Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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William Pratt, 67, was diagnosed with Stage IV liver cancer. He fell down a flight of stairs and was transferred to a hospital emergency room where he was examined and sent for radiological scans. A preliminary reading of the scans concluded that he had not broken any bones during the fall.

The next morning, radiologist Dr. Geoffrey Gilleland reviewed the films and determined that Pratt had in fact broken nine ribs. Dr. Gilleland did not notify the emergency department of his findings, and Pratt was later discharged.

Over the next two days, Pratt developed pneumonia. He was admitted to another hospital where he died two weeks later of the pneumonia and complications of end-stage liver cancer. He was survived by his wife and three adult children.
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David Riese, 60, went to his primary care physician complaining of a lump in his neck. He underwent an MRI and was referred to ENT Dr. Matthew Jerles, who aspirated the lump.

Riese returned to Dr. Jerles several times and underwent the surgical removal of the lump, which had ruptured during the aspiration procedure.

Testing later revealed that there was a diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma. Dr. Jerles then examined the back of Reise’s throat and diagnosed a tumor at the base of his tongue. It was later revealed that the tumor had been present on the MRI, which had been faxed to Dr. Jerles at the start of Reise’s treatment. Dr. Jerles obviously missed observing and noting that tumor.
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Kimberly Suchomel, 28, suffered from a seizure disorder. When she ran out of her seizure medicine, she called the office of her treating neurologist, Dr. Eduardo Gallegos.

She asked for a refill of the medicine but was told by a receptionist that the doctor’s office said she would have to be seen by the doctor in order to receive a refill. An appointment was scheduled for the next available time, which was two months later.

Before this appointment, the doctor’s office told Suchomel that Dr. Gallegos would not see her and that she would not receive her refill until she paid the outstanding balance due to his office.
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In this medical malpractice lawsuit, the state supreme court of Utah affirmed the decision of the court of appeals, which affirmed the judgment of the district court excluding the plaintiff’s proximate cause expert’s testimony. The state high court held that the district court did not err.

Richard and Deanne Taylor’s daughter, Ashley, was diagnosed at a young age with a neurological disorder that caused her to suffer from spasticity. To control this effect, Ashley received the medication Baclofen through a catheter and an implanted Baclofen pump that delivered it into the thecal sac around her spinal cord.

On April 17, 2013, Ashley woke up suffering from severe shaking in her legs. She saw a physician at the University of Utah Hospital where she received an oral dose of Baclofen. The physician did several tests, which gave Ashley more oral Baclofen and instructed her to return the next day. Although the following day’s tests did not show an obvious sign of a problem, the doctor thought there might still be a problem with the pump. During that time, Ashley kept vomiting and had difficulty keeping down oral doses of Baclofen. After further consultation, the doctor recommended surgery to replace the pump and the catheter connected to it. The surgery was performed the following day. Ashley’s sister later agreed with the statement that Ashley was “back to herself” a day after the surgery.
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Gerald Sanford, 72, suffered from mitral valve disease. When he experienced heart palpitations, he consulted with an interventional radiologist, Dr. Amarnath Vedere. The doctor did an angiogram to examine the workings of his patient’s blood vessels; during the examination, he used an x-ray and dye.

The results of the angiogram showed a calcified lesion in the mid-segment of Sanford’s left anterior descending artery. This artery is known to be one of the most likely to be occluded. Dr. Vedere scheduled Sanford for percutaneous coronary intervention, a catheterization with a plaque-removing procedure and stent replacement.

During this procedure, Dr. Vedere attempted fourteen times to insert a guiding catheter with a stent. Sanford suffered respiratory arrest, which led to his death just a few weeks later. He was survived by his wife and teenage daughter.
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Heather Effler was seen at a hospital’s emergency room where she was diagnosed as having an infected urachal cyst. A urachal cyst has been defined as a collection of tissue and fluid between the bladder and the belly button. In most cases, this cyst forms as a remnant of the urachus, a structure normally present in a fetus; the cyst usually closes before birth.

The general surgeon, Dr. Sarkis Aghazarian, performed surgery to remove the cyst. During the surgery, he placed a row of approximately 25 metal surgical staples to close Effler’s bladder dome.

More than two years later, Effler began to bleed and then passed a painful bladder stone. A later cystoscopy showed the presence of additional bladder stones, which then required another laser surgery.
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Arleisha Hayes suffered from asthma. She was 44 years old at the time of this incident. She experienced shortness of breath when taken by ambulance to Hialeah Hospital. When she was admitted to the facility’s ICU and given a nasal swab, the swab showed no infection.

For the next several days, she was treated with steroids and antibiotics. After her condition improved somewhat, she was transferred to a telemetry floor.

While in the telemetry floor, Hayes developed severe shortness of breath and chest pains. This prompted a nurse to call for a rapid response. The house physician, Dr. Xavier Ramos, a medical school graduate who was not licensed to practice medicine, ordered a STAT chest X-ray and transferred her back to the ICU.
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Anderson Fuentes, 47, had been diagnosed HIV-positive. He experienced severe back pain and an inability to urinate. He was admitted to Wycoff Heights Medical Center emergency room, where he was seen by an internist, Dr. Onyemachi Ajah. After Fuentes underwent drainage of his urine, Dr. Ajah attributed his pain to urine retention and scheduled Fuentes for discharge from the hospital.

Mr. Fuentes then began to experience difficulty walking and refused to leave the hospital. As a result, a CT scan was done, which showed a previously diagnosed herniated disk at L3-4.

Another physician, Dr. Theophine Abakporo, assumed Fuentes’s care and ordered a second CT scan. Dr. Abakporo also called for a neurological consultation, which was done several hours later.
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The Illinois Appellate Court for the First District reversed a summary judgment in favor of the defendant Swedish Covenant Hospital and Dr. Kamal.

This wrongful death and survival action was brought by Shicheng Guo, special administrator for the estate of the deceased, Shiqian Bao. The complaint alleged that Bao was brought to Swedish Covenant’s emergency department after experiencing a severe headache. She underwent a CT scan.

A few hours after being discharged from Swedish Covenant, another doctor reviewed her CT scan and found signs of a brain bleed. Bao was called back to Swedish Covenant for treatment. She chose not to pursue further treatment at Swedish Covenant and instead immediately presented herself to the emergency department at Lutheran General Hospital. Doctors at Lutheran General did another series of tests but did not diagnose a brain bleed and discharged her from the hospital without treatment. Bao died three days later of an alleged brain hemorrhage.
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Robert Klein went to a hospital emergency room complaining of right flank pain, urinary burning, and blood in his urine. He was 48 years old at the time. A third-year resident, Dr. Lien Nguyen, ordered a CT scan. The CT scan results revealed kidney stones and a bladder mass.

Dr. Nguyen discharged Klein with instructions to see a urologist.

Over a year later, after Klein’s symptoms progressed, he underwent an ultrasound, which again showed a mass on his bladder. He was diagnosed with Stage III bladder cancer and underwent an unsuccessful procedure to remove the cancer. He later required removal of his entire bladder.
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