Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

WREG News reported today on the developments in a malpractice lawsuit that was filed following the death of a young woman several years ago.

The wrongful death suit was commenced by the family of the victim who died August 13, 2005 at the Parkhill Clinic for Women. The lawsuit has led to a trial which began last week and continued today with testimony related to the conduct of the medical facility and the doctor involved in providing the care to the woman.

The victim had given birth only two weeks before her death. According to the suit the woman had high blood pressure following the birth. But that problem was not noticed by the medical professionals. Additionally the woman was not even given a physical before her release following the pregnancy. Only two days after her discharge she fell into a coma. She was rushed to a local hospital but never regained consciousness and died a week and a half later.

Continue reading "Wrongful Death Lawsuit Continues For Woman Killed Following Childbirth" »

Our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at Levin & Perconti work each day to help the victims of medical errors. We are confident that our work helps ensure that the legal rights of victims are honored and also plays a role in guaranteeing that future medical patients are less likely to be harmed by negligent physicians. That is why we remain disappointed that some doctors who have clearly been shown to pose a threat to all the patients they treat are allowed to continue working, risking the lives of many unknowing individuals who seek their care.

For example, The Chronicle recently reported on one cardiologist with a track record filled with allegations of medical mistakes, medication errors, fraud, and wrongful death. The doctor was most recently found to have overbilled Medicaid by $1.7 million for unneeded arthritis medication. He eventually pled guilty to the fraud and is awaiting sentencing.

However, the Medicaid fraud was only the latest in a string of legal problems for this particular doctor. In at least two other cities, the doctor was found to have run complex pill mills—dispensing drugs with reckless fury to those interested in acquiring much abused pill combinations. Two of those patients eventually died because of the medication error. The families of those victims have filed suit against the dangerous doctor.

One state medical board labeled the doctor “a threat to public welfare.” Another medical expert explained that the doctor was “prescribing potentially lethal medications with blatant disregard for human life.” Yet, amazingly, the doctor is currently still licensed to practice medicine. The state board maintains the power to revoke his license because of the felony conviction. But that step has not been taken.

Please Click Here to learn more about the many facets of this particularly troubling case of repeated medical errors.

A renewed effort is being made to push through some changes that may ultimately eliminate thousands of medical mistakes and save hundreds of lives, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

We have reported on this blog about the frequency of mistakes made with medication tubing. Misconnections in tubing has played a role in many medical mistakes—often fatal—affecting all types of patients. The gist of the problem is simple: different tubing is not distinguished from one another, so medication intended for one part of the body, often ends up in the wrong location.

Tragically, infants are often the group most affected by tubing errors. Medication is frequently mixed inadvertently and then given to vulnerable infants. In one high profile case, morphine intended for a mother was accidentally connected to the tubing of her infant daughter. With these connections being made quickly, often in low light, the errors occur at an alarmingly high rate. Many nurses admit that they do not always check to ensure that the tube originates at the desired location.

New measures are being pursued, however, that would require the tubing to be distinguishable to prevent the mistakes. American Medical Association delegates recently approved a resolution on the topic. A member of the group explained, “The implementation of this common sense safety measure has been hindered by industry resistance and delays […] The problem could be easily remedied by the creation of tubing with incompatible connectors that would prevent inappropriate medical tubing connections.”

Our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at Levin & Perconti support this measure to provide, smart, safe care to patients. This situation highlights the importance of being open and honest when medical mistakes occur so that the frequent problems can be identified and corrected. It is only with this joint effort of holding professionals responsible for their care and workings to catalog the types of mistakes made, that the problem of medical error will ever truly be improved. With lives hanging in the balance, there is no excuse for not moving forward.

There is much more information about steps being made to correct this glaring medical problem. Please Click Here to learn more.

Reader’s Digest published a story recently that attempted to put a human face on the medical errors that destroy families as well as medical careers. The publication recently asked doctors to discuss errors that they have made, describing how the error affected them and their future as hospital professionals.

For example, Dr. Peter Pronovost explains how he made an error in the middle of a 36-hour shift. He hadn’t slept in 24 hours and was forced to discharge patients from intensive care to make room for several new patients. The doctor decided to move one patient who had esophageal cancer, removing his breathing tube and transferring him to another unit. Following that mistake, a series of complications caused the doctor to quickly reinsert the breathing tube and in his panic he had trouble with the process.

In another case, Dr. Bryan E. Bledsoe explained a mistake he made that cost a woman her life. The error ultimately led him to become a proud advocate for patients’ rights. He works to spread the message of health care safety, trying to teach physicians to treat patients with a personal touch.

As Bledsoe makes clear, “Any physician who says he or she never made a mistake is a liar.”

Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys have worked with many families who have suffered heartbreaking loss due to medical mistakes. It is impossible to properly calculate the amount of lives affected when someone dies from medical errors. It is important to ensure that the public is kept aware of the problem. In that way the medical community is pressured to keep working toward eliminating the problems.

Please Click Here to read more doctors sharing their personal stories of mistakes in the hospital.

The Green Bay Press Gazette published an editorial this weekend concerning the high cost of medical mistakes on local residents, their friends, and family.

After a review of hospital inspection records, reporters discovered that most area hospitals did a good job of keeping patients safe and attempting to save lives whenever patients needed emergency care. However, every time a healthcare provider makes even a single medical mistake, the cause needs to be closely monitored and the victim needs to hold the offender accountable to help ensure that future errors are limited.

The costs of these errors is simply too high.

For example, the report revealed that one woman died only 24 hours after arriving at a local hospital complaining of feeling bloated and weak. Officials later discovered that an employee made many mistakes, including not getting the woman’s x-ray to her doctor in a quick fashion. In another case, doctors at a hospital examined a paraplegic and completely missed the fact that the injured patient had a broken leg. The patient was forced to suffer through the broken bone without treatment.

The editorial concluded with a call to remember that even one error that can be prevented is one too many—especially when it leads to unnecessary deaths.

Our Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti believe strongly in the continued need for negligent doctors to be held accountable for their medical errors. Our work is not guided by a belief that all doctors provide problematic care. We know that most medical professionals are indispensible experts who save thousands of lives every day. However, there remains a small group of physicians who consistently fall below the standard of care that patients deserve. Because of the high cost of the errors that those negligent physicians make, it is important to ensure that everything is done to ensure that they are not continually made.

The husband of a medical malpractice victim has filed a lawsuit against St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Belleville, Illinois. The lawsuit claims that the victim was initially admitted to the hospital with a soft tissue infection in the fatty tissues of the upper leg. She informed hospital personnel that this occurred after she had pinched her left buttock in a toilet seat. The area had grown red, tender and swollen after this incident. The hospital then drained the pressure sore and stated that it was a successful surgery because there was no longer an infection.

However, three days later the victim was complaining of extreme fatigue and a week feeling. Blood cultures showed that there was a high level of E coli in the victim’s body and she had degeneration around the surrounding tissue. The doctors released her and the remaining tissues appeared healthy. She was ordered to use a wound-vac in her infected area and to simply wash and clean the wound. After the hospital she went to a nursing home. A month later her wound had to still not heeled and she was still complaining of pain and discomfort. New blood cultures showed that she had MRSA. The MRSA infection was traced back to the pressure wound. She died a few months later from complications related to the MRSA infection. To read more about this medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

Pressure ulcers and infections are a common form of death. It is important to know the signs and symptoms in order to properly diagnose them. One is that the blood from the body core is warmer than skin temperature. Also, you may be able to detect a small odor caused by the bacilli. To read more signs and symptoms of pressure ulcers, check out the link.

Congressman Murtha’s recent death has raised questions about the complications of gallbladder surgery. Many are left wondering if the influential lawmaker was among nearly 100,000 people who die in U.S. hospitals annually because of medical errors. While Congressmen debate health care on the hill, it is time that they reflect on the death of one of their own. Instead of focusing on issues such as tort reform, it is necessary that they look more closely at how to prevent medical error.

The Washington Post found reported that Murtha had elective laparoscopic gallbladder surgery preformed at the Bethesda Naval Hospital and fell ill shortly afterwards from an infection that has been related to the procedure. Studies have found that the mortality rates for gallbladder surgery is quite low, ranging from .7-2% even in the elderly. So we are left with the question of whether Murtha was an unlucky patient or whether he is yet another victim of medical error. Some argue that a two minute checklist could decrease the death rate. Since Bethesda Naval Hospital is a government institution, organizations that work to prevent medical mistakes cannot confirm whether they do use such a checklist.

The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti support the use of checklists to promote communication between hospital staffers. They believe that this is one step that a hospital can take in lower the death toll that occurs every year from medical error. If you believe that you are a victim of such a medical error, please consult a Chicago medical malpractice attorney. To read more about the devastating lost of Congressman Murtha, please click the link.

The family of a 6-year-old boy who wrongfully died after he was struck in the head by an oxygen tank reached a $2.9 million settlement with the hospital. The boy was lying in an MRI chamber when the machine’s magnets pulled in a metal tank that a staff member had brought into the MRI’s magnetic field. The victim’s family then filed a medical malpractice lawsuit. This death is one of the 98,000 deaths that occur due to medical error. To learn more about the medical error, please click the link.

A doctor who specializes in pain and addition is facing a wrongful death lawsuit. This lawsuit was filed by the family of a former patient who state that the victim became addicted to drugs while under the doctor’s care before he committed suicide. The medical malpractice lawsuit states that the doctor turned the victim into a drug addict through a regular regimen of addictive painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs. The 30-year-old then killed himself with an overdose of pills prescribed from the pain clinic where the doctor works. The victim first sought out the doctor for back pain and was prescribed oxycodone months before the MRI confirmed an injury. The doctor never referred the victim to a drug addiction specialist. The doctor actually specializes in urology despite his advertisements which state that he works in pain and addiction. The doctor’s deception could lead to medical malpractice. To learn more about the wrongful death lawsuit, please click the link.

A jury has returned a $20 million verdict in an anesthesia medical malpractice lawsuit filed by the family of a woman who died during surgery when bile entered her lungs. The wrongful death lawsuit alleged that the anesthetists failed to identify that the victim had risk factors for breathing fluid into her lungs, despite the information being available in her medical record. The victim was preparing to receive exploratory surgery to determine the cause of severe stomach pains when she received the anesthesia. Once anesthetized, she began breathing bile into her lungs. She then later died. The victim’s family alleged that the defendants did not examine the victim’s abdomen or medical records before giving her anesthesia. If they had examined the patient they could have prevented her wrongful death. The jury awarded $20 million in favor of the plaintiff. Anesthesia deaths accounted for more than 2,200 deaths between 1999 and 2005. A little over 46% of those deaths are due to anesthesia overdose. To read more about the jury verdict, please click the link.

The husband of a woman who died at a Long Island Hospital due to a misdiagnosed brain hemorrhage has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital and doctors who failed to properly treat her. The wrongful death lawsuit alleges that doctors failed to properly diagnose the victim’s brain hemorrhage which lead to her death. The victim was admitted to the hospital after complaining of vomiting and gastrointestinal pain, as well as a painful headache and pain in her left eye. The medical malpractice complaint stated that the victim had a history of ulcerative colitis. Usually a computed tomography (CT) scan will confirm a brain hemorrhage. If a brain hemorrhage is diagnosed properly, it can often by treated by radiology or microsurgical procedures. Since doctors did not perform these tests, their medical error led to the patient’s death. To examine the wrongful death suit more closely, please click the link.

The family of a 62-year-old woman who died is suing a hospital and her doctor for their roles in her death. The woman went to the hospital suffering from headache and shortness of breath. She was not admitted to the hospital for further treatment and was discharged. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the doctor and his staff failed to diagnose the cardiac arrest and chronic heart failure. The woman died the day she was discharged. The plaintiff is asking for more than $25,000 in damages with interest for the medical malpractice. This wrongful-death lawsuit was the first for the hospital. To explore the medical malpractice lawsuit in depth, please click the link.

The sister of a deceased woman is suing Northwestern Memorial Hospital on behalf of the victim after the woman committed suicide while in the hospital’s care. According to the medical malpractice suit filed in Cook County, Northwestern should have recognized the late patient’s risk for self-injury and suicide since she was admitted into the hospital’s care after a suicide attempt. The lawsuit states that the hospital was negligent in leaving the victim, who expressed regret that her attempt at suicide has been unsuccessful, unsupervised and alone in a room with the means and opportunity to commit suicide. The family is asking for pecuniary damages exceeding $50,000. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims two counts of wrongful death and survival. Visit WBBM to learn more about the medical malpractice suit.

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.

Medical malpractice attorneys for the family of the nurse who died after liposuction treatment at a tanning salon said her medical records show that she could have been given too high a dosage of drugs. The 37-year-old slipped into a coma and was declared brain-dead after a doctor performed the procedure at a Medspa. She was removed from life support and died. The lawyers have said that they will file a medical malpractice lawsuit against both the doctor and the Medspa. The medical experts reviewed the records and determined that the victim had been given too high a dose of the local anesthetic lidocaine. The victims also criticized the doctor for using Propofol which is the same anesthetic thought to have contributed to the death of Michael Jackson. They argue that this type of drug should not be administered in a tanning salon. To read more about the tanning salon death, please click the link.

Serious safety issues continue to plague an Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital. This comes even after major surgeries were suspended two years ago because of a spike in patient deaths. Surgeons at the medical center in Marion, Illinois performed procedures without proper authorization. Also, patient deaths were not assessed adequately and miscommunication between staff members persist. The medical center’s is not taking the corrective actions to improve patient care. The hospital has been under intense scrutiny since 2007 when a former surgeon resigned after a patient bled to death following gall bladder surgery. The VA found at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March 2007 which were the result of substandard care at the hospital. Additionally, a report found that the hospital did not sufficiently monitor 87 percent of the physician’s employed. There were strong problems with infection control, including MRSA. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin is outraged by the substandard care that is occurring at the Veteran’s Hospital. To read more about the medical malpractice, 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.

The family of an 86-year-old woman who died after she fell from an operating table following a hip surgery has settled a wrongful death lawsuit with a medical settlement. The medical malpractice settlement halted a trial that was set to begin. The hospital agreed to pay $900,000 in the settlement. The woman died seven days after she suffered a massive head injury in a fall in the operating room as she was being prepared to transfer to her hospital bed. The hospital fall fractured her skull and caused severe internal bleeding. The family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, contending that staff in the operating room was too busy and preoccupied and delivered substandard care to the victim, which caused her to fall. The family also contended that the hospital was insensitive, first informing them that the hip surgery had gone well before telling them of the serious head injury. To read more about the wrongful death lawsuit, please click the link.

An autistic young man, who was unable to speak, entered a Children’s hospital for some routine dental work. The hospital made the reckless medical error of using a painkiller-laced patch though his procedure. This type of patch is usually only meant to ameliorate chronic pain in cancer patients and others. The victim was discharged and found dead in his bed the following morning. The medical examiner stated that he had died from a drug overdose caused by the fentanyl patch. This family alleges he should have never even been given the fentanyl patch, nevertheless the highest dose available. The hospital has already admitted they committed medical error in prescribing the drug to the young man. The drug now requires a pain-management specialist’s sign off before it is administered. According to the Federal Drug Administration, wrong prescription of the fentanyl patch has become a persistent problem across the country during recent years, leading to numerous reports of death and life-threatening injuries. The report shows that doctors have inappropriately prescribed the fentanyl patch to patients for acute pain following surgery, for headaches, occasional or mild pain, when it should not be prescribed. The family feels a great deal of remorse considering the egregioius and preventable mistake that caused their son’s death. If you or a loved one has been wrongly prescribed fentanyl, please consult an Illinois lawyer. To read more about the wrongful death, please click the link.

The trial is set to begin in a medical malpractice lawsuit stemming from the death of a University of Pennsylvania sophomore two years ago. The 19-year-old victim died in September of 2007. Her family is claiming that the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania was medically negligent in performing a lumbar puncture on a patient with brain swelling. Her brain ended up herniated and she wrongfully died. The hospital alleges no medical error, stating that the spinal tap is common for meningitis. This victim is an example of one of the 98,000 people who die each year from medical error. To read more about the wrongful death, please click the link.