Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Continue reading "Caregiver Miscommunication Involved in Majority of Serious Surgical Errors" »

CNN News reported this week on the results of new research that reveal doctors who are sleep-deprived often pose a unique risk to unsuspecting surgical patients.

Overall, researchers found that while falling asleep during surgery is rare, sleepiness poses extreme negative consequences on medical care long before the doctor actually falls asleep. T he chief researcher from the Harvard Medical School explains, “The level of impairment is profound well before you get to the point of being so exhausted that you fall asleep.” In fact, performing surgery while sleepy has been found comparable to driving with a blood alcohol level of .1%, a level of illegality in all 50 states.

To help combat the huge risks and damaging effects of sleepy surgery, researchers are urging all medical institutions to put into place new policies to help handle the problems of sleep-deprived doctors performing surgery. However, few facilities currently have those policies. At a minimum, the study authors believe that doctors should tell patients about their sleep status before performing any non-emergency procedure. In that way, patients are given the control over their own care—choosing either to postpone the surgery or pick a different surgeon.

Continue reading "Doctors Need To Disclose Sleep Fatigue Before Surgery" »

We have posted frequently on this blog regarding emerging evidence that long hours for new resident doctors leads to a drastic increase in preventable medical mistakes. The growing research on the topic has actually led the governing body which oversees medical education programs to institute changes in its guidelines. New doctors now must perform less total work a week and have more down time to ensure that patient care does not suffer because of fatigue.

New research summarized in the Baltimore Sun indicates that similar changes might be worthwhile for all doctors—not just new residents. A study out of Johns Hopkins-Mayo Clinic in the Journal of the American College of surgeons reveals that multiple nights on call and long total hours may have negative effects on patient safety (as well as the surgeon’s personal well-being).

The research included information from nearly 8,000 surgeons, many of whom worked over 80 hours a week. Eleven percent of those overworked individuals admitted to making a significant medical error in the last three months alone—many more unreported problems are likely to have also occurred.

One of the study’s lead authors summarized, “There is a strong correlation between workload and distress, which comes out in the personal and professional lives of surgeons.”

Of course news like this is of concern to our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at Levin & Perconti who often work with patients who have fallen victim to surgical error. The consequences of these losses are far too high for risks to be taken by tired, over-worked, distressed surgeons. It is imperative that our specialized doctors be at their peak performance anytime that are working on patients at their most vulnerable moments.

Highlands Today reported recently on a recent jury decision which found that a local doctor is responsible for damage to a patient following a surgical error. In March of 2003 the victim had surgery performed on a bicep by the negligent doctor. The patient had injured his left bicep tendon following an injury at work while attempting to lift a bucket of oil. The doctor was supposed to correct the mistake but instead reattached the tendon at the wrong location.

At trial it was explained that the doctor knew he made a mistake after he conducted post-operative treatment. However, even then, the doctor remained silent about the error and tried to cover up the mistake. The victim eventually went to receive a second opinion where the problem was finally brought to light.

It ultimately took a second surgery and more rehabilitation before his condition improved. However, the damage from the initial surgical error could not be corrected entirely and the patients will suffer permanent pain, loss of sensation, and partial loss of function in his left arm.

In the middle of the trial, the negligent doctor was forced to admit that he had made the mistake. Unfortunately it was not the first time that the doctor has caused problematic complications for a patient. The osteopathic physician had two previous complaints filed against him in the state, including one case where he made a cut on the wrong side of a patient’s hip during surgery.

Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti understand the frequency of these types of medical errors and the degree of damage they cause in patient lives. Our experience has shown that too often patients never fully learn the truth behind the mistakes. That is why it is important to contact a medical malpractice attorney to help fight these repeated offenders of medical errors.

Justice News Flash reported yesterday on a new medical malpractice lawsuit involving a syringe mix-up.

Kimberlee Blocker underwent a surgical procedure at Forbes Regional Hospital. The surgery itself proceeded according to plan, but afterwards the doctors informed her that they had made a mistake. An error had occurred when the medical professionals had given Kimberlee medication following the procedure. For unknown reasons, a different patient’s syringe had been used on Kimberlee, instead of the one that had been actually set aside for her. As a result, Kimberlee was given the wrong medication and may have been exposed to blood-borne diseases.

As a result of the preventable medical mistake, Kimberlee was forced to undergo six months of testing to ensure that she did not contract HIV, hepatitis, or other problems. Of course, the long-delayed process of testing is an arduous experience for patients and their families. The emotional stress of repeatedly waiting to see if a potentially deadly disease has been contracted is something that everyone would wish to avoid.

Unfortunately, these preventable medical mistakes occur all the time. Our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at Levin & Perconti have fought legal battles on behalf of patients who have suffered severe physical injury and death because of basic errors caused by medical professionals. From operating on the wrong body part to using the wrong IV line to inject medication, negligent medical professionals across the country continue to claim lives with their mistakes. It is imperative for all victims to step forward to help put a spotlight on the problem of costly hospital errors.

A state medical board reprimanded a doctor last week for medical error following a revelation that he operated on the incorrect body part of a patient during an operation at the Rhode Island Hospital.

The Providence Journal reported that the patient had degenerative joint disease in both hands. He had been under the care of orthopedic surgeon Dr. Edward Akelman for five years before the 2009 surgical mistake performed by the doctor. Dr. Akelman was made aware of his mistake while the patient was still unconscious in the middle of the procedure and subsequently performed the correct operation before the patient woke.

An investigation into the error by the state health department discovered that the correct hand had been marked as the surgical site, but there was no marking indicating what fingers needed to be operated upon. Hospital protocols required the specific fingers be marked to avoid just the error that occurred here.

Further investigation showed that two separate finger operations were planned each with its own surgical protocols that needed to be followed. But the medical team treated the two operations as one single procedure. As a result, the team cut corners and skipped necessary steps that are usually required for each unique operation. As so often happens when medical professionals sacrifice care for speed, the mistake was made.

The most fundamental aspect of any surgical procedure is operating on the correct part of the body. Amazingly, wrong-site surgeries occur frequently during all sorts of operations. In fact, the same hospital where this error occurred had made five other wrong-site mistakes in the last three years.

If medical professionals are capable of making surgical mistakes of even that fundamental nature, it is clear that more nuanced errors occur every day at hospitals across the country. Our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at Levin & Perconti are committed to fighting for the rights of those injured by medical errors that should have been prevented.

A new report examined by Fox Philadelphia has found an alarmingly high rate of disruptive behavior among doctors and nurses at local hospitals. These examples of unprofessional behavior have placed dozens of patients at unnecessary risk.

According to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, fighting between doctors and nurses has even occurred during surgery. In one case, a surgeon literally stormed out of the room during the operation because of a conflict with an attending nurse. The unaware patient was left lying on the operating table. In other instances, the report found examples of doctors who had personal conflicts with nurses acting out their disagreement by refusing to answer calls from those nurses who had questions about medications and other critical patient care details.

Overall, the report in that state alone found 77 incidents of personal disputes bleeding into the work environment and leading to unnecessary and unacceptable risk to the innocent patients who happened to be caught in the middle. Doctor-Nurse disputes accounted for the vast majority of the incidents, but several cases were found involving disagreements between doctors.

According to the report, hospital hierarchy facilitates temper-tantrums from doctors who are often not used to getting their way. In one case, an impatient doctor refused to wait out the necessary 30 minutes for a topical anesthetic to take effect on a circumcision of an infant. Instead he rushed the procedure on the baby all to save himself a few minutes time.

All work environments occasionally involve personal disagreement between professionals. However, disagreement is never an excuse for performing substandard medical work. That fact is especially true in the medical setting, where life and death literally depend on the careful work and coordinated efforts of several employees together. Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti understand the delicate nature of many medical procedures. However, all too often we have seen the deadly harm caused by avoidable errors. Personal disagreement can never be allowed to negatively affect that care given at our hospitals.

A new study reported in The Wall Street Journal recently found that common measures used by hospitals to prevent post-surgical infection may not be as effective as often thought. Most hospitals currently use a checklist approach to ensure patient safety during surgery. The World Health Organization developed a list of various procedures to be followed before, during, and after all procedures. Medical professionals typically ensure that each of those items is completed in every operation.

In particular, six of those measures are aimed at preventing infections following surgery. They include, for example, administering the proper antibiotic within an hour following the operation and appropriately completing the hair removal process after finishing the procedure.

However, the study found that there was no correlation between the six checklist items and lowered infection rates. In other words, the study puts into question the effectiveness of those measures.

Surgery always contains some risk. But as this research indicates, the common checklist procedures medical professionals use to prevent complications are often ineffective. All patients deserve medical care that best protects them from further harm following surgery. Doctors who fail to take all appropriate steps to limit those complications may be guilty of medical malpractice.

Our Illinois medical malpractice lawyers at Levin & Perconti have extensive experience representing patients harmed by medical errors, like preventative infections following surgery. If you or someone you know has suffered a similar surgical complication that may have been caused by surgical error be sure to consult a medical malpractice lawyer to help fight for your rights.

Click Here to read more about the study.

The Sun is reporting a large medical malpractice verdict involving a woman who lawyers say is now a paraplegic. A 53-year-old victim won a $3.5 million medical malpractice verdict against the two surgeons and their business. The woman had underwent surgery for blocked arteries three years ago and had disastrous results. After the surgery she filed a medical malpractice lawsuit. The jury found the two doctors responsible for the victim’s injuries.

The medical malpractice trial focused on the fact that the doctors used an improper grafting technique. The victim claimed that this medical error led to blood loss and other injuries which included damage to her spinal cord. This left her as a paraplegic and unable to walk. Although she still has some feeling in her legs, she is in constant pain. The medical malpractice verdict has given her some sense of security. She has not been able to resume her lifestyle since the medical error. The jury awarded the victim $1.3 million for noneconomic damages, $2 million for future medical bills, and more than $200,000 for prior bills. As a paraplegic, this victim will experience many future medical bills for ongoing treatment and rehabilitiation.

In cases such as this, noneconomic damages oftentimes include lost wages. The mistakes of medical providers can leave victims unable to return to their normal work life. When this occurs, it is important to seek compensation for lost earnings. If you have experienced lost wages as a result of medical malpractice, consult a Chicago medical malpractice attorney. To read more about this specific medical malpractice case, please click the link.

The Madison County Record reports that a man and his wife have claimed that a urologist removed the man’s kidney unnecessarily during surgery. The two filed the lawsuit in Madison County Circuit Court against an Illinois doctor and the Urology Consultants. The doctor had negligently performed a radical nephrectomy on the victim. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the doctor should have attempted to perform an exploratory surgery or a partial nephrectomy. Instead, the doctor performed a surgery that fully removed the kidney.

As a result of this surgery, the medical malpractice victim is suffering permanent pain, mental anguish and disfigurement. He is also claiming economic losses of medical costs and lost wages. He also believes that he is prevented from attending to the usual duties and affairs of life. His wife is filing suit claiming that she lost her husband’s love, companionship, consortium and support because of the medical negligence. The victim is seeking a judgment of more than $300,000. To read more about this Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, please click this link.

According to Answers.com, radical nephrectomy involves removing the entire kidney, a section of the tube leading to the bladder, the gland that sits atop the kidney and the fatty tissue surrounding the kidney. On the other hand in a partial nephrectomy, only the diseased or infected portion of the kidney is removed. In this case, the medical malpractice victim would have benefited from a closer examination to determine which procedure was right for him. If you believe that you or a loved one suffered serious harms as a result of a medical provider's mistakes, consult a Chicago medical malpractice attorney to discuss your potential claim and legal options.

An Arlington soldier is dealing with the repercussions of a medical error in difficult way. The 21 year old airman lost his legs after a botched gallbladder surgery at a military hospital, according to the Star-Telegram. The victim had agreed to have laparoscopic gallbladder surgery after enduring stomach problems. During the procedure, an instrument being threaded through his stomach nicked his aorta artery, cutting off the flow to his legs. He was then transferred to another medical hospital, where both of his legs were amputated. His lawyer believes that this constituted gross violations of the US medical act. To read more about this specific medical malpractice case, please click the link.

Currently, however, the medical malpractice victim is in a battle with the U.S. court system. According to a 1950 Supreme Court decision, military personnel or their families are not allowed to collect damages from military doctors for medical negligence. This is known as Feres Doctrine. Not only will the medical malpractice victim not be able to recover for medical damages, his wife will be unable to file for loss of consortium. Currently, a Congressman is introducing legislation in order to change that policy.

The "Feres Doctrine” only applies to those active men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces who suffer injury at the negligent hands of other members of the Armed Forces. Since military personnel staff military hospitals, this keeps those victims of medical negligence from being able to file suit in federal court. This doctrine greatly hinders the rights of military medical personnel. The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys of Levin & Perconti support recent efforts to invoke legislation that will override this doctrine.

A family of a medical malpractice victim has sued the surgeon they believe is responsible for the error. According to NewsOn6.com the fire broke out during the victim’s surgery. She was undergoing breast reconstruction surgery when the fire sparked. Two years prior to the medical malpractice she had a double mastectomy as a result of breast cancer. She was hoping the breast reconstruction would be a final step towards healing but was set backwards.

After the woman woke up from the surgery her face was covered in bandages. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the doctor used alcohol to swab the victim during the procedure, set the cauterizing tool aflame. This sparked a fire that caught both the victim and the drapes on fire. The fire then proceeded to melt the oxygen tube inside of her mouth, causing her mouth and tongue to burn. She was unable to eat or drink for a period of time and still has trouble four months later. The devoted teacher is unable to go back to work because the pain has been so terrible. Unfortunately, her face and lips have been deformed and it appears that she will need future surgeries.

Medical errors cause approximately 98,000 deaths per year. The victims of medical malpractice are hopefully sending a message to those negligent healthcare providers by filing medical malpractice lawsuits. In the end, the goal is to ensure that medical providers deliver quality care to avoid such litigation. To read more about this specific medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

An Illinois woman has started a website designed to improve hospital safety entitled Campaign Zero. She began the website after Medicare discontinued reimbursing hospitals for preventable hospital hazards. The website focuses on preventing medical errors by zeroing in on what can be prevented with a little bit of knowledge. It also discusses ways in which everyone can help prevent medical error.

One area that can be improved is hospital acquired infections. Campaign Zero estimates that 2.2 million people are affected with hospital-acquired infections every year. More than 135,000 Americans wrongfully die from these hospital-acquired infections, most of which are preventable. The biggest culprit in the spread of this disease is unwashed, or poorly washed, hands. There is a simple way to prevent this medical error: to have employees simply wash their hands with soap and water. The website shows a video highlighting the easy way to wash hands and save lives.

Campaign Zero also highlights ways in which to prevent surgical error. The website’s study estimates that between 1,300 and 2,700 surgical errors occur every year in America. These include events when patients are mistaken for each other. Also, surgical tools and sponges are left behind in patients. In fact, 1 out of every 1,500 abdominal surgeries results in a left tool or sponge. The average cost of these types of surgical errors runs around $40,323. The website suggests showering before surgery and marking the part of your body that is to be operated on in order to prevent these errors. This website is a valuable tool for anyone that has a loved one in the hospital.

A state’s officials have fined 13 hospitals for medical errors that have killed or seriously injured patients. A report shows that one hospital was fined $50,000 with the death of a patient that died after he pulled out his tracheotomy tube although there were instructions that that patient be restrained and supervised. There was also a fine given to a hospital that misdiagnosed an ectopic pregnancy. A woman’s oxygen levels were not monitored correctly, leading to another fine. A patient died after nurses failed to notice that his heart monitor was disconnected. These are just a few of the examples of the 98,000 people who die every year as a result of medical error. To learn more about the hospital fines, please click the link.

A man says he suffered 10 weeks of pain and stiffness before his doctors discovered that they had left a broken device in his knee during his surgery. The man has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit after the event and is suing for unspecified damages. He also names an orthopedic and sports medicine center in the malpractice lawsuit and the hospital where the surgery was performed. An x-ray performed two months after his surgery showed a “foreign body’ in his knee. The medical malpractice lawsuit states that the doctor performed follow-up surgery the next day and removed what looked like a broken surgical device from the victim’s knee. To learn more about the malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

A 35-year-old mother of nine has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital, three doctors and two nurses alleging that they sterilized her against her will. The lawsuit claims that this violated her reproductive rights. The woman has nine children aged 3 to 21 and claims that the doctors were supposed to implant an intrauterine device, which is a kind of reversible birth control, after she gave birth to her soon. However, the mother alleges that a permanent sterilization known as tubal litigation was performed. This left her mentally distraught and incapable of bearing more children. The mother is upset because there was no medical reason for the procedure and she did not sign consent for a tubal litigation. Written consent is required by federal law for at least 30 days in advance for all patients who want a permanent sterilization procedure. This type of medical error is but another form of medical malpractice. To read more into the forced sterilization, please click the link.

A victim has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit after piece of gauze allegedly left behind in a patient after surgery required a follow-up procedure to remove it. The victim filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital and two doctors. Also, the victim contends that she only learned through medical records this year while the gauze was left eight years ago. The woman underwent a surgical procedure on her liver in 2000. Two weeks later she was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of an intra-abdominal abscess. This is an infection inside the belly area. During that procedure, they found gauze under the connective tissue that runs throughout the body. She maintains she did not find out about the gauze until obtaining medical records from the hospital this year. Before she found the record, she had no reason to believe a foreign body had been in her abdomen. Disclosing medical errors is one of the biggest issues for medical malpractice reform. To read more about the gauze error, please click the link.

The family of a man who died after brain surgery has sued the neurosurgeon who performed the operation, saying the doctor was legally blind and unfit to operate. The man was quoted in newspaper reports at that time as saying he needed to step down because glaucoma “limits my abilities of a surgeon.” The surgeon stated that he had peripheral vision loss in his right eye, but it had not affected his ability to do surgery. The surgery involves inserting electrical wires deep into the brain to control involuntary movements. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the surgeon was legally blind and unfit to operate when he removed a brain tumor from her son. The 28-year-old man died two days later. The wrongful-death lawsuit also claims hospital negligence. The plaintiff does not believe that the doctor should have been given privileges to operate. The hospital is counter-claiming that the doctor also owes them more than $1 million for support he received to open a neurosurgery practice. To read more about the medical malpractice, please click the link.

A victim is suing a surgeon for negligence and medical malpractice. The victim was a patient of the general surgeon and was being treated for a gall bladder problem. The medical malpractice lawsuit complains that the surgeon performed a laparoscopic clolecystectomy on the patient that did not go as planned. The doctor clipped and divided what he thought would be a cystic duct, however it was not. The victim claims she has undergone numerous surgical procedures to correct the doctor’s error. She has incurred damages, including past and future medical expenses; past and future lost homemaker services; past and future mental and physical pain and suffering; and loss of her capacity to enjoy life. To read more about the medical malpractice, please click the link.