A 61 year old gentleman died needlessly at Bayfront (now "ShorePoint Health") after waiting for 2.5 days in a hospital bed for a needed surgery to clean out the vessels that supply oxygen to the brain.... His prior scans and pre-operative reports had been faxed to the hospital, but the hospital lost all the records. No one at the hospital was aware that the patient's surgeon was out of the country on vacation and that a covering surgeon had been designated. Nurses did not inform other doctors of the patient's worsening condition, did not follow medication orders, and did not follow the hospital's policies and procedures. By the time the correct surgeon came to the hospital to see the patient, the gentleman suffered a devastating stroke that left him "brain dead." The gentleman died on day #3 of his hospitalization. All experts agreed the gentleman had a 97% chance of a complete recovery if the correct surgery would have been performed in time. Defendants refused to settle the case because they believed the jury would render a defense verdict and give the hospital a "pass" because the patient had been a former smoker.
Medical malpractice
Contaminated Platelet Transfusion
May 01, 2012
OUTCOME: After filing a lawsuit we settled with the Blood Bank and Hospital for a confidential amount
Contaminated platelets are a serious, life-threatening product, especially when given to a patient who is already immuno-compromised. We successfully represented the mother of a 7 year old girl who was... on her way to remission from a prior cancer diagnosis, but died suddenly and unexpectedly after she received a contaminated platelet transfusion. Platelets are not refrigerated after they are collected from a donor and can remain "on the shelf" for up to 5 days before given to a patient. If there is even one bacteria cell in the collected unit, the bacteria will flourish during this shelf period (called a "blooming phase") and the transfusion becomes a deadly/toxic solution. Investigation of the facts in our case revealed the Blood Bank had taken short-cuts with testing and the Hospital failed to immediately stop the transfusion when the little girl started having symptoms of a transfusion reaction. The defendants refused to settle prior to filing a lawsuit and claimed the little girl "would have died anyway" because of her prior cancer diagnosis.
Medical malpractice
Premature Birth of Infant
Jan 01, 2011
OUTCOME: Settlement for Insurance Policy Limits
When our pregnant client developed severe low back pain and nausea in the middle of the night, she went to the emergency room and was admitted to the labor and delivery unit. Urine testing showed the ...presence of some blood, and laboratory blood tests showed a slightly elevated white blood cell count. The patient’s OB/GYN physician was called; however, he gave telephone orders to the nursing staff before he examined his patient. For the next several hours, the defendant OB/GYN doctor continued to treat his patient by relying on reports from the nursing staff and giving telephone orders. Without examining the patient, and merely relying on nursing reports and laboratory results, the OB/GYN doctor diagnosed our client with a kidney infection and prescribed antibiotics. In the meantime, nursing staff documented contractions in the medical chart consistent with premature labor. Finally, nine hours after our client’s symptoms started, the defendant doctor came to the hospital to examine his patient. In spite of fetal heart monitoring strips documenting uterine contractions the OB/GYN failed to consider the pregnant patient could be having premature labor and did not order any medications to halt the progression of the labor. Worse yet, the doctor told the nurses they did not need to continue fetal heart monitoring. Shortly after the defendant doctor left the hospital our client’s water broke. Instead of coming back to the hospital to examine his patient, the OB/GYN gave a telephone order for an ultrasound to evaluate the baby’s condition. Several hours later when the ultrasound tech tried to scan our patient’s belly she could not find the baby’s head on the ultrasound monitor. Upon further investigation the tech discovered the baby’s head had already “crowned.” Our patient’s baby was born three months prematurely and was rushed to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at another hospital. When our client was discharged the next day she was not diagnosed or treated for a kidney infection. After a month of fighting to survive our client’s baby died from complications due to premature birth. The defendant doctor and his insurance company alleged nothing could have been done to stop our client’s labor, even if she had been properly diagnosed when she was first admitted to the hospital. They further alleged the baby had no chance of survival because of her extreme prematurity. We proved the standard of care requires a presumption of premature labor in a pregnant patient with back pain and nausea until proven otherwise with specific testing, which was never done for our client. We also proved kidney infections are known to cause premature labor, even when labor has not started; therefore, the standard of care requires a heightened awareness that preterm labor can develop, and continuous fetal heart and uterine contraction monitoring. Further, we proved Magnesium Sulfate should have been given to halt the progression of the labor, and steroid medication should have been given to protect the unborn baby’s lungs and increase the chances of survival.
Our 24-year-old client was a passenger in her boyfriend’s car. When the boyfriend made a left-hand turn at a traffic light intersection, an oncoming vehicle in the opposite direction violently crashed... broadside into the passenger side of the boyfriend’s car, severely injuring our client. An investigating police officer issued a citation to the driver of the oncoming vehicle, who was a tourist that did not speak English. Our client lost consciousness and was airlifted by helicopter to a nearby trauma center, where she was diagnosed with internal organ injuries and bleeding which required emergency surgery and drainage tubes. She was hospitalized in the ICU and several days later had to undergo another abdominal surgery, which left her horribly scarred. After our client was discharged from the hospital she continued to have significant abdominal pain for more than a year. The boyfriend and his insurance company claimed the oncoming driver caused the crash because the boyfriend supposedly had the right-of-way, the oncoming driver
supposedly ran a red light, and there were no eyewitnesses to testify what really happened. We hired an accident reconstruction expert to prove the boyfriend driver made an illegal left-hand turn. We also hired a trauma surgeon expert to prove our client’s long-term abdominal pain was due to adhesions, which put her at significant risk for future medical complications and problems. After a lawsuit was filed and we prepared for trial, the boyfriend’s insurance finally paid the policy limits. We also filed a UIM claim with our client’s insurance, which also paid policy limits.
Medical malpractice
Misdiagnosis of Colorectal Cancer
Jan 01, 2004
OUTCOME: $800,000.00 settlement
Our client was treated by his family practice physician for occasional rectal bleeding. The doctor performed a colonoscopy in his office, which he concluded was “normal,” and diagnosed our client hemo...rrhoids. The patient returned to his doctor several more times for rectal bleeding but no further testing or treatment was provided. After several more months of intermittent bleeding without improvement, our client sought a second opinion from another physician, who relied on the previous colonoscopy report and rendered the same diagnosis of hemorrhoids. Over the following year our client’s bleeding worsened, so he sought treatment from a third physician, who performed an examination and found a large cancerous colorectal tumor. Our client required surgery, a colostomy (an abdominal bag for stool collection), radiation and chemotherapy treatments. In spite of the cancer treatments, the colorectal cancer metastasized (spread) to other parts of his body and his chances of survival decreased.
The defendant doctors (the first and second physicians) alleged that our client didn’t have colorectal cancer at the time of the colonoscopy, or in the alternative, the cancer was very slow growing and a diagnosis of cancer at the time of the colonoscopy wouldn’t have made any difference in our client’s prognosis. We proved the defendant doctor (a family practice physician) wasn’t qualified to perform a colonoscopy, and should have referred our client to a gastroenterology specialist for proper diagnosis.
Medical malpractice
OB/GYN C-Section Infection
Jan 01, 2002
OUTCOME: $3,000.000 verdict
Our client suffered septic shock and nearly died two weeks after her baby was delivered by C-section following a prolonged labor, because the OB/GYN failed to use antibiotics prior to surgery. Our cli...ent was discharged from the hospital a few days after the C-section with a slight fever and red incision, but her doctor assured her she was doing well. A week after our client was discharged from the hospital she became ill, but the OB/GYN failed to realize there was a serious infection brewing deep inside her abdomen. Instead, the defendant doctor prescribed a general antibiotic for what he believed was a “superficial wound infection.” Before antibiotics were invented, women with prolonged labor often died during childbirth. When a pregnant woman’s amniotic sac ruptures (“breaking water”), infection can occur because there is no longer any protective barrier between the outside of the mother’s body and the inside of the uterus where the placenta attaches, allowing bacteria to invade the uterine muscle tissue. This condition is called “endometritis,” but in the “old days” (before antibiotics were invented), this condition was known as “childbed fever.” Bacteria can also invade the amniotic sac and lining, known as “amnionitis” or “chorioamnionitis.” After antibiotics were invented, women rarely died from infection due to prolonged labor and ruptured membranes. The standard of care for OB/GYN physicians requires prophylactic (preventative) antibiotics for women with prolonged labor and ruptured membranes, especially when a C-section is performed. When the patient’s abdomen and uterus are surgically opened, infected amniotic fluid can splash inside the abdomen, resulting in multiple “pus pockets,” causing serious widespread infection.
Approximately 2 weeks after the C-section our client suffered septic shock and nearly died. She underwent 7 surgeries to remove large “pus pockets” that had accumulated in her abdomen, and spent nearly 2 months in the ICU. One of the surgeries included a colostomy because her bowels stopped working, which required her to use a colostomy bag for several months. Because of her extended illness and multiple surgeries, our client was unable to hold her baby for the first time until he was nearly one year old. When our client finally healed from all the surgeries, her abdomen was badly scarred and mutilated.
The defendant OB/GYN doctor alleged the standard of care did not require prophylactic antibiotics and that the patient’s septic shock was allegedly due to c. difficile colitis from the general antibiotic prescribed for the misdiagnosed “superficial wound infection” a week after the surgery. We offered to settle our client’s case without trial for $1,250,000, but the defendant doctor and his insurance company refused to pay more than $50,000. After a 5-week trial, the jury agreed with our theory of the case and awarded $3,000,000 to our client.
Medical malpractice
Misdiagnosis of an Ependymoma / Benign Spinal Cord Tumor
Jan 01, 2001
OUTCOME: $1,500,000 settlement
Our client complained of back and neck pain with numbness and tingling in her hands and feet. Her orthopedic surgeon diagnosed her with degenerative disc disease and referred her to a neurologist to r...ule out possible nerve problems. The neurologist performed an EMG (electromyogram) which was slightly abnormal, but he did not order any other tests and wrongly concluded the patient’s neurological exam was normal. The neurologist told our client her numbness and tingling symptoms were caused by obesity, and she should go on a diet to lose weight. Assuming the patient had no neurological problems, the orthopedic surgeon performed spine surgery for the degenerative disc disease condition; however, when our client awoke from the anesthesia she was paralyzed. An MRI scan revealed a large benign tumor (ependymoma) in the patient’s spinal cord which caused paralysis when her spine was manipulated during the surgery. We proved the defendant neurologist breached the standard of care when he failed to order a spine MRI, which would have clearly revealed the ependymoma. Usually, ependymomas are congenital (present at birth). Because these tumors are benign (non–cancerous) they grow very slowly over a patient’s lifetime. When ependymomas finally grow large enough to cause symptoms (usually numbness and tingling), they are usually surgically removed without further problems. During litigation, we discovered the defendant neurologist had failed the Neurology Board Certification exam three times.
Medical malpractice
Cardiology Malpractice: Misdiagnosis of Heart Attack / Myocardial Infarction
Jan 01, 2000
OUTCOME: $850,000.00 settlement
Our client’s husband died from a heart attack approximately six months after he was misdiagnosed with chest pains. When he originally complained of chest pain he underwent a cardiac stress test which ...was wrongly interpreted as “normal,” when in fact, there were abnormal findings on the study. The patient complained of chest pain again about a month after the stress test, but because the defendant cardiologist believed the stress test was normal he failed to order any further cardiac testing. Our client’s husband collapsed and died suddenly at work. An autopsy revealed he died of a heart attack due to undiagnosed coronary artery disease. The defendant cardiologist alleged the cardiac stress test was normal, or at best, that it only had slight abnormalities. The cardiologist also alleged the coronary artery disease and heart attack occurred after the stress test had been done. The defendant doctor and his insurance company blamed the patient for his own death because of his prior cigarette smoking history. The defendant cardiologist also blamed the patient because he did not get another examination or second opinion prior to his death. We proved the stress test was not performed properly and the results were misinterpreted. The standard of care usually requires a cardiac catheterization (coronary angiography) when there is any doubt or concern the patient’s chest pain could be due to coronary atherosclerosis, especially when the patient continues to have chest pain. We also proved the patient’s prior history of cigarette smoking significantly increased his risk of coronary atherosclerosis and heart attack, which should have heightened the cardiologist’s index of suspicion.
Medical malpractice
Misdiagnosis of Pulmonary Embolism
Jan 01, 1999
OUTCOME: Confidential Settlement for Wrongful Death
Our client’s husband died of a pulmonary embolism (blot clot in the lungs). Several days prior to his death, this otherwise healthy 50 year old man developed shortness of breath. His family doctor pe...rformed an EKG and chest x-ray, which were both normal, so the doctor diagnosed the patient with bronchitis and recommended cough medicine. Several days later our client’s husband stopped breathing and died suddenly. The defendant doctor alleged that because the EKG and chest x-rays were normal, the patient was correctly diagnosed with bronchitis. We proved the defendant doctor should have ordered further diagnostic testing, such as a spiral CT. Most patients with pulmonary emboli have normal EKGs and chest x-rays. The standard of care requires a presumption (“differential diagnosis”) of pulmonary emboli until proven otherwise.
Car accident
Brain and Spine Injuries
Jan 01, 1996
OUTCOME: $1,490,000 settlement
Our 40 year-old client was legally stopped on a busy road to make a left-hand turn into her driveway when the car behind her failed to stop in time. When the defendant driver crashed into the rear of ...our client’s vehicle, she was propelled forward across the center line and crashed head-on into another vehicle. Our client suffered cervical spine fractures that required surgery, in addition to a brain injury that interfered with her ability to work at her former job. Although the defendant driver did not dispute liability, his insurance company alleged our client’s injuries were worsened by her failure to wear a seat belt. The defendant driver only had $1,500,000 insurance coverage available: $10,000 was paid to the other driver involved in the head-on crash and the remaining $1,490,000 was paid to our client.
