Articles Posted in Hospital Errors

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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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An Indiana University Hospital did not violate a law prohibiting patient dumping when it sent a woman suffering from severe abdominal pain to another facility to have dying portions of her intestines removed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago declined to revive the lawsuit that Jodie Martindale’s husband filed against Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital under the Federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA or Treat Act) following his wife’s death. IU Health transferred Martindale to Community Healthcare Systems in Munster, Ind., after examining her. Martindale died at Community Hospital after ongoing intestinal surgery.

A panel of the Seventh Circuit rejected the argument that the Treatment Act required IU Health to stabilize Martindale before transferring her.

The panel acknowledged the Treatment Act generally bars a hospital from transferring a patient with an emergency medical condition if the patient has not been stabilized.
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When Linda Smith began experiencing abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea, she consulted a gastroenterologist. The doctor ordered a CT scan. It was interpreted by a radiologist, Dr. Jonathan Foss, showing an unremarkable pancreas.

Approximately two and a half years later, Smith read through the radiologist’s addendum to her medical chart, which showed that she had a pancreatic mass. An MRI was recommended for her.

Smith was subsequently diagnosed as having metastatic pancreatic cancer, which required chemotherapy and surgery. Despite undergoing treatment, Smith died at the age of 56. She was survived by her husband and four adult children.
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Rita Epps, 63, went to the Southside Regional Medical Center emergency room. While at the hospital, Epps underwent testing, which showed she was suffering from acute kidney failure. She was admitted to the hospital; the hospitalist ordered a nephrology consultation with the on-call nephrologist.

Dr. Sajid Naveed, the on-call nephrologist, said he did not receive that order. The same night, Epps was given additional pain medication. Testing showed that she was suffering from severe acidosis. Dr. Naveed ordered additional bicarbonate but did not come to the hospital or order emergency dialysis, which apparently was desperately needed.

Early the next morning, Dr. Naveed came to the hospital and ordered renal replacement therapy. After Epps had a catheter inserted, she suffered cardiac arrest, which led to her untimely death several days later. Epps was survived by her husband and three adult children.
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