Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

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" »

The families of two newborns who died after they were inadvertently given massive doses of Heparin have sued an Indianapolis hospital and the Illinois-based company, Baxter Healthcare Corp., that makes the blood thinner.

The Chicago Tribune reports that parents of two of the three newborns who died in September 2006 filed suit after injections of heparin that were 1,000 times greater than the recommended dose for infants were administered. Also suing are the parents of two infants who were overdosed but survived. The error occurred in part because of a mix up over labeling, which Baxter changed in October 2007.

Baxter recalled all its heparin vials in February after receiving contaminated ingredients from a supplier, Baxter officials said.

Continue reading "Hospital and Illinois Drug Company sued for Heparin overdoes" »

Shaya Tayefe Mohajer of the Associated Press recently reported that 18 hospitals in California were fined for state health code violations where patients received sub-par care that in some cases, led to death. Violations included an improperly inserted catheter, a ventilator that wasn't turned on and surgical sponges left inside patients after operations. The report also found some patients experienced awareness during their procedures due to improper anesthesia.

The fines were the latest of dozens of penalties the state issued in recent years to more than 40 hospitals. The report detailed a death at a hospital in which a worker failed to turn on the ventilator for a patient who was being transferred. At another hospital, a patient died after falling from a wheelchair with no seat belt on, and another of the fined hospitals lost a patient from a medication overdose. In what appears to be an epidemic of poor healthcare, at another hospital, a registered nurse improperly inserted a catheter into a patient's neck vein, which caused an air bubble and lead to the patient’s death. The California Department of Health investigation found the nurse had not completed a required anatomy class or the hospital's training on protocol for catheters.

The hospitals were fined $25,000 for each violation. If you have questions relating to medical malpractice please contact the Illinois Medical Malpractice Attorneys at Hurley McKenna & Mertz, P.C.