Articles Posted in Hospital Errors

by

Tony Love, 13, came through the emergency department at Ingalls Memorial Hospital complaining of left knee pain and a fever on Sept. 23, 2007.  He was diagnosed with a quadriceps strain and was sent home. 

The next morning, Sept. 24, 2007, Love was seen by the defendant physician, Dr. Arun Shah at Harvey Health Center for complaints of continuing knee pain, but his temperature was normal. 

Dr. Shah diagnosed Love as having a sprained knee.  Three days later on Sept. 27, 2007, Love was taken to South Suburban Hospital with a high fever, severe knee pain and inability to walk. The lab work there showed an elevated white blood count and elevated liver enzymes as well as a blood culture that revealed methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the knee.

Continue reading

by

In September 2007, 55-year-old Barbara Ann Drebek-Doyle underwent a CT scan of the sinuses due to her recurrent sinusitis condition. The test was performed at Advocate Condell Gurnee Outpatient Radiology Center. The scan was interpreted by the defendant Dr. David E. Foosaner, a radiologist.  In a lawsuit that was filed by Ms. Drebek-Doyle, she contended that Dr. Foosaner chose not to detect and report a brain mass or tumor that was seen on the CT scan. As a result, the tumor remained undiscovered and untreated for 3.5 years. 

In March 2011, an MRI of the brain showed the brain mass at the top center of Ms. Drebek-Doyle’s head. Surgery was done to remove the benign mass, a meningioma that was in the membrane lining of the brain. Meningioma occur most frequently with women; they cause various types of symptoms.  Some symptoms include chronic headache, nausea, vomiting and balance issues. If the tumor is not removed fairly quickly, there is a risk that it may increase in size and cause much more serious effects, including death.

The plaintiff maintained that if the radiologist defendant had reported the mass in 2007, it could have been removed at that time. Instead, the delay caused Ms. Drebek-Doyle to suffer various problems over the next 3 ½ years, including increased headaches, loss of balance, memory deficits, bowel incontinence and fatigue. 

Continue reading

by

It is estimated that 250,000 people die each year in the United States as a result of medical malpractice according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Approximately 80,000 Medicare patients suffer preventable adverse events that contribute to their deaths; as many as half of those deaths are due to emergency room errors. 

In 2003, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office stated that “181,000 severe injuries (attributable to medical negligence) occurred in U.S. hospitals [,]”.  These numbers show that medical malpractice deaths have worsened during the past ten years. Despite this increase, state governments and legislatures have tried to impede the amount of money recoverable to injured or killed persons and/or their families as the result of medical malpractice. 

For example, in Missouri, where I have been a member of the bar since 1976, nearly 1/3 of medical malpractice cases involve surgery in some way. The next largest percentage of medical errors reported there is 18.7% for misdiagnosis leading to severe injury or death followed by 13.2% involving falls or injuries during transport of patients. 

Continue reading

by

South Korean immigrant Young Bahng, 60, was admitted to the University of Chicago Hospital on April 18, 2006. He was there to undergo a live-donor liver transplant from his son. Bahng was self-employed in the conveyor system business. He was suffering from end stage liver disease as a result of having hepatitis B since 1990. 

On April 19, 2006 in the early morning hours, Bahng fell in his hospital room while attempting to walk to the urinal. He struck his head in the fall and sustained a massive subdural hematoma and intracranial bleed, which required immediate surgery.

By the time the surgery was under way, Bahng had sustained profound brain damage and was placed on life support immediately following a craniectomy. He died as a result of his brain trauma on April 25, 2006 and was survived by his wife and children.

Continue reading

by

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. 

Continue reading

by

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. 

Continue reading

by

A confidential settlement was reached with a hospital emergency room and doctors after a 58-year-old man underwent emergency surgery. The man went to the hospital emergency room after dislocating his hip prosthesis. During the emergency surgery, the attending anesthesiologist attempted unsuccessfully to place an endotracheal tube. 

The man, Doe, required an emergency tracheotomy.

Doe suffered oxygen loss resulting in a hypoxia brain injury because of the lack of oxygen. After being removed from life support, Doe was transferred to hospice where he later died. Doe was survived by his wife and two adult children.

Continue reading

by

Continuity of care is paramount in patient healthcare. The goal is always to give the patient the best medical care while at the same time reduce medical errors. For the last 20 years hospitals and physicians have been using electronic health records (EHR).

Although the intent was noble, EHR has caused serious and even catastrophic injury and harm to patients because of poorly written software programs for healthcare providers. Sometimes the medical recording software does not allow for certain medical conditions, treatments and tests. In those cases, the medical providers simply use the drop down or other shortcut to comply with the entry requirements.

It used to be that narrative nursing notes would be important in providing details of patient care. But in most hospital settings, nurses simply use default screens on a computer to make their entries. Physicians often are not able to read the nurses’ remarks or notes. 

Continue reading

by

On June 22, 2006, Raymone Bowe, a 10-year-old boy, was brought by his mother to the emergency department at Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago with a sore throat, headache and a history of fever and vomiting. Raymone was seen in the ER by the defendant, Dr. Joseph Mejia, an occupational medicine/ophthalmology physician. 

Dr. Mejia diagnosed flu and headache and discharged Raymone with instructions to follow up if his symptoms continued or got worse. Two days later, at 12:19 a.m. on June 24, 2006, Raymone’s mother brought him to the emergency department at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County. She reported that Raymone had  3 days of diarrhea, vomiting and fever. The complete blood count showed Raymone had an elevated white blood count, but he was still discharged with a diagnosis of a viral syndrome. Later that  day, Raymone was taken to Children’s Memorial Hospital, where he was diagnosed with Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis. Raymone was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. 

Because of the delay in treating the meningitis, Raymone sustained complete and permanent hearing loss in both ears resulting in surgeries to insert bilateral cochlear implants. 

Continue reading

by

Bozena Smith filed a medical negligence complaint against two doctors who were residents in 2006 when she claims she was injured in postsurgical treatment.

After the fact discovery was done by each of the parties, and the trial judge entered a deadline of Sept. 13, 2010 for the plaintiff to disclose any experts and opinions. Bozena disclosed one expert she had hired to render an opinion. In the Rule 213(f)(3) disclosures, the plaintiff stated that the doctor retained as an expert would provide expert opinions that both the residents, Drs. Murphy and McFadden, deviated from the standard of care in treating Smith, which caused her injuries. 

However, on Nov. 8, 2010, when the plaintiff’s expert doctor appeared for his deposition, he testified that he was withdrawing his adverse opinions against the residents and then testified that he held no opinions that implicated the residents in any substandard medical care of the plaintiff. In fact, the plaintiff’s expert testified as follows:

Continue reading