Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

Dr. Jayant Patel is going to be extradited from the United States to Australia on charges of manslaughter for the deaths of three of his patients. The doctor is now asking to be freed for the weeks before the extradition occurs in order to see a cardiologist, attend religious services, and organize documents for his defense; a judge has not yet ruled on his request but may do so today. Patel has faced accusations of medical mistakes for most of his career, starting with his residency and running throughout his tenure as a surgeon at a hospital. The charges are criminal, stemming from a stay at a hospital in Australia. U.S. prosecutors allege medical errors such as failing to stop internal bleeding in a patient who later died, removing a healthy gland instead of a cancerous one, and tearing a patient’s esophagus. There is no word yet whether the families of the deceased patients will file wrongful death lawsuits for the doctor’s alleged medical malpractice.

Read more here.

One state and the biggest insurer therein announced a list of 28 medical errors for which doctors and hospitals will no longer be reimbursed. The 28 errors entail mistakes such as performing surgery on the wrong body part, or the wrong patient, performing the wrong surgical procedure on a patient, unintentionally leaving a foreign body in a patient, and death or serious disability resulting from a medication error such as the wrong drug or dose. The list will be used by Blue Cross Blue Shield in the particular state and by several state agencies that provide or subsidize insurance for various groups including needy people. This comes after Medicare announced last year that it would stop paying for what are called “never events,” such as leaving a foreign object inside a surgical patient. This initiative may spread to other states, including Illinois.

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A recent article calls into question whether Lasik eye surgery is as safe and successful as previously thought. According to some data sources, as many as 5% of all Lasik patients suffer adverse events or are displeased with their surgery. However, according to the FDA, only a handful of adverse events or complaints about Lasik have been reported. Patients who have suffered from adverse events or problems with their vision after a Lasik surgery should report their problems to the FDA. The FDA plans a new study of Lasik’s safety next year.

Read more about Lasik and how to report problems here.

A study in the May issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery shows that the rate of limb amputation is higher in Chicago’s black communities than in suburban white communities. The data showed that blacks in Chicago are five times more likely to have a limb amputated than suburban whites. Notably, many amputations are preventable. Limb amputations can often be the product of low quality health care and doctor errors, poor access to health care resources, and a doctor's failure to give information about procedures and treatments. One of the more common causes of amputations is untreated pressure sores that may result from diabetes and heart disease.

Read the news story here.

One of the greatest organizational problems facing hospitals today is the battle over medical records. Many patients find that it can take months or years to get a hold of their own medical records after treatment. Even worse, some families of victims of medical malpractice or wrongful death have waited for years to obtain their loved one’s medical records from hospitals. Often, lost or missing records are simply part of hospital error and not a deliberate attempt to delay, but on some occasions hospitals may frustrate a patient’s records request purposefully. Patients and victims’ families must be aware that statutes of limitation often require that medical malpractice lawsuits be filed within a certain period of time after the injury occurs or is discovered. This means that patients and victims’ families must decide to file a medical malpractice lawsuit and contact their medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible and begin the medical records request process.

Read more here.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, has urged the Department of Health and Human Services to set standards for how hospitals should deal with hospital infections. Hospital infections usually strike after a patient is discharged from a hospital and are an often forgotten source of medical malpractice and medical malpractice lawsuits. Many hospital infections come from problems with a hospital’s sanitation methods, failure to sterilize surgical instruments, or other medical errors. Hospital infections usually cause 100,000 deaths and infect more than 2 million people each year. The GAO hopes that the new standards will improve hospital accountability and curb the number of hospital infections each year and provide a centralized information source on hospital infection rates, death from hospital infections, and best practices.

See the story here.

The Medicare program may soon stop paying for more medical care that comes as a result of hospital error. In an effort to encourage hospitals to improve their patient care and avoid medical malpractice lawsuits, hospital infections, and hospital patient injury, Medicare announced last year that it would stop funding certain procedures and treatments. Now Medicare has added more potential preventable errors to the list.

Medicare may stop funding for these common hospital errors and preventable injuries:
-Surgical site infections following certain elective procedures
-Deep vein thrombosis/Pulmonary Embolism
-Legionnaires’ disease
-Extreme blood sugar derangement
-Lung Collapse resulting from medical treatment
-Ventilator-associated pneumonia
-Delirium
-Staph infection in the bloodstream
-Disease associated with Clostridium difficile infection

Medicare’s logic is that hospitals will stop making preventable errors and preventable patient injuries if the hospital won’t get paid for the error. Hospitals used to be paid for every consult and procedure but Medicare believes that not funding for preventable error will encourage hospitals to improve patient care to protect their bottom line.

Read more on these proposed changes here.

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

Read more of the story here.

A US Navy veteran has won his medical malpractice lawsuit against a Veterans’ Affairs hospital doctor after a series of failed operations left him permanently disabled, receiving a verdict of $622,739. The man, who retired from Chicago-based Smurfit-Stone Container Corp in 2001, brought his medical malpractice lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The man originally entered the VA hospital for a hernia operation during which the doctors mistakenly severed an artery in his stomach, leading to 6 additional surgeries, a staph infection, and pneumonia.

For more information, read here.

No one knew that the 18 year-old had a rare, genetic condition that cause a fatal reaction to the anesthesia when she decided to have plastic surgery and chose a surgeon to correct a congenital defect that left her with asymmetrical breasts and inverted nipples. Everything seemed very routine and nobody thought there would be risk involved. The condition that the family believes killed the 18 year-old is an extremely rare genetic disorder that causes a reaction to common types of anesthesia. The reaction is called malignant hyperthermia – it causes the patient’s temperature to spike to 110 degrees or higher. Salts precipitate out of the blood and organs collapse, leading to death.

More adequate care could have prevented this reaction because there is an antidote called Dantrolene that can reverse the effects of malignant hyperthermia. If administered in proper dosages in a timely fashion, the effects can be successfully reversed. However, according to the medical malpractice lawsuit attorney, the anesthesiologist administered only one dose when at least eight were required.

For the full article.

Following a routine procedure to clear a blocked intestine, a German man later discovered operating room medics committed medical malpractice and left a 15 inch pair of medical clamps inside him. He is now pursuing a 100,000 Pound claim for damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

For the full article.

A medical center recently announced they would pay $1.8 million to settle 100 civil medical malpractice lawsuits filed against one cardiologist. This cardiologist also faces federal medical fraud charges related to cardiac procedures he performed on patients.

This settlement follows a settlement with the Department of Justice for $1.9 million for the unnecessary procedures that were billed to federal and state health plans and a settlement with a class action lawsuit for $7.4 million. In 2006, this cardiologist was indicted on more than 90 counts of medical malpractice fraud for performing medically unnecessary cardiac procedures.

For the full article.

The gynecologist whose patient died after his abortion is now facing a wrongful death lawsuit and medical malpractice lawsuit and a possible grand jury indictment. The patient, a 22 year-old woman, died after an abortion was performed in September. The doctor resigned his medical license last month. The District Attorney confirmed that he will seek a criminal indictment against the doctor.

For the full article.

A medical malpractice lawsuit alleging that a large piece of gauze had been left inside a patient after surgery was thrown out by a judge last week. The medical malpractice lawsuit contends that a piece of gauze more than 2 feet long was left inside a woman after surgery in 2004. The surgeries involved an abdomen problem where the wound would not heal. The judge dismissed the case by granting the defendants’ motion stating that gauze was not left inside the woman.

For the full article.

A woman and her husband have filed a lawsuit against a hospital saying that doctors performed unnecessary surgery on her that led to health problems. According to the medical malpractice lawsuit filed, the woman was admitted to the hospital for a heart attack. She had a cardiac-bypass surgery five days later. While at the hospital, she contracted a bacterial infection that the couple says was misdiagnosed. Doctors did not realize the infection and removed part of her colon. The surgery was unnecessary and the woman now suffers health issues from the medical malpractice.

The medical malpractice lawsuit also states that the woman developed bed sores while in the hospital that the doctors could have prevented.

For the full article.

An Illinois man was awarded nearly $24 million in an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit verdict. The man, now 34, entered an Illinois hospital in 2001 to have a kidney stone remove. While there, he suffered cardiac arrest, which interrupted the flow of oxygen to his brain. The injury put him in a wheelchair, took away his fine motor skills and caused spastic movements, severe double vision and slurred speech.

For the full article.

When the VA hospital in Marion, Illinois reported a spike in post-surgical deaths that was four times greater than the expected rate, an investigation revealed that these deaths were the result of substandard care and medical malpractice. That investigation revealed that, in the last two years, there were at least 34 patients who had been injured due to substandard care. Of these 34 patients, 19 are now dead. Nine died directly from the substandard care they received. These deaths occurred at the same hospital that was cited earlier for hiring a surgeon who had surrendered his medical license in another state during a disciplinary proceeding. The medical inspector from the Veterans Health Administration described the Marion, Illinois VA hospital as having a surgical program “in disarray” and a “fragmented and inconsistent” administration. Physician’s credentials weren’t always verified before they were granted privileges, surgeons were allowed to perform surgeries that they were not trained for, and the hospital failed to protect patients from harm. The Veterans Health Administration has vowed to hold those who were responsible accountable for their medical malpractice.

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The Illinois Hospital Report Card, the Illinois Consumer Guide to Health Care and another project meant to monitor medical malpractice issues in Illinois hospitals were groundbreaking and exciting initiatives passed in the state in the last four years. However, not much has been done to follow through on these laws. The Chicago Patient Safety Forum has been a strong critic of the delays in implementation even though last year's Patient Safety Summit in Chicago produced few results. The purpose of the laws was to provide the public with information about their doctors and the medical mistakes they make as well as the hospitals and issues like hospital-acquired infections.

One goal of this legislation was to examine instances of medical malpractice such as birth injuries and surgical errors. The Illinois Hospital Report Card was meant to monitor hospital-acquired infections and if the hospitals are adequately screening patients. It also was to focus on the quality and skills of nursing staffs. The lack of progress has been blamed on problems with the legislation itself, a lack of funding and staff, and bureaucratic delays. Legislators and other officials alike, such as the Illinois Hospital Association, have stated that patients have the right to be informed about their doctors and hospitals.

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