Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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A Cook County jury has decided that Northwestern Memorial Hospital was not negligent after a back surgery on 83-year-old JoAnn Smith went wrong. 

On Aug. 5, 2010, Smith underwent an L4-5 microendoscopic foraminotomy and discectomy at Northwestern Memorial Hospital for management of her back pain. After the surgery, she was diagnosed with multiple deep vein thromboses, pulmonary embolism and a blood clot in her right internal jugular vein. Heparin was given to help with the clotting issue.

On Aug. 8, 2010, Smith developed abnormal neurological signs and symptoms. An MRI revealed internal bleeding and cord compression in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine. An emergency decompression surgery was done.

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Danute Paulaviciene, 57, came to the office of the defendant internist, Dr. Edmund Vizinas, on Dec. 27, 2008 complaining of fever, shortness of breath and poor sleep. She had recently visited the caves in Missouri. On examination, she was noted to have a fever of 100.5 degrees, pulse of 110, respirations of 16 and 94 percent oxygen saturation level.

Dr. Vizinas ordered a chest x-ray, complete blood count and metabolic profile. The patient returned to Dr. Vizinas two days later and told him she was feeling better and had no shortness of breath on exertion. Her temperature was normal. Dr. Vizinas told her that her chest x-ray revealed extensive bilateral infiltrates, her complete blood count was essentially normal with a normal white count and a slight rise in neutrophils and her metabolic profile showed slightly decreased albumin, elevated sedimentation rate, slightly decreased total cholesterol and slightly elevated liver function.

Dr. Vizinas started her on Avelox, an antibiotic given for community acquired pneumonia. On Dec. 31, Paulaviciene’s daughter-in-law checked on her at 4 a.m. and found that she had a fever, but by 6 a.m., it had come down. At 8 a.m. she was coughing but not gasping or having difficulty breathing. However, by 9 a.m., she was extremely short of breath, gasping and unable to speak. She was rushed to Edward Hospital in Naperville, Ill., with severe shortness of breath and 82 percent oxygen saturation levels while on oxygen. She was sent to the ICU at the hospital and placed on a ventilator. Her condition never improved, and she died 11 days later survived by her adult son and a daughter who lives in Lithuania.

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Janelle Jones, 57, underwent a cardiac catherization at Medical Center of Southeast Texas. Jones complained of chest pain before she was discharged. She underwent some testing. Jones was told to follow up with her treating physician in one week or go to the hospital if her pain increased. 

Four days after she was discharged from the hospital, Jones met with her treating cardiologist and complained of shortness of breath, chest pain and increased heart rate. The doctor diagnosed a stomach issue and prescribed medicine.

Four days after that, Jones went to the emergency room at the hospital, where she later died of a fatal heart attack. She was survived by her husband and four children. 

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago has affirmed a district court’s order dismissing a medical negligence case brought against the Department of Veteran Affairs.

Jerome Augutis underwent reconstructive surgery on his right foot at Illinois’ Edward Hines Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital in July 2006. Because of complications during the surgery, the doctors amputated Augutis’s right leg below the knee on Sept. 22, 2006. 

Augutis maintained that the amputation was the result of negligent treatment. He filed an administrative complaint with the Department of Veteran Affairs in July 2006. His claim was denied in September 2010 and Augutis filed a request for reconsideration in March 2011. 

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On May 27, 2005, Dennis Swallow  came to the office of the defendant internist, Dr. Bryan Moline, for preoperative clearance for an upcoming orthopedic hip surgery. Swallow was 51 years old at the time and had a history of a neurological event in 1996. He was taking 325 mg of aspirin daily as a stroke preventative measure since that time. Swallow also had a history of severe migraine headaches for which he was receiving treatment from the Diamond Headache Clinic. 

Dr. Moline told Swallow to stop taking aspirin before the planned surgery and cleared him for the surgery, which was done by Dr. Mitchell Sheinkop at Rush Oak Park Hospital on June 15, 2005.

After the hip surgery, Swallow suffered a severe embolic stroke the following day, June 16, 2005, which caused severe disability with inability to talk or care for himself.  He died on Sept. 11, 2009.

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There are more than 2,000 cases filed in the Actos Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) pending before a United States District Court judge in the Western District of Louisiana. The Actos MDL bellwether cases involve identifying two of the best plaintiff cases and a third case selected by the defendant Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Takeda is the manufacturer of Actos, which has been associated with bladder cancer. Actos is in a class of insulin-sensitizing drugs known as Thiazolidinediones, which was approved to treat Type II diabetes.

The Western District of Louisiana bellwether trials are scheduled to start Jan. 27, 2014;  a second will begin in April 2014.

There are about 3,000 cases pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill.  The bellwether process here is under way.  The cases in Chicago’s Circuit Court are being handled by Judge Deborah Dooling. 

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Nereida Sepulveda was an 80-year-old retiree who underwent a bilateral knee replacement surgery at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center on Nov. 9, 2009. The surgery was performed by an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. David Hoffman. Sepulveda suffered an artery occlusion in the right leg as a complication of the procedure. The defendant, Dr. Iyer, was called for a vascular consult later that afternoon. 

Because Sepulveda complained of chest pain, the hospitalist would not permit any additional surgery on the right leg until he had ruled out a heart attack. Dr. Iyer then had to wait to obtain surgical clearance.

The next afternoon, Nov. 10, 2009, Dr. Iyer received medical clearance to do the surgery but decided to postpone the vascular surgery until Nov. 13 because the patient’s condition had improved.The surgery was elective and Sepulveda had just eaten.  However, it was noted that on Nov. 11, 2009, Sepulveda’s condition had worsened, and she suffered a foot drop. Dr. Iyer performed an 8-hour revascularization procedure to repair the right popliteal artery that day. 

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A Cook County jury returned a verdict of $314,000 related to the death of John Alexander. Mr. Alexander was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2002. A CT scan in 2006 showed evidence of a recurrence of the bladder cancer. The CT was ordered by the defendant internist, Philip Kiley, M.D.

Dr. Kiley had requested that his staff forward the CT report by fax to the patient’s treating urologist. In addition, Dr. Kiley claimed that he advised Mr. Alexander to return to the neurologist for further treatment. However, the fax was never sent, and the Alexander family claimed there was never any instruction to follow up with the urologist in 2006. 

Dr. Jerrold Seckler, the urologist, did not learn of the cancer recurrence until a year later. Even with the recurrence of the cancer, Dr. Seckler chose not inform Mr. Alexander and did not initiate any treatment.

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Anthony Imparato Sr. arrived at the University of Chicago’s emergency room on March 27, 2005.  It was the one-year anniversary of his wife’s death. He complained of insomnia for five days, depression and financial ruin because of his gambling debt.

Mr. Imparato was 51 and a Chicago firefighter. He was seen in the emergency department by the defendant physician, Dr. Becker, and a psychiatry resident, Dr. Dakwar. Another emergency medicine resident, Derek Timmermann, also saw Mr. Imparato.

The attending psychiatrist, Dr. Phan, consulted with Dr. Dakwar over the telephone. The doctors quoted Mr. Imparato as stating that death had crossed his mind, that he had hit rock bottom and that he had thoughts of suicide. However, the chart showed many times that Mr. Imparato denied suicidal ideations, an intent or plan.

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A recent count showed that more than 25,000 transvaginal mesh cases are pending in the Southern District of West Virginia.  These cases involve the vaginal mesh manufacturers C.R. Bard, Inc., American Medical Systems, Inc., Boston Scientific Corp., Ethicon, Inc., Coloplast Corp. and Cook Medical, Inc.

There are several thousand more cases pending in state court cases around the country, including the states of New Jersey, California, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Minnesota.  The first round of bellwether trials involving the transvaginal mesh manufacturers Bard, Boston Scientific and AMS are being scheduled in the Southern District of West Virginia. These cases will be tried in November 2013, as well as February and April 2014.  These will be the first of the bellwether trials involving these three defendants.

There have been other bellwether trials against the defendant C.R. Bard. In the first case, Cisson, et al. v. C.R. Bard, Inc., the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, Donna Cisson. In a second case involving C.R. Bard, a settlement was reached with the injured party.

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