Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

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.

The husband and estate of a woman who developed blood clots and died shortly after undergoing outpatient knee surgery have been awarded more than $6 million in a medical malpractice trial. The 42-year-old victim was referred by her primary care physician at an Army hospital to an orthopedic surgeon to investigate complaints of worsening pain in her left knee. The surgeon gave the victim an injection for the pain and ordered physical therapy. During a follow-up visit the doctor ordered an MRI to determine whether the victim might have a tear in the cartilage of her knee. The MRI indicated a “cartilaginous loose body” behind the victim’s knee and she underwent less than an hour of arthroscopic surgery at the hospital. She went home that day. The next day the victim’s daughter came into check on her and found her dead on the bathroom floor. An autopsy revealed that deep venous thromboids had formed at site of the surgery and had traveled to the lung causing a pulmonary embolism. The couple had just retired from the Army and was excited to start traveling. The trial documents stated that the doctor ignored several risk factors that should have indicated blood clotting could be a problem. The doctor did not appreciate risk factors such as obesity, birth control pills and hypertension. By not appreciating these risk factors, the doctor committed medical malpractice. During the one-week trial it became evident that the doctor did not observe post-surgery precautions. This could have prevented the wrongful death. To read more about the medical malpractice trial, please click the link.

Seven years ago a woman entered a hospital for removal of her right ovary. However, she left the hospital with her left ovary removed. The patient filed a medical malpractice lawsuit and it is now headed towards the Kansas Supreme Court. The case has drawn attention because it discusses the constitutionality of placing caps on damages for pain and suffering. Currently the state does not allow damages to exceed the $250,000 medical malpractice cap. These medical malpractice caps take away the jury’s role in calculating malpractice damages and infringe on the separation powers of the courts. Most importantly, these medical malpractice caps hurt those with life-altering medical injuries. To read more about the medical malpractice damages, please click the link.

A state’s largest hospital went on trial after being accused of medical negligence that permanently crippled a patient. The 73-year-old man was left with crippling pain after a team of highly-respected doctors replaced both of his knees at the hospital. The victim was actually a doctor himself. Five years ago he went into the hospital for surgery and seven days later he had four different nerves on his legs damaged. The damaged doctor is now suiting the hospital for medical malpractice. He claims that the surgical team negligently misapplied a tourniquet which damaged the nerves to his lower left leg. The medical error has changed his life indefinitely. To read more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

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

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 52-year old man is know helpless hooked to a ventilator in a nursing home after doctors at a hospital mistakenly put a feeding tube into her lung this year, filling it with fluid. The woman is now unable to do simple tasks such as cooking. The woman had entered the hospital with breathing problems, but is now unable to leave a nursing home. Medical mistakes oftentimes come at the hands of trained doctors. To read more about the medical malpractice, please click the link.

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

A southern Illinois woman died after being severely burned in a flash fire while undergoing surgery. This has become a rare but vexing medical error in operating rooms. The victim died six days after being burned on the operating table at the hospital. The victim’s attorney had requested medical records from the hospital and that he had few details about what happened. The state medical examiner’s office said the victim died from complications of thermal burns and classified her death as accidental. The hospital only stated that there was an accidental flash fire in one of the hospital’s operating rooms injuring a patient before being immediately extinguished. The hospital could not state how the fire started but that it responded with necessary and appropriate measures. Surgical flash fires oftentimes are sparked by electric surgical tools when oxygen builds up under surgical drapes. The fires actually occur an estimated 550 to 600 times a year but only kill about one or two people each year. However, worries have mounted in recent years with increased use of electrosurgical devices and the replacement of cloth hospital drapes with those made of more-flammable, disposable synthetic fabric. To read more about the surgical fire, please click the link.

A medical malpractice lawsuit was filed against a plastic surgeon and anesthesiologist in the death of a high school student. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the teen died as a result of the actions or inactions of her doctors. The victim was having breast augmentation surgery when she suffered a condition called malignant hyperthermia. The complaint alleges that there was a lack of timely response in recognizing and treating the condition. The victim’s attorney claims that there have been numerous other deviations of the standard of care against the two doctors. To read more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

A surgical patient is suing a hospital because he claims the doctor removed the wrong kidney. The patient hired a medical malpractice attorney who claims the doctor removed the healthy kidney before realizing the mistake he had made by not removing the diseased kidney. The repercussion of this mistake is dialysis treatment every three days to keep the patient alive, the patient alleges. Thus far, the article claims that the hospital has denied culpability and responsibility for the patient’s pain.

Read more about the surgical mistake here.

A man entered a hospital to undergo minor surgery to fix his broken leg. However, according to his medical malpractice lawsuit, the hospital committed a series of preventable medical mistakes and procedural oversights. The man left the hospital severely brain damaged, quadriplegic, ventilator-dependent and semi-comatose. The lawsuit claims that the hospital staff had many opportunities to prevent serious complications. The victim’s stomach started to swell after the leg surgery and they suspected he had developed fat embolism syndrome. The doctors inserted a tube to drain the fluid from his stomach but expert testimony shows that the tube was “pulled out too soon” after two days. After being taken in for a CAT scan the man was grasping for air. The emergency team was then summoned to the wrong floor and it took 10 minutes for someone to arrive. The victim stayed in full cardiopulmonary arrest for almost half an hour and he was significantly and permanently brain damaged. The victim left the hospital in a vegetative state and died within the next three years. The department of public health issued two violations to the hospital for failing to keep adequate medical records and failing to ensure diagnostic technicians had proper supervision. To read more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

A family of a man who died after surgery has now filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the medical center. The family alleges that after surgery a staff member at the medical center incorrectly removed a clamp from the man which then proceeded to drain the man of all his blood into a bucket. The medical malpractice attorney for the family says they are devastated from the undeserved death. The hospital also allegedly lied to both the family and the medical coroner as to what the exact cause of death was, but then changed their story later on to acute blood loss.

Read more about the post-surgical error here.

A vet filed a medical malpractice lawsuit after he alleges his corneas were damaged during eye surgery at a Veterans Administration Hospital. The vet underwent surgery to remove sagging skin between his eyelid and eyebrow. After he filed the medical malpractice suit, the hospital called the vet and his family in to address the issue. They claimed he only suffered from an allergic reaction. The damage to his corneas caused severe vision loss, according to the article. The federal judge awarded the vet’s estate $749,000 for the botched surgery.

Read more about the Veterans Administration Hospital medical malpractice suit here.