. During the open-heart surgery, instead of flushing the baby’s system with saline, the medical staff member used alcohol. Of course, sending alcohol into the fragile baby’s body instead of the sterile saline solution had devastating effects on the child, eventually leading to Tressel’s death.

The medical error is similar to the one we reported on last week involving the baby who was accidentally given morphine. In addition we wrote recently about the problem with hospital tube manufacturing that makes these types of mistakes all too common. Hospitals, doctors, and manufacturers of these devices need to take a close look at these errors, understand exactly how to prevent them in the future, and ensure that no other patient falls victim.

Words cannot describe the devastation that family and friends suffer upon learning that a medical mistake took the life of their loved one—the pain is only compounded when an innocent child is lost. Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti have worked with families involved in these tragedies for decades. We offer sincere condolences to all those sufferings from this hospital mistake.

This week the Houston Chronicle discussed an unfortunate hospital mistake that led to additional suffering for an already devastated family.

Amy Ramos was five months pregnant when she began have physical problems related to the pregnancy. She rushed to the hospital only to discover that the fetus was without a heartbeat. There was nothing that could be done to save the child. Mrs. Ramos was forced to undergo a surgical pregnancy the next day to remove the fetus. Amy and her husband Richard held a funeral service three days later with what they thought were the remains of their five month old fetus.

However, shortly after the service, the hospital discovered that they had never given the proper remains to the funeral home. Instead, an unidentified big toe was actually delivered and placed into what the family thought was the burial container.

Of course, news of the mix up only further agonized the grieving couple. The burial container had to be exhumed. The couple was then forced to have another service three days later with the proper remains, undergoing the painful process for the second time.

Patients and their families place immense trust in hospital employees to handle the most delicate and important parts of their lives. Besides quality health care, these medical facilities should also be held to a basic standard of responsible administration of affairs following tragic deaths. No family should have to endure the pain felt at losing an expected child. It is especially unconscionable for the suffering family to have their grieving processes upended by this careless hospital error.

Please contact our medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti any time that you have suffered at the hands of negligent conduct by hospitals aides, nurses, doctors, staff, or administrators. We are committed to putting our decades of legal experience in this area to ensure that your rights are protected.

The USA Today recently reported on a loophole in the regulatory system of many states that allows nurses convicted of a variety of negligent, abusive, and illegal behavior to continue working long after their conduct is discovered.

The loophole is created by the compact that currently exists between 24 states throughout the country. This ten-year old agreement is intended to allow nurses to move and work in critical areas across the country in need of their skills. Any nurse with a license in one member state is allowed to travel and work in any other.

However, there is no central licensing authority between the 24 states. In that way, the supervision and policing efforts of the entire compact is left to each individual state. Member states simply agree to let in any other member-state nurse without checking their history. That means that nurses with any number of negligent and abusive past actions, like forgotting to report changes in condition, missing tests, and stealing medication and other errors are able to skip out on the consequences and continue practicing nursing by moving to another member state.

Genell Lee, head of Alabama’s nursing board (a non-compact state) suggested that the compact allows one state’s accountability errors to be compounded, harming patients across the country. Records reveal that very few visiting nurses are ever disciplined by other states, with three states reporting only thee such citations in the last decade.

A California study highlights the problem. Officials in that state discovered that 3,500 nurses in the state had disciplinary actions in other states but had retained clean records in California. Current nurse Danya Hickman is an example of the problem. Ms. Hickman moved to California after her Texas license was revoked for giving a patient undiluted vitamin K too quickly, resulting in the patient’s death. She worked for several months in California and currently is a critical-care nurse in Iowa.

The investigation revealed countless other examples of bad nurses allowed to continue to practice in other states, placing patients across the country at risk for medical error. Alma Rice, for example, was able to work in several states for over seven years even after being found a threat to patients. Ultimately she was able to steal drugs from three different hospitals in three different states, collecting felony convictions in each state, before finally being stopped.

Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti share all medical patients concern about the quality of the care they are provided at hospitals across the country. Medical care is only as good as the individuals who provide it. Unless states adequately monitor the records of those making critical medical decisions, patients will continue to suffer the harm of negligent medical care that could have been prevented.

Click Here to read more about the investigation into bad nurses.

The Chicago Tribune recently reported on the settlement of a medical negligence case which alleged violation of state law by the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The hospital was charged with overcrowding babies in its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), failing to comply with state law that mandates specific bed spacing and maximum capacities. The lawsuit was filed by two former nurses in the NICU at the Medical Center, Donald Raymer and Michael Grosche.

Specifically, over an eight year period from 1997 to 2005, the Medical Center sought reimbursement from Illinois Medicaid for care provided when the overcrowding occurred. The Attorney General explained that the practice put ill babies at extreme risk of infection in “absolutely terrifying” conditions.

Luckily for all future babies who need emergency care at the hospital, since the lawsuit the Medical Center has expanded to include a properly sized neonatal intensive care unit. As another positive benefit from the suit, the majority of that settlement ($5.2 million) will be sent to nearby clinics and hospitals to provide services to young and new mothers including well-being classes and postpartum depression care.

The disturbing situation at the University of Chicago Medical Center is just one example of the corners cut by many medical service providers when they become more worried about saving money than providing the necessary care to save the lives of the patients in their care. Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti have decades of experience fighting for patients who were given inadequate medical care by facilities looking at the budget at the expense of emergency healthcare.

Unfortunately inadequate medical care is given at hospitals every day. Do not wait to fight for your right for proper treatment. If you suspect you’ve been a victim of negligent care, be sure to contact a medical malpractice attorney in the area.

According to a recent report by ABC News, researchers at the University of California at San Diego have found that the rate of medication errors increase in July at teaching hospitals throughout the country. This spike coincides with the arrival of new medical residents who are just beginning their clinical training. The “July Effect” has always been talked about, but the new study links a 10 % increase in medication errors with these changes in personnel.

An experienced physician cited in the article was not surprised by the study’s findings. He attributes these often-fatal medical malpractice mistakes to the fact that residents are inexperienced in caring for patients and are in the process of trying to learn a new system and new set of procedures. Many medical residents are adjusting to longer shifts and face sleep-deprivation. A Boston Globe article from October 2009 linked less sleep to more complications and noted that the rate of complications when a doctor had less than six hours of sleep was 2.8% higher than when a doctor had more than 6 hours of sleep before a procedure. A Mayo Clinic study in the September 23, 2009 Journal of the American Medical Association mirrored these results, noting that residents who were sleep-deprived were more likely to perform a medical error.

In order to avoid the “July Effect” hospitals and residency program directors must raise awareness surrounding the issues of medical and medication errors and work with residents to prevent them from happening. Program directors should stress the importance of having new residents ask senior residents or attendings for help if there is an issue they are unsure of. Programs should also work with new residents to help them manage their sleep and new workload. The ABC article also notes the implementation of new software that checks for prescription errors may help to quell the July Effect in teaching hospitals.

To read more about the new study on medication errors follow the link.

A Medical Center is investigating after a child wrongfully died in their care following an organ transplant. The two-year old’s death may have possibly been the result of an accidental overdose of the blood thinner heparin. They recently released a statement declaring that they were investigating the death after an apparent overdose of a blood thinner. According to Action 3 news, the patient was at the hospital for a multi-organ transplant. After she received the transplant she was readmitted to the hospital with an infection. The virus caused the victim’s kidneys to shut down, requiring her to receive dialysis. It was at the hospital where the 23-month girl died from an infection.

In reality the blood thinner that can be a life-saver during a hospital stay can turn deadly if this blood thinner is given in too high of a dose. According to Omaha.com heprin can cause immediate problems if given in too high of a concentration. This will cause internal bleeding, which can be life-threatening. No one is exactly sure how the overdose occurred. Many of the hospital staff believes the medical malpractice occurred when the setting on the IV pump was not checked properly.

The medical center has already arranged for travel for the family and funeral expenses. Also the medical center is trying to be proactive in sharing this information with other hospitals on what they are trying to do to prevent these occurrences. This hospital is taking important steps to reduce medical error. By sharing new safety implementations with other hospitals, fewer patients will die as a result of a heparin overdose.

The family of a medical negligence victim is blaming nurses at an Illinois hospital for the victim’s death. They believe that these nurses were guilty of a number of negligent acts. The woman was first admitted to the Illinois hospital with signs and symptoms of respiratory infection. The victim had told nurses that she was just getting over an upper respiratory infection. Nurses found that her oxygen level had steadily decreased from 97 percent when she was admitted to 92 percent four days later. The medical malpractice lawsuit then states that the woman began coughing up blood and was too fatigued to perform physical therapy. She constantly complained of feeling ill and developed a temperature. Her husband was repeating her need for aide to the nurses.

However, despite all the indications of lung failure the nursing staff negligently failed to test her blood oxygen saturation and did not report her symptoms to her treating physicians. The Record reported that the nurses were ignoring the symptoms of her Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and additionally failed to treat such disease. It is the duty of the medical personnel to adequately assess all problems. Nurses should be in constant contact with doctors concerning a patient’s health. The victim wrongfully died at Memorial Hospital 18 days after being admitted. The man has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit claiming a loss of love, affection companionship, services and support. He has named specific nurses in the compliant and is seeking compensatory damages. If you believe you have been a victim of medical negligence, please contact a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer. To read more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

All too often the public does not hear about the detrimental effects tort reform has on the hundreds of thousands of victims whom are injured by medical malpractice each year. Tort reform puts a cap on compensation for victims of medical negligence. The Huffington Post points out the specific case of Lisa Gurley. A court found that the severe brain injury suffered at birth by Lisa’s son, Colin, was caused by a doctor’s negligence. Despite this finding, Nebraska tort reform prevented Lisa and her son from being adequately compensated for his injuries. In fact, they were compensated for just a tiny fraction of what it will cost to care for Colin for the remainder of his life. Now, Medicaid and the Nebraska Medically Handicap Children's program pay for all of Colin’s care. It is grossly unfair that the taxpayers and Colin’s family are paying the astronomical cost of caring for a severely handicapped child while the doctor and the insurance company paid minimally for the medical negligence. The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin and Perconti are working to protect the rights of catastrophically injured children like Colin and to ensure that there continue to be adequate remedies for injured victims of medical negligence.

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

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

The daughter of a woman who died last year has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital claiming that hospital negligence caused her mother’s wrongful death. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the county “carelessly and negligently managed the care of” the victim which caused her wrongful death. The woman was checked into hospital exhibiting suicidal behavior. The woman was not checked for approximately 90 minutes when she was found slouched over without a pulse and not breathing. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the daughter was deprived of a kind and loving mother. To read more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

On Friday, December 18, a 44-year-old woman from Cerro Gordo, IL died after falling from a seventh floor window at Provena Covenant Medical Center in Urbana. An autopsy revealed that her death was a result of multiple injuries sustained in the fall. The article reports that the victim jumped from the window and landed on a roof five stories below. However, the article does not indicate if the victim was a patient, what led her to fall from the window, or if this was an incident of medical negligence. Read more about this Urbana hospital death.

In a case similar in nature, the medical malpractice attorneys of Levin & Perconti recently won a $1 million jury for the family of a nursing home resident who exited from a window at a Chicago area nursing home and fell to his death. The Cook County jury found the nursing home negligent in failing to prevent the resident from exiting through the window. To read about this jury verdict, follow the link.

Patrick Malone wrote an article for the Huffington Post discussing the lack of accountability of doctors in medical malpractice. In the medical industry, a doctor will lose his or her license for only flagrant patterns of drug or alcohol abuse or other criminal behavior. The health care’s big safety emphasis in recent years has been to create a “no blame” culture that encourages reporting of medical errors and injuries by promises of confidentiality and non-punitive action. This idea was implemented so that medical errors can be corrected by implementing “systems” changes, such as checklists to make sure all appropriate steps are taken to prevent infections. Yet this system also allows physicians who repeatedly put their patients in jeopardy to ignore the rules. This occurs often when surgeons don’t follow the now routine practice of “signing the site” to prevent wrong-site surgery. This explains why an estimated 4,000 wrong-site surgeries are still performed every year in the United States. Some medical safety leaders are starting to call for accountability for rules violations. They stated that “every safe industry has transgressions that are firing offenses.” They proposed a short list of offenses in the hospital that call for suspension of a doctor’s practice for a limited time such as: failing to perform hand hygiene, skipping the sign-over to a new provider at the end of a shift, not marking the surgical site, and failing to use a checklist at the start of surgery to make sure everyone in the operating room knows the special needs of the patient. To read more about doctor accountability, please click the link.

Blake Fought was about to be released from the hospital after recovering from an illness that required a central line IV. Unfortunately, the nurse had never been trained to remove the IV and did not follow proper procedures. This caused bubbles to enter the young man’s brain, heart and blood vessels. He died in front of the nurses and his own parents as a result of the medical malpractice. Blake is just one of the 98,000 patients who are killed by medical error each year. Please visit 98,000 reasons to learn more about those killed by medical error. To read Blake’s story, please click the link.

Two brain surgeons at a hospital face charges for failure to complete a brain surgery. The department of health has documented the hospital for 14 different medical abuses including when two brain surgeons failed to perform an operation of a patient that was already sedated on the table for operation. A patient was scheduled to undergo the second portion of her two-part brain surgery and her doctor failed to show due to being out of town. The chief of neurosurgery declined to finish the surgery the absent doctor. The hospital has been given an October deadline for the hospital to present the state with a plan to correct the serious communication error from happening. They also must pay the fines that the department of health has imposed on him. The hospital will be fined for allowing the doctors operating to not pause to stop and check that they were operating on the right part of the body. Also, a patient was sedated before the brain surgeon was present, and an orthopedic surgeon left the operation after doing his part before the next surgeon was present. This type of medical malpractice highlights the need for effective communication at hospitals. To read more about the medical error, please click the link.

A hospital was ordered to pay $8 million in a wrongful death lawsuit that was filed by a patient’s widow. The widow claims that his wife visited the hospital three times. On the first occasion, the hospital found that she had minor intestinal blockage. She ended up passing away. Her widow contacted a medical malpractice attorney who took his case. The attorney found that the widow had died of gangrene caused by a perforation in the bowel. The doctor who examined the widow was not found liable by the jury but was found negligent with the medical review board. The board found the doctor “failed to comply with the appropriate standard of care.”

Read more about the failed medical care here.

After finding staph infections in five of its patients in a two month period, the hospital decided to test all operating room staff members. The hospital found that 15 staff members were in fact carrying the common staph bacteria. However, the hospital is not claiming responsibility for the infected patients. They claim that the patients could have become infected through improper home care. All of the infections were non-life threatening. The infected staff members were not allowed to participate in surgeries for a period of a week up to 11 days. Hospital negligence can lead to infections so one may want to contact a medical malpractice attorney for further legal action.

Read more about the hospital infections here.

A series of hospitals have been fined for serious medical violations, according to an article. Some of these medical violations led to either serious bodily harm or even death. At one particular hospital, a child suffered serious brain injury after the nursing staff failed to drain his head properly. Another hospital has claimed to counteract medical violations they will hire more staff and cut back on medical technicians’ duties so they can better concentrate on the patient’s care. If you have suffered due to a medical violation at your hospital you should consult a medical malpractice attorney to discuss legal options.

Read more about the serious fines dealt to the hospitals here.

A woman went to a hospital expecting a normal vaginal delivery. However after 10 hours of labor she needed a cesarean section and began bleeding internally after her uterine arteries were torn or cut during the surgery. According to her medical malpractice lawsuit she bled to death after the attending physician and obstetrician argued as to how to treat her. They could not determine whether the victim was bleeding internally and whether they should reopen her abdominal incision to evaluate. The victim had lost more than 3 quarts of blood during the surgery which accounted for 60 percent of the total blood volume in her body. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the doctors and hospital botched what should have been done in a routine birth. When the victim entered the hospital she was healthy and had a problem-free, full-term pregnancy. The doctor’s were quoted in an affidavit stating that there was understaffing in the surgical care unit. Both the hospital and doctors deny any medical malpractice. To read more about the mother’s death, please click the link.

A recent investigation by the Hearst Company has drawn attention to the fact that approximately 200 thousand Americans will die this year from preventable medical errors and hospital infections. Currently 20 states have no medical error reporting system in place, five have voluntary ones and five more are developing reporting systems. Even in the 20 states that have the mandatory systems, hospitals report only a tiny percentage of their mistakes, standards vary wildly and enforcement is often nonexistent. The report also blames special interests for blocking progress in the area of medical reporting. A news medical correspondent described some of the most common medical miscues and offered advice to help keep one from being a victim of medical malpractice.

- Make sure surgeons personally sign or initial the skin of the patient over the area that’s being operated on; patients should remind all surgical personnel about the side and site of the procedure
- Patient’s should ask what every single medication is that they’re given while in the hospital and remind everyone who approaches them with drugs of any allergies they have
- Always look the surgeon in the eye before the operation to avoid any possibility of mistaken identity.

Communication is the greatest key to preventing medical errors which are oftentimes caused by
- Poor documentation
- Illegible handwriting
- Sleep deprivation
- Improper nurse to patient ratios

To read more about the medical mistake survey, please click the link.