Articles Posted in Medical Malpractice

The Colorado Springs, city-owned Memorial Health System settled a lawsuit filed by an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who claimed her baby suffered severe brain injuries during delivery four years ago. The now four-year-old is a spastic quadriplegic who cannot stand, sit or walk, and has the intellectual level of a six-month-old.

The city paid $700,000 to the child because the care provided by the Memorial nurses and the doctor “fell below the standard of care” by failing to properly interpret fetal heart monitoring strips that showed the baby in distress during labor, having the mother hold her breath which further depleted the oxygen going to the baby and delivering the baby vaginally rather than performing a cesarean section.

The lawsuit only covered the negligence by the nurses. The doctor is employed by Peak Vista Community Health Centers which is a Federally Qualified Health Center. As such, the lawsuit against the doctor will be handled through federal court. A trial date has not yet been scheduled, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is defending the federal government, has requested a settlement offer.

A 67-year-old Ithaca, New York woman was awarded $1.25 million after a jury found her surgeon negligent when a 2007 gallbladder operation left her gravely ill and fighting for her life. The surgeon at Cayuga Medical Center had been practicing for over 15 years when found at fault.

The woman entered the hospital complaining of an upset stomach when she was told her gallbladder needed to be removed. The woman’s bowel was unintentionally cut during surgery, yet the surgeon did not inspect the bowel for injury prior to completing the surgical procedure.

Almost immediately the woman became severely ill, exhibiting multiple signs of infection. 32 hours after the first operation, she was operated on again to find the source of the infection, and then to repair the injured bowel. The woman also underwent four more surgeries, needed a ventilator, and spent two months in the intensive care unit.

The widow of a man who died in 2005 after an ATV accident was awarded $6.7 million by a Maine jury in a medical malpractice lawsuit against Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. The man was flown to the center after the accident, and according to the lawsuit, the doctors failed to follow up on tests indicating internal bleeding, that ultimately led to the man’s death.

The man arrived at the hospital suffering from several broken ribs, among other injuries, and CT scans ordered by the emergency department physician indicated there was also internal bleeding. The doctors caring for the man failed to follow up on the internal bleeding by not issuing an order for X-rays to monitor the bleeding, according to the suit. Three days later, the internal bleeding caused one of the man’s lungs to collapse, and the lack of oxygen precipitated a massive fatal heart attack.

The jury found that Eastern Maine Medical Center, its doctors and nurses, and the lead physician were negligent in the man’s death.

A Durham woman has filed a lawsuit against a Durham dentist alleging medical malpractice and battery for pulling 24 teeth from her mouth instead of the 6 she agreed to have pulled.

In 2007, the 18-year-old woman went to Durham Family Dental Care to have four wisdom teeth and two molars pulled by Ilias Haralambakis, but when she woke up and the sedation medication had worn off, she found many more teeth had been pulled.

She is left with six bottom teeth and only two top teeth. She wears only her top dentures because the bottom ones don’t fit, and she is unable to eat certain foods. She claims she can’t teach her young son how to brush his teeth because she has none herself.

A 67-year-old man has been awarded $212 million by a Virginia jury in a lawsuit against Allergan Inc. claiming he suffered brain damage following injections of Botox to treat hand tremors and writer’s cramp. The award included $12 million in compensatory damages.

Botox is widely known as a wrinkle-smoothing drug made by Allergan. In 2007, Douglas Ray was injected with Botox and alleges the injection caused severe medical problems that have left him totally disabled and with over $600,000 in medical bills. He requires around-the-clock care.

Allergen is considering an appeal.

A Northampton woman has been awarded $400,000 in her malpractice suit against a Bethlehem doctor who did not diagnose her breast cancer properly. The jury found Dr. Mark Schadt negligent in his care of the woman.

In April 2004 she found two lumps in her breasts, and in May Dr. Schadt performed a fine-needle aspiration biopsy and the results were negative for breast cancer. In March 2005 the patient had a second fine-needle biopsy and the results were positive. A month later, after having an excisional biopsy, she was told she had invasive carcinoma stage III cancer. She had a radical mastectomy on the cancerous right breast and a simple mastectomy on her left breast.

The lawsuit alleged Dr. Shadt should have followed the first biopsy with a more complete biopsy that would have removed a larger tissue sample to test. Medical Malpractice

A Winchester, Va. Woman has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit over a colonoscopy she had in 2009 which has continued to cause her medical problems, reports the Northern Virginia Daily.

The then 29-year-old woman went to the doctor in 2009 to evaluate persistent diarrhea. Following the “prep” for the procedure, she had severe abdominal pain, cramping, nausea and vomiting. After prescribing something for the pain, the doctor proceeded with the procedure without knowing what was causing her pain. That same day she had to be admitted to intensive care, two days later underwent a second colonoscopy during which her colon was perforated, and had to have emergency surgery to repair the perforation and to remove the obstructed part of the colon.

The patient is seeking $5 million in damages from Dr. Richard John Sears and Winchester Gastroenterology Associates PLC claiming Dr. Sears breached his duty of care by proceeding with the first colonoscopy and then performed a second colonoscopy when a CT scan would have revealed a significant “stricture” that required surgery.

The husband of a woman who died while giving birth to triplets in 2007 has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit as a result of her death, reports News Channel 3 in Comstock Township, Michigan.

A Virgo County, Indiana jury has awarded $2.5 million to a now 42-year-old former police officer whose doctor failed to diagnose his colon cancer in 2004. The Tribune Star reports the lawsuit was filed against Dr. John Morse of AP&S Clinic in Terre Haute, Indiana in January 2009.

The husband of a woman who is the fourth Southern California patient to die following a Lap-Band surgical procedure has filed a medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit, reports the LA Times.