Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

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It is one of the first things you learn in driver’s ed and is repeated over and over again to new drivers: always keep your eyes on the road. However, this advice is useful not only for new drivers, but for experienced drivers, too. Take for instance the case of Benton Chapman, a 44 year-old truck driver who took his eyes off the road to adjust his radio and caused a multiple car accident on an Illinois expressway, Estate of Lafi Nofal, M.D., deceased, et al. v. Benton Chapman, Cardinal Transport, et al., 06 L 2263.

Immediately prior to the Illinois car crash, Chapman was driving a tractor-trailer truck along Illinois Interstate 55. Traffic was flowing at a reasonable speed and Mr. Chapman looked away from the road for a minute to adjust his XM Satellite radio. However, when he looked back to the roadway, Chapman discovered that the flow of traffic had slowed significantly and that he was driving way too fast.

Unfortunately, Chapman didn’t even have enough time to brake before crashing into the car immediately in front of him. Dorothy Walsh, that car’s driver, was killed as a result of the rear-end collision. However, Chapman’s truck did not stop there, but continued in its path, striking another vehicle driven by Magdi Hussein, a bobtail trailer, and three other vehicles. The severity of the Cook County highway accident caused the Stevenson Expressway to be closed for five hours.

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A Cook County jury returned a $5.42 million medical malpractice verdict in favor of the family of a woman who had been battling cancer. The Illinois wrongful death lawsuit claimed that the plaintiff’s oncologist negligently prescribed the patient a chemotherapy drug despite its known side effects. The decedent died as a result of the fatal lung damage she developed after taking the chemotherapy drug, at which point her family filed the lawsuit. The decedent was survived by her husband of 35 years and two adult children.
The decedent had been diagnosed with Stage III Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but had been responding well to a chemotherapy program which involved a four different medications. One of those four drugs was Bleomycin, an anti-tumor drug that is typically prescribed in combination with other chemotherapy medications.
Bleomycin is well-known to have the potential for causing severe lung problems. Patients taking the drug are closely monitored for any signs or symptoms of developing lung disease, including discomfort breathing, shortness of breath, wheezing, fever, or chills.

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