In November 2008, 26-year-old Heather Hinshaw underwent gallbladder surgery at Trinity Medical Center in Rock Island, Ill. The general surgeon who did the surgery thought he saw a stone in the common bile duct during an intraoperative cholangiogram, which is a procedure using a catheter to inject dye into the…
Chicago Medical Malpractice Attorney Blog
$2.1 Million Cook County Jury Verdict After Doctor’s Failure to Diagnose Child’s Infection
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…
Illinois Jury Finds for Radiologist in Missed Brain Mass in CT Scan
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.…
$2.5 Million Settlement for Doctor’s Failure to Follow Up on Signs and Symptoms of Lung Cancer
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. …
Medical Malpractice Injuries is the Problem, Not Litigation
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…
Metal-On-Metal Hip Implants Enter the Marketplace Without Sufficient Clinical Data
It has been reported that the medical devices that pose the greatest safety risk to patients, including the metal-on-metal hip implants, are allowed into the marketplace without sufficient evaluation for safety and effectiveness. According to a recent New England Journal of Medicine article, it was found that previously cleared medical…
$1.6 Million Jury Verdict for Fatal Brain Trauma in Hospital Room
South Korean immigrant Young Bahng, 60, was admitted to the University of Chicago Hospital on April 18, 2006. He was there to undergo a live-donor liver transplant from his son. Bahng was self-employed in the conveyor system business. He was suffering from end stage liver disease as a result of having hepatitis B…
$38.61 Million Jury Verdict in Misdiagnosis of Stroke
Kody Myrick, 17, suddenly slumped over at his job and had difficulty speaking. He was brought to Bakersfield Memorial Hospital’s emergency department. A nurse there made note of a possible stroke. Then an emergency room physician diagnosed profound neurological deficits and ordered a brain CT scan. The scan results showed…
Cook County Jury Verdict for Hospital in Paraplegic Spinal Surgery Case
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…
Cook County Jury Verdict for Hospital and Doctor in Failure to Hospitalize Pneumonia Patient Blamed for Death
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…