Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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In a May 16, 2013 New York Times opinion page editorial, written by assistant professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles, Joanna  C. Schwartz, discussed the Affordable Care Act in relation to medical malpractice lawsuits. The article was titled, “Learning from Litigation.” The thrust of the article is that new evidence contradicts the “conventional wisdom that malpractice litigation compromises the patient safety . . .”  Professor Schwartz says that the opposite appears to be occurring;  that with more openness and transparency, hospitals are responding to the risk of litigation in positive ways.

Professor Schwartz interviewed dozens of hospital risk managers who confirmed that a hospital’s approach to lawsuits has begun to change. She says that hospitals have become more open to handling medical errors up front and are apologizing to patients when mistakes do happen in some cases.

The given reason that hospitals are more open to these types of solutions is that in disclosing errors up front, hospitals and patients tend to resolve matters much earlier, reasonably and much more cost effectively. 

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Joyce Bonner was injured in a fall and lost four of her front teeth. She received treatment from dentist Dr. Elliott Ostro to repair the damage. Ostro recommended four implants to replace the teeth. However, Ostro did not take x-rays or make molds of Bonner’s mouth before starting his work.

More than a year later, Ostro still had not managed to complete the implant work. Bonner stopped seeing him and started with a new dentist in 2009. The new dentist gave his opinion that Ostro had not properly prepared Bonner for the implants and restoration of her teeth. Bonner later filed a lawsuit against Ostro.

At the trial, Bonner called dentist Dr. Loren Goldstein to testify as an expert witness as to the standard of care required for implant surgery. Goldstein testified that Ostro had deviated from the standard of care by failing to take x-rays or molds of Bonner’s mouth before starting surgery.

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The defendant ophthalmologist, Seemin Khan, M.D., performed cataract surgery on the plaintiff, Frances Perkins, on March 19, 2008. It was discovered after the surgery that Perkins had a chronic detached retina. The retina is the light-sensitive tissue that lines the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image on the retina, like the film in a camera.

The plaintiff alleged that Dr. Khan was negligent for choosing not to refer her for a B-scan ocular ultrasound or to a retinal specialist before deciding whether cataract surgery would be in her best interest. Since Perkins was not a good candidate for retinal surgery, the cataract surgery was found, or alleged to be, unnecessary.

Perkins, 59, suffered ongoing chronic pain following the cataract surgery, underwent three later retinal surgeries and still has chronic left eye pain.

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A new study shows that energy drinks may increase blood pressure and lead to a dangerously high heartbeat.

The study is an analysis of seven previous studies. It showed that these drinks appeared to disturb the heart’s natural rhythm. Over time, the drinks may lead to an irregular heartbeat or death and raise blood pressure, according to the study. The study results were presented by the American Heart Association on March 21 during a convention in New Orleans.

Two commonly sold energy drinks are Monster Energy Assault and Rockstar.

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More than 15,000 women die of ovarian cancer each year, which makes it the fifth leading cause of death among American women. A new study shows that 60 percent of the women who develop ovarian cancer do not receive the medical care they need that could prolong their lives. The Society of Gynecologic Oncology’s (SGO) annual meeting on women’s cancer presented the study March 11, 2013.

This research was conducted on more than 13,000 patients from 1999 through 2006. Researchers who conducted the study said the lack of proper care for the women patients was the result of inexperience among doctors and hospital staff.

Women with ovarian cancer should be treated by surgeons who see a lot of patients each year with the disease, researchers found. They also said the women should stay in hospitals where a high volume of women with ovarian cancer are treated once the disease is diagnosed.

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The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments soon on whether a generic drug maker can be held responsible for a patient’s injuries. The case is considered very important for pharmaceutical companies, federal regulators and patients who take generic drugs. Some experts estimate that generics make up 80 percent of all drugs taken by people in the United States.

The case before the high court will involve Mutual Pharmaceutical Co., which sold a drug called sulindac, an anti-inflammatory. This medication was given by a pharmacist to a patient named Karen Bartlett, who was suffering mild shoulder pain in 2004. Bartlett, who lives in New Hampshire, claims she began taking the drug and, only a few weeks later, suffered an intense reaction to it. Her skin began to peel off, she was forced to live in a burn unit in a nearby hospital and later was in a medically induced coma. She lost her vision and is now legally blind. Also, she alleges that the medication permanently damaged her lungs and esophagus.

Bartlett sued Mutual, saying the company should be liable for her injuries. She took her case to federal district court, where a jury awarded her $21 million. An appeals court upheld that verdict in 2010; now the case is headed for the high court.

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A 36-year-old nurse was seen by the defendant obstetrician Larry Overcash, M.D. The physician was alleged to be negligent in performing a bilateral removal of both of Ms. Fief’s ovaries. She had consented to removal of only one ovary. However, at the Peoria Day Surgery Center, both of the Fief’s ovaries were removed by Dr. Overcash, who also perforated her colon during the surgery. The perforation of the colon led to several other hospitalizations and medical expenses in excess of $200,000.

The jury’s verdict of $1.2 million against both Dr. Overcash and Woman’s Health Institute, Ltd. was made up of the following damages:

• $1,050,000 on the negligence claim which included $300,000 for past and future pain and suffering;
• $500,000 for past and future loss of normal life;
• $250,000 for medical expenses; and
• $150,000 was for medical battery because of the wrongful surgery in removal of both ovaries plus $150,000 for pain and suffering from the removal of the unnecessary surgery removing the right ovary.

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The Illinois Supreme Court has decided an appeal as to whether or not res judicata in a refiled medical-malpractice complaint barred its refiling. In the underlying case, Brandon and Daphne Wilson claimed that Edward Hospital in Naperville, Ill., was liable for the negligence of doctors under the theory of actual and apparent agency.

The hospital was granted a summary judgment order on the actual-agent allegations and the Wilsons voluntarily dismissed their complaint, but refiled it within one year. Edward Hospital then moved to dismiss the case based on res judicata, which essentially means that the issue has already been finally adjudicated by the court.

Under the Supreme Court decision in Hudson v. City of Chicago, 228 Ill.2d 468 (2008) and Rein v. David A. Noyes & Co., 172 Ill.2d 325 (1996), res judicata bars a refiled lawsuit when:

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In June 2006, Josh Tunca was a surgeon at Northwest Community Hospital specializing in gynecologic oncology. While in surgery, Dr. Tunca removed an ovarian tumor. Later, the patient lost the pulse in her left leg due to a clog in her femoral artery.

Dr. Thomas Painter, a vascular surgeon, was called in to perform a femoral-bypass surgery to restore blood flow. According to the record, Dr. Painter approached Dr. John McGillan, the hospital’s vice president and medical affairs director, telling him that Dr. Tunca had cut the patient’s iliac artery.

Dr. Painter also told other doctors that Dr. Tunca had negligently severed the patient’s artery. None of these doctors were on a peer review committee for the hospital.

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William Herring, 59, had a history of severe coronary artery disease. Complaining of chest pain, Herring was seen by his internist, Wayne Blake, M.D. Herring said his chest pain was relieved by belching.

At the doctor’s office, an electrocardiogram was done, which showed that Herring had normal rhythms. Dr. Blake prescribed a heartburn relief medicine and also recommended that Herring undergo a chemical stress test within the next month.

Less than four hours after leaving Dr. Blake’s office, Herring suffered a severe irregular heartbeat episode and then a fatal cardiac arrest. He is survived by his wife and three children.

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