In May 2001, Michael Hamilton was a worker at the Behr Process Corp. plant in Chicago Heights, Ill., when he began experiencing severe pain. He was taken by ambulance to St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights, Ill. At the hospital, Hamilton was met by Dr. Jose Almeida. Within a few…
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…
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…
Andrew Hanson, 49, was injured at his job. He went in to see his family practice physician, Dr. Ronald Davis, who diagnosed a crushed injury to his chest. Hanson then underwent a work-up, which showed a left chest contusion. The next day, Hanson experienced other symptoms, including shortness of breath. …
Tony Love, 13, came through the emergency department at Ingalls Memorial Hospital complaining of left knee pain and a fever on Sept. 23, 2007. He was diagnosed with a quadriceps strain and was sent home. The next morning, Sept. 24, 2007, Love was seen by the defendant physician, Dr. Arun…
In September 2007, 55-year-old Barbara Ann Drebek-Doyle underwent a CT scan of the sinuses due to her recurrent sinusitis condition. The test was performed at Advocate Condell Gurnee Outpatient Radiology Center. The scan was interpreted by the defendant Dr. David E. Foosaner, a radiologist. In a lawsuit that was filed by Ms.…
A confidential settlement was reached wherein a 63-year-old woman’s misdiagnosed lung cancer led to her untimely death. The woman, identified only as Doe, underwent a CT scan while she was hospitalized. This showed a lung lesion that the interpreting radiologist reported as possible cancer. A hospitalist reported these findings to Doe’s primary care physician. …
It is estimated that 250,000 people die each year in the United States as a result of medical malpractice according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Approximately 80,000 Medicare patients suffer preventable adverse events that contribute to their deaths; as many as half of those deaths are…
A Cook County jury has decided that Northwestern Memorial Hospital was not negligent after a back surgery on 83-year-old JoAnn Smith went wrong. On Aug. 5, 2010, Smith underwent an L4-5 microendoscopic foraminotomy and discectomy at Northwestern Memorial Hospital for management of her back pain. After the surgery, she was diagnosed…
Danute Paulaviciene, 57, came to the office of the defendant internist, Dr. Edmund Vizinas, on Dec. 27, 2008 complaining of fever, shortness of breath and poor sleep. She had recently visited the caves in Missouri. On examination, she was noted to have a fever of 100.5 degrees, pulse of 110, respirations…