Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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Matthew Gulino, the husband of the plaintiff, Joanne Gulino, visited his primary care physician in October 2009 complaining of nausea, fatigue, shortness of breath, chills and lightheadedness. The doctor diagnosed him with anxiety and prescribed Xanax after several tests showed the symptoms were not heart related.

Gulino returned to his doctor’s office two days later because the anti-anxiety medication wasn’t relieving his symptoms. Without doing any other tests, the doctor suggested that he see a psychiatrist.

The next day, Gulino visited the emergency room at Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights, Ill., for the same symptoms. Based on Gulino’s reported symptoms and his previous anxiety diagnosis, the emergency room physician concluded that he was experiencing an acute anxiety reaction and prescribed strong anti-anxiety medication.

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Donne Licudine, 20, was diagnosed with cholecystitis, the inflammation of the gallbladder. The gallbladder is the small organ near the liver that plays a part in the digestion of food. When the condition is acute, the patient experiences upper abdominal pain and there is usually an obstruction of the cystic duct.

Because of her medical condition, a general surgeon, Dr. Brendan Carroll, and a resident, Dr. Ankur Gupta, did a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which is the surgical procedure that removes the gallbladder. During that surgery, it was first discovered that Licudine had suffered a vascular injury. The doctors converted to an open procedure, which revealed a torn iliac vein. As a result, Licudine required three surgeries to repair her vascular injuries.

Licudine was a college rower. She was obviously a very active athlete. She now suffers from bowel adhesions, a six-inch scar from her abdomen to her sternum and severe depression as a result of her injuries. Licudine had planned to attend law school but has canceled those plans due to her medical condition.

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Unfortunately, there are too many medical or hospital related errors that have injured or killed patients in the United States. According to a recent study by the Institute of Medicine, “Most people will experience at least one wrong or delayed diagnosis at some point in their lives, a blind spot in modern medicine that can have devastating consequences.” The institute’s report calls for urgent changes in many areas of health care. According to the report, the most significant change is that patients become central to a solution, said Dr. John Ball of the American College of Physicians. He chaired the Institute of Medicine committee.

The report indicates that medical providers must take patients’ complaints more seriously and make sure that the patient receives copies of test results and other records to encourage patients to ask, “Could it be something else?”

In other words, patients should be seeking other opinions from physicians to diagnose their ailments. This is a cultural shift. It could be the norm to finally get the right diagnosis or that the second opinion doctor calls the treating doctors to say it turned out to be this and not that. One of the most famous diagnostic errors occurred in 2014 when a Liberian man who was sick with Ebola initially was misdiagnosed in a Dallas emergency room as having sinusitis. The man returned two days later and eventually died.

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Carl Beauchamp, 44, fell and hit his head. He was taken to Rhode Island Hospital where he underwent testing and was released with instructions to return if he noticed changes in his state of mind. Beauchamp, who initially was able to walk, talk and respond to commands after the fall, later became confused. He returned to the hospital.

A neurosurgery resident examined him and diagnosed his condition as post-concussive syndrome. Beauchamp was admitted to a general medical floor. During a critical 40-hour period when neuro-checks were required frequently, hospital nurses performed just one check.

Beauchamp’s condition worsened to where he responded to only painful stimuli and was unable to blink, talk and follow instructions or commands.

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Finis Cuff, 61, had a history of smoking and other health problems, including diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. When Cuff experienced elevated blood pressure, primary care physician Dr. Douglas Keagle prescribed medicine. Cuff’s blood pressure continued to rise, and he returned to Dr. Keagle who prescribed a different blood pressure medication. He then instructed Cuff, whose blood pressure had risen to as high as 200/80, to monitor his blood pressure.

Two days later, Cuff suffered a massive ischemic stroke, resulting in brain damage and lost functioning in both of his legs and right arm.

He sued Dr. Keagle alleging that he chose not to diagnose an impending stroke and refer him to a hospital for an immediate workup. The lawsuit did not claim lost income.

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Mr. Doe, 60, underwent an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatogram at a local hospital. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatogram (ERCM) is a procedure that allows medical providers to examine and better analyze bile ducts. The procedure is done with an endoscope. Bile ducts are those tubes that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder and then to the small intestine. The procedure was done to diagnose and treat problems with the pancreatic ductal systems.

During this procedure, complications arose and Mr. Doe passed away. He had been a corporate executive earning $143,000 annually and is survived by his minor son, who filed a lawsuit against the certified registered nurse anesthetist who attended the procedure. He alleged negligent management of Mr. Doe’s anesthesia, including choosing not to insert a Glidescope when complications developed. A Glidescope is a means in which to provide a patient with a video of clear airway views to allow for a quick ET tube placement in case of a problem. The use of a Glidescope would have been important in allowing for an immediate and urgent way of placing an ET tube to save Mr. Doe’s life.

The parties reached a confidential settlement.

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Mr. Doe, who was in his 60s, was admitted to a hospital for heart surgery. While he was recovering, healthcare personnel placed multiple lines in his body, including a central venous pressure catheter, which was replaced with a peripherally inserted central catheter line.

After Mr. Doe returned to his home, he began to experience chest pain and persistent arrhythmia. Arrhythmia is sometimes referred to as a malfunction of the heart’s electrical system. It occurs when the heart beats irregularly or improperly, meaning it beats too fast or too slow. The symptoms continued.

Mr. Doe then underwent testing over two years to determine the cause. A chest X-ray later revealed that his symptoms resulted from the presence of a foreign body. He underwent surgery to remove a fragment of a triple lumen catheter. Continue reading

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On July 30, 2008, Isaiah Lockhart went to the Haymarket Center, a chemical dependency facility. Lockhart had a history of alcohol withdrawal. However, when Lockhart complained of “shortness of breath, dizziness, a productive cough and weight loss,” he was sent to get a medical evaluation.

Lockhart went by ambulance to the emergency room at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, a/k/a Cook County Hospital. He arrived at 10:26 p.m. and was triaged. His symptoms were documented and his vital signs recorded. At midnight he was brought into a treatment room and assessed by a nurse, who again recorded his vital signs.

At no point was his cardiac rhythm evaluated. Lockhart was left alone in the room for a short time and at 12:20 a.m. he was found in cardiac arrest. After a prolonged course of emergency treatment, his heart was successfully restarted, but the lack of oxygen left Lockhart with severe encephalopathy and in a persistent vegetative state.

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Sara Perez, 30, suffered a seizure and collapsed. She was admitted to a hospital where doctors diagnosed a noncancerous brain tumor. Upon discharge, Perez was referred to another medical center where a physician recommended surgery to remove the tumor. The next month, she underwent preoperative blood work and an MRI. A month after that, an anesthesiologist cleared Perez for surgery and she was told that the hospital would call her to schedule the procedure. However, the hospital did not call to schedule that surgery.

At the next physician appointment several months later, Perez signed a second consent form. Perez then underwent another battery of preoperative tests and again was cleared for surgery. Several more months passed. No surgery was scheduled.

The noncancerous tumor grew larger, and Perez suffered a second seizure and midline shift of her brain, which led to her death 13 months after the first seizure. Perez had been a customer service dispatcher earning $10 per hour and is survived by her husband and three young children.

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Wayne Reynolds, 64, who had a history of smoking and high cholesterol, experienced rapid heartbeat and other problems over the course of several years. He consulted a cardiologist, Dr. Norma Khoury, who ordered an EKG.

The EKG showed an ST segment depression, prompting Dr. Khoury to order a stress test and a follow-up evaluation.

The heart center that was to administer the test informed Reynolds that it would have to be rescheduled due to staffing issues.

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