Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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Cerebral palsy (CP) is a syndrome with several mechanisms. A child with cerebral palsy has disorders of movement or posture.  This occurs during early development and may be associated with a birth injury. Most diagnoses of severe CP are made within the first months after birth. 

By definition, CP is the term used for the abnormal development of or damage to the motor control centers of the brain. Palsy means paralysis. Palsy describes uncontrolled muscle movements, which is a condition prevalent in those diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The source of cerebral palsy is usually the abnormal function of the part of the brain called the cerebral cortex.  Physicians agree that CP is not a specific diagnosis. It is a description of neurological and physical deficiencies. 

Cerebral palsy can be caused just weeks after conception through birth and after.Even in early childhood, a child could be afflicted with CP. About 5-10 percent of those with CP are afflicted because of some sort of trauma during birth. Other possible causes of CP are related to abnormal development of the brain, prenatal care, premature birth and brain injuries that could happen within a few years of life.

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A baby born at Holy Cross Hospital in June 2008 died three days after being discharged in apparent good health. A lawsuit was filed following the death of this baby because before she was discharged, she had been examined twice by the defendant pediatrician who noted that she had a normal anus and normal genitalia. However, the first two nurses who saw the newborn allegedly chose not to perform a visual inspection of the baby’s anal area, which is a deviation from the standard of care.

Just 16 days after the child’s birth, she was rushed to the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital in cardiac arrest.  It was discovered then that she had been born without an anus and was diagnosed with a congenital defect in which the child had no anus, no vaginal orifice and no urethral orifice and only a single perineal orifice in which she was passing stool and urine. 

An emergency surgery was performed the same day but because of the delay in diagnosis of the defect, the child suffered bowel obstruction, which led to a dead gut and abdominal compartment syndrome. The baby died five hours after the surgery; she was survived by her parents and a sister. The family’s lawsuit claimed that if the newborn’s condition had been correctly diagnosed during her birth admission at Holy Cross, she would have undergone a colostomy within 24-48 hours of birth to prevent the bowel obstruction and that would have been followed by a reconstruction surgery within her first year.

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During CA’s delivery, her interior shoulder became impacted. The treating obstetrician applied a downward traction, and nurses applied fundal pressure delivering CA within 2 minutes. Fundal pressure is when a healthcare professional presses on a woman’s abdomen to help move the baby out.

In this case, CA suffered an avulsion at C5-6, which necessitated surgery. CA is now 4 and she has permanent disfigurement.

The family of CA sued the hospital in which the child was born, alleging that its staff mishandled the shoulder dystocia by choosing not to perform the McRoberts maneuver and apply superpubic pressure.

The McRoberts maneuver is usually employed during childbirth. It involves hyperflexing the mother’s legs tightly to her abdomen. This would allow the rotation of the pelvis of the mother to facilitate the release of the unborn child’s shoulder.  Suprapubic pressure is used by a closed fist over the mother’s pubic bone pushing in an inward and downward motion.This would improve the chances that the baby’s shoulder would pass under the pubic bone of the mother and be delivered vaginally.

As a result of the permanent injury suffered by CA, the jury entered a verdict of $3.7 million.

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When people think of frivolous lawsuits, most instantly think of the burn injury lawsuit brought by Stella Liebeck against McDonald’s. However, “Hot Coffee,” an HBO documentary, asks viewers to rethink their perceptions of the McDonald’s lawsuit and exposes several other misconceptions about additional types of legal matters.
The HBO documentary is named for the personal injury lawsuit resulting from the third degree burns the plaintiff, Stella Liebeck, sustained after spilling a cup of McDonald’s coffee on her lap. However, what is controversial about the film is that rather than framing Liebeck as an example of an overzealous American suing a company for insignificant injuries, “Hot Coffee” frames Liebeck as a case of the little guy versus the big, bad company.
For example, the documentary includes the little mentioned fact that the plaintiff did not rush to sue McDonald’s Corporation. Rather, she first asked them to pay her out-of-pocket medical expenses she accrued as a result of her severe burns, an injury one would typically not expect simply from spilling coffee. It was only after McDonald’s refused any liability and denied her request for reimbursement of medical expenses that Liebeck hired a lawyer.

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The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a ruling by a Cook County associate judge who denied a forum non conveniens challenge brought by Motorola in Joseph Erwin, Jr., et al. v. Motorola, Inc., No. 1-09-2847. The Illinois birth injury lawsuit involved allegations that the plaintiffs’ children suffered birth defects as a result of their parents’ exposure to hazardous chemicals in the course of their employment in Motorola’s semiconductor industry “clean rooms”.
Motorola’s motion involved a request of a change of venue, citing forum non conveniens rules to support its motion in the birth defect lawsuit. Forum non conveniens is Latin for “inconvenient forum” and are applicable when a lawsuit is filed in a location that is inconvenient for parties or witnesses. Under this principle, a judge is allowed to change a case’s venue if a party can make a substantial case for its inconvenience.
Erwin was filed in a Circuit Court of Cook County court on the basis that Motorola’s headquarters are in Schaumburg, Illinois. However, Motorola argued that a more appropriate venue was Travis County, Texas, on the basis that much of the plaintiffs’ exposure to the hazardous chemicals took place in that county. It submitted a motion to dismiss the birth injury lawsuit on the basis of forum non conveniens, which the circuit court judge denied. Motorola then appealed this decision to the Illinois Appellate Court.

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An Illinois birth injury case involving allegations that a delayed cesarean section resulted in the baby’s cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia recently settled for $9.5 million while the trial was underway. The Northern Trust Company, et al. v. Ghia, et al., 04 L 7500.
Like many birth injury lawsuits, the case involved claims that the hospital and obstetrician failed to recognize the baby was in distress and order a c-section in a timely manner. The mother, Alecia Owen, presented to the hospital at 41 weeks pregnant for an induced pregnancy. After being administered Pitocin and an epidural her labor progressed slowly and eventually raised concerns with the hospital’s nursing staff.
Monitoring of the baby’s heart rate was showing intermittent decelerations, which could be a sign of fetal distress. When the obstetrician, Dr. Nirali Ghia, was notified of the decelerations, he ordered an amnioinfusion, a procedure that can help reduce variable decelerations if there is a suspicion of cord compression. However, Dr. Ghia told not one, but several, nurses that the patient did not need a c-section even though the decelerations became more prolonged.

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The Illinois appellate court recently overturned a $12 million Illinois medical malpractice jury verdict, ordering a new trial with a new jury. The new trial involving Northern Trust Co., et al. v. Burandt, et al., No. 2-08-0193, will include evidence brought by defendant’s medical expert that had been barred from being heard at the previous trial.
Burandt is an Illinois birth injury lawsuit filed by the parents of a child born with neurological injuries. The Illinois brain injury claim was brought against a family practice physician, alleging that the Illinois doctor contributed to the child’s injury by delaying a Cesarean delivery.
The claims specifically accused the doctor of being too slow to obtain an operating room for the C-section and in negligently slowing down the mother’s contractions before deciding to proceed with the C-section. The plaintiffs alleged that the child’s brain injuries were the result of a decreased flow of oxygen during his delayed delivery.

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Complications during childbirth may lead to severe injuries if they are untreated or treated incorrectly. In a Chicago birth injury case, the family of a six year-old quadriplegic boy filed a lawsuit against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act, or FTCA, claiming that medical malpractice during childbirth was the reason the child contracted a bacterial infection that led to his brain damage.
Under FTCA, the United States is liable for injuries resulting from a federal employee’s negligence. The doctors who failed to correctly treat the infection were employees of the federally funded clinic, Erie Family Health Center and working at Northwestern Memorial Hospital when the child was born in May 2003.
The Illinois birth injury lawsuit falls under the FTCA even though Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where the child was treated, is a private company and not federally funded. This reason for this is because the doctors who allegedly committed the medical malpractice, and therefore were the ones the lawsuit was against, were federal employees at the time. So as long as a physician is employed by the federal government in any capacity, then your Illinois medical malpractice claim would be subject to FTCA rules, even if you are being treated at a non-federally funded hospital.

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During labor and delivery minutes can sometimes be the difference between a good outcome and a poor outcome. So consider the case of a Chicago mother who was forced to wait over two hours before her baby was finally delivered. A recent Chicago birth injury malpractice case settled with Northwestern Memorial Hospital highlights the importance of timing during labor and delivery.
According to the mother’s statement, she waited for more than two hours in the obstetrical waiting area at Northwestern Memorial Hospital before a physician even evaluated her. The plaintiff’s lawyers alleged that this lengthy wait was negligent in light of the fact that upon arrival to the hospital she had been ordered for an immediate induction of labor due to her severe lack of amniotic fluid. Amniotic fluid is what protects the baby inside the womb and is extremely important to the baby’s well-being.
During the two hour wait the physicians were apparently waiting for confirmation of the baby’s status via newer tests. When the results finally did arrive they confirmed that the fetal heartbeat was very faint and that an emergency Cesearean section was in fact required. However, this delay resulted in a severe birth injury to the baby boy. He was born nearly lifeless and required resuscitation in order to be revived. He was diagnosed with severe brain damage and immediately placed on life support. The baby passed away a month after he was born.

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A Cook County birth injury lawsuit that alleged a baby boy had suffered severe brain damage during a delay in his birth was settled. The medical malpractice lawsuit was against Northwest Community Hospital, a nurse midwife, and the midwife’s employer. The case was settled and approved by a Cook County Circuit Court judge.
What was particularly interesting about the case was that the delivery was actually a waterbirth. A waterbirth is a birthing method wherein the mother is immersed in a small pool of warm water. Proponents of this method argue that it is safe and offers improved pain relief for the mother and less trauma for the baby.
In this particular Cook County birth injury case, the baby’s shoulder became trapped during the end of the delivery. The plaintiff alleged that the nurse midwife and assisting nurses did not drain the birth tub quickly enough to use the standard birthing maneuvers to free the baby’s shoulder, and that their actions delayed the baby’s delivery. Any delay in delivery can result in harm to the baby, and in this case the plaintiff alleged that the delay resulted in oxygen deprivation and brain damage in the form of cerebral palsy.

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