Maria Lastra-Rico was 45 years old when she underwent a breast biopsy. A pathologist interpreted the test as showing invasive ductal carcinoma; she underwent a double mastectomy with lymph node resection and subsequent surgical reconstruction. She later learned that she in fact had ductal carcinoma in situ, which is noninvasive…
Cynthia and Kenneth Williams’s first child was born with sickle cell anemia. After the birth of their first child, the Williamses found out that they both had the sickle cell trait in which a normal gene is paired with the allele that causes sickle-shaped hemoglobin. Individuals who carry this sickle…
On Dec. 29, 2008, Camilla Hayes, 76, came to the emergency room at Rush Oak Park Hospital complaining of abdominal pain. The emergency room doctor, Dr. Joseph DiPiazza, did not order a complete cardiac workup. She was later diagnosed and treated for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). However, Hayes was in…
Karol Stawarz was complaining to his primary care physician, Dr. Victor Forys, about his lower abdominal pain. Dr. Forys diagnosed gastroenteritis and prescribed medicine. He also told Stawarz to follow up in 24 hours or go directly to the hospital if his condition got worse. On the following day, Stawarz…
Guadalupe Ramirez had a history of congestive heart failure. She was also an insulin-dependent diabetic, had mitral valve regurgitation, atrial fibrillation, rheumatic heart disease, high blood pressure and a prosthetic heart valve. Ramirez, 72, underwent a cardiac catheterization procedure on Nov. 21, 2003. Eight days after the procedure, Ramirez presented…
A 34-year-old patient, Sally Arbogast, underwent a vaginal delivery but experienced sharp abdominal pain and moderate bleeding right afterward. She had delivered her last child by a Cesarean section. The obstetrician who cared for her performed a manual exploration and curettage procedure to rule out uterine scar rupture and later…
A medical malpractice lawsuit was filed by Daniel R. Hemminger, who sued the defendants Jeffrey LeMay, M.D. and Sterling Rock Falls Clinic Ltd. for damages related to the death of his wife, Tina. The lawsuit alleged that the defendants, in choosing not to correctly diagnose and treat Tina’s cervical cancer…
The plaintiff in this case, Lee Ann Sharbono, filed a lawsuit claiming medical negligence against the defendant Dr. Mark Hilborn, a board-certified radiologist. In the lawsuit it was alleged that Dr. Hilborn had chosen not to timely diagnose Sharbono’s breast cancer. After the trial, the jury found for Dr. Hilborn…
Michael Mals, 57, underwent a hip replacement at Lutheran General Hospital on Aug. 14, 2008. He was given Coumadin, a blood thinner, to prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Three days later he was transferred to a nursing home for rehab where his INR (international normalized ratio) became supratherateutic and Coumadin…
A Will County, Ill., jury entered a $1,066,000 verdict against an orthopedic surgeon, David Burt, M.D. Virginia Faletti, 82, underwent endoscopic carpal tunnel release surgery on her right wrist at Edward Hospital. The surgery was done to relieve pressure on the median nerve because of crowding within the carpal tunnel…