Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Yesterday, a Pennsylvania jury awarded $1.2 million to the wife of man who died following being negligently discharged to home with a life threatening condition. 55 year old Michael Scarpa, a retired railroad worker, died just 2 days after he was discharged from Tyler Memorial Hospital. Mr. Scarpa had arrived at TMH with complaints of chest pains and vomiting over a three day period. Despite these complaints, Mr. Scarpa’s doctors told him to take some cough medicine, get some rest and see his primary care physician in a few days. 2 days later he died. At autopsy, the medical examiner showed that Mr. Scarpa had an ulcerated and perforated esophagus that allowed food to enter the area around his lungs known as the pleural cavity. This led to his blood becoming poisoned and ultimately his death.

An esophageal perforation is a essentially a hole in the esophagus that allows food to pass out of the esophagus into the mediastinum, the surrounding area in the chest. This usually results in the mediastinum becoming infected. Esophageal perforations typically occur during a medical procedure, violent vomiting, trauma or injury to the chest, swallowing a foreign object or extremely caustic chemical, a tumor or a ulcerated area on the esophagus. When a perforation occurs, pain is the most common symptom. Other symptoms include difficulty swallowing, chest pain or breathing problems. Patients are also often found to have a fever (sign of infection), elevated breathing rate, rapid heart rate, low blood pressure, neck pain or air bubles under skin if perforation is near the top of the esophagus. Physicians generally order x-rays or CT scans of the chest in order to determine if there is a perforation.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Earlier this week, attorneys for the family of Thomas Murphy won a $1.44 million verdict against a physician at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, Maryland after a jury determined that the physician failed to properly diagnose Mr. Murphy with sepsis upon his presentation to the hospital. Instead, the physician erroneously diagnosed him with an infection, and thereby only treated him with broad-spectrum antibiotics. Mr. Murphy’s family argued that had he been properly and timely treated for sepsis upon his admission to the hospital, he would have survived. Mr. Murphy died just one day after his hospital admission.

Sepsis – the body’s ultimate response to a bacterial infection — is characterized by severe reaction of the body’s organs to the foreign bacteria and/or death. Sepsis is also referred to as systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Although sepsis often results from the widespread invasion of bacteria into a patient’s bloodstream, this invasion is not essential for the development of severe sepsis since local infection/inflammation can also cause distant organ dysfunction and blood pressure irregularities. Some of the common places in the body where an infection might start include the skin (celluitis), the lungs (bacterial pneumonia), liver, gall bladder, lining of the brain (meningitis), the bloodstream, the bones, the bowel, or the kidneys. For hospitalized patients, common sources of infections include bedsores (decubitus ulcers), surgical drains, intravenous lines, or surgical wounds. Unfortunately, bacteria live and breed in hospitalized settings, and thus, many healthy people who have suffered an injury requiring a drain, or IV lines or open ports into their blood stream often contract an infection that turns into sepsis.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

An Illinois family recently a medical negligence / malpractice case against an Elgin, Illinois hospital for $9.5 million after their child was born was cerebral palsy. In 1996, the mother presented to the hospital in labor with contractions ongoing. She was seen immediately by a mid-wife. At some point during her labor, complications with the baby developed. The mother immediately requested that the mid-wife notify and get a doctor to see her. The mid-wife failed to do so. Subsequently, the child was born with cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is a complex medical condition that ranges in severity from mild to severe. Typically, those afflicted with cerebral palsy have an inability to control their motor function; i.e., they lack adequate muscle control and coordination. Common symptoms that can lead to a diagnosis of cerebral palsy include: involuntary movements of limbs; muscle spasticity (tightness), inability to walk properly (gait); seizures, breathing problems or difficulty swallowing; bladder and bowel continence issues; learning disabilities, and the impairment of one or more senses (sight, hearing, etc.). More severe cases may also result in a child having difficulty speaking.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Earlier this year, a Florida jury awarded a mother $38.75 million against a obstetrician and hospital after the physician failed to timely perform a c-section on the mother. As a result of the delay, the mother’s baby suffered a birth injury resulting in cerebral palsy. Like other types of birth injuries, cerebral palsy is avoidable. Generally speaking, cerebral palsy occurs when a baby does not receive enough oxygen to the brain and begins showing signs of distress that is seen in the fetal heart monitoring strips. In these circumstances, when an unborn baby is showing signs of fetal distress, the standard of care often dictates that an emergency c-section be performed. If not, irreversible injury to the baby, such as cerebral palsy or other types of brain damage can occur.

Cerebral palsy is a complex medical condition that ranges in severity from mild to severe. Typically, those afflicted with cerebral palsy have an inability to control their motor function; i.e., they lack adequate muscle control and coordination. Common symptoms that can lead to a diagnosis of cerebral palsy include: involuntary movements of limbs; muscle spasticity (tightness), inability to walk properly (gait); seizures, breathing problems or difficulty swallowing; bladder and bowel continence issues; learning disabilities, and the impairment of one or more senses (sight, hearing, etc.). More severe cases may also result in a child having difficulty speaking.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

As recently reported in New York, the family of an infant recently received a verdict of $1.4 million following a delay in diagnosing their child’s brain tumor, a delay that caused the baby to lose his eyesight. In the medical negligence suit, the family alleged that the medical doctors failed to diagnose the tumor over a period of just 4 months following the onset of the child’s symptoms. In defense, the doctors argued that the delay itself was so brief that even if the tumor had been timely and properly diagnosed, the child would have still lost his eyesight. The defense also argued that there was no way that the tumor could have grown to the extent that it did between the time of the alleged delay and subsequent discovery.

A physician’s failure to timely diagnose a brain tumor can have potentially catastrophic consequences for the patient and his/her family. Patients can experience complications ranging from paralysis and brain damage to vision / hearing loss and death. As tumors in the brain get larger, they often cause a patient to experience various signs and symptoms. These signs and symptoms include memory loss, seizures, hearing loss, vision loss, sleep problems, headaches that last much longer than normal, other cognitive deficits, fatigue and nausea.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

A New York jury recently awarded a $3.1 million verdict to the family of a 40 year old husband and father (John Benigno) of two who died of a heart attack shortly after reporting cardiac symptoms to his cardiologist who, in response, ordered no additional tests. In January 2002, Mr. Benigno presented to South Shore Heart Associates, a cardiology group, with cardiac symptoms. Mr. Benigno also had a family history of heart disease and a history of high cholesterol. Despite these findings and his symptoms, his cardiologist failed to order a repeat nuclear stress test, a common cardiology test used to rule out a artery blockage. The most commonly performed stress test is an exercise stress test known as an ECG (electrocardiogram) or treadmill test, in which the heart is evaluated as it responds to exertion. The test usually involves walking on a treadmill (or pedaling a stationery bike for an extended period of time) at increasing levels of difficulty while the heart rate and blood pressure are being monitored. In this case, the physician relied upon a negative stress test from 2 years prior. Six months after getting a “clean bill of health” from the cardiologist, Mr. Benigno suffered a heart attack and died. An autopsy revealed significant blockages and narrowing of his coronary arteries. At trial, Mr. Benigno’s attorney demonstrated that given the 2 years that passed from the previous negative stress test, the standard of care required that a new test be performed given Mr. Benigno’s new symptoms. The jury award that followed included an amount for the loss of parental care, medical expenses, support and guidance of his children.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

One often overlooked instance of medical negligence / malpractice occurs when a patient suffers an adverse / allergic reaction to IV contrast prior to undergoing a CT scan, MRI or other radiological procedure. Millions of radiology studies are performed utilizing IV contrast each year. In many instances, this reaction occurs in patients with no known risk factors and thus cannot be reasonably anticipated. Most adverse reactions are minor and pass with nothing more than temporary discomfort to the patient. Although rare (somewhere on the order of 1:250,000 patients), a patient will suffer a severe reaction, called an anaphylactoid or idiosyncratic event, a reaction that can be life life threatening if not properly understood and treated. In such instances, it is often the lack of proper and timely care following the reaction that serves as grounds for a medical negligence lawsuit. In our experience, the following steps and measures should be taken in order to comply with the standard of care: (1) prior to the radiology procedure, the radiologist or physician should obtain a patient’s informed consent to proceed with the procedure and, in the course of that discussion, discuss the risk of serious injury or death from a contrast reaction; (2) in patients with known previous reactions to IV contrast, premedication should be prescribed; (3) a physician should be available to lead the response to any reaction; (4) emergency response equipment and medications are readily accessible; (5) radiologists or other imaging personnel are trained to recognize and respond to a reaction; (6) transport to an emergency facility or ICU is available in a timely fashion; and (7) a patient’s reaction is clearly documented in his/her chart so that the patient can pre-medicated for future contrast studies.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

As was recently reported by the Los Angeles Times, Kaiser Permanente was ordered to pay a former middle school administrator $5 million after his doctors negligently failed to recognize signs and symptoms that were consistent with an impending stroke, and instead erroneously diagnosed him with a migraine headache. In 2008, the 48 year old Plaintiff presented to the health care providers with a primary complaint of headaches and episodic blindness, signs and symptoms that were consistent with a tear in his carotid artery. The plaintiff was evaluated by several doctors, including a neurologist, none of whom considered or ruled out the possibility that he was suffering from a carotid tear. According to the Plaintiff’s attorney, in men under the age of 60, a carotid tear is one of the most common causes of episodic blindness. Instead, the Plaintiff’s doctors diagnosed him with an opthalmic migraine headache. Had the proper diagnosis been made, the Plaintiff would have been treated promptly with medication, which in turn, would have allowed the artery to repair itself within a matter of months. Instead, the tear went untreated for weeks, ultimately resulting in a Thanksgiving evening stroke. That stroke resulted in the Plaintiff being partially paralyzed, wheelchair bound and unable to work or care for himself. A subsequent infection, resulted in the need to amputate the Plaintiff’s legs. In the lawsuit, the Plaintiff claimed damages that included past and future medical expenses, past and future loss of earnings and benefits and damages associated with his past and future pain, suffering and emotional distress.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Like most Americans, when you go to a hospital, especially a very-well known one, you probably place a great deal of trust in the doctors, nurses and other health care providers to properly and timely diagnose whatever may be ailing you. As we are all too often reminded, however, health care providers are not perfect. Sometimes, as in all fields, the very people who have the education, training and experience to diagnose your illness fail to recognize critical signs and symptoms necessary to do just that. As a result, your illness either goes undiagnosed and causes you further injury or is eventually diagnosed at a much later date, well after irreversible injury has occurred. Sadly, the end result of these failures to diagnose or timely diagnose is often devastating or even fatal. When these kinds of mistakes are made, medical negligence often has occurred, and you or your loved ones may have the right to financial compensation.

As a lawyer, proving that a health care provider failed to properly and/or timely diagnose you with a particular illness (for example, cancer) is meticulously challenging process. In every case, our lawyers rely upon and enlist the support of expert medical professionals in various areas of expertise around the country, such as oncology (in a cancer case) or infectious disease (in the case of an unexplained injury caused by infection) to assist in understanding the ins and outs of the medicine. With the help of these experts, in these kinds of cases our lawyers must generally prove that: (1) the health care provider in question did truly fail to diagnose the victim’s condition and/or take the necessary steps to refer that patient to a specialist in the right field to facilitate a diagnosis; (2) that the failure of the health care provider to do the above constituted a departure from the standard of care (what a reasonable physician would do in similar circumstances); and (3) that the failure to diagnose or timely diagnose the victim with his/her illness caused him/her to suffer further complications, injuries or death.

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 Posted on January 01, 2017 in Medical Malpractice

Recent statistics indicate that over 8000 infants each year are diagnosed with some degree of cerebral palsy following their birth. What was once thought to be an unfortunate complication of the birthing process, is now subjected to more scrutiny as leading experts agree that many instances of cerebral palsy could have been prevented by proper medical care during the labor and delivery process. Cerebral palsy is a complex medical condition that ranges in severity from mild to severe. Typically, those afflicted with cerebral palsy have an inability to control their motor function; i.e., they lack adequate muscle control and coordination. Common symptoms that can lead to a diagnosis of cerebral palsy include: involuntary movements of limbs; muscle spasticity (tightness), inability to walk properly (gait); seizures, breathing problems or difficulty swallowing; bladder and bowel continence issues; learning disabilities, and the impairment of one or more senses (sight, hearing, etc.). More severe cases may also result in a child having difficulty speaking. In addition, many children experience profound cognitive deficits and/or educational limitations attributable to the deprivation of oxygen that they experienced while in utero or during their delivery.

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