Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

by

Many times medical negligence and errors result in permanent disabilities that patients need to live with for the rest of their lives. However, car accidents can also lead to permanent disabilities, or life-changing medical conditions. The Illinois personal injury lawsuit of Joseph Krzystof v. Jeremy Valencia, 08 L 14321, is a perfect example of when car accidents result in life-changing medical injuries.

The Illinois intersection accident occurred after the defendant, Jeremy Valencia, ran a stop sign. Valencia was on his way home from high school and broadsided Joseph Krzystof’s car, which had the right of way. Initially, while there was obviously a lot of property damage to both vehicles, it appeared that both parties escaped the crash fairly unscathed. However, six weeks after the accident Krzystof was diagnosed with a detached retina.

A retinal detachment occurs when the eye’s retina, the layer of tissue inside the eye that is responsible for sending messages along the optic nerve to the brain, breaks away from its normal position. Because the retina plays such a key role in how our brain interprets visual messages, a retinal detachment can lead to temporary or permanent blindness and is considered a medical emergency.

Continue reading

by

A large settlement was reached in a Cook County surgical error lawsuit involving a corrective spinal surgery. The medical malpractice arose as a result of improper monitoring during the patient’s post-operative care and poor communication between the nursing and medical staffs. A settlement of $18.75 million was reached in Francisco Contreras and Sandra Contreras v. Thorek Memorial Hospital, et al., No. 07 L 7771.

The injured party, Francisco Contreras, required a spinal surgery as a result of a work injury he’d sustained about a year before. While working at a Chicago Walgreens store, the 55 year-old injured his neck while removing a printer from a shelf. In an attempt to cure the persistent neck pain that continued to radiated down Contreras left arm, his doctors recommended he undergo cervical disc surgery.

Mr. Contreras presented to Thorek Memorial Hospital for that cervical disc surgery and hopefully cure the pain he’d been experiencing since his work injury. By all accounts the surgery itself went very well and the operative notes indicated that Contreras was able to move both his arms and legs. However, these positive signs did not continue – just forty-five minutes later the medical records indicated that Contreras’s motor functions were deteriorating.

Continue reading

by

Topamax is an anticonvulsant medication that is prescribed to treat epilepsy and the associated seizures, or can also be prescribed to prevent migraine headaches. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a new warning about some birth defects associated with Topamax. Specifically, the drug warning states that mothers taking Topamax showed higher incidences of cleft lips and cleft palates than mothers not taking Topamax.

This discovery was made by the North American Antiepileptic Drug (NAAED) Pregnancy Registry, whose data showed that 1.4% of infants exposed to Topamax during the first trimester were likely to develop a cleft lip or cleft palate. The prevalence of cleft lips or palate in infants with no exposure to anticonvulsant medications was 0.07%.

In light of this new information, the FDA elevated the Topamax’s pregnancy category from C to D. Under Category D, “There is positive evidence of human fetal risk based on adverse reaction data from investigational or marketing experience or studies in
pregnant women despite potential risks.” Physicians are advised not to prescribe Topamax to pregnant women unless the potential benefits of the drug outweigh the potential risks to the fetus.

Continue reading

by

The death of a high-power, Chicago executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center could lead to the Chicago hospital losing its medicare payments. James Tyree, CEO of The Chicago Sun-Times and Mesirow Financial, died from an air embolism that developed after his catheter was removed incorrectly. The medical negligence occurred while Mr. Tyree was being treated for pneumonia at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The air embolism occurred after air entered the catheter as it was being removed. The air bubble then entered Mr. Tyree’s blood stream. This is problematic because when an air bubble becomes lodged in a vein or artery it can eventually block the flow of blood through that vein or artery. If your blood flow is blocked you are at risk of not getting enough blood to your heart or brain, which is a deadly situation.

This fatal medical error was not only preventable, but involved a skill that was so basic its being done incorrectly could be seen as gross negligence. After considering the facts of Mr. Tyree’s death, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services stated that the “deficiencies [which led to Mr. Tyree’s death] were so serious that they constitute an immediate threat to patient health and safety.”

Continue reading

by

A $14.9 million settlement was reached in an Illinois medical malpractice case that left the plaintiff with permanent brain damage. The lawsuit of Jennifer Lee v. Palos Community Hospital, et al., 09 L 7824, was brought against the hospital where the plaintiff was treated, as well as the individual doctors who treated the plaintiff.

In 2009, plaintiff, Jennifer Lee, presented to Palos Community Hospital with severe dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea. The typical treatment for dehydration is to pump the patient with IV fluids and monitor their electrolyte levels. When Ms. Lee presented to the hospital, her initial blood work showed an extremely high level of sodium. While normal sodium levels range from 135 mmol/L to 145 mmol/L, Ms. Lee’s sodium level was at 165 mmol/L.

Typically, dehydration results in low sodium levels, not high sodium levels. Blood sodium levels can indicate whether there is an imbalance between the levels of sodium and water in your body. While Ms. Lee’s initial sodium levels were critically high, it fluctuated between critically high and critically low during the course of her admission. In fact, it was this change from critically high, to critically low, then back to critically high that caused the plaintiff’s brain damage and was the subject of her medical malpractice lawsuit.

Continue reading

by

A $4.5 million settlement was reached between Advocate Christ Hospital and Medical Center and the family of a man who died after his bladder ruptured at the Chicago hospital. The claims in the wrongful death case of The Estate of Krzysztof Bialas v. Advocate Christ Hospital and Medical Center, No. 07 L 12141, were that the decedent’s death could have been avoided if the hospital’s radiologist had correctly read a CT scan that would have identified the problem.

The decedent, Krzysztof Bialas, was a 42 year-old warehouse worker who presented to Oak Lawn’s Christ Hospital with a fractured pelvis after being injured in a forklift accident at his job. Nursing notes from the hospital visit indicated that Bialas’s scrotum was extremely swollen. In response to this observation, doctors ordered a CT scan of Bialas’s abdomen and pelvis.

While Bialas’s fractured pelvis was appropriately diagnosed by x-ray, the radiologist failed to recognize the presence of a large amount of fluid in Bialas’s pelvic area. The medical malpractice complaint filed by the decedent’s estate alleged that it was this radiology error that ultimately led to Bialas’s death.

Continue reading

by

A Cook County medical malpractice claim against Northshore University Health Systems for $1.2 million. The lawsuit, Deborah Bowden and Bryce Bowden v. NorthShore University Health Systems, et al., No. 09 L 8801, involved allegations that several physicians in the Evanston health clinic failed to recognize that the plaintiff was exhibiting symptoms of an impending stroke. As a result of this failure to diagnose Ms. Bowden’s stroke in a timely manner, the plaintiff ended up suffering a stroke which left her with permanent muscle and speech limitations.
The circumstances leading to the Illinois failure to diagnose lawsuit arose out of two office visits occurring over a period of five days in August 2007. The 53 year-old Bowden presented to NorthShore University Health System complaining of numbness and tingling in her hands and feet. She was sent home and the medical records indicated that the physicians she saw missed all the indications that she was at risk for a stroke.

Continue reading

by

The State of Illinois has been investigating Alden Village North and assessing whether the quality of care provided at the Illinois nursing home meets state standards. If not, the state plans on closing the Chicago nursing home because of overwhelming reports of nursing home abuse and neglect. New reports of five additional deaths caused by poor health care at the facility does not bode well for its future.

In addition to the state’s investigation, a federally-backed watchdog group, Equip for Equality, found that illnesses at Alden Village North were not properly treated, doctors ignored pages, lab results were discarded and investigations into the deaths of its residents were found to be superficial at best. The Chicago-based Equip for Equality group started its own investigation as part of a nationwide advocacy group that has been granted broad powers by Congress to help protect people with disabilities.

As part of its investigation, Equip reviewed patient records at Alden Village North in order to assess the quality of nursing home care being provided. Its investigation is now completed and Equip filed its official report with the State of Illinois this past month. Presumably the state will consider Equip’s report as it makes its decision about the future of the Chicago nursing home.

Continue reading

by

A recent Illinois Supreme Court decision changed the way damages can be sought under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act. The Court ruled unanimously in a 6-0 ruling that punitive damages cannot be awarded for wrongful death cases under the Nursing Home Care Act in Thomas Vincent v. Alden-Park Strathmoor, Inc., No. 110406.

Punitive damages are different than compensatory damages, which are awarded by courts and juries as payment for actual harm or losses suffered as a result of the defendant’s actions. While compensatory damages are seen almost as a way to reimburse the plaintiff for their loss, punitive damages are meant as a way to punish a defendant for its actions. Punitive damages are typically awarded in addition to compensatory damages and are only awarded when the defendant’s actions are so grossly negligent that additional censure is needed.

In the underlying Chicago nursing home malpractice case, Thomas Vincent, the legal representative for his deceased mother’s estate, filed a complaint that contained three counts requesting damages be paid by Alden-Park Strathmoor, Inc. for its negligent care and treatment of his mother prior to her death. While two of the counts sought compensatory damages, the third and final count was a survival claim filed under the Nursing Home Care Act which included a request for punitive damages for the nursing home’s allegedly willful and wanton conduct.

Continue reading

by

A Cook County medical malpractice settlement for $5 million was approved by Cook County Circuit Court Judge William B. Maddux, marking the close of the Illinois lawsuit of The Estate of Shamiran David v. Rush Northshore Medical Center, et al., No. 07 L 8444. The Chicago medical negligence lawsuit was brought by the family of a woman who suffered a brain injury in the days following her heart surgery at Rush Northshore Medical Center.

While Mrs. David’s aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass grafting performed at Rush Northshore Medical Center went well, it was the complications following the surgery that led to Mrs. David’s brain injury and subsequent death. The case of Mrs. David can serve as a reminder to both patients and doctors that a successful surgery alone does not guarantee a positive outcome for a patient.

Mrs. David was discharged from the hospital following her surgery and sent home. However, the 59 year-old Cook County resident began to develop complications from her cardiac surgery within a few days of her discharge. She presented to her primary care physician with complaints of difficulty breathing and chest pains.

Continue reading