Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

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Five medical malpractice cases pending in California settled this week for a sum of $1 million.  The settlements arise out of improper patient care that occured at a Northern California kidney transplant center that has been at the center of a controversy revolving around a poor record of patient care.

Federal and state investigators forced the hospital to close after the transplant waiting list grew to 1600 patients in 2006 while the center did less then 70 transplants.  It has been alleged that these transplants were either delayed or not performed due to bureacratic barriers at the the institution which caused some of the patient’s conditions to decline or die before they could receive life saving treatment.

The low dollar figures in these settlements are emblematic of the unfairness caused by California’s arbitrary cap on medical malpractice damages which sets the maximum compensation for these types of claims at $250,000.  This cap figure has remained unchanged since it was imposed in the 1970s.  The Supreme Court in Illinois is currently deciding the constitutionality of caps on medical malpractice awards.

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The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that the death of a 63 year old man who lived at the Burnham Terrace Nursing Home in Burnham, Illinois was a murder.  Thomas Donavan later died at South Shore Hospital from multiple injuries suffered during the assault, hypertension and diabetes.

Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect continues to be a problem for our nation’s growing elderly population.  Residents of nursing homes are entittled to a safe and caring environment when they are confined to a residential care facility like a nursing home. 

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The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered litigants in medical malpractice cases to take steps to resolve those matters in order to decrease the court’s backlog.  Two senior judges have been assigned in Clark County to conduct a settlement marathon in May in the hopes of resolving the 216 oldest cases on the court’s docket.  The Judges plan to hold up to eighteen settlement conferences a week.

Apparently Clark County, Nevada, home to Las Vegas, has more then 400 medical malpractice cases pending statewide.  This number seems relatively small in comparison to the number of cases we have pending in Cook County, Illinois.

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Alex Parker of the Chi-Town Daily News is reporting that according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the University of Chicago Medical Center is guilty of violating a federal law by not giving an elderly patient who later died adequate medical treatment.  The University of Chicago’s own internal investigation demonstrated that its staff did not follow the U of C’s own policies and procedures when caring for the patient.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that requires every emergency room to offer stabilizing treatment to any patient who comes to the emergency room for treatment, regardless of ability to pay.

Anyone who meeds medical care at an emergency room is absolutely entitled to be triaged and monitored regardless of the circumstances.  EMTALA absolutely forbids hospitals from engaging in the practice of patient “dumping” including outright denials of treatment or a referral to another ER.  This practice often occurs when a low income or senior citizen appears at an ER facility and does not appear to be able to pay for care.

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The United States Department of Health And Human Services has offered the public some advice on how to protect themselves against unintended medical errors.  According to the Department of Health and Human Services medical errors are one of the nations leading causes of death.  Here are 20 tips to help avoid unintended medical consequences:

1. The single most important way you can help to prevent errors is to be an active member of your health care team.

That means taking part in every decision about your health care. Research shows that patients who are more involved with their care tend to get better results. Some specific tips, based on the latest scientific evidence about what works best, follow.

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The National Academy of Science is reporting that close to 100,000 people who die each year are the victim of preventable medical mistakes.  A medical mistake can mean a doctor chose the wrong type of care in response to a medical problem or provided the correct type of care but carried it out incorrectly.

church lady.jpgComedian Dana Carvey is one of the lucky ones.  Mr. Carvey believed he was having a double coronary artery bypass which would save his life.  Instead his doctors bypassed the wrong artery.  Luckily, he survived the mistake.  He has filed a $7.5 million lawsuit against the surgeon who made the mistake.

The sugeon claims he made an honest mistake, in part because Mr. Carvey had an unusual anatomic architecure.  Carvey doesn’t see it that way.  “It’s like removing the wrong kidney. It’s that big a mistake,” the entertainer told People magazine.

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MarineCorpsSeal.jpgShould an active member of the United States military be able to sue the United States Government for medical malpractice?  The answer according to the United States Supreme Court in Feres v. The United States, 24 U.S. 135 (1950) is no.  The Feres doctrine, as it is commonly know, prohibits an active member of the military and not on furlough from suing the United States for injuries caused by another member of the military.  This bar does not extend to family members of active military personnel.

A congressman from New York has introduced legislation in congress to reverse the Feres decision and make the military accountable for the medical malpractice of military doctors.  The Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act of 2009 is the subject of hearings that are currently before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.  Carmelo Rodriguez was a Marine who died in 2007 after military doctors misdiagnosed a melanoma on his left buttock.  Motivated by his memory, Sgt. Rodriguez’s family has spearheaded this legislation.

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In what is being reported as a Chicago example of a growing trend nationwide, a 77 year old man south-side nursing home resident was killed by his 50 year-old mentally ill roommate.  Over the past several years nursing homes have become common places to put mentally ill adults who have nowhere else to go.  The unfortunate problem is that most nursing home facilities are not staffed with care givers who have the appropriate skill sets necessary to deal with mentally ill, and often violent, patients.

Illinois ranks first nationwide in the number of mentally ill patients under the age of 65 who live in nursing or assisted care facilities.

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When a nursing home assumes the care of an elderly or infirm patient they owe him or her the obligation to provide a safe and nurturing living environment.  We have seen an uptick in these types of cases in our own practice and are concerned that this is a growing trend that will effect Chicago’s elderly as the projected elderly population in america grows over the next many years.

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Our clients often ask us about damages in medical malpractice cases.  Sometimes they tell us that they aren’t interested in financial compensation and only want to do something to make sure that their doctor doesnt hurt anybody else.

The remedy in civil medical malpractice is financial.  When we proceed with a medical malpractice lawsuit we go to court seeking money damages.  What those damages will be is ultimately a decision that will be made by a jury after being presented with evidence of both economic and pecuniary loss. 

Some of our clients are happy to learn that each and every malpractice claim is reported to a national databank which is more or less a doctor’s permanent record.  Additionally, the Illinois Department of Professional Responsibility investigates every malpractice claim that goes to verdict or settles to determine if the doctor’s license ought to be affected.

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Survivors of a victim of a wrongful death that occured before May 31, 2007 in Illinois were limited under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act to recover only pecuniary loses completely discounting the survivors grief from consideration.  Pecunary loss includes the loss of benefit of the decedent’s love, affection, care, attention, companionship, guidance and protection.  Now an amendment to the act allows the recovery of grief, sorrow and mental suffering of the survivors of a wrongful death.

Grief, sorrow and mental suffering have long been recognized in medicine as scientifically based components of the anguish associated with the loss of a loved one.  The law now more accurately reflects the actual loses sustained by the survivors of a wrongful death.

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