Articles Posted in Emergency Room Errors

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A Cook County medical malpractice lawsuit was critical of a Naperville hospital for its failure to appropriately monitor the vital signs of an expectant mother. As a result of the poor monitoring by the Cook County hospital, the mother not only lost her baby, but had to undergo future surgery herself. Sabine C. Miller v. Edward Hospital, et al., 05 L 1192.

In November 2004, 30 year-old Sabine Miller was brought by ambulance to Edward Hospital. She was 14 weeks pregnant and had developed severe abdominal pain and vomiting. Upon her arrival, the Naperville hospital immediately began evaluating Miller to determine whether her baby was the cause of her severe pain.

The Emergency Department was able to rule out any problems with the fetus and Miller’s pregnancy. However, in order to determine what was the cause of Miller’s abdominal pain, the staff elected to admit her for further testing and observation. Up to this point, there were no violations in the standard of care administered by the Edward Hospital staff. It was not until Miller was admitted to the hospital’s postpartum unit that the medical negligence occurred.

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Typically, when a patient is placed on an oxygen ventilator it is because they are unable to get adequate oxygen on their own. Therefore, when patients are placed on a ventilator, it is important for hospital staff to appropriately monitor the ventilated patient. In the Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit of Iris Thomas v. Advocate Trinity Hospital, 07 L 8318, the hospital staff failed to maintain adequate ventilation in the decedent, a medical error that led to his death.

The case facts in Thomas involved two year-old Justin Pettway. While at home, the infant Pettway suffered a seizure, after which he was rushed by his family to Trinity Hospital’s emergency room. The emergency room staff seemed to respond quickly to the medical emergency, placing Pettway on anti-seizure medication and intubating him. He was even placed on multiple monitors to assess his pulse and heart rate.

In addition, the hospital began taking measures to try and assess what had caused Pettway’s seizure. The infant was transported to the radiology department for a CT scan of his brain. However, it was during this process that the medical error occurred. At some point after returning to the emergency department from the radiology department, Pettway was found to be unresponsive. The monitors showed no heart rate and the resuscitation efforts were started too late to save the little boy. He died of cardiac arrest.

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A Cook County circuit court returned a $3.76 million verdict in the case of Estate of Michael Hamilton v. Excell Emergency Care, LLC, et al., No. 07 L 6654. The Cook County medical malpractice alleged that the decedent, Michael Hamilton, would still be alive if not for the preventable emergency room errors committed at St. James Hospital.

Hamilton presented to the emergency room at St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights complaining of abdominal pain. Hamilton had been at work in a local paint factory when he began feeling dizzy, sweaty, nauseous, and having severe chest pains. Co-workers reported that he was pounding his chest with his fist and laying down in extreme pain. They called an ambulance and he was rushed to the emergency room.

However, by the time that Hamilton presented to the emergency room his severe pains had diminished substantially. Jose Almeida, M.D., the emergency room physician treating Hamilton, failed to document the details of Hamilton’s symptoms and pain at work. Therefore, rather than investigating the cause of Hamilton’s severe pain, he was simply diagnosed with abdominal pain and sent home with no further instructions.

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A jury has awarded $1.5 million to the family of an infant who died at Central DuPage Hospital in April 2005. The Illinois medical malpractice verdict was reached after a trial in DuPage County, Illinois regarding the death of Isaac Diaz, who was five days old when he was taken to the emergency department at Central DuPage Hospital in Diaz, etc. v. Central DuPage Hospital, et al., No. 06 L 448.

The child had seen his pediatrician earlier that afternoon, but started vomiting later in the day. There was also blood found in his diaper. The Illinois wrongful death lawsuit brought by the parents alleged that the Central DuPage Hospital staff chose not to diagnose the infant’s twisted bowel. It was alleged and argued at the medical malpractice trial that the hospital and its staff took too long to act on the child’s signs and symptoms of a twisted bowel.

Waiting more than four hours to act, the family submitted evidence that the hospital and its staff began applying intravenous fluids, antibiotics and was then transferred to a unit with a pediatric surgeon, but it was too late. The hospital nurse also then called Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago where the boy was transferred. Isaac died the next day.

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A recent Illinois emergency room malpractice lawsuit involving the death of a two year-old Chicago boy was recently before a Chicago jury, which awarded the surviving family members $3.66 million. The defendants involved doctors and staff at Trinity Hospital, a Chicago hospital affiliated with Advocate Health Care. The Illinois medical malpractice case was Pettway v. Advocate Trinity Hospital.

Although two year-old Justin Pettway had no history of seizures, one night his parents found him suffering from a grand mal seizure in his bed. His EMT mother and paramedic father rushed Justin to Chicago’s Advocate Trinity Hospital because it was the closest hospital.

The seizures that Justin was having lasted a total of 22 minutes, only stopping after the emergency room physicians ordered seizure-stopping medications. A medical decision was reached to transfer Justin to the University of Chicago Medical Center for further treatment. But before he could be transferred, a CT scan was ordered to rule out a brain bleed. It was during the transport from the emergency room errors occurred.

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A Kankakee County, Illinois jury returned a $1.5 million medical malpractice jury verdict in favor of the family of a 20 year old woman who died of multi-organ failure connected to undiagnosed chicken pox. Michelle Koenig, who had a history of being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, had been put on intravenous steroids and then prednisone, which generally suppressed her immune system. Estate of Koenig v. St. Mary’s Hospital, et al.,No. 07 L 18, focused on the emergency room’s negligence.

Koenig had chicken pox as a child, but the virus reactivated due to her suppressed immune system. She showed the chicken pox with a rash that her parents and friends commented, looked like chicken pox.

Koenig came to the emergency department at Provena St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee on February 19, 2006. The emergency room doctor, Timothy Moran did not diagnose the chicken pox even though it showed on her body and her liver enzymes were at levels above normal. She died within 30 hours of that visit.

At the trial, attorneys for Koenig argued that the emergency room negligence was a result of Dr. Moran’s choice not to rule out chicken pox as a potential ailment. Furthermore, Dr. Moran did not recognize that the elevated liver enzymes were an indication that the virus had invaded her liver.

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A Chicago federal judge entered a Chicago medical malpractice verdict in the amount of $8,8330,182 against the United States following a bench trial. In July 2004, Ernesto Maldonado was a patient at Chicago’s Mount Sinai Hospital. He was admitted because of pneumonia. A few days after the admission, a CT scan was done of Maldonado’s chest and back. The scans revealed destruction of a vertebral body in the mid-thoracic spine (T-7). Maldonado v. United States of America, et al., 06 C 4149 (January 2010).

The radiology report stated that the vertebra was destroyed. But neither Maldonado’s treating doctor, interventional radiologist, nor infectious disease physician ever followed up with treatment. The patient was never referred to an orthopedic surgeon or for a neurosurgery consultation. Five days later Mr. Maldonado was discharged and antibiotics were discontinued.

The plaintiff, Mr. Maldonado then attempted to see his attending physician at his office. But this doctor refused to see him. By August 14, 2004 the plaintiff had lost sensation in his low legs and he became urine incontinent.

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In order to achieve the best possible outcome following a stroke, doctors and medical staff must identify the emergency situation and react quickly. Medicines aimed at breaking up blood clots that may have caused a thrombotic stroke have been found to increase survival rates and lessen the likelihood of permanent disability. However, these medicines must be administered within three hours of the stroke occurring, which makes an immediate response by emergency room physicians even more important.

In Chris Medina v. Henry C. Echiverri, M.D., et al., No. 07-L-000820, the emergency room errors led to the eventual death of a young stroke victim. The 24 year-old mother presented to Central DuPage Hospital’s emergency room complaining of sudden headaches, numbness to her right side, and problems speaking. However, despite the fairly obvious signs of a stroke, there were serious emergency room errors made and the correct diagnosis was not made for over 12 hours.

The decedent’s medical status was evaluated by Dr. Echiverri, a member of the hospital’s stroke team. However, despite specializing in stroke victims, Dr. Echiverri failed to diagnose and treat Medina’s stroke. Instead her condition was diagnosed by a neuroradiologist. But by the time the decedent’s stroke was diagnosed she was already significantly neurologically impaired and slipping into a coma. She died just 17 days after presenting to the emergency room.

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A Cook County jury recently awarded $2.75 million in an Illinois wrongful death case involving the death of an Illinois male from an undiagnosed pulmonary embolism. Instead of diagnosing the man’s pulmonary embolism, the Illinois emergency room staff misdiagnosed the decedent with a seizure disorder. Rhodes v. Malik, et al., No. 06 L 5467.

While misdiagnosing a patient can often be the result of medical negligence, misdiagnosed cases do not always lead to medical malpractice lawsuits. Whether or not a lawsuit is brought hinges on the degree of damages, or the final outcome. In Rhodes, the decedent’s estate alleged that the misdiagnosed patient died as a result of the incorrect diagnosis. However, if a delay in diagnosis had only led to some discomfort or minor inconvenience on the part of the decedent then there would not likely have been grounds for a medical malpractice claim.

In Rhodes, the decedent’s estate was critical of the emergency department’s errors at Weiss Memorial Hospital, specifically its misdiagnosis of a seizure disorder. The decedent had presented to Weiss’s emergency room after collapsing on a train platform. The initial doctor suspected that his collapse was due to seizures and ordered a wide range of tests to confirm this diagnosis. However, before the results came back, the initial doctor’s shift was up, at which time the decedent’s care was transferred to an additional emergency medicine physician.

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An Illinois medical malpractice verdict in favor of the defendant emergency room physician was upheld by an Illinois Appellate Court. The Illinois medical malpractice complaint in Pavnica v. Veguilla, et al., No. 3-09-0065, alleged that the emergency room doctor’s error had contributed to the amputation of plaintiff’s toes after he developed gangrene.

As a diabetic, the plaintiff was already at a heightened risk for developing foot and toe infections. However, the plaintiff had also recently been placed on immunosuppressive medications following a pancreas and kidney transplant, placing him at an even greater risk for developing infections. Because of his increased risk for developing a foot or toe infection, the plaintiff sought medical assistance when he stubbed his toe on a piece of furniture.

While the plaintiff would normally follow up with his regular physician regarding any potential infection issues, his doctor was out of town. So the plaintiff opted to seek treatment at the emergency room. At that time the plaintiff was seen by the defendant doctor who diagnosed a breakdown of the skin in the area of the injury and prescribed oral antibiotics.

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