Joan Simmons, 58, was experiencing acute back pain. She went to the emergency room at St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital. She was treated and released. Her back pain continued.
Eight days after the back pain started, she returned to the hospital complaining of an altered mental status. Testing revealed a blood stream infection.
An infectious disease specialist, Dr. Sarah Barbour, examined Simmons, who then began to experience progressive leg weakness.
Rita DaCosta underwent a Pap smear and HPV test. Her treating gynecologist, Dr. Michelle Olivera, was informed that the test results were abnormal. Dr. Olivera instructed her medical assistant to contact DaCosta and schedule a colposcopy. DaCosta never learned about the test results.
Less than a year later, she met with Dr. Olivera, who had joined a different practice. She reported heavy and irregular bleeding, as well as lower abdominal cramping. Dr. Olivera prescribed birth control pills.
DaCosta, who repeated these complaints when she met with Dr. Olivera the following year, was told that she suffered from five fibroids and that the bleeding resulted from steroid use. DaCosta was referred for fibroid surgery.
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On May 13, 2015, Millicent Mnookin suffered a sudden drop in oxygen followed by cardiac arrest while she was under general anesthesia for surgery at Northwest Community Hospital. She was taken to an intensive care unit but died just two weeks later.
Mnookin’s husband, Barry Mnookin, who was appointed executor of her estate, filed a lawsuit against several defendants, including Northwest Community Hospital and Dr. Syed Ahmed, who had been her anesthesiologist. The lawsuit alleged negligence by Dr. Ahmed as an employee of Northwest Community Hospital.
During the discovery process, her husband’s attorney sent Northwest Community Hospital requests for production of documents. The hospital filed a privilege log, identifying 24 documents that it asserted were privileged and protected from discovery under the Medical Studies Act. He moved for an in-camera inspection of all of the allegedly privileged documents. In response, the trial court asked Northwest Community to “redact the portion of each privileged document for which [Northwest] claimed privileged.” Northwest redacted the entire text of every document, leaving only the printed headline.
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Kara Nguyen experienced pain after undergoing a splenectomy, which is the surgical removal of the spleen. She was 23 years old at the time. Her surgeon, Dr. Jorge Leiva, ordered a CT scan. Dr. Andre Arash Lighvani, a radiologist, interpreted the scan as normal.
She was discharged from the hospital and followed up with Dr. Leiva. About a week later, she was readmitted to the hospital suffering from fever and abdominal pain.
After a second CT scan was completed, Dr. Leiva and another general surgeon, Dr. Ziad Amr, diagnosed a blood clot in her portal vein, which was allegedly apparent on both CT scans. Dr. Amr discharged her five days later without a treatment plan for the vein clot.
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Shane Ackerschott was injured at work. He went to RediCare Urgent Care Clinic, which was run by Mountain View Hospital. Ackerschott, 40 years old at the time, experienced numbness below the waist and severe pain when he arrived at this clinic.
He was at the clinic for several hours and consulted with a nurse and family physician who had him raise his legs, touch his toes, and move up and down, among other things. However, his symptoms worsened.
After he walked to the facility’s X-ray room, he collapsed. He was transported to Mountain View Hospital where he was diagnosed with having a spinal cord injury at T10-11, resulting in paraplegia.
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Susan Clifford was a 40-year-old Iraq war veteran who was admitted to Veterans Hospital suffering from shortness of breath and flu-like symptoms. Over the next week, she received respiratory therapy, nebulizer treatments and mask ventilation.
When the treating medical providers attempted to switch her from the ventilator mask to a nasal cannula, she suffered an acute bronchial spasm. She was intubated approximately 44 minutes later but suffered oxygen deprivation, which resulted in permanent brain damage, blindness and quadriparesis.
Clifford sued the United States (Veteran’s Administration) alleging that its medical providers chose not to properly respond to acute respiratory distress and timely restore her airway. The lawsuit did not claim lost income or medical expenses.
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Harriet Cook, 83, suffered from a degenerative spinal condition in her neck. A pain management specialist, Dr. Michael Rubeis, did a fluoroscopic cervical epidural injection to help with Cook’s pain symptoms. During the procedure, Cook complained of pain. Nevertheless, Dr. Rubeis continued.
Afterwards, Cook discovered that her arms and legs were paralyzed. Her left arm remained paralyzed, which prevented her from living independently as she did before the procedure. Before she passed away, Cook sued Dr. Rubeis’ group, alleging negligent performance of the epidural injection. Cook claimed that Dr. Rubeis chose not to ascertain the location of the needle, leading him to inject steroid solution directly into Cook’s spinal cord, breaching the dura and causing nerve damage.
The jury returned a verdict of $3.5 million. However, the parties settled for an undisclosed amount.
Kyle Wodzenski, 20 years old at the time of this accident, fractured his left index finger in a work-related incident. Orthopedic surgeon Fred Moore Carter II MD performed an open reduction surgery on Wodzenski, placing his finger in a plaster splint.
Wodzenski, who was suffering from significant pain, went to Dr. Carter’s office two days after his hospital discharge. Physician assistant John Rongo examined him in less than five minutes, choosing not to open the splint.
At an appointment the following week, Dr. Carter told Wodzenski that his index finger had become necrotic and required amputation.
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During a physical therapy session following her hip surgery, Anita Hanson began to experience increased pain in her leg. The pain did not subside and hospital staff later diagnosed her with a fractured femur.
Hanson and her husband brought a lawsuit against the physical therapy company and the hospital. It was alleged in the lawsuit that the physical therapist was negligent during the physical therapy session, that the hospital was negligent in choosing not to timely diagnose the fractured femur, and that Hanson was injured as a result of the negligence of both the hospital and the physical therapist. The defendants separately moved for summary judgment. The plaintiffs, Anita Hanson and her husband Marvin Hanson, filed an appeal.
On Sept. 8, 2014, Anita Hanson underwent a right total hip arthroplasty. The surgeon, Dr. Michael Vener performed the surgery. After the surgery, Dr. Vener took x-rays, which confirmed a properly placed artificial joint. The x-ray did not reveal any fractured bones.
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According to the report of this case, the Illinois Appellate Court has reversed the dismissal of a medical malpractice case. The case had been dismissed by the trial judge on the ground that the plaintiff did not meet the requirement of filing the 90-day certificate of merit, which is required by Section 2-622 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure.
A doctor’s affidavit, which was filed late, should not have been enough to reject a medical malpractice lawsuit, the appeals panel ruled.
According to the Illinois Appellate Court opinion, the Cook County Circuit Court judge abused his discretion when he dismissed Earnest and Mildred Lee’s lawsuit against Rush Oak Park Hospital and Dr. Juan Cobo. The circuit court judge dismissed the case because they did not file their Health Professional’s Report within the 90-day window.
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