Articles Posted in Surgical Errors

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Joseph Farias, age 29, began treatment with the defendant internist, Yolanda Co, M.D., in February 2002. He came to the doctor with complaints of constipation for three years and rectal bleeding. Dr. Co performed a rectal exam and ordered a colonoscopy, which came back negative. There was no cause determined as to why Farias had rectal bleeding.

In October 2003, Farias returned to Dr. Co with new complaints of rectal bleeding. That visit was a cause of what became a medical malpractice lawsuit. This time Dr. Co did a digital rectal exam and diagnosed internal hemorrhoids. In Farias’s Cook County complaint, it was alleged that the internal hemorrhoids could not be diagnosed through digital examination unless the internal hemorrhoids were visualized outside the anus. The standard of care as contended required Dr. Co to perform an anoscopy to properly visualize the hemorrhoids. It was also asserted that should Dr. Co not have the facility to do the anoscopy,  she should have referred Farias to another physician such as a gastroenterologist. 

Dr. Co defended the case by saying that she did observe prolapsing internal hemorrhoids (protruding out of the rectum), even though her chart  stated only internal hemorrhoids. Dr. Co testified that the standard of care required a treating internist such as herself to grade and chart the severity of an internal hemorrhoid, but she admittedly didn’t do that in October 2003.

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In November 2006, the defendant surgeon, Dr. Hodgett, performed a laparoscopic biopsy on a 72-year-old woman, Mary Backes.  The purpose was to diagnose a suspected lymphoma in her retroperitoneal area, which is behind the abdomen. The biopsy was done at Provena Nursing Medical Center in Aurora, Ill. 

Another defendant, Dr. Sayeed, was the patient’s primary care physician. Following the biopsy, Backes experienced blood pressure drops, low urine output and rapid respiration. 

Her family maintained in the lawsuit that Dr. Hodges and Dr. Sayeed chose not to recognize that Backes’s duodenum had been perforated during the biopsy procedure and failed to realize that her post-op symptoms were indicative of developing sepsis. It was also claimed that the doctors chose not to timely return Backes to surgery for exploration and repair of the perforation to attempt to save her life.

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Fifty-year-old Dan Hebel suffered a rope burn while on a fishing trip in August 2004. Eventually he was referred to an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Craig Williams, at Illinois Bone & Joint Institute in Morton Grove.He first complained of an infectious process in his hand on August 23, 2004.One week later, Dr. Williams gave Hebel a steroid injection.The injection, however, caused the infection to worsen.

In this lawsuit, Hebel contended that the steroid injection was contraindicated by the underlying infection. Dr. Williams referred Hebel to Dr. Robert Citronberg for infectious disease management. Drs. Williams and Citronberg became co-treating physicians. Sometimes infections like this require antibiotic treatment and/or surgical involvement.

On November 9, 2004, Dr. Williams performed an incision and drainage procedure. Specimens from the surgery were sent for study and cultures. The pathology results were sent to both physicians, but the culture results were sent only to Dr. Williams and never sent to Dr. Citronberg.

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The defendant ophthalmologist, Seemin Khan, M.D., performed cataract surgery on the plaintiff, Frances Perkins, on March 19, 2008. It was discovered after the surgery that Perkins had a chronic detached retina. The retina is the light-sensitive tissue that lines the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image on the retina, like the film in a camera.

The plaintiff alleged that Dr. Khan was negligent for choosing not to refer her for a B-scan ocular ultrasound or to a retinal specialist before deciding whether cataract surgery would be in her best interest. Since Perkins was not a good candidate for retinal surgery, the cataract surgery was found, or alleged to be, unnecessary.

Perkins, 59, suffered ongoing chronic pain following the cataract surgery, underwent three later retinal surgeries and still has chronic left eye pain.

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More than 15,000 women die of ovarian cancer each year, which makes it the fifth leading cause of death among American women. A new study shows that 60 percent of the women who develop ovarian cancer do not receive the medical care they need that could prolong their lives. The Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) annual meeting on women’s cancer presented the study March 11, 2013.

This research was conducted on more than 13,000 patients from 1999 through 2006. Researchers who conducted the study said the lack of proper care for the women patients was the result of inexperience among doctors and hospital staff.

Women with ovarian cancer should be treated by surgeons who see a lot of patients each year with the disease, researchers found. They also said the women should stay in hospitals where a high volume of women with ovarian cancer are treated once the disease is diagnosed.

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A 36-year-old nurse was seen by the defendant obstetrician Larry Overcash, M.D. The physician was alleged to be negligent in performing a bilateral removal of both of Ms. Fief’s ovaries. She had consented to removal of only one ovary. However, at the Peoria Day Surgery Center, both of the Fief’s ovaries were removed by Dr. Overcash, who also perforated her colon during the surgery. The perforation of the colon led to several other hospitalizations and medical expenses in excess of $200,000.

The jury’s verdict of $1.2 million against both Dr. Overcash and Woman’s Health Institute, Ltd. was made up of the following damages:

• $1,050,000 on the negligence claim which included $300,000 for past and future pain and suffering;
• $500,000 for past and future loss of normal life;
• $250,000 for medical expenses; and
• $150,000 was for medical battery because of the wrongful surgery in removal of both ovaries plus $150,000 for pain and suffering from the removal of the unnecessary surgery removing the right ovary.

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In June 2006, Josh Tunca was a surgeon at Northwest Community Hospital specializing in gynecologic oncology. While in surgery, Dr. Tunca removed an ovarian tumor. Later, the patient lost the pulse in her left leg due to a clog in her femoral artery.

Dr. Thomas Painter, a vascular surgeon, was called in to perform a femoral-bypass surgery to restore blood flow. According to the record, Dr. Painter approached Dr. John McGillan, the hospital’s vice president and medical affairs director, telling him that Dr. Tunca had cut the patient’s iliac artery.

Dr. Painter also told other doctors that Dr. Tunca had negligently severed the patient’s artery. None of these doctors were on a peer review committee for the hospital.

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Cook County commissioners voted Feb. 5, 2013, to pay $24 million in hospital malpractice settlements. Of that total, $20 million will be paid to the family of a boy who suffered brain damage after a heart attack following surgery at a Chicago hospital.

A lawsuit was filed against Stroger Hospital by the boy’s mother, Justine Francique. Her son, Keith, underwent surgery for an undescended testicle in 2011. Following the operation, the boy suffered a heart attack, according to hospital records.

Unfortunately, nurses and doctors in attendance did not notice his condition and failed to start cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Five minutes after his heart stopped, they began the necessary lifesaving procedures, according to court documents.

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Tracy Spevak had undergone a LASIK surgery on her right eye once before. However, in January 2007, the defendant ophthalmologist did a LASIK surgery to attempt to enhance vision in Tracy’s right eye. During the surgery, Dr. Mark Golden, the defendant ophthalmologist, chose to re-cut the original LASIK flap, causing complications which necessitated additional surgeries on that eye.

Tracy now has permanent scar tissue in the central portion of her right eye. She has impaired vision, resulting in a kaleidoscope vision of lights at night, nausea, vertigo and migraine headaches. Her past medical bills totaled $8,274.

Tracy now will require a full or partial corneal transplant. At trial, the plaintiff argued that the medical standard of care required Dr. Golden to perform either a re-lifting of the original LASIK flap or a surface treatment.

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When we undergo surgery, we cannot think, breathe, make decisions and advocate for ourselves. We depend on the experts — doctors and nurses — who oversee the surgery to do what’s best for us.

Trouble is, that does not always happen. Take the case of Sophia Savage. One night she felt a crushing pain in her abdomen, and she started vomiting. She went to a local emergency room and was admitted to a hospital. Her doctor discovered a medical sponge left over from the surgery when she had a hysterectomy. And how long had the sponge been in her body? Four years.

She sued the hospital in which the hysterectomy had taken place, and in 2009 she won $2.5 million in damages. But the award has been appealed. Meanwhile, she suffers from severe bowel problems and has been unable to work. She reports bouts of from anxiety and depression.

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