Chicago Injury Attorney Blog

The wife of a man whose leg had to be amputated because a fracture wasn’t treated for over two months has filed an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit against Mobilex USA, Covenant Care, and two doctors. Myrna Ambuehl is the attorney-in-fact for her husband Roland Ambuehl.

According to her Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, Roland fell from his bed and sustained a femoral fracture to his left leg on June 3, 2007. He reportedly told workers at Highland Health Care Center that he was experiencing pain in his left knee and leg following the fall accident. Highland retained Mobilex USA to conduct x-rays of Roland’s knee and pelvis.

Mobilex USA doctors Elliot Wagner and Donald Lanese examined the X-rays and said that there were no fractures. After their diagnoses, Roland still felt pain in his left knee, which started to swell. Myrna’s medical malpractice lawsuit contends that despite his symptoms, workers at the center still made him undergo physical therapy and take part in other physical activities, including exercise.

Highland asked Mobilex to take more images of Roland’s leg on June 21, 2007. Lanese examined the images and didn’t see a fracture. Roland continued with the care and rehabilitation plan the center had designed for him despite the pain and swelling. In August, Myrna asked for an orthopedic surgeon to look at her husband’s knee. Instead, Highland asked Mobilex to take more X-rays. Lanese again looked at the images and didn’t see a fracture.

It was at this time that Dr. Scott Halvorson, who is Roland’s treating physician, examined him and determined that the patient’s left femur was fractured. The condition of his leg was so bad because it had gone untreated for so long that Roland had to have his knee amputated in August 2007. Myrna’s Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit seeks a judgment of over $250,000 plus other costs and relief.

Delayed Diagnosis
Delayed diagnosis or wrong diagnosis can be detrimental to a patient’s condition and can lead to medical procedures and treatments that could otherwise have been avoided if a physician had made the correct diagnosis sooner. Delayed/wrong diagnosis is a breach of the medical provider’s care responsibilities to a patient.

Fractured leg untreated for three months had to be amputated, suit claims, The Record, June 3, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Delayed Diagnosis, WrongDiagnosis.com

Mobilex USA

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In Winnebago County, Illinois, the family of 4-year-old Jeremy Law has agreed to settle its birthing malpractice lawsuit with a Rockford hospital for $12 million. This is the largest personal injury settlement to ever be issued in this county. Jeremy now has Cerebral palsy.

Patricia Law was admitted to St. Anthony Medical Center's labor and delivery area on November 7, 2004. A nurse gave her Pitocin to induce labor. Dr. Fernando has stated under oath that he gave Patricia the drug because nursing workers had told him that the baby was positioned heads-down and ready to be delivered. He says he would have performed a Caesarian birth if he had been notified that the baby was in breech position.

Even though the baby’s fetal heart beat became irregular, the nurse administered more Pitocin and did not conduct a vaginal exam to check the baby’s position. Some 15 minutes later, the baby experienced bradycardia and there was not enough oxygen traveling to his brain. It wasn’t until 20 minutes later that Jeremy was delivered by emergency Caesarean.

According to the Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit , hospital staffers neglected to identify that Jeremy was positioned in his mother’s womb for a breech delivery, neglected to detect signs of fetal distress, and neglected to deliver him by Caesarean procedure in a timely manner. Because of their medical negligence, the complaint contends that Jeremy sustained major brain damage because he did not receive enough oxygen during his delivery.

Pediatric neurologists have told the Laws that Jeremy’s developmental age will not go beyond what is now—that of a 2-month-old infant. He will continue to physically develop but he won’t be able to roll over, hold his head up, crawl, sit, stand, or grasp.

Illinois Cerebral Palsy Lawsuits
In order to prove that your child was the victim of birthing malpractice that caused his or her Cerebral palsy, you will need the help of an experienced Chicago birthing malpractice lawyer that understands the complexities involved in these kinds of Illinois medical malpractice cases. In many cases, a child with Cerebral palsy will require specialized medical attention and nursing care for life. The financial toll is generally too much for a family to carry without obtaining obtaining damages from all negligent parties.

You and your child may be entitled to Illinois birthing malpractice damages for the devastating harm, pain, and suffering that all of you must now endure.

$12 Million Settlement in Birth Injury Lawsuit Against OSF Healthcare, Business Wire, May 20, 2009

Related Web Resources:
NINDS Cerebral Palsy Information Page

Cerebral Palsy Program/Guide

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Posted In: Birthing Malpractice , Cerebral Palsy , Injuries to Minors , Medical Malpractice

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In Illinois, a woman is suing a number medical care providers for medical malpractice. Anastasia Parker claims that because she was injected with radioactive iodine while she was pregnant, her daughter Taelor Hannah was born with hypothyroidism and will have to undergo medical treatment for the condition for the duration of her life. Parker is seeking a judgment over $500,000 plus costs.

In 2006, Parker underwent a thyroidectomy. She then had to be administered radioactive iodine on more than one occasion. Dr. Wael Girgis and Dr. Mohamed Megahy, however, failed to make sure that she wasn’t pregnant before administering the radioactive iodine injections.

Parker’s Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit contends that as a result, her daughter, who was born on August 3, 2007, was soon after diagnosed with hypothyroidism. The complaint says that because Parker was injected with radioactive iodine while pregnant with Taelor Hannah, the toddler is at higher risk of cognitive deficits, developmental delays, mental retardation, and cancer. Parker also blames the defendants for failing to tell her about the risks of taking radioactive iodine and of not talking to the proper doctors before administering the injections to her.

The defendants in Parker’s Illinois civil lawsuit are Dr. Megahy, Dr. Girgis, Belleville Oncology, Maryville Oncology, and Memorial Hospital.

Doctors are supposed to make sure that anything that they administer to a patient will not cause injury or other harm to him or her. They owe it to all of their patients to provide no less than a certain standard of care, and failure to provide that care can be grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit if a patient gets hurt, even more sick, or dies.

If your son or daughter is born with an illness, injury, or condition that occurred because your doctor or another medical provider was negligent, careless, reckless, or made a mistake, you also may have grounds to file an Illinois birthing malpractice lawsuit.

Woman treated for thyroid condition sues doctors for not administering pregnancy test, The Record, March 31, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Hypothyroidism in Children, EHealthMD.com

Hypothyroidism, MayoClinic.com

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In Chicago, two Roseland Community Hospital intensive care patients died after becoming infected with acinetobacter, a bacterium that sometimes can be found in ICU’s. The two victims, who lived at the same Chicago nursing home, were both elderly and had a number of serious medical conditions. It is unclear whether the bacterial infection contributed to their deaths.

The outbreak, however, did infect 7 out of 10 patients at the intensive-care unit before it was contained. Officials at the Roseland Community Hospital and at the Chicago Department of Public Health are conducting an investigation to determine how to prevent future outbreaks.

According to Tim Hadac, the department’s spokesperson, acinetobacter infections are not uncommon in healthcare settings because it is a common bacterium known to appear around people with compromised immune systems—especially in places where there are very sick patients. Acinetobacter can be spread through contaminated surfaces, environmental exposures, and person-to-person contact. It can also be found on people’s skin and in soil and water.

Dr. Brad Spellberg, who is a member of the Antimicrobial Availability Task Force of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, says that Acinetobacter, which reportedly can become resistant to every existing antibiotic, is a growing problem in US hospitals.

Acinetobacter
While Acinetobacter does not pose a serious health risk to healthy people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that an infection can lead to serious health complications for people who have weakened immune systems, chronic lung disease, diabetes, are on a ventilator, have open wounds, or are staying in hospitals for extended periods of time. An acinetobacter infection can lead to serious wound or blood infections, pneumonia, and may become a cause or death.

Chicago hospitals are supposed to make sure that hospitals are clean and sanitary and that there are no conditions at the facility that could cause a patient's health to deteriorate. Failure to exercise this duty of care could be grounds for a Chicago personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.

2 Chicago hospital patients with bacterial infections die, Chicago Tribune, March 3, 2009

Overview of Drug-resistant Acinetobacter Infections in Healthcare Settings, CDC

Related Web Resources:
Roseland Community Hospital

Chicago Department of Public Health

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In Cook County Circuit Court, the mother of Joey Furio, a 15-year-old boy who died from a drug overdose in 2004, has filed another Illinois wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Park Ridge. Abruzzo had sued the Chicago suburb in 2005 but the circuit court ruled that because of Illinois’s Local Government and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, the city was immune from the civil lawsuit and the paramedics involved in Joey’s care could not be held liable for failing to diagnose or evaluate his condition.

The Cook County Appellate Court upheld the lower court’s ruling. However, last October, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the decision to dismiss the case.

Abruzzo’s wrongful death lawsuit accuses paramedics of failing to give her son life support or take him to the hospital when the family contacted 911 early in the morning on October 31, 2004 and told them the boy was unresponsive. Joey’s father, Lawrence Furio, administered CPR to his son but the paramedics that arrived left. The lawyer representing Park Ridge claims they left because Lawrence told them they should go and that his son didn’t need medical attention.

The complaint, however, says the paramedics either knew or should have known that someone who needed CPR was in a life threatening state and they should have provided Joey with advanced life support. Abruzzo also says that the paramedics were either told about or should have found out about Joey’s drug abuse history when they responded to the 911 call.

Paramedics were called back eight hours later and that is when they took the teenager to the hospital. He died the following day. The cause of his death was opiate and cocaine intoxication.

Paramedic Malpractice
Paramedics are supposed to provide patients with a certain duty of care. When medical mistakes happen, such as failure to administer the proper care, failure to diagnose, administering the wrong drug, delayed ambulance arrival, delay in taking someone to the hospital, or failure to follow the proper medical and safety procedures, the injured party and his or her family may have grounds for filing a Chicago medical malpractice claim.

Another lawsuit filed in 2004 Park Ridge death, Sun-Times News Group, February 16, 2009

Medical Malpractice, Justia

Related Web Resource:
Local Government and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act, Illinois General Assembly

Park Ridge, Illinois

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In Illinois, the family of a woman who sustained catastrophic injuries after she tried to kill herself is suing Adventist Hinsdale Hospital for medical malpractice. The Chicago area hospital treated the woman prior to the attempted suicide incident, and her family is accusing the facility of failing to provide her with the proper treatment and dismissing her from the hospital too soon.

According to the Illinois medical malpractice complaint, which was filed in Cook County:
The woman, who had previously tried to commit suicide, was admitted as a patient to Adventist Hinsdale Hospital on August 26, 2007, where she remained for one week. While there, doctors suggested that she be transferred to Elgin Mental Health Center so she could receive constant supervision, but the center would not admit her because it did not feel it could provide her with the proper care. Adventist Hinsdale Hospital then discharged her.

Two weeks later, the woman was readmitted to the hospital for abdominal pain. Three days later, staffers discharged her again and said they could do nothing more to help her.

On September 25, 2007, the woman tried to kill herself again after jumping from her third floor balcony. She sustained massive internal bleeding and broken bones. Her mother says that because of the attempted suicide, her daughter is bed-ridden, can’t walk, experienced vision loss, and requires a feeding tube to eat.

The family’s medical malpractice lawsuit alleges negligence by Dr. Arun Kumar and Dr. Helena Muirragui. They say hospital staffers failed to address certain symptoms the woman was exhibiting, including psychosis and depression. The plaintiffs are seeking over $50,000 in damages.

Illinois Medical Malpractice
Doctors, nurses, and other medical providers are professionally and legally obligated to provide each patient with the appropriate, quality medical care that they need. When failure to provide that care causes a patient’s condition to deteriorate or complications to arise, the medical provide can be held liable for Illinois medical malpractice.

Family sues Hinsdale Hospital, Sun-Times News Group, February 5, 2009

Medical Malpractice, Justia

Related Web Resource:
Adventist Midwest Health

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A $6.5 million Illinois medical malpractice settlement has been reached in a birthing injury case involving a now 7-year-old boy. The child, Roberto Morales Jr, allegedly suffers from cerebral palsy because the obstetrician and labor and delivery nurse at the Provena Mercy Medical Center failed to properly monitor his heart rate and deliver him hours before an emergency C-section finally took place. His mother had been given Pitocin to accelerate her contractions. Morales was born with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and metabolic acidosis.

After his birth, the he was flown to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge so he could get the higher level of medical attention that he needed. Provena Mercy Medical Center was not equipped to deal with his brain injury. Because of the severity of Morales's birth injuries, the plaintiffs’ attorneys say he had to stay at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital for a month.

The settlement will pay for the ongoing medical care and attention that he needs. The birthing malpractice lawsuit’s plaintiffs are Morales’s mother Joann Williams and Park National Bank. They are the coguardians of the boy’s estate. The defendants in the case are Provena Mercy Medical Center, obstetrician Judson Jones, Advocate Health Care Network, Dreyer Medical Group Ltd., and Dreyer Clinic Inc.

Cerebral Palsy
If your child is suffering from cerebral palsy because medical mistakes or negligence was a factor during his delivery, you may have grounds to file an Illinois birthing malpractice lawsuit. There is no treatment or cure for cerebral palsy, which is a condition that lasts for life.

Cerebral palsy can lead to ataxia, spasticity, motility problems, muscular issues, and other problems. Caring for a child or adult with cerebral palsy can be a costly endeavor, which is why it is important that you explore your legal options for personal injury recovery.

$6.5M To Baby In Malpractice Suit Settlement, CBS2 Chicago, January 12, 2009

Aurora hospital settles $6.5 million brain damage baby lawsuit, Justice News Flash, January 15, 2009

Related Web Resources:
NINDS Cerebral Palsy Information Page, National Institute of Neurological Disorders

Provena Mercy Medical Center

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The family of a 12-year-old boy who died after he was given an antibiotic he was allergic to has won the second appeal in the Illinois medical malpractice case over his wrongful death. In 2006, a Lake County jury ordered Lake County Anesthesiologists, anesthesiologist Dale Gordon, and surgeon Andrew Kontrick to pay the family of Andrew Muno $7.5 million. Kontrick settled with the family but the two other defendants appealed the verdict twice.

This week, Lake County Judge Raymond McKoski upheld the original jury award plus interest. This means the family has been awarded over $9 million for Muno’s wrongful death.

In December 1999, Muno underwent surgery at Condell Medical Center to repair a cut tendon on his arm. He died after experiencing an allergic reaction to a specific antibiotic and started having problems breathing.

The family’s wrongful death lawyers accused the doctors of failing to recognize that Muno was experiencing respiratory distress and failing to treat his condition. Their Illinois wrongful death lawsuit contends that Kontrick and Gordon should have stopped the surgery as soon as Muno started having breathing problems.

Medication Errors
In 2006, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies reported that 1.5 million people a year are injured because of medication errors. These types of medical mistakes can occur during all phases of treatment, from prescription through the monitoring of care.

More Medication Error Facts:

• 400,000 preventable injuries that are drug-related occur in hospitals annually.
• 800,000 medication errors occur each year in long-term care facilities.
• 530,000 outpatient, Medicare recipients each year are the victims of medication mistakes.

Side effects from a medication mistake may include allergic reactions, health complications, adverse reactions when combining one medication with another, and death.

Wildwood family wins lawsuit in death of son, Pioneerlocal.com, December 11, 2008

Family Wins 2nd Appeal In Wrongful Death Of Boy, CBS2Chicago, December 11, 2008

Medication Errors Injure 1.5 Million People and Cost Billions of Dollars Annually;
Report Offers Comprehensive Strategies for Reducing Drug-Related Mistakes, National Academies, July 20, 2006

Related Web Resource:
Read the June 20 Appeal (PDF)

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The widow of Robert Shank III, a hospital patient who died after undergoing gallbladder surgery at the Marion VA Medical Center, has reached a wrongful death agreement with the US government for $975,000. Shank’s surgeon was Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez, who has come under investigation for at least 9 patient deaths and 34 patient injuries at the Illinois hospital. Veizaga-Mendez no longer has a license to practice medicine.

Katrina Shank had initially sought up to $12 million for Robert’s death. Her Illinois wrongful death lawyers say the settlement she received is an admission of the government’s role in her husband’s death.

An investigation by the Veterans Affairs Administrative Investigation Board had determined that the Marion VA failed to take proper action when questions arose about Veizaga-Mendez’s credentials. Katrina’s wrongful death lawsuit accused the VA of medical malpractice and negligence because of the hospital's failure to properly check Veizaga-Mendez’s medical background. Her complaint also contended that Veizaga-Mendez was negligent during Robert’s surgery and in the way that he handled the patient’s care after the operation.

Following surgery, Robert did not regain consciousness. He underwent a number of blood transfusions, which led to complications and further surgery. He died soon after. Surgical services at the VA hospital were temporarily suspended last year following the increase in patient deaths.

Veteran Administration (VA) Medical Malpractice
If you or someone you love received poor medical care at a VA medical hospital, you may have grounds to file file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Unsanitary conditions, inadequate staffing, poorly maintained medical devices, patient abuse and neglect, and medical errors can be grounds for a personal injury claim or wrongful death lawsuit if a patient suffers injuries or dies as a result.

Ky. widow settles lawsuit against VA for $975,000, Washington Post, November 25, 2008

Widow settles VA hospital suit, Chicago Tribune.com, November 25, 2008

Related Web Resources:

VA: 10 patients died under care of former surgeon at IL hospital, Boston.com/AP, October 19, 2008

Durbin, Obama, Costello Request Meeting with VA Secretary to Discuss Marion VA, Barack Obama, US Senator of Illinois, May 27, 2008

Continue reading "Widow to Receive $975,000 for Wrongful Death Lawsuit Alleging Negligence and Medical Malpractice at Marion, Illinois VA Hospital " »

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In Chicago, a 33-year-old transplant patient is suing University of Chicago Medical Center and one of its surgeons for medical malpractice. The woman, identified in her Illinois personal injury lawsuit as Jane Doe, tested positive for Hepatitis C and HIV after she received an infected kidney while undergoing an organ transplant at the hospital.

The plaintiff is one of four patients who underwent transplant surgeries at Chicago-area hospitals in January 2007 and received infected organs from the same male donor. All four patients received Hepatitis C and HIV diagnoses following their transplants. One of the four patients has died.

According to “Jane Doe’s” medical malpractice lawsuit, members of the Chicago hospital’s transplant team, including Dr. J. Richard Thistlewaite, were notified by the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network that her donor, who died in a car crash, was gay. The team, however, failed to notify the woman, who was suffering from a non-life threatening condition, that her donor was a homosexual, which made the man a “high risk” organ donor.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines say that a recipient must be notified if a donor is gay prior to the transplant surgery. The CDC also recommends that all organ recipients with high-risk donors undergo HIV testing no more than three months after surgery.

The plaintiff claims that it wasn’t until November 2007, after another organ recipient tested positive for HIV, that the Chicago hospital asked her to take the test. She tested positive for HIV and hepatitis C.

Her lawsuit accuses the University of Chicago Medical Center and Dr. Thistlewaite of medical negligence for its failure to notify her that her donor engaged in high-risk behavior when he was alive and for failing to make her undergo an HIV test sooner. Jane Doe is on dialysis because her body rejected the infected kidney and she is also undergoing treatment for HIV.

Her Illinois personal injury attorney says that prior to her transplant surgery, she rejected a kidney from a heavy drinker who was sexually involved with prostitutes and kidney from another donor who had a criminal record. He says that Jane Doe would have rejected her donor’s kidney if she had known he was gay.

Lawsuit: Patient got HIV-infected transplant, Chicago Breaking News, November 17, 2008

Woman Sues After Organ Transplant Led To HIV, CBS2Chicago.com, November 17, 2008

Related Web Resources:

University of Chicago Medical Center

Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network

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A woman who may have to go a heart transplant after a new heart device was implanted inside her during surgery is suing prominent Chicago Dr. Patrick McCarthy for medical malpractice. McCarthy implanted the device, a Myxo ETlogix ring, in the body of Toni Vlahoulis during a surgery to repair a leaky heart valve in 2006. McCarthy did not, however, tell her that he was the inventor of the new device.

Vlahoulis, who experienced inflammation after the surgery, had to undergo a second surgery to have the device removed. She says that if she had known the device was experimental, she never would have agreed to have it placed inside her.

McCarthy denies that the device was experimental because an older model was available commercially over a month before he performed the surgery on the 41-year-old patient. Northwest Memorial Hospital claims it obtained the necessary consent from Vlahoulis for the implant procedure.

Vlahoulis, who filed her Illinois personal injury lawsuit in Cook County earlier this year, is seeking over $50,000 in damages from McCarthy, device manufacturer Edwards Lifesciences, and Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

McCarthy says that he doesn’t believe that the ring is the cause of Vlahoulis’s latest health issues. The Chicago doctor is a consultant for Edwards Lifesciences and he receives royalties for the three heart devices he invented. He donates the royalties to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

According to medical ethics experts, surgeons should inform patients if royalties will be generated from any devices used in surgeries. Patients are also supposed to sign a consent form noting their agreement to take part in any medical research.

The US Food and Drug Administration is looking at whether it obtained proper notice regarding the Myxo ETlogix rings. McCarthy says he and his partners have implanted nearly 200 devices. He says that he only uses the device if it is the best fit for a patient. The FDA has received 10 reports complaining about adverse effects occurring after the device was implanted.

Failure to Obtain Informed Consent
Physicians, dentists, surgeons, and other medical provider must obtain a patient’s informed consent before conducting a procedure. An “informed consent” form notes any potential complications and risks that could arise from the treatment or procedure. The medical provider should also discuss the potential risks with the patient prior to the procedure.

If injury or death arises from a procedure in which a patient did not give his or her informed consent, the medical provider could be held liable for medical malpractice or wrongful death.

Patient sues over Chicago surgeon's new device, CNN.com, October 15, 2008

Questions raised about Northwestern use of valve device; prominent surgeon denies wrongdoing, TheHeart.org, October 7, 2008

Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Related Web Resources:

Edwards Lifesciences

Myxo ETlogix ring

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Eva Liberato, the Chicago mother whose son Angel suffered serious brain damage at birth, has accepted a $5.5 million medical malpractice settlement offer from Westlake Hospital and two doctors. The malpractice incident occurred in 2002, after hospital staffers gave Liberato a drug to induce contractions.

The baby’s heart rape dropped and Dr. David Demorest, a family medicine doctor, attempted to deliver the baby using a vacuum retractor. When this method failed, he attempted the delivery using forceps. The forceps got stuck in Liberato’s uterine wall.

Another doctor, Dr. Laura Loya-Frank, ended up performing a C-section procedure to deliver Angel, who suffered brain damage because he was deprived of oxygen for too long. Angel is six years old and he cannot talk, walk, sit, or eat on his own.

On September 19, a Cook County jury ruled that only Demorest was liable for Angel’s birthing injuries. Westlake Hospital and Loya-Frank, however, also will have to contribute to the Illinois medical malpractice settlement.

Two of the signs indicating that a baby sustained brain damage from being deprived of oxygen during birth:

• The infant’s skin coloring during delivery is blue.
• The baby experiences seizures soon after delivery.

Brain damage can result when an obstetrician or another medical provider:

• Employs excessive or improper use of vacuum extraction.
• Does not perform a cesarean birth in a timely manner.
• Does not properly monitor the mother or baby before, during, or after delivery.
• Does not properly respond to the fetus’s sudden change in heart rate during labor.

Birthing errors that cause personal injury to the mother or baby can be grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Illinois woman accepts $5.5 million settlement in childbirth lawsuit, BND/Associated Press, September 22, 2008

$5.5M Settlement for Improper Drug Administered During Birth, WBBM 780/Sun-Times, September 21, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Vacuum Extraction: Is it Safe?, iVillage

Forceps delivery, Birth International

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A medical malpractice lawsuit that will soon go before the Illinois Supreme Court could test the constitutionality of a state law limiting how much a plaintiff can receive for non-economic damages. The personal injury lawsuit, first filed in Cook County, involves a young girl who sustained a serious birth injury in October 2005. According to the lawsuit filed by the girl’s mother, Frances LeBron, Abigaile LeBron became mentally impaired and suffers from cerebral palsy due to the birthing malpractice incident. She will now will require 24-hour specialized care for life.

Illinois’s medical malpractice damage caps allows a medical malpractice plaintiff to be awarded no more than $1,000,000 in non-economic damages from hospitals and $500,000 maximum from doctors. There is no cap for the amount of economic damages that a plaintiff can be awarded.

Last year, however, the Cook County circuit court judge presiding over this case found Illinois's medical malpractice caps law to be invalid and unconstitutional. Judge Larsen also said the limits prevent juries from properly compensating injury victims.

There have been two times in the past that the Illinois Supreme Court has found that laws placing a limit on personal injury damages were unconstitutional. The latest law was enacted in 2005.

Cerebral Palsy
This medical condition is a result of permanent brain damage sustained by a baby before, during, or right after birth, and the lifetime costs of caring for a child, who will later become an adult diagnosed with cerebral palsy, can be astronomical. Birthing mistakes that can lead to cerebral palsy include:

• Improper forcep use.
• Failure to move the baby through the birth canal quickly enough.
• Failure to remove an umbilical wrapped around the baby’s neck in a timely manner.
• Failure to plan or perform cesarean birth in a timely fashion.

Illinois' med mal law on trial, StlToday.com, August 18, 2008

Illinois Malpractice Case May Shape Tort Reform, NPR.com, February 21, 2007

Related Web Resource:

Cerebral Palsy, National Institute of Neurological Disorders

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The federal government wants a judge to toss out a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a woman who alleges that her husband died as a result of medical malpractice at the Marion VA Hospital in Illinois. The reason the government is citing for its request, filed in East St. Louis, Illinois last month, is that the widow, Katrina Shank, failed to file the necessary affidavit from an expert stating that Shank had reasonable cause to file the lawsuit.

Shank’s lawyer says that although the affidavit is necessary for medical malpractice cases filed in Illinois court, it is not necessary for cases filed in federal court. Her lawsuit accuses the hospital of negligence, which she says resulted in her husband Bob bleeding to death after undergoing gallbladder surgery at the VA hospital last year. She is seeking $12 million in wrongful death compensation.

Following the minimally invasive procedure, doctors were unable to wake Bob up. Bob’s surgeon, Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez, suggested that he might have had a stroke, a heart attack, or liver damage. Bob was given several blood transfusions, which Shank says eventually prevented his blood from clotting. He underwent another surgery to determine where the blood was going. Bob passed away the next day.

Shank says the doctor let her husband bleed to death and that someone that worked at the hospital suggested she contact a medical malpractice lawyer. The US Government is named as the only defendant in the lawsuit.

Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez is under investigation for at least nine deaths that occurred to patients under his care while he worked at the VA hospital in Marion. A Veterans Affairs Administrative Investigation Board investigation found that the Marion VA hospital’s management staff failed to take action when doubts arose about Veizaga-Mendez’s credentials.

Report says Marion VA leadership dismissed concerns, Marion Daily Republican, August 15, 2008

Government Wants VA Suit Thrown Out Malpractice Alleged in Deaths at Ill. Clinic, Redorbit.com, July 24, 2008

VA Probes Doctor's Role in Patient Deaths, NPR.org, November 5, 2007

Related Web Resources:

A Health Care System, Marion.va.gov

Military Medical Malpractice Overview, Justia

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The mother of a 10-year-old girl who sustained a serious brain injury during her birthing delivery has reached a $9.7 million settlement with Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Rosa Lopez says she will use the money from the birthing malpractice lawsuit to provide her daughter Madeline Maturino with more therapy, as well as find ways to help her cope with her brain injury.

Madeline was born at Northwestern Memorial on July 17, 1998, a date that was past her due date. Hospital doctors induced Lopez’s labor using the drug Pitocin. Lopez’s personal injury lawyer, however, contends that the drug was administered aggressively, which resulted in contractions that came too closely after one another and caused stress to baby Madeline.

Madeline’s brain tissue became damaged after it was deprived of oxygen, and she sustained hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. Madeline’s injury has left her with limited speech abilities and she is prone to angry outbursts. Lopez says her daughter has to fight to communicate daily.

Birthing Malpractice
Medical errors during childbirth can cause a baby to suffer catastrophic injuries, such as Cerebral palsy, Brachial palsy, facial paralysis, broken bones, bruising, and shoulder dystocia.

Common kinds of medical malpractice errors that can lead to birthing injuries:

• Wrong diagnosis
• Waiting too long to induce labor
• Neglecting to perform a c-section when required
• Incorrect forceps use

Botched delivery results in $9.75M settlement, Southtownstar.com, July 9, 2008

Birth Injuries, Health System Virginia.edu

Related Web Resources:

Pitocin FAQ, Childbirth.org

hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, Medicine.net

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