…  A 60-year-old homemaker had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a thickening of the walls of the heart. This condition is often undiagnosed and is a common cause of sudden heart attack in young people, including young athletes.  Surgery was performed to thin the walls of her heart.  During this sophisticated surgery, the surgeon, who had insufficient experience, unintentionally created a hole between the heart chambers. Although the hole was promptly repaired, the woman later died after three months of hospitalization.   … [Read more...]

… A 29-year-old mother felt ill as she was getting ready for work.  She phoned her father. While on the phone, she became unresponsive.  An ambulance was called and she was rushed to a local trauma center. Although she was having all the signs of a stroke, there was no sense of urgency.  She eventually received the necessary treatment, including a clot-busting drug called tPA, but the opportunity for a good recovery was lost.  She now uses a wheelchair and still has significant speech and vision problems.  The case was settled after jury selection, with the settlement funds used, in part, to buy a house to be remodeled for handicapped … [Read more...]

… A 60-year-old maintenance supervisor in a steel mill was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rate.  He had an echocardiogram, which uses sound waves to produce images of the heart. The images should have alerted his doctors to a more serious problem.  A cardiac catheterization and biopsy would have diagnosed his underlying problem: cardiac amyloidosis.  By the time the diagnosis was made, it was too late for possibly life-saving treatment.  The man died, survived by his widow and adult children.  The case settled after a lawsuit was filed and discovery completed.   … [Read more...]

…  A 77 year old widow was being prepared to be sent home from the hospital.  She was placed on a narrow table to insert a catheter (PICC line) in her arm so medications could be given to her at home.  The technician wasn’t paying attention and the widow fell off the table onto the floor.  She broke her shoulder and a bone in her face.  The hospital settled the lawsuit on the eve of trial.   … [Read more...]

… A 37-year-old woman was having her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.  Medical Residents were doing the surgery using a laparascope.  The attending physician was supervising.  The doctors were having difficulty identifying the woman’s important organs because there were dense adhesions from an earlier hysterectomy.   They partially identified the left ureter, which is a tube that carries urine from the left kidney to the bladder. Assuming that the ureter was out of the way, they continued to burn and cut the tissue, burning and cutting the left ureter.  The woman had multiple surgeries to repair the left ureter, but was left with chronic … [Read more...]

…An 18-year-old boy who lived at a reform school developed a brain abscess after his sinus infection went untreated for several days. The reform school’s staff ignored a doctor’s recommendation that the boy be taken to the local emergency room. The parties agreed to mediate this dispute and a settlement was reached after extensive negotiations. The settlement proceeds were placed in a special trust to preserve the young man’s eligibility for much-needed governmental benefits.   … [Read more...]

…A 61-year-old woman had extensive pelvic surgery at a local hospital. Although she was still very confused and agitated from her medication, she was transferred from the intensive care unit to a regular medical surgery unit. A nurse left her alone to find a doctor to make arrangements to place her in restraints. While the nurse was out of the room, she fell out of bed. She badly fractured her wrist, requiring two more surgeries. Medicare had recently published regulations which limit reimbursement to hospitals for eight conditions that are preventable complications of medical care. Broken bones during medical care is one of these eight … [Read more...]

…A 76-year-old woman in poor health was a resident of a local nursing home. She was mistakenly given five times the prescribed dose of morphine, causing her to die within two hours from breathing failure. The nursing home settled out of court.   … [Read more...]

…A 62-year-old woman was in surgery to have three vertebrae in her neck fused. During the procedure, the surgeon’s assistant unknowingly punctured a nearby artery. Because the surgeon and his operating team couldn’t locate the source of the bleeding, she died on the operating table. The case settled on the eve of trial.   … [Read more...]

… An 18-year old pregnant woman was mistakenly given narcotic medication instead of antibiotics by a local pharmacy. The young woman took two doses of the medication before realizing the pharmacy’s mistake. She became ill and was rushed to the emergency room. She recovered soon after, but was worried about the possible side affects on her unborn child. Fortunately, she had a normal, healthy baby. Her case against the pharmacy settled out of court.   … [Read more...]