Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

Finally, it appears that Wall Street executives are getting what they deserve. The Washington Post reports that bonuses this year are likely to be sharply lower than in years past. Johnson Associates, a compensation consulting firm, predicts annual incentive pay for senior executives will fall at least 60 percent this year at investment banks, and by 55 percent or more at commercial banks.

It’s about time. We have been writing about the excessive corporate executive compensation for years and it appears that the rest of the financial industry is finally seeing the light. Compensation is being scrutinized as never before, especially on Wall Street, where the year-end bonus season is coinciding with a government bailout of finance companies.

At a time when the average taxpayer already is feeling stretched and public money is being used to support an industry that paid out $33 billion of bonuses last year-- upper level management has an even greater duty than before to shareholders to not offer excessive pay packages and instead focus on corporate governance.

Since 1993, companies have been allowed by Congress to take a tax deduction for executive compensation over $1 million--but required that the pay be tied to performance. This is what created the culture where giant stock option grants make up the bulk of executive pay at many of the biggest public companies. Bonuses should be strictly connected to stock performance and we think that slowly, the agencies that monitor banking institutions and Wall Street will eventually get to that point. Public opinion will demand it.

Continue reading "Growing Sense of Outrage Over Executive Pay" »

A Chicago transplant patient filed a medical negligence suit this week against the University of Chicago Medical Center and one of its surgeons, alleging that she contracted HIV and hepatitis C after receiving a kidney from an infected donor.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the hospital knew that the donor, who was homosexual, was in a high-risk group but withheld the information from the patient. According to the lawsuit, had the patient known of the true nature of the donor's lifestyle and the risks associated with receiving his kidney, she would not have consented to the surgery.

Four transplant recipients contracted HIV from the donor, whose infection went undetected in what hospital officials say is the first documented case of the virus being transmitted by organ donation in the U.S. in more than 20 years. Tests conducted on the donor returned negative results probably because the HIV and hepatitis were contracted near the time of death and hadn't had the opportunity to progress. The suit charges medical malpractice for failing to notify the woman of the donor's high-risk behavior and for failing to test her for HIV three months after the transplant—which is recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention when organs are donated by high-risk donors.

Continue reading "Patient sues Chicago Hospital, doctor for contracting HIV and hepatitis from infected kidney donor" »

Chicago Sun Times writer Monifa Thomas reports that Blacks and Hispanics who receive treatment for head injuries and other trauma are more likely to die than whites with similar injuries. New research also showed that regardless of race, uninsured trauma victims died more often than those who were insured.

The study, published in the Archives of Surgery, offers the latest evidence of how race and insurance status affect patient outcomes -- whether the condition in question is cancer, heart disease, car accident injury or gunshot wounds. Data collected from more than 376,000 patients at 700 hospitals showed that trauma victims who were white and had health insurance fared better than Blacks, Hispanics and the uninsured, even when the severity of the injury was the same.

According to researchers, lack of insurance was the biggest predictor of poor outcomes—and since minorities were more likely than whites to be uninsured they were more likely not to survive traumatic injury. But the data also showed that Hispanics with insurance were still 51 percent more likely to die after being treated for a trauma wound than whites who had insurance. African Americans with insurance were 20 percent more likely to die compared to insured whites.

There are some variables that could cause this disparity such as uninsured patients having preexisting conditions that hurt their survival chances or the fact that minorities are more likely to be treated at under-resourced facilities. But in theory, trauma centers, are supposed to treat all their patients the same, regardless of whether they are insured and regardless of their race--any practice other that would be a violation of federal law. If anything, this study brings to light how universal health care coverage could help alleviate the disparity between the care “haves” and the 47-million uninsured “have-nots” receive.

Continue reading "Minority Trauma Victims More Likely To Die Than Whites" »

A recent wrongful death case involving claims that a doctor failed to diagnose prostate cancer settled for $875,000. The decedent’s estate claimed a hospital and treating physician failed to perform annual prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in the two years before the diagnosis.

The facts alleged that the plaintiff underwent regular annual physicals. But, when he was 52, he underwent a digital rectal exam and was then diagnosed as having metastatic prostate cancer. He underwent treatment but died six months after his diagnosis. He was survived by his wife and two adult children. The parties settled before suit was filed.

Continue reading "Failure to perform timely PSA tests leads parties to settle wrongful death case for $875,000" »