Pennsylvania Personal Injury Blog

A 70-year-old man died after he jumped out of a window at Lancaster General Hospital. According to this article, his family is suing the hospital and two doctors who cared for him.

Last summer, the man threw himself through a closed, eighth-story window at the Duke Street hospital and died. He had been hospitalized there for mental health problems. He had a history of seizures and anxiety. He threatened to leave the hospital and jump out a window.

The lawsuit claimed that the man was agitated and paranoid, and had threatened to jump out of the window five days before he did. According to the family’s attorney, the proper steps to safeguard him on the unit he was on were not taken.

The man’s medical doctor signed an order to “transfer to psych unit if OK [with] psychiatry” three days before his death. But in a later progress note the psychiatrist said he did not see indication for psychiatric admission. He likely had an underlying dementia and was recommended for neuropsychological testing as soon as possible.

Police officers found the man outside the hospital. He then was returned to his room and, according to the article, he pushed a patient care assistant across the room and threw himself out of the window. He died a short time later.

The lawsuit alleges his death was the result of negligence, carelessness, recklessness, and gross negligence.

Continue reading "Lancaster Wrongful Death Leads to Hospital Malpractice Lawsuit" »

According to this article on Maineville.com, a Mayo Regional patient received 10 times the needed epinephrine.

The article reported that Timothy Harvey, 51, went to the hospital’s emergency room on June 4. He was suffering from an allergic reaction and died early the next morning from a massive overdose of medication mistakenly administered by hospital staff.

The hospital’s CEO said it takes full responsibility for this situation.

The middle-aged man went to the emergency room on June 4, with symptoms of an acute allergic reaction that included facial swelling and some thickening of the tongue. He had eaten seafood about an hour earlier that evening but had no prior known seafood allergy.

The patient was given 0.3 milligrams of epinephrine, an appropriate amount, and the patient showed signs of improvement. While he was being held for observation, some of his earlier symptoms recurred and he was given a second dose of epinephrine. It can be re-dosed in the same amount as often as necessary to address a patient’s symptoms. However, the second dose was too large.

Continue reading "Patient Dies of Medication Overdose Due to Hospital Negligence" »

A recent article in The Legal Intelligencer discusses an annual court study which reveals that a 44% drop in the amount of medical malpractice filings has occurred. This decline is attributed to reform procedures initiated by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2003. The article mentions that PA medical malpractice cases must be filed in counties where the alleged malpractice and subsequent patient harm occurred. In addition, cases must be filed with a certificate of merit from a physician reflecting a reasonable likelihood that a medical malpractice defendant digressed from the conventional and expected standard of medical care that patients should receive. These measures are meant to aid in smoothing out the litigation process so it can best serve the people of Pennsylvania.

Based on the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts’ most recent statistical data on medical malpractice litigation, the number of medical malpractice suits begun in Pennsylvania dropped to 1,533 in 2009. In 2002, the year before the reform measures went into effect, 2,904 filings were made; a number that showed significant decline in 2008 with 1,602 filings. Furthermore, Philadelphia saw a large decline in filings with 491 in 2009 in comparison to 1,365 in 2002.

According to the article, skilled attorney, Kevin R. Marciano of Philadelphia firm, Cherry Fieger & Marciano, LLP, and president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice’s trial lawyers group, stated that the recent collection of statistics demonstrates that the rules governing medical malpractice cases are working. Kevin R. Marciano also stated that when the rules surrounding Pennsylvania medical malpractice law were being written, trial lawyers were involved with the reasonable and fair implementation of venue rules and certificate of merit requirements. In acknowledging that other changes, such as a cap on damages or specialty medical malpractice courts, would potentially throw-off “a level playing field,” Marciano said that “people’s rights are going to be infringed upon” if such alterations are introduced to a process that has already demonstrated accuracy and efficiency in its functioning abilities.

Medical malpractice in Pennsylvania can happen to anyone. Whether a medical professional’s negligence results in surgical error, misdiagnosis, prescription drug error, birth injury, or a delay in treatment; patients of all ages may be at risk of suffering serious injury or even death. This is why it is crucial for legal matters relating to medical malpractice filings and cases to be given proceeding standards that are fair and just.

A woman says that her 46-year-old husband died because an Erie hospital ran out of blood while treating him after a motorcycle crash. The man was a high school wrestling coach. According to this article by the Associated Press, the woman has sued Hamot Medical Center in Erie, PA saying the hospital had only 16 units of blood available when her husband died of pelvic bleeding after the crash on July 24, 2008.

The article stated that doctors wanted to operate on the man in Erie, but decided to transfer him to a Pittsburgh hospital because a radiologist wasn’t comfortable working on pelvic injuries. The lawsuit claims he died while waiting for a medical helicopter after the hospital ran out of blood.

Continue reading "Erie Hospital Ran Out of Blood, Death Lawsuit Says" »

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania reported a possible radiation error involving the treatment of a man for prostate cancer. According to this article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a patient underwent a prostate brachytherapy procedure on Jan. 21 to implant 65 radioactive seeds to kill cancer cells in the acorn-size gland. On a follow-up scan on Feb. 23, doctors saw that the seeds were “outside the intended target.”

The incident is similar to problems at the Penn-run brachytherapy program at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center.

From February 2002 until June 2008, 97 veterans got incorrect radiation doses.

The article stated that the incident at Penn was reported to the state Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the medical use of radioactive materials in Pennsylvania for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The incident may have been caused by a malfunction in a new ultrasound unit, which guides the needles used to place the radioactive seeds.

The problems at the Philadelphia VA raised questions about the Penn program’s quality.

Continue reading "Possible Prostate Case Error at Penn Hospital" »

According to this article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was sued in federal court for allegedly refusing to accept Marcus Murray because he lacked health insurance.

Murray needed emergency surgery to treat a tear in a major artery. Marcus and his wife, Jean, claim that Penn initially said it would accept Mr. Murray’s transfer from Underwood Memorial Hospital in Gloucester County, NJ. Then, Penn refused after learning he had no health insurance.

The article stated that the suit named a Penn cardiothoracic surgeon, Underwood, and its emergency-room doctor on the case, alleging that Underwood failed to properly diagnose Murray’s condition and did not transfer him to a hospital capable of dealing with his problem soon enough.

Murray was experiencing chest pain and weakness and went by ambulance to the Underwood ER.

A CT scan revealed a “complex dissection of the thoracic and abdominal aorta” that would require treatment by a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Underwood does not have open-heart-surgery capability, so Murray needed to be transferred to another hospital.

According to Murray’s Underwood records, Penn had agreed to accept Murray, and he would get a helicopter to transport him to Philadelphia. Records showed that after speaking with the Penn surgeon, they were told Mr. Murray was not accepted. Nurse’s notes indicated that the reason for refusal was lack of medical insurance.

Continue reading "PA Hospital Sued Over Failure to Admit Patient" »

State authorities suspended Kermit B. Gosnell’s medical license, a doctor whose practice in West Philadelphia was raided by federal drug agents. According to an article on Philly.com, the suspension was issued by the State Board of Medicine and came after a search of Women’s Medical Society practice.

The suspension order says the conditions of the clinic were “deplorable and unsanitary.”

The order called Gosnell’s continued practice of medicine a danger to the public health and safety.

Law enforcement sources said the FBI, DEA, and state drug agents who executed the search warrant had been investigating Gosnell, who is in his late 60s, on suspicion of illegal distribution of prescription painkillers.

The suspension order also alleges that on or about Nov. 20, a patient died after being treated at the clinic by an unlicensed employee. The woman was in the clinic for an abortion and was given 10 mg of Demerol and 12.5 mg of promethazine. When the patient began experiencing cramping, she asked for more pain medication, and Gosnell told the unlicensed employee to administer it.

The woman allegedly was given 75 mg of Demerol, 12.5 mg of promethazine, and 10 mg of diazepam, and later more anesthetic in preparation for the abortion.

Continue reading "Philadelphia Doctor's License Suspended after Patient Dies" »

Patients not only have their health to worry about, but they also have to concern themselves with the medical devices that are used to diagnose and treat their ailments. According to an Latimes.com report, the well publicized CT Scan malfunction which resulted in accidental radiation overdosing to patients could be a national dilemma.The FDA found that a 3rd L.A area hospital, Providence St. Joseph, has overdosed 34 patients over a 20 month interval. The patients, who had gone to the hospital to have a brain scan performed, were found to have been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation.

The CT Scan, which scans those who have suffered a stroke, aids hospital officials in determining how much damage has been done to the brain. Another issue that raises concerns for FDA officials and the public is that the problem with the first two hospitals involved scanners from GE, but the scanner in the third hospital is manufactured by Toshiba. A doctor who is the acting director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health said, “Given the fact that we are dealing with two manufacturers and multiple institutions, we wouldn’t be surprised if there are more problems at other institutions”.

Hospitals throughout the country have been directed by the FDA to review radiation dosing guidelines when a CT perfusion scan will be performed. This means that CT technologists must be trained to check the display on the scanner prior to the scan. According to the FDA, an estimated 150,000 CT brain perfusion scans are carried out yearly throughout the country. It is of the utmost importance for all the machines to be checked properly and hospital personnel must be accurately trained to operate them as soon as possible. The FDA is continuing their investigation as to whether the overdoses are a result of human error, defective machines, or both.

Continue reading "FDA Orders National Review of Hospital Scanners" »

Most Pennsylvanians have heard the news of a hospital in Los Angeles, California that accidentally exposed CT scans patients to dangerous levels of radiation. Officials believe that patients received up to 8 times the prescribed dosage at the Cedars-Sinai hospital.

The troubling revelation has many experts proclaiming that there is too much reliance on medical machinery in the health industry and that this is a growing problem of modern technology.

Chief medical officer for Siemens, a manufacturer of CT scanners, said, “It’s in your face on the screen,” when describing the radiation levels during a CT scan. Investigators are trying to figure out why no one noticed the problem for 18 months. Director of the Center for Radiological Research said, “It’s pretty mystifying to me.”

The state Department of Public Health and the FDA are investigating while Cedars-Sinai claims that the overdoses happened as a result of the hospital reconfiguring a scanner in order to improve physicians’ capability to see blood flow in the brain. Cedars-Sinai released a statement that said they have “added double-checks to our process whenever a protocol is changed.”

Continue reading "Cedars-Sinai Overdoses at Least 206 CT Scan Patients With Radiation" »

The family of the late Latino musician Joaquin Rivera is preparing to sue Aria Health System. According to an article in the Philadelphia Daily News, the state Department of Health released a report detailing numerous staff policy violations that occurred on Nov. 28, the night Rivera had a fatal heart attack in the waiting room of Aria Health’s Frankford campus.
Rivera, 63, sat dead for more than 40 minutes and was robbed by three vagrants before hospital personnel noticed.

Investigators found an extensive list of hospital errors that took place before, during, and after his death.

Rivera, a father of three who worked for years as a guidance counselor at Olney High School, complained of pain on his left side when he entered the hospital at 10:45 p.m.

Surveillance footage showed that he stopped moving 11 minutes later. According to the state report, a triage nurse called his name at 11:03 p.m. and noticed that he was staring at a wall and not moving.

However, the report shows neither the nurse nor other hospital personnel checked to see if Rivera was in need of help.

The report also shows that staffers responded to Rivera only when another patient said that he had died.

State investigators learned in subsequent interviews with the hospital staff that many were unaware of protocol that requires them to check on patients in the waiting area.

Continue reading "Family to Sue Aria Over Waiting-Room Death" »

The trial is going to begin in a medical malpractice lawsuit following the death of a University of Pennsylvania sophomore. She died in September 2007 of meningitis. According to an article on Philly.com, her family claims that the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was negligent in performing a lumbar puncture on a patient with brain swelling, and that her brain herniated, killing her.

The hospital maintains that the sophomore received outstanding care and that the lumbar puncture, commonly known as a spinal tap, is the standard test for meningitis.

The suit is being heard in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

If you or someone you love has been treated with substandard care by a doctor or healthcare provider and has suffered an injury or disability as a result, that patient has been the victim of medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, surgical errors, prescription drug errors, birth injuries, failure to treat diseases, delay in treatment, and negligence are just a few examples of medical malpractice. People of all ages are at risk for medical malpractice, including children, adults, and the elderly.

Continue reading "Trial Begins in Medical Malpractice Suit for Penn Student's Meningitis Death" »

A patient sued a New Jersey oncologist who health officials suspect was responsible for a hepatitis B outbreak this year. According to this article by the Associated Press on Philly.com, one man from Manchester, NJ said he contracted the disease after being treated for prostate cancer at the office of suspected doctor this year and last year.

The affected man sued the doctor for medical malpractice in a state court in Ocean County, NJ in July. His attorney said that the man was tested before the doctor treated him and was not infected with the virus.

The state warned nearly 3,000 of the suspected doctor’s patients in March to get tested after five cancer patients tested positive for hepatitis B, which is transmitted through exposure to infected blood and can cause serious liver damage.

According to the article, the state Health Department refused to say how many more patients tested positive after the warnings were issued.

The oncologist’s medical license was suspended in April because of conditions at his Toms River office. There was blood on the floor of a room where chemotherapy was administered, blood in a bin where blood vials were stored, open medication vials, and unsterile saline and gauze.

Continue reading "Patient Sues N.J. Oncologist Over Hepatitis Infection" »

An attorney from Nashville is preparing to file claims with the VA for about 60 veterans. According to this article by the Associated Press on Philly.com, he is going to ask the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to pay disability benefits and damages for hospital mistakes that may have exposed veterans to infectious body fluids.

The veterans have tested positive for HIV and hepatitis and others have suffered emotional distress after the VA provided them with initial positive blood tests for infections that turned out to be wrong. Other veterans among the roughly 10,000 affected former patients at VA hospitals in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Miami and Augusta, Ga., are likely to seek compensation beyond the VA’s offer of free medical care.

The attorney is planning to file medical malpractice and emotional distress claims with the VA within 30 to 45 days. The claims process differs from a traditional malpractice lawsuit because the VA is a federal agency. The patient’s claim first must be reviewed by a VA regional attorney.

The VA has offered free medical care to the affected veterans, but the attorney said it is no more than they already expected. The requested compensation will vary greatly, depending on the veteran’s age, ailments, and other factors.

Records show that among the patients who have heeded VA warnings to get follow-up blood checks, eight have tested positive for HIV. Twelve former patients have tested positive for hepatitis B and 37 have tested positive for hepatitis C.

Continue reading "VA Hospital Errors Affect Vets, Claims Being Filed" »

A Florida dentist is being sued for allegedly dropping tools down the throat of an elderly patient - twice. According to an article, relatives of the 90-year-old man recently filed the suit in circuit court accusing the dentist of negligence.

The lawsuit that the elderly man’s family filed claimed that the doctor dropped an “implant screwdriver tool” in 2006 and a “mini-wrench” in 2007. The suit also says that the victim underwent several medical procedures to remove the tools but never fully recovered. He died in 2007.

The dentist was fined $17,000 by the state a year later. He was found negligent in a settlement.

When a patient has been treated with substandard care by a doctor or healthcare provider and has suffered an injury or disability as a result, the patient has been the victim of medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, surgical errors, prescription drug errors, birth injuries, failure to treat diseases, delay in treatment, and negligence are just a few examples of medical malpractice. People of all ages are at risk for medical malpractice in Philadelphia and throughout the nation, including children, adults, and the elderly.

Continue reading "Lawsuit Against Dentist Who Dropped Tools Down Man’s Throat" »

Darla Marshall, the second of two Kentucky widows, settled a federal lawsuit over surgical care she said killed her husband at an Illinois Veterans Affairs hospital. Major surgeries at this hospital have been halted for nearly two years after a spike in patient deaths.

According to an Associated Press article that appeared on Philly.com, the terms of the settlement over 61-year-old James Marshall’s July 2007 blood infection death six days after his lymph node biopsy at the VA hospital in Marion were not disclosed. Marshall sought $10 million in her wrongful-death lawsuit.

Another widow, Katrina Shank of Murray, Ky., settled for $975,000 last year for her lawsuit involving Robert Shank III, an Air Force veteran who was 50 when he bled to death in 2007 —one day after undergoing gallbladder surgery at the Marion site.

Both were patients of surgeon Jose Veizaga-Mendez, who resigned in August 2007 three days after Shank died.

Within a month of Shank’s death, surgeries at the Marion site, which serves veterans from southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana and western Kentucky, were halted after the VA found that at least nine deaths between October 2006 and March 2007 were “directly attributable” to substandard care there.

The article said that the VA’s findings of medical malpractice did not put the sole blame on Veizaga-Mendez, but Shank’s lawsuit said many or all of those who died were his patients. According to the article, of an additional 34 cases the VA investigated, 10 patients died after receiving questionable care that complicated their health.

Continue reading "Settlement Reached for 2nd Kentucky Widow Over Husband's VA Death" »

Dr. Gary Kao, an oncologist blamed for botching cancer treatments at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said he is not the type of physician he’s been portrayed to be. According to this article on www.delcotimes.com Kao testified on June 29 at a congressional hearing at the medical center in Philadelphia. Kao says the treatment, which involves implanting radioactive seeds in the prostate, “was and still is an evolving field.”

According to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report, 92 veterans received incorrect radiation doses at the hospital over a three-year period. The NRC is investigating the cases of medical malpractice in Philadelphia.

Although, Kao said he never falsified results or covered up mistakes, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter called the hearing after learning of the treatment problems. Specter himself is a cancer survivor.

When patients, such has the VA hospital cancer patients, have been treated with substandard care by a doctor or healthcare provider and in turn suffer an injury or disability as a result, the patient has been the victim of medical malpractice.

Continue reading "Pa. Doctor in VA Cancer Treatment Probe Testifies" »

The government is investigating if heart attack survivors enrolled in a controversial federal study of an alternative treatment were told about possible health risks.

According to this article, the $30 million study with 1,500 participants, is one of the largest alternative medicine experiments. It tests high doses of vitamin and mineral supplements and chelation, a treatment used for lead poisoning. It has not been proven safe or effective for heart disease and has the potential to cause drug injury.

Last August, the federal Office of Human Research Protections began a probe into whether the people in the study were being fully informed of risks and adequately protected. Researchers then suspended enrollment.

Chelation involves intravenous doses of a drug, in this case disodium EDTA. Proponents claim it can flush out calcium that has built up in artery walls.

According to the article, the study’s consent form does not tell participants that others have suffered wrongful death from chelation. More than half of the doctors running the study make money by selling chelation treatments, which is a conflict of interest.

Continue reading "Chelation Heart Disease Study Investigated by Government" »

On May 13, a jury awarded Rosalyn James $2.185 million in a Philadelphia medical malpractice suit against St. Joseph’s Hospital and two emergency-room physicians. Her husband, Zachary James, died at the North Philadelphia hospital when his heart stopped beating on April 20, 2006.

According to this article in the Philadelphia Daily News, Mrs. James filed a lawsuit claiming her husband’s death may have been preventable if someone had just looked at his X-rays before he died.

James, 51, began experiencing chest, back, and leg pains on April 20. He called 9-1-1 and was transported to St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia. James was seen by the attending emergency-room physician, Dr. Thomas Powell, within a half hour, who ordered several lab tests, including X-rays and echocardiograms, but it took almost two hours for some of the tests to be performed.

Powell left the hospital to attend a corporate meeting, leaving a physician who was serving his first day on the job at St. Joseph’s. The emergency-room physician did not review the X-rays before they were sent to radiology, as per hospital procedure.

Zachary James died at 7:05 on April 20 from a dissecting aortic aneurysm, a condition in which blood gets between the layers of the aorta wall and fills up the sac surrounding the heart, constricting it until it's unable to pump. The X-rays and other tests would have revealed this condition before James had to suffer a wrongful death in Pennsylvania.

According to the article, the hospital and doctors pursued two defenses at trial. One was that Zachary James had a history of hypertension and “chronic noncompliance” in taking his blood-pressure medication.

The other was that quickly identifying James’ condition still may not have allowed enough time to properly transfer him to another hospital where the necessary surgery could have been performed. The defense argued that he was never given the opportunity to survive and the jury found both doctors and the hospital liable.

When a patient like Zachary James has been treated with substandard care by a doctor or healthcare provider and has suffered an injury or disability as a result, the patient has been the victim of medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, surgical errors, prescription drug errors, birth injuries, failure to treat diseases, delay in treatment, and negligence are just a few examples of medical malpractice. People of all ages are at risk for medical malpractice, including children, adults, and the elderly.

Medical malpractice is a distressing situation, and the Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers at Cherry, Fieger, and Marciano, LLP, will make the process as simple as possible for you. If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, please contact Cherry, Fieger, and Marciano, LLP today for a free consultation with a skilled Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorney.

A medical malpractice tribunal will decide whether a lawsuit can move forward against a psychiatrist who prescribed powerful drugs for a 4-year-old girl who later died of an overdose.

According to this article in USA Today, Michael and Carolyn Riley are awaiting trial on murder charges for their daughter, Rebecca’s 2006 death. The psychiatrist is accused of intentionally overdosing the girl to keep her out of the way.

A lawyer for Rebecca’s estate argued in March that Dr. Kayoko Kifuji should be held responsible in her death, claiming that Kifuji diagnosed her with bipolar disorder too quickly and did not monitor her condition closely.

When a patient, such as Rebecca Riley, has been treated with substandard care by a doctor or healthcare provider and has suffered an injury or disability as a result, the patient has been the victim of medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, surgical errors, prescription drug errors, birth injuries, failure to treat diseases, delay in treatment, and negligence are just a few examples of medical malpractice. If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, please contact Cherry Fieger and Marciano, LLP today for a free consultation with a Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney.

In severe cases of medical malpractice when a patient dies as a result of the negligence by the healthcare provider, the patient has been the victim of medical malpractice and wrongful death. In most cases, a Pennsylvania wrongful death claim may be handled along with a medical malpractice claim.

Paul Frankel, an Oklahoma City surgeon has been accused of medical malpractice in a lawsuit. According to this article, a father is suing over the death of his son, a Russian teenager who died after a risky brain stem operation.

This lawsuit is one of seven suits filed in Oklahoma County District Court against Frankel so far this year. He stopped practicing in December while he is under investigation by state medical officials.

Frankel performed a free surgery on Russian David Kurbanov in October 2006 to remove a tumor on his brain stem. Kurbanov slipped into a coma and never recovered. He died at the age of 16 in June of 2007.

Sabit Kurbanov, the boy’s father, said that the surgeon used his boy as a “guinea pig” for publicity. The lawsuit alleges that the care and treatment of David was below acceptable medical standards.

In another lawsuit against Frankel, a patient accuses the doctor of using the wrong size rods in 2007 during surgery for a herniated disc. The patient complained he had to have two more surgeries but ended up with permanent injuries.

If a patient, such as David Kurbanov, has been treated with substandard care by a doctor or healthcare provider and has suffered an injury or disability as a result, the patient has been the victim of medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, surgical errors, prescription drug errors, birth injuries, failure to treat diseases, delay in treatment, and negligence are just a few examples of medical malpractice. If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice in Pennsylvania, please contact Cherry Fieger and Marciano, LLP today for a free consultation with a Philadelphia PA medical malpractice attorney.

In severe cases of medical malpractice, when a patient dies as a result of the negligence by the healthcare provider, the patient has been the victim of medical malpractice and wrongful death. In most cases, a Pennsylvania wrongful death claim may be handled along with a medical malpractice claim.

The parents of an 18-year-old boy who suffered a brain injury in a 2007 snowboarding accident say his doctors “intentionally killed” him to harvest his organs. According to an article that appeared on www.abcnews.com, Michael and Teresa Jacobs of Ohio filed a lawsuit in March in the U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania, claiming that doctors “hastened” their son Gregory’s death by delaying treatment and ultimately pulling his breathing tube.

Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs said their son had not been formally declared brain dead when surgeons began the transplant procedure and are seeking $5 million in damages.

The medical malpractice lawsuit in Pennsylvania said that he would have lived, or, at the very least, his life would have been prolonged. The family claims that if their son had been properly treated, he would have had a chance of substantial recovery.

They have charged doctors at Hamot Medical Center in Erie, Pa., and a representative of the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE) in Pittsburgh.

The Hamot Medical Center and the organ center maintained that the treatment administered was “timely, appropriate and well-documented.”

The suit also alleges that the Center for Organ Recovery and Education benefited by obtaining Gregory Jacobs’ organs “for transfer and sale to other individuals, who then paid money, a portion of which went to CORE, for the wrongful procurement of the organs.”

It also alleges that Mr. Jacobs was pressured into signing a do-not-resuscitate order and authorizing the organ transplant. The teen's heart, liver, and kidney were donated.

Continue reading "Parents' Hospital Lawsuit Says Teen was "Killed" for Organs" »

A LaSalle County, Illinois jury awarded $1 million to Jack Hughes Sr., a Tonica, Il. man who sued an orthopedic surgeon for medical malpractice for mishandling his knee surgery.

According to an article in USA Today, Hughes sued Dr. Mark Kelley of Peru for allegedly being negligent in performing a total knee replacement that required seven surgeries over 2 years.

Dr. Kelley argued that a prosthetic device used in the initial surgery was appropriate. According to the article, Hughes was unable to return to his job as a vocational automotive instructor at Streator Township High School because of a chronic pain syndrome.

When a patient has been treated with substandard care by a doctor or healthcare provider and has suffered an injury or disability as a result, the patient has been the victim of medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, surgical errors, prescription drug errors, failure to treat diseases, delay in treatment, negligence, and birth injury in Pennsylvania are just a few examples of medical malpractice. People of all ages are at risk for medical malpractice, including children, adults, and the elderly.

Continue reading "Man Awarded $1 Million for Doctor Error" »

On April 6, 2009, a federal appeals court ruled that a Michigan hospital can be sued for medical malpractice for releasing a man who killed his estranged wife with an ax 10 days later.

According to this Associated Press article that appeared on Philly.com, this decision reinstates a lawsuit filed by the estate of Marie Moses Irons against Providence Hospital.

The 3-judge panel cited a federal law that requires hospitals to stabilize patients if an emergency condition exists and said that it applies to “any individual” who suffers personal harm.

When a patient has been treated with substandard care by a doctor or healthcare provider and has suffered an injury or disability as a result, the patient has been the victim of medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, surgical errors, prescription drug errors, birth injuries, failure to treat diseases, delay in treatment, and negligence are just a few examples of medical malpractice. People of all ages are at risk for medical malpractice, including children, adults, and the elderly.

Marie Moses Irons brought her husband, Christopher Howard, into the Emergency Room at Providence Hospital in December 2002 because he was physically ill, making threats, and showing signs of mental illness.

Although a doctor recommended that Howard be transferred to a unit for the mentally ill, the transfer never occurred. Howard eventually was discharged and 10 days after he was released, he murdered Irons while she slept at her home. Howard is now serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.

Continue reading "Estate Can Sue Hospital that Discharged Killer" »

Mary Ann Bower, a former nurse in a Pittsburgh-area nursing home was convicted of abusing a 94-year-old patient with Alzheimer’s disease. She will have to pay a fine of $300 and she may lose her nursing certificate in this personal injury lawsuit.

According to an article from Wfmj.com, Bower was convicted after employees at the Kane Regional Center in Glen Hazel, Pa said that she flicked water in the face of Thelma Bryant. The article also said that Bower was a night supervisor at the facility and that she did not stop any abuse or reprimand the other nurses who were also involved.

The other nurses are facing more serious charges for allegedly hitting the patient in this personal injury lawsuit.

The most common forms of nursing home abuse in Pennsylvania are physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. When a nursing home professional takes advantage of their power to withhold care from an individual, extort money or property from them, or abuse their bodies, an intolerable and cruel situation can arise.

Continue reading "Pittsburgh Nursing Home Abuse of Alzheimers Patient Results in Conviction of Nurse" »

Over the past 6 years, 114 prostate-cancer patients at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center may have been given radiation doses below what was prescribed. According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, these men were undergoing brachytherapy, where radioactive rods or seeds were implanted in or around the prostate to destroy cancer cells. Two patients have since died. Many patients who undergo this type of treatment are those with a low-risk prostate cancer. A hospital spokesperson told officials they are conducting an investigation to find out if hospital negligence contributed to the errors.

According to Dr. Eric Horwitz, clinical director of the radiation/oncology department at Fox Chase Cancer Center, the worst case scenerio is that the patients’ cancer was not adequately treated, and it never went away or came back.

Officials are also investigating a separate incident at the VA Medical Center where patients had blood drawn without their consent and were placed in a research study. Marc Holmes, an Air Force Veteran, was one of 6 patients who had his blood drawn and then placed in a study without his knowledge. The hospital later claimed they were conducting a study on Warfarin Dosing and it was approved by the hospital institutional review board as a “noninvasive, retrospective view of records.” Because this study did not receive federal funding, the rules for conducting the study were not as strict. However, according to bioethics Professor Jon Merz of the University of Pennsylvania, ethical lines were crossed.

Spokesmen for the hospital claimed that the 2 incidents are unrelated and caregivers are taking steps to fix both problems. However, the VA is being questioned on its current quality control issues.

Medical malpractice and hospital negligence are serious and distressing situations. Cherry Fieger and Marciano, LLP are experienced Philadelphia PA medical malpractice attorneys. If you feel you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, please call for a free consulation. Our Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers will answer your questions and/or put you on a list to update you with information.