Nursing and Hospital Negligence

 

In a lawsuit involving a severely brain damaged infant, the child’s parents were able to secure a recovery which will provide lifetime care for their disabled child.  The baby had suffered a cardiac arrest following an injection into an IV line.  It was our contention that potassium had been mistakenly injected and that there was then a delayed and inadequate response to the cardiac arrest which led to catastrophic brain damage.

 

We successfully represented the mother of a beautiful young lady who died due to excessive and inadequately monitored administration of Lithium.  This induced deep vein thrombosis and a fatal pulmonary embolism at a second hospital following the severe dehydration and immobility caused by the Lithium toxicity.  The defense of the first hospital alleged that the proximate cause of death was the failure of the staff of the second hospital to prevent or discover the blood clot.  The second hospital contended that blood clots in the legs are often without symptoms and that this one was an example of one of these “silent killers.”  With the aid of strong experts from around the country and our determined and convincing client we were able to overcome these arguments.

 

In another case against a hospital, its anesthesia service and a nurse staffing agency, substantial compensation was recovered on behalf of the widow of a man who died due to respiratory arrest following what had been uneventful knee surgery.  The patient had a history of severe obstructive sleep apnea, yet was given morphine, a strong respiratory depressant, for post-operative pain relief.  He was then poorly monitored by the floor nursing staff.  By the time a nurses’ aide found the patient not breathing, it was too late to resuscitate him without severe brain damage and death a few days later.  This tragic result could and should have been avoided with appropriate post-operative monitoring.

 

We successfully represented the mother of a young man who died after vomiting, aspirating and choking to death.  This tragedy occurred in the hospital and in the presence of nursing staff.  It was alleged that the response to the respiratory arrest was unreasonably delayed and that CPR was then incorrectly administered when a nurse failed to reposition the patient to establish a useful airway. 

 

We also handled another lawsuit involving vomiting and aspiration in a hospital setting.  In that case, the patient was in the hospital for hip surgery, but following the operation, developed abdominal pain.  A gastroenterologist was called in to consult.  The GI doctor ordered a KUB X-ray of the abdomen, but then went home without reviewing the results.  About six hours later the patient vomited, choked on the vomit and had a resulting respiratory and cardiac arrest.  Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful and she died.  It was learned too late that the earlier X-ray demonstrated a gastric outlet obstruction.  It was our contention that this tragedy would have been avoided if this condition had been timely recognized and nasogastric suctioning employed.

 

Diagnostic Procedure Negligence

 

A medical negligence action against radiologist arose out of a mammography procedure that went terribly awry.  This diagnostic procedure involved placement of a localization wire in order to track the exact location of a breast lesion while the X-rays were taken.  Tragically, during placement of the wire, it penetrated the chest wall causing serious injuries to the tissues surrounding the patient’s heart and various respiratory and other complications.  The defense contention that this was a recognized complication of the procedure was insufficient to prevent a substantial verdict for this unfortunate lady.

 

Outpatient Surgical Procedure Negligence

 

In a case involving the use of acid to remove a benign skin lesion, another unfortunate client suffered due to the physician’s clumsiness.  Chemical burns and considerable scarring to the patient’s back were caused when the physician dropped and spilled the bottle of acid.  Although the physician passed away before suit could be brought, fair compensation from his insurer was obtained.

 

Emergency Room Negligence

 

We were able to help a young widow whose husband had fallen from a golf cart, hitting his head.  The patient had a history of hemophilia, which was made known to the emergency room staff.  Despite this and signs of internal bleeding around the patient’s eyes, he was not given an anti-clotting medication by the emergency room doctor.  This led to an uncontrolled bleed in the brain, catastrophic brain damage and eventually the patient’s death.

 

Negligent Sinus Surgery

 

A large recovery was obtained on behalf of a severely brained damaged ENT patient who sustained an injury to the frontal lobe of her brain during endoscopic sinus surgery.  The patient contended that to penetrate the brain cavity was below the standard of care and that there was also a negligent delay in recognizing that the injury had occurred.  It was not until the hospital pathologist noted brain matter in what was supposed to be “sinus” tissue that the injury was finally recognized.  By this point, the brain had become infected by sinus bacteria and devastating brain damage resulted.

 

In another case involving an otolarygolygist, a substantial recovery was secured on behalf of a child whose eye was permanently injured during endoscopic sinus surgery.  In the course of this procedure, the ENT doctor penetrated the orbit and severed the medial rectus muscle.  Although the muscle was later reattached to the eye by an eye surgeon, the now shortened muscle left the child with double vision while looking to the left and right.  The defense argued that this was an accepted complication, but was eventually convinced to resolve the case.

 

Other Cases of Surgical Malpractice

 

An action involving complications of knee surgery led to a large jury award for our client’s permanent injuries.  The orthopedic surgeon contended that the patient’s post-operative infection, which ended up destroying his knee joint, was an unfortunate, but acceptable complication.  Proof of an apparent failure to provide antibiotics prophylaxis prior to the surgery and a delay in diagnosing and treating the infection, however, overcame this defense and empowered the jury to do justice.

In a medical negligence lawsuit involving neck surgery, our client contended that he had been rendered quadriplegic during surgery to address a fractured neck vertebra.  Sadly, catastrophic spinal cord damage occurred when his spine was surgically fixated at a dangerous angle, and the spinal cord compressed.  Our efforts eventually resulted in dramatic improvement to our client’s quality of life, by obtaining funds sufficient to purchase a specially equipped home and van, and a substantial special needs trust.

 

In a case involving more routine lumbar spine surgery for back pain, one of our clients came out of surgery a paraplegic, confined to a wheelchair.  In the course of the lawsuit, it was discovered that the surgeon had not only traumatized the spinal cord, but had been operating at the wrong level of the spine.  Despite a vigorous defense including the common contention that the injury was a known complication of back surgery, the case was ultimately resolved favorably.

 

In another surgical mishap case, compensation was obtained on behalf of a gentleman who had successful colon cancer surgery, only to be victimized by the surgical team’s failure to correctly count sponges.  By the time a large retained laparotomy sponge was discovered several days later, the patient had developed a bowel obstruction. Surgery to remove the sponge was followed by tissue necrosis, an incisional, ventral hernia, infection and other complications which required multiple additional hospitalizations and surgeries over a two year period.

 

Another case involving claims of surgical negligence involved a patient who sustained major injuries when a laparoscopic cholycystectomy went awry.  This disastrous gallbladder surgery left the patient’s common bile duct cut and clamped and led to biliary cirrhosis and liver failure.  The defense contended that scarring and adhesions obscured visibility and led to the injuries.  We were able to counter this with persuasive expert testimony that the discovery of scarring and inflammation should have led to conversion to open surgery which would have avoided the bile duct injuries.  The defense also contended that the patient’s liver failure was due to unrelated causes.  Nonetheless, fair compensation was obtained.

Compensation was also obtained for a client who suffered from chronic left hip pain following lower back surgery.  After suffering for over a year and a half following the surgery, a second set of doctors finally discovered that surgical screws had been improperly placed in his spinal vertebrae.  One of these pedicle screws was shot into the sacroiliac joint while another was shot through and beyond another spinal vertebra and was in fact indenting and nearly penetrating the inferior vena cava.  Potential vascular disaster was avoided and considerable, but incomplete, relief from the hip pain was finally obtained through further surgery to remove the errant surgical hardware.

 

Obstetrical Malpractice

 

Our firm has successfully handles several cases involving injuries to babies and their mothers during labor and delivery.  In one such case, a medical malpractice suit was filed on behalf of child who suffers from cerebral palsy sustained while his mother was in labor.  The baby’s parents contended that the defendant obstetrician and hospital nursing staff negligently delayed C-section delivery despite signs of fetal distress.  Multiple defense experts argued that the electronic fetal monitoring evidence was in fact reassuring and cord blood analysis did not indicate asphyxia.  Despite this, fair compensation was obtained.

 

In another obstetrical negligence case, the plaintiffs contended that the hospital nursing staff and an obstetrical resident had failed to timely act on evidence of fetal distress and then the attending obstetrician caused further injury during failed attempts at forceps and vacuum extraction.  Despite defense contentions that the baby had already suffered brain damage prior to the labor, compensation sufficient to provide lifetime care for this child was obtained.

 

In another case involving birth injuries, an obstetrician tried and failed three times to pull the baby out with vacuum and forceps before finally opting for an emergency cesarean section delivery.  Vaginal delivery was never going to succeed, however, because there was cephalopelvic disproportion, i.e., the baby’s head was too large to pass through the birth canal.  Unfortunately this went unappreciated and the last attempt to pull the baby out induced a severe, prolonged bradycardia.  This beautiful baby then suffered catastrophic brain damage from lack of sufficient oxygen and acidosis.  The defense contented that the care was appropriate and that the A.C.O.G. neonatal encephalopathy criteria were lacking, but a recovery sufficient to provide for the child’s lifetime care was nonetheless obtained.

 

Failure to Timely Diagnose and Treat Infection

 

We successfully pursued a medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of young man who required heart valve replacement due to the destruction of the valve from bacterial infection.  There had been a delay of several weeks in diagnosing and treating bacterial endocarditis, due to an internal medicine doctor’s misdiagnosis of mononucleosis.

 

In another infection case, an infant suffered the loss of part of one leg, injuries to both hands and cognitive impairments due to delays in diagnosing and treating meningococcemia, a bacterial infection of the bloodstream.  This child had been seen in the E.R. with a high fever, but was sent home with a diagnosis of viral illness.  When he returned to the hospital the next morning he was much sicker, yet correct diagnosis and treatment was still delayed.  Claims involving both hospital visits were pursued and substantial compensation was eventually obtained.

 

Delay in Diagnosing Cancer

 

Compensation was obtained for a patient injured due to a gynecologist’s failure to recognize her signs of breast cancer.  In this medical malpractice lawsuit, we contended that there had been a one year delay in diagnosing the breast cancer, due to the doctor’s erroneous conclusion that a breast lump was a benign cyst.  Our ability to show a family history of breast cancer that was ignored and that the doctor failed to obtain a mammogram led to a successful outcome of our client’s lawsuit.

 

In another cancer case, we were able to help a gentleman whose signs of throat cancer were missed by a hospital radiologist.  The radiologist had failed to notice the cancerous lesion on an MRI, resulting in a several month delay in diagnosing and treating the cancer.

 

Failure to Diagnose Heart Attack

 

In another medical negligence case, compensation was obtained on behalf of patient whose primary care physician had ignored classic signs of a heart attack.  The patient had complained of chest pain, nausea, arm pain and shortness of breath.  Despite these symptoms, the defendant doctor failed to obtain an electrocardiogram and sent the patient home.  By the time our client’s heart attack was diagnosed by another doctor, he had sustained significant, permanent heart muscle damage which would have likely been avoided by earlier treatment.

 

Other Cases of Diagnostic Malpractice

 

In another case involving misdiagnosis, we were able to help a man who lost his leg due to medical neglect.  In that case, a lump behind the knee was mistakenly diagnosed as a baker’s cyst, when in fact it was due to a vascular aneurism.  Sadly, a suspected aneurism was diagnosed by a radiologist , but the patient was not told this and the report was apparently not read by the patient’s orthopedist.  By the time the aneurism was eventually recognized by another doctor, it was too late to save the leg and an amputation above the knee had to be done.

 

We also obtained a recovery for a wonderful elderly woman whose husband died due to severe peritonitis and infection caused by leakage from a hole in his large intestine.  The bowel perforation had occurred during routine diagnostic colonoscopy.  The defendant surgeon had been called upon to find and fix any such injuries, but found only one of two holes.  The second hole thus was not repaired leading to contamination from bowel spillage into the abdomen and the patient’s demise.  The defense contended that the second perforation actually had occurred later as a result of diverticulitis.  Despite a vigorous defense and convincing defense experts, the case was favorably resolved during jury deliberations.

 

Through a court ordered mediation, we were able to obtain a favorable settlement for a widow whose husband’s wrongful death was caused by the failure of a surgeon to timely diagnose an anastomotic leak after having a colectomy.  The patient, who was on Plavix and aspirin, suffered a substantial amount of blood loss when the surgeon eventually tried to repair the leak, and he died in the post operative recovery area.  In addition to the delay in diagnosis claim, there was also an issue as to whether the patient was given sufficient blood products during or after the surgery.  The doctor claimed that the hospital ran out of platelets, which the hospital denied.  The hospital also lost a blood sample, which resulted in a delay in discovering that the patient’s hemoglobin and hematocrit were critically low.  Despite the fact the hospital and doctor seemed to blame each other, the case was successfully resolved.

 

Prescription Overdose

 

We assisted two different families whose mothers died after being prescribed Oxycontin by the same psychiatrist.  The psychiatrist was treating both ladies with high doses of the narcotic drug for pain, but he did not perform physical exams or appropriately assess the patients’ pain before prescribing such an addictive drug.  Both patients also had a history of psychological problems.  The coroner ruled that the women died of accidental overdoses of Oxycontin.  We were able to show that the defendant doctor suspected that the patients were not capable of complying with the medical treatment but still persisted in prescribing the drug without appropriately monitoring his patients.