Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

A recent Cook County medical malpractice lawsuit against Chicago's Advocate Trinity Hospital received an award of over $3.6 million. The Chicago medical negligence case involved the death of a two-year-old boy and was tried under the principles of res ipsa loquitur.

Res ipsa loquitur is Latin for "the thing speaks for itself" and is used in legal terms to refer to a situation where it's assumed that an injury, in this case death, is caused by the negligence of another person. Underlying the principle of res ipsa loquitur is the assumption that the accident/injury could not have occurred unless someone was negligent.

In this recent Cook County medical negligence case, the negligence centered on the death of a two-year-old boy. The child was brought to Advocate Trinity Hospital by his parents. Of note was that his mother was an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and his father was a paramedic. The boy was brought to the ER for treatment of his first and only grand mal seizure.

Continue reading "Res Ipsa Loquitur Applied to Illinois Medical Malpractice Claim - Cook County Jury Awards $3.6 Million" »

An Illinois birth injury case involving allegations that a delayed cesarean section resulted in the baby's cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia recently settled for $9.5 million while the trial was underway. The Northern Trust Company, et al. v. Ghia, et al., 04 L 7500.

Like many birth injury lawsuits, the case involved claims that the hospital and obstetrician failed to recognize the baby was in distress and order a c-section in a timely manner. The mother, Alecia Owen, presented to the hospital at 41 weeks pregnant for an induced pregnancy. After being administered Pitocin and an epidural her labor progressed slowly and eventually raised concerns with the hospital's nursing staff.

Monitoring of the baby's heart rate was showing intermittent decelerations, which could be a sign of fetal distress. When the obstetrician, Dr. Nirali Ghia, was notified of the decelerations, he ordered an amnioinfusion, a procedure that can help reduce variable decelerations if there is a suspicion of cord compression. However, Dr. Ghia told not one, but several, nurses that the patient did not need a c-section even though the decelerations became more prolonged.

Continue reading "Illinois Birth Injury Lawsuit Criticizes Nurses For Chain of Command Breakdown - $9.5 Million Settlement in The Northern Trust Company, et al. v. Ghia, et al." »

Many people's circumstances never require them to file one lawsuit, let alone two. Yet within the span of four months Jihan Khourny was injured on two different occasions, leading to her filing two different, but related lawsuits - one being an Illinois personal injury lawsuit, the other an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit. Both cases recently settled for a combination of $1.9 million. Khourny v. Sarmed Elias, M.D., et al., No. 07 L 3871.

The personal injury claim arose from a car crash that occurred in Elgin, Illinois. Khourny was driving along Route 31 when she was hit by another car. The Illinois car accident lawsuit was brought against the driver of the other vehicle and settled for $100,000. The plaintiff was claiming property damage to her vehicle and a neck injury as a result of the car accident.

Shortly after the accident Khourny began seeking medical treatment for her neck injury. Her doctor recommended she try cortisone injections as part of her treatment plan. Cortisone injections are typically given to relieve inflammation and pain and are used for a wide variety of complaints, including arthritis, tendinitis, and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Continue reading "Illinois Car Crash and Medical Malpractice Combo Case Settles for $1.9 Million - Khourny v. Sarmed Elias, M.D., et al." »

While medical advances have made many formerly difficult surgeries routine, there are still dangers with any surgery, especially when anesthesia is involved. In Estate of Yvonne Harris v. Advocate Healthcare Network, et al., No. 03 L 6421, medical negligence during a routine laparoscopic tubal ligation surgery left the decedent with severe brain damage. An Illinois medical malpractice settlement totaling $8.95 million was reached between the decedent's estate and the surgeon, anesthesiologist, physician group, and surgical center.

The healthy, young mother of two presented for the laparoscopic tubal ligation surgery, a permanent form of contraception that was supposed to be a simple in and out procedure. She was given general anesthesia and the procedure began. However, within five minutes the anesthesiologist noted that she had cardiac arrhythmia, which is an abnormal heart rate, and no blood pressure. All parties affirmed that the patient had not been getting any oxygen to her brain for several minutes.

The Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit alleged that the surgeon and anesthesiologist failed to recognize the plaintiff's deprived condition for several minutes, which resulted in her subsequent brain damage. The patient's abnormal heart rate and lack of blood pressure were a rare complication of the surgery and were thought to be the result of a carbon dioxide embolism.

Continue reading "Cook County Medical Malpractice Settlement Approved for Surgical Negligence in Laparoscopic Tubal Ligation Surgery - Estate of Yvonne Harris v. Advocate Healthcare Network, et al." »

A recent Illinois wrongful death case combined both medical malpractice counts and product defect counts. Susan Calles, et al. v. Scipto-Tokai Corp., et al., No. 07 L 4577, was initially dismissed on summary judgment, but was then returned to the trial court by the Illinois Appellate Court. The case has now concluded after reaching a settlement of $3.5 million; $1.5 million for the medical malpractice and $2 million for the product defect.

Calles involves the death of Jillian Calles, a three year-old girl who suffered smoke inhalation as a result of a fire her twin sister caused. The twin was playing with a butane lighter when she accidentally started the fire. The Illinois product defect claim alleged that the lighter design improperly lacked a child-resistant device.

Under product defect liability, a manufacturer may be held liable for a design flaw in its product if that flaw presents a danger to consumers that could have been eliminated. In addition, the danger must be a byproduct of the product's intended use. For example, if someone becomes injured while balancing a chair on two of its four legs then this would not be the result of a design flaw given that the product was not meant to be used that way.

However, this caveat does not apply in Calles where the twin sister was obviously using the lighter correctly given that she was able to light it. Rather, the estate claims that the design should have prevented the three year-old from being able to use the lighter, period. The specific type of lighter was an Aim N Flame utility lighter manufactured by Scripto-Tokai.

Continue reading "Illinois Product Defect Liability and Medical Malpractice Combo Case Settles for $3.5 Million - Susan Calles, et al. v. Scipto-Tokai Corp., et al." »

The Illinois appellate court recently overturned a $12 million Illinois medical malpractice jury verdict, ordering a new trial with a new jury. The new trial involving Northern Trust Co., et al. v. Burandt, et al., No. 2-08-0193, will include evidence brought by defendant's medical expert that had been barred from being heard at the previous trial.

Burandt is an Illinois birth injury lawsuit filed by the parents of a child born with neurological injuries. The Illinois brain injury claim was brought against a family practice physician, alleging that the Illinois doctor contributed to the child's injury by delaying a Cesarean delivery.

The claims specifically accused the doctor of being too slow to obtain an operating room for the C-section and in negligently slowing down the mother's contractions before deciding to proceed with the C-section. The plaintiffs alleged that the child's brain injuries were the result of a decreased flow of oxygen during his delayed delivery.

Continue reading "Illinois Birth Injury Case to Be Retried: Will Include Previously Barred Expert Testimony" »

Complications during childbirth may lead to severe injuries if they are untreated or treated incorrectly. In a Chicago birth injury case, the family of a six year-old quadriplegic boy filed a lawsuit against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act, or FTCA, claiming that medical malpractice during childbirth was the reason the child contracted a bacterial infection that led to his brain damage.

Under FTCA, the United States is liable for injuries resulting from a federal employee’s negligence. The doctors who failed to correctly treat the infection were employees of the federally funded clinic, Erie Family Health Center and working at Northwestern Memorial Hospital when the child was born in May 2003.

The Illinois birth injury lawsuit falls under the FTCA even though Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where the child was treated, is a private company and not federally funded. This reason for this is because the doctors who allegedly committed the medical malpractice, and therefore were the ones the lawsuit was against, were federal employees at the time. So as long as a physician is employed by the federal government in any capacity, then your Illinois medical malpractice claim would be subject to FTCA rules, even if you are being treated at a non-federally funded hospital.

Continue reading "Chicago Birth Defects Result of Medical Malpractice: Claim Filed Under Federal Tort Claims Act" »

When treating cancer the goal is always to obtain as early a diagnosis as possible so as to give the cancer patient the best possible odds. However, sometimes an early diagnosis is not possible. Sometimes there are no warning signs that something is wrong until the cancerous tumors have reached a later stage in development. But sometimes the warning signs are missed and the cancer is misdiagnosed as something else, in which case there would be an Illinois medical malpractice claim for failure to diagnose cancer.

A recent settlement of an Illinois woman illustrates this point. The Cook County resident filed an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit against her orthopedic surgeon for a failure to diagnose cancer in her elbow. The delay in diagnosis required an amputation of her right arm in order to try and halt the cancer from spreading. However, this strategy did not work and the cancer metastasized to other areas of her body within the following year.

In order for there to be an Illinois medical malpractice case regarding a delayed diagnosis of cancer there needs to be evidence in the cancer patient's medical records that medical professionals missed clear signs of the patient's cancer. For this particular woman that sign came in the form of an MRI of her right elbow.

Continue reading "Late Diagnosis of Cancer in Illinois Woman's Elbow Led to Arm Amputation" »

A recent Chicago birth injury settlement provides an extreme example of Illinois surgical complications. The Cook County medical malpractice case was filed on behalf of a boy who was left with severe brain damage following his cardiac surgery at Loyola University Medical Center.

The minor plaintiff was eight months-old at the time the Chicago medical malpractice occurred. According to the details of the case, the little boy presented to Loyola University Medical Center for cardiac surgery. This surgery was necessary due to his congenital heart condition, but should not have resulted in severe brain damage.

However, both during and after the procedure there was a marked reduction in the oxygen flow to the plaintiff's brain, which in turn led to the unexpected brain injury. The minor plaintiff's brain injury was classified as a hypoxic brain injury versus an anoxic brain injury. The difference between the two types of brain injuries is that a hypoxic injury results when the brain does not receive enough oxygen to properly perform its functions, whereas an anoxic injury occurs when the brain does not receive any oxygen. However, both hypoxic and anoxic brain injuries can result in severe brain damage, which is exactly what occurred in this case.

Continue reading "Chicago Brain Injury Occurs During Cardiac Surgery" »

After almost three years of legal battles, the Illinois Supreme Court came to a decision on whether economic limits should be placed on Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits. In Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, the Illinois high court upheld a Cook County Circuit Court ruling that the Illinois law on medical malpractice non-economic damage caps violate the Illinois Constitution’s “separation of powers” clause.

This decision essentially states that the Illinois legislators interfered with a jury's right to determine the amount of economic damages in Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits. The recent Lebron decision marks the third time that the Illinois Supreme Court struck down unconstitutional limits on medical malpractice awards, having done so with similar law in both 1976 and 1997.

The underlying lawsuit, Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, stems from a 2006 Illinois birth injury lawsuit filed by the family of a girl who suffered severe brain damage during her delivery at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park, Illinois.

Continue reading "Illinois Medical Malpractice Jury Award Limits Struck Down By Illinois Supreme Court in Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital" »

Any surgical procedure inherently carries certain risks, so it is not necessarily uncommon for patients to experience post-surgical side effects. However, when those side effects are not treated properly, this type of surgical medical negligence can result in complications and poor results.

A recent Cook County medical malpractice verdict demonstrates the importance of a timely response to surgical complications in order to avoid Cook County medical negligence, Lovell v. Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, No. 4-09-0249. The facts of the case involve a Cook County resident with prostate cancer who underwent a radical retropubic prostatectomy at a local Illinois hospital.

Following the surgical procedure, the patient complained of a “bloated, constipated feeling” four days after surgery. His family physician ordered a tap-water enema to try and relieve the bloating feeling. Soon after, the urologist whom performed the original surgery resolved that the plaintiff had a fistula that had been caused by the enema. A fistula is essentially an opening that develops between two organs or vessels that do not normally connect.

Continue reading "Cook County Medical Negligence Results From Poor Post-Surgical Care: Plaintiff Prevails at Trial" »

Oftentimes cancer medical negligence cases in Illinois hinge on a failure to diagnose cancer in a timely manner. However, a recent Chicago wrongful death settlement deals with a different type of medical negligence surrounding a cancer patient's treatment. In this case a woman with endometrial cancer died as a result of a perforated bowel, which her estate claimed was the result of her receiving 50 percent more radiation than was necessary.

Decedent Patricia Quirk was diagnosed with stage three endometrial cancer and received all of her radiation treatments at Chicago's Little Company of Mary Hospital. While the first third of her radiation treatments were appropriate, it was the last two-thirds of her radiation treatment that resulted in the Chicago hospital's medical negligence. In essence, the decedent was 'over-radiated', receiving two times as much radiation at each treatment than was necessary and safe.

Even radiation given in appropriate amounts comes with some negative side effects, including nausea, fatigue/malaise, and hair loss. Yet when given in overwhelmingly large amounts, radiation can have disastrous effects on one's body, as the decedent's case unfortunately illustrates. The large doses of radiation eventually caused decedent's bowel to perforate, or tear, which resulted in a blood infection and her eventual death.

Continue reading "Excess Radiation Treatment Results in Chicago Medical Settlement in Cancer Patient's Death" »

The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a Cook County medical malpractice jury verdict in favor of the defendant doctors regarding the death of an orthopedic surgeon from an allegedly misdiagnosed malignant nasal polyp. The plaintiff's appeal had focused on alleged violations of the Dead Man's Act. Agins v. Otolaryngology Group, Ltd., et al., No. 1-08-3207.

The facts of the case begin when the decedent presented to an otolaryngologist complaining of a severe nose bleed for six days straight. On examination, it was found that the decedent had a 5-millimeter opening to the airway on the right side with severe scarring and a polyp on the anterior part of his right nose. The bleeding was stopped by the doctor through cauterization and the decedent was advised to get a CT scan and referred to another doctor with more expertise.

The decedent continue to follow up with the same physician group over the next few months. Then about five months later the decedent followed up with yet another physician who diagnosed the polyp as neuroblastoma cancer. While the polyp was removed, the decedent died from the cancer two years later.

In the Cook County medical malpractice lawsuit brought by the decedent’s widow, it was claimed that the otolaryngology group that the decedent saw several times during the summer of 2000 and who had cauterized the decedent’s nose bleed but did not otherwise evaluate or treat the decedent’s condition, which in turn led to the failure to diagnose the cancer. However, the defendant doctor claimed that he never saw the decedent in his office.

Continue reading "Cook County Medical Malpractice Verdict Affirmed by Illinois Appellate Court" »

A recent Cook County medical malpractice verdict of $22.3 million was awarded to the parents of a now ten year-old boy. A review of the case reveals that the damages included the loss of both legs as well as brain injuries that included cognitive and neurological abilities. These severe damages were allegedly the result of a delay in diagnosing and treating the boy's congenital heart defect.

This case is an unfortunate example of the way that a series of seemingly minor delays and mistakes can lead to disastrous outcomes. The boy was born with a congenital heart defect and had a shunt placed just two days after his birth in an attempt to correct this defect. However, this proved inadequate and two weeks later the baby returned to the emergency room, at which time an echocardiogram suggested that the shunt was partially blocked.

At this point instead of immediately preceding with a surgery to correct the blocked shunt, the attending cardiologist ordered a cardiac catheterization. This procedure was ordered not to correct the baby's defect, but according to plaintiff's attorneys was done simply to confirm the diagnosis of the blocked shunt that had been made by another doctor. The plaintiff's attorneys further alleged that the cardiac catheterization unnecessarily delayed the surgery and directly contributed to the Cook County medical negligence.

Continue reading "Cook County Medical Malpractice Verdict Decided in Favor of Parents for Delay in Treatment of Child with Heart Defect" »

Bleeding seems like a simple enough problem to correct. We've all had a cut or scrape that has resulted in some sort of bleed and we all know the proper way to stop the bleeding: apply pressure and elevate the area. However, when bleeding is internal it is a completely different matter and can result in severe medical complications or death.

This concept is illustrated by a recent Illinois wrongful death settlement where a hospital's failure to recognize a brain bleed in a timely manner resulted in this man's death. The decedent had presented to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and was admitted to the hospital's surgical intensive care unit for neurological observation after he sustained a brain injury as a result of hitting his head in a fall. Upon his admission a CT scan showed a small hemorrhage in his brain, which is basically another way of saying he there was a small bleed in his brain.

The plaintiff’s family alleged that the healthcare providers were medically negligent in their failure to recognize the importance of subsequent signs that indicated that this brain bleed had progressed. Further, they alleged that the doctors should have known and acted on those signs in time to prevent permanent damage and death by ordering an operation that would have relieved the increased pressure in the decedent's brain.

Continue reading "Illinois Wrongful Death Case Brought by Family of Man Who Died of a Brain Injury When Brain Bleed Not Recognized" »