Articles Posted in Hospital Errors

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Doe, age 54, went to an emergency room suffering from chest pain and numbness in her left arm. She had elevated troponins consistent with a heart attack and was admitted to telemetry-level care. Due to an alleged lack of available beds, Doe was held in the emergency room.

Later that evening, Doe’s heart monitor began to sound, allegedly indicating that she was experiencing ventricular tachycardia. A nurse found Doe unresponsive twenty minutes later. Despite attempts at resuscitation, Doe suffered catastrophic brain damage. Unfortunately, she died ten days later and was survived by her husband and two adult children.

Doe’s survivors sued the hospital maintaining that it chose not to monitor Doe’s telemetry alarms and respond to her tachycardia for over twenty minutes.
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Doe, 42, suffered a syncopal episode at a gym. He went to a hospital where a physician recommended a CT scan. Doe declined, attributing his condition to an energy drink that he had recently consumed. Within the week, Doe consulted Dr. Roe complaining of severe headaches. Dr. Roe prescribed a proton pump inhibitor and diagnosed gastritis.

A few days later, Doe suffered a ruptured aneurysm, which left him with permanent brain damage. He is now nonverbal and requires 24-hour support.

The lawsuit against Dr. Roe and medical group alleged that they chose not to order timely diagnostic imaging. The defendants argued that the aneurysm was unforeseeable.
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Doe, 49, experienced severe back and shoulder pain. He went to an ER where he was administered pain medication. His pain remained severe over the next eight hours. Although blood work showed evidence of a serious infection, Doe remained in the ER waiting to be transferred to a floor.

Earlier the same night, Doe told the nurse that he could not raise his right hand. He underwent a CT scan, which showed abnormal fluid collection in the retropharyngeal area. These findings were reported to the treating ER doctor. Several hours later, Doe underwent an MRI. Shortly after the MRI, Doe suffered cardiac arrest. He died later that night. He was survived by his wife and two minor children.

The lawsuit against the treating physician and physician assistant alleged that they chose not to diagnose timely and treat Doe’s infection. The estate of Doe alleged that he had suffered from an undiagnosed staph infection, which began as an abscess in his retropharyngeal region. It was alleged that had Doe been administered antibiotics, he would have survived.
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Ms. Doe, age 73, fell and fractured her hip. She underwent hip surgery performed by Dr. Roe, an orthopedic surgeon at an area hospital. The next day, Ms. Doe was able to bear weight, and her sensory examination allegedly was normal.

A day later, however, Ms. Doe developed leg weakness. Dr. Roe allegedly evaluated Ms. Roe as did a hospitalist, who ordered a neurology consultation. Dr. Roe also ordered a STAT CT of the lumbar spine, and a radiology group interpreted as showing no fracture.

The day after that, Ms. Doe underwent a STAT MRI, which revealed spinal hematoma. Despite the surgery, Ms. Doe was left with paralysis.
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Saalik Ziyad, 40, had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He was received at the emergency department at Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago where he was seen for sepsis and an abscess. An ECG was read as borderline, and he was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

A nephrologist, Dr. Branislav Marcic, accepted the hospital admission and acted as attending physician. After undergoing a surgical incision and the draining of the abscess, Ziyad experienced decreased vital signs and lack of urine output. He also was found to have an elevated white blood count. An intensivist transferred him to a general floor where he passed away. Ziyad was a musician who was survived by his parents.

His estate sued Advocate Trinity Hospital and the intensivist, alleging medical malpractice, choosing not to treat Ziyad in the intensive care unit.
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The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a Cook County jury verdict of $5 million for a suicide that occurred at Advocate Health and Hospital Corp. The decedent, Bozena Binkowski, sued Advocate Health in Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, alleging medical negligence and wrongful death related to the death of her husband, Philip Cirrano, who died by suicide in 2015.

Binkowski alleged that her husband, who suffered from anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, was improperly discharged from Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital’s psychiatric unit 52 days after his admission. He was admitted to the hospital because he had made a December 2014 unsuccessful suicide attempt.

In January 2015, he was transferred to an independent living facility without any psychiatric staff. It was there, in February 2015, that he took his own life. The Cook County jury returned a verdict for $5 million in favor of Binkowski and the estate.
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The wife of William Lee, a 41-year-old father of young children, found him unconscious in the middle of the night. He was rushed to Westchester Medical Center where he underwent a head CT scan and had a neck CTA. A CTA or “coronary computed tomography angiography” involves the use of CT scans and an injected dye to develop computer-aided, 3-dimensional images of an artery.

Two second-year residents interpreted the tests as normal. Over an hour later, one of the residents contacted an attending physician, who was unable to view the test results due to a software problem. An experienced radiologist later diagnosed a basilar stroke. Lee underwent a thrombectomy, a procedure involving the removal of a blood clot.

Nevertheless, Lee suffered significant brain damage, resulting in severe short-term memory loss and impaired judgment. He now receives 24-hour treatment from a residential brain injury center located hours away from his family.
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Mr. Doe, 68, went to a hospital complaining of severe back pain. When he was admitted, a hospitalist ordered an MRI. Doe began declining neurologically and then was treated for respiratory issues approximately two days into the hospitalization. The MRI order was discontinued.

It was not done until the fifth day of Doe’s hospitalization. The MRI results revealed multiple spinal abscesses in Doe’s thoracic and cervical spinal regions, necessitating a spinal decompression. Notwithstanding this treatment, Doe suffered from paraplegia. He has remained in this condition but is able to use a walker to transfer short distances.

Doe sued the hospital, alleging it chose not to perform a timely MRI and diagnose the spinal abscesses. He did not claim lost income.
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Alfred J. Giudicy appealed the circuit court’s judgment dismissing his medical malpractice case without prejudice after he chose not to file an affidavit of merit within 180 days. The filing deadline is required under § 538.225. Giudicy argued that § 538.225 violates the Missouri Constitution.

It was also contended by Giudicy that the medical providers waived their defense of failure to file an affidavit of merit and that he substantially complied with the statute. The Missouri Supreme Court rejected those arguments and affirmed the circuit court’s judgment.

Section 538.225 serves “to cull at an early stage of litigation suits for negligence damages against health care providers that lack even color of merit” and “protect the public and litigants from the cost of ungrounded medical malpractice claims.” See Mahoney v. Doerhoff Surgical Serves, Inc., 807 S.W. 503, 507 (Mo. Banc 1991). The section also prevents the plaintiff from threatening a medical provider with a groundless claim before settlement in lieu of the high cost of defense.
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Doe was admitted to a hospital to undergo a non-emergency medical procedure. During or because of the non-emergency surgery, something evidently did not go as planned.
Doe suffered permanent injuries that now require 24/7 care; he is unable to work.

Doe sued the physician, the downstate Illinois hospital, and a product manufacturer. There is very little information on this case, which resulted in a settlement of $29.5 million.

The attorneys successfully handling this tragic matter were Miranda L. Soucie and James Spiros, both of Champaign, Ill.
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