Articles Posted in Misdiagnosis

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Neal Nuss, age 73, was transported to St. James Hospital in Blue Island, Ill., on Sept. 5, 2006 following an auto accident. Nuss was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with subdural hematoma; he was evaluated by a neurosurgeon. 

Over the next three days, doctors determined that the subdural hematoma was not big enough to operate on. Nuss was discharged from the hospital on Sept. 8, 2006. The doctors planned to monitor his condition as an outpatient. The monitoring was overseen by the defendant Dr. Cheryl Woodson, the patient’s primary care physician.Dr. Woodson instructed Nuss to return as an outpatient to undergo a CT scan at St. James Hospital for comparison. Nuss followed up as directed and saw Dr. Woodson on September 12 and underwent the CT scan on September 13. The scans were interpreted by radiologist, Dr. Green.

The doctors concluded that Nuss’s condition was stable and his next follow-up visit was planned with the neurosurgeon five days ahead.

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Fifty-year-old Dan Hebel suffered a rope burn while on a fishing trip in August 2004. Eventually he was referred to an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Craig Williams, at Illinois Bone & Joint Institute in Morton Grove.He first complained of an infectious process in his hand on August 23, 2004.One week later, Dr. Williams gave Hebel a steroid injection.The injection, however, caused the infection to worsen.

In this lawsuit, Hebel contended that the steroid injection was contraindicated by the underlying infection. Dr. Williams referred Hebel to Dr. Robert Citronberg for infectious disease management. Drs. Williams and Citronberg became co-treating physicians. Sometimes infections like this require antibiotic treatment and/or surgical involvement.

On November 9, 2004, Dr. Williams performed an incision and drainage procedure. Specimens from the surgery were sent for study and cultures. The pathology results were sent to both physicians, but the culture results were sent only to Dr. Williams and never sent to Dr. Citronberg.

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The Illinois Appellate Court for the Fourth District reversed a jury’s verdict for defendants, which included OSF Healthcare System, in the Circuit Court of McLean County.  The case centered around an injury and subsequent death of a 3-year-old boy, Christian Rivera, in 2003. The jury trial was held in July 2011. 

During the trial, the family of Christian offered its expert witness, Dr. Finley Brown, to testify as a medical expert in family practice.

The defendants were allowed by the trial judge to cross-examine Dr. Brown for the issue related to his annual earnings as an expert witness for an 8-year period. Plaintiff’s counsel had argued against the broad timeframe, but the trial judge denied plaintiff’s motion to limit the timeframe. Defense used this testimony to say the jury that Dr. Brown was a “go-to guy for expert opinions.”

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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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Tracy Spevak had undergone a LASIK surgery on her right eye once before. However, in January 2007, the defendant ophthalmologist did a LASIK surgery to attempt to enhance vision in Tracy’s right eye. During the surgery, Dr. Mark Golden, the defendant ophthalmologist, chose to re-cut the original LASIK flap, causing complications which necessitated additional surgeries on that eye.

Tracy now has permanent scar tissue in the central portion of her right eye. She has impaired vision, resulting in a kaleidoscope vision of lights at night, nausea, vertigo and migraine headaches. Her past medical bills totaled $8,274.

Tracy now will require a full or partial corneal transplant. At trial, the plaintiff argued that the medical standard of care required Dr. Golden to perform either a re-lifting of the original LASIK flap or a surface treatment.

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In a lawsuit resulting in a Cook County jury verdict, it was alleged by plaintiff Ryan Drummond that in August 2004, the defendant, Dr. Robert Brossard, a radiologist, chose not to correctly interpret x-rays of Drummond’s right hand. In addition, it was claimed that Dr. Brossard missed a fracture of the carpal bone of that same right hand. As a result of the doctor’s miss, Drummond was improperly treated with splinting for a sprain.

The fracture was later diagnosed on subsequent x-rays on Sept. 21, 2004. By that time, the window of opportunity for surgery to reduce the fracture had passed.

Drummond, 46, was a truck driver and sustained a nonunion of the trapezium, deformity to the base of the thumb, collapsed web space and development of severe arthritis. Drummond will need future arthroplasty surgery, which will mean a lengthy rehabilitation program.

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A jury has found that a skilled nursing home was negligent in choosing not to detect a dislocated right hip of one of its residents. One of the patients, P.G., 85, was admitted to the nursing home on a short-term basis following her right hip replacement surgery. P.G. was a fall risk, meaning she was noted in the records to be at greater risk of falling on scale. The practice of assessing nursing home resident’s propensity for falling is standard practice and required.

About two weeks after admission to the skilled nursing unit, the resident’s sister came to visit and noticed that her sister, P.G., was in pain and unable to bear weight on her leg. It was then that an X-ray showed P.G.’s dislocated right hip.

As a result, emergency surgery was required to remove P.G.’s hip prosthesis from her earlier hip replacement. P.G. was confined to a wheelchair for several months until she was able to undergo the revision surgery. Recovery has been slow, and P.G. has not been able to return to her home.

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The Missouri Supreme Court has found that the statute that limits noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases to $350,000 unlawfully infringes on a jury’s constitutional right to determine the amount of damage that a person has sustained from medical negligence.

In this Missouri case, Deborah Watts filed suit for medical negligence against the hospital and others alleging that her son suffered catastrophic brain injuries because of hospital and medical providers’ negligence. Ms. Watts went to Cox Medical Center at 39 weeks of pregnancy after she felt cramping and decreased fetal movement. No diagnostic tests were completed, and she was sent home. When she returned two days later, she was this time placed on a fetal heart tracing monitor. More than an hour later, her son Naython was delivered by Caeserean section. Unfortunately, Naython suffered catastrophic brain injuries.

The jury awarded $1.45 million in noneconomic damages and $3.371 million in future medical damages. However, because of the Missouri statute capping noneconomic damages, the trial judge reduced the noneconomic award to $350,000. Ms. Watts appealed, arguing that the statute violates the right to trial by jury and other violations of the state constitution.

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A new study shows that shoulder dislocation in older patients is more likely to be overlooked or misdiagnosed than among younger patients. The study warned that older patients whose shoulder injuries are not treated can face years of persistent pain and disability.

Published in the October 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the study examines the differences in dislocation injuries between older and younger patients. It also suggests an approach to evaluate older patients that could help improve diagnosis and management of related injuries.

The study’s lead author is Dr. Anand Murthi. He says understanding the very different ways shoulder dislocation can affect patients over 40 years of age is the first step in making an accurate diagnosis of dislocation-related injuries. Older patients are more likely to experience injury to the rotator cuff, which is the group of tendons, ligaments and other structures that help give the shoulder its range of motion, Dr. Murthi explained. He said this happens because the rotator cuff tissue becomes weaker and more brittle with aging and tears more easily.

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A consortium of 55 hospitals in the New York region has launched a campaign to aggressively identify sepsis for early treatment. Hospital administrators say the campaign is needed because sepsis, a leading cause of death in hospitals, can at first look like less serious ailments.

The new campaign was recently highlighted in a story published by the New York Times. The Times story focused on Rory Staunton, 12, who suffered what seemed like a minor cut on his arm while diving for a basketball during a gym class. The P.E. director at his school applied Band-aids to the cut, and Rory went about his normal routine. That night, he told his parents about the incident in the gym, did his homework and went to bed.

The next day, he started vomiting, spiked a high fever and reported pain in his leg. His parents brought him to a pediatrician, who referred him to the emergency room at NYU Langone Medical Center, where he was treated for upset stomach and dehydration. Doctors prescribed fluids and Tylenol and sent the boy home.

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