Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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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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After undergoing a temporal artery biopsy on an outpatient basis by a general surgeon, Jacqueline Childs developed swelling and paralysis on the right side of her face. She was subsequently diagnosed as having facial nerve neuropathy.

Childs has undergone steroid injection treatments for her facial pain and will require monthly ketamine infusions for the remaining years of her life.

She was in her 50s at the time of the injury and has incurred more than $98,400 in past medical expenses.

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Dr. Gary Lovell, a gynecologist, performed a hysterectomy procedure on Karri Tingey. She was 49 years old at the time. After this procedure, Dr. Lovell reported that he had discovered and repaired a superficial tear on her sigmoid colon. He did not tell Tingey or her husband,

Within three days of that surgery, Tingey returned to the hospital where she was diagnosed as having sepsis and septic shock. She underwent emergency surgery, which revealed a bowel perforation in the upper area of her rectum.

Tingey and her husband sued Dr. Lovell, alleging that the doctor caused injury to Tingey’s bowel during the hysterectomy, misidentified the location of the injury, and repaired it improperly. Dr. Lovell died during the litigation.
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William Dukes was under the care of Prompt Ambulance Central Inc. when he suffered a fatal injury. He was survived by his minor son.

The Dukes family and estate sued Prompt Ambulance and Kindred Nursing Centers Limited Partnership, alleging that they chose not to provide adequate care and treatment when transporting him by ambulance.

Before trial, the parties settled for $187,000. The Dukes family then petitioned the court for additional damages to be paid from the Patient’s Compensation Fund of Indiana. The court then did authorize $440,000 in payment to the Dukes estate from that fund.
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At issue in this case, which ended in the Idaho Supreme Court, was whether the jury’s verdict would stand. A medical malpractice lawsuit was brought by Leila Brauner against AHC of Boise d/b/a Aspen Transitional Rehab (Aspen). The lawsuit arose out of Aspen’s delay in sending Brauner to the hospital following her knee replacement surgery, which was a substantial factor resulting in the amputation of her right leg above the knee at mid-thigh.

After a jury trial, a verdict in favor of Brauner was signed by the jury in the amount of $2,265,204 in damages.

Aspen appealed, alleging that various pre-trial and post-trial rulings were in error and resulted in an unsustainable judgment.
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Audene Moxley was taken by an ambulance from her home to Piedmont Medical Center. A nurse determined that she was at high risk for developing pressure ulcers and ordered preventive measures, including repositioning the patient every two hours.

Over Moxley’s 9-day hospitalization at this facility, she was left in the same position for multiple hours on many occasions. Although a nurse noted that Moxley had a suspected deep tissue injury, the staff did not timely consult a wound care specialist. In addition, during Moxley’s hospitalization, she developed paralysis below the waist.

For the remainder of her life, Moxley continued to suffer from pressure ulcers and paralysis. After her death, Moxley was survived by her four adult children.
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