Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

Are poor people more likely to sue doctors for medical malpractice than wealthier people? Are men more likely to file medical malpractice lawsuits than women? Which state had the highest total of medical malpractice payouts in 2011 than any other? Which state had the highest average medical malpractice payout per lawsuit and which one had the lowest? The answers to these questions may be quite surprising in many.

Who is more likely to sue for medical malpractice: rich people or poor people. Contrary to popular perception, the answer is wealthier people. Is that because wealthier people are more motivated to sue their doctor than poor people when things go wrong? Probably not. So why are wealthy people more likely sue their doctors than poorer ones? According to a recent study, two reasons might explain this phenomenon.

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According to a recent survey, some doctors have a hard time telling their patients the truth. One-third of doctors think they should not disclose serious medical errors to their patients. Only two-thirds of doctors say they should disclose these mistakes to their patients. As a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer, this study is hardly surprising and, in fact, only tells part of the story.

An estimated 100,000 deaths occur every year from medical errors. A medical error is a preventable medical mistake that adversely impacts a patient. When a medical malpractice lawsuit is filed, the ultimate test is whether the doctor deviated from the "standard of care." In most jurisdictions, the standard of care is what a reasonable doctor would have done under the same or similar circumstances.

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An Oregon jury recently returned a $3 million dollar medical malpractice verdict to a family for the "wrongful birth" of their Down syndrome daughter. The family filed this unusual malpractice lawsuit against Legacy Health claiming the health provider negligently performed prenatal testing during the first trimester, resulting in a false negative finding for Down's syndrome. At trial, the family testified that, although they love their daughter, they would have terminated the pregnancy had they known she would have Down syndrome. Because of the false negative, the jury agreed Legacy Healthy should be responsible for paying the medical, therapeutic, and educational costs needed for the Down syndrome child.

A "wrongful birth" lawsuit is where parents of a congenitally diseased child claim a health provider failed to properly warn them of the risk of conceiving a child with a serious genetic or congenital abnormality. In this type of medical malpractice claim, the parents assert the health provider prevented them from making an informed decision over whether to have a child. In addition, the parents must generally show that had they been advised of the genetic abnormality or risk thereof, they would have terminated the pregnancy. Finally, the parents must prove the damages that result from the wrongful birth. In the Oregon case, the parents sought economic damages needed to care for their Down syndrome child.

Continue reading "Debate Over Malpractice Suits For "Wrongful Birth" Heats Up" »

According to a new study, women suffering from a heart attack are less likely to receive immediate treatment and more likely to die in the hospital than men. As a medical malpractice lawyer that has handled heart attack cases, I was initially shocked when I began reading this new study. However, after looking deeper into this and other similar studies, there appears to be at least one seemingly understandable explanation why women are less likely to receive immediate heart attack treatment: women are less likely to exhibit the classic sign of a heart attack, chest pain.

Many are familiar with the Hollywood heart attack depicted in the movies, which begins with sudden crushing chest pain. However, studies have shown that one-third of heat attack suffers had no chest pain whatsoever. For women, they are even less likely to exhibit chest pain from a heart attack compared to men.

The classic sign of a heart attack is chest pain, usually around the center or left side of the chest. According to the National Institute of Health, other common signs of a heart attack may include one or more of the following: upper body discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or upper part of the stomach; shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, light-headedness or sudden dizziness, or breaking out in a cold sweat; and sleep problems, fatigue or lack of energy. Unfortunately, not everyone having a heart attack has classic symptoms. Further, even with chest discomfort, many people confuse this symptom with angina rather than a heart attack.

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The Los Angeles county coroner's office recently issued a subpoena for Whitney Houston's medical and pharmacy records. This request is not surprising. After all, Houston is the latest celebrity suspected of dying from complications related to prescription drugs. With Houston's death, prescription medication bottles were found in the singer's hotel room where she was found unconscious in a bathtub filled with water. The subpoena for medical and pharmacy records was likely initiated to determine, in part, whether any doctors and/or pharmacists were improperly supplying Houston with prescription drugs.

Initial reports indicate the list of medications found in Houston's hotel included alprazolam (Xanax), ibuprofen (Midol), and amoxicillin. Following the death of Anna Nicole Smith, her doctor was found liable for improperly supplying the actress with prescription drugs. More recently, Michael Jackson former physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for improperly administering the drug propofol, used almost exclusively during surgery, to help the singer sleep at home.

Continue reading "Subpoena For Medical & Pharmacy Records After Houston's Death No Surprise" »

Many of us have seen a handwritten prescription by a doctor and wondered how anyone can read the writing. In most instances, the pharmacist is able to decipher the writing or they will call the doctor's office for clarification. However, poor penmanship by doctors can lead to medical malpractice, including medication errors. In fact, there have been many medical malpractice lawsuits where a patient died as a result of a medication error from a doctor's poor penmanship.

A well-known example of how a doctor's poor handwriting can lead to tragedy occurred in Texas over a decade ago. Because of a doctor's poor penmanship, a pharmacist filled Pendil (a blood pressure medication) rather than Isordil (a medication for heart pain). As a result, a Texas wife lost her husband when he ingested the wrong medication, suffered a heart attack, and died. After she filed a medical malpractice suit, the jury determined the doctor's poor penmanship caused the medication error which, ultimately, lead to her husband's death. Thus, the jury's sole basis for finding the doctor negligent was his poor handwriting.

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As with any cancer diagnosis, patients who are told they have breast cancer are frightened and need information. The best person to provide this information is their doctor. The patient's doctor must educate the patient about their condition and available treatment options including surgery. After all, informed consent must be more than signature on a consent form the day of surgery. However, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, half of early-stage breast cancer survivors lacked basic information about their disease and treatment options. As a result, the study concluded many doctors fail to provide their breast cancer patients valuable information necessary for them to make an informed decision about their treatment options. As a medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled my share of informed consent cases. However, I was even surprised by the results of this study showing that many doctors, perhaps close to half, fail to provide their patients critical information they need to make an informed decision about their breast cancer treatment options.

Lead by lead researcher, Dr. Clara N. Lee of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, the retrospective study evaluated the decision making process of early stage breast cancer patients regarding surgical treatment. Surveys were mailed out to adult women with a history of early-stage invasive breast cancer treated at one of four academic medical centers: The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; University of California, San Francisco; and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Based on answers to basic questions about their disease and treatment options, patients answered only half their questions right (52%), demonstrating these patients had a large knowledge gap regarding their disease and treatment choices.

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Over ten years ago, the Florida legislature passed a statute capping or limiting non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases to $500,000. Wrongful death cases are capped at $1 million. The Florida Supreme Court, like many other state supreme courts before it, is asked to decide whether its cap on damages is constitutional under its state constitution.

In personal injury and medical malpractice cases, a plaintiff may recover both economic damages and non-economic damages. When someone suffers a serious personal injury, they must usually undergo extensive medical treatment and miss considerable time from work. Economic damages are used to recover these financial losses. However, the most significant damages in a serious injury case are often non-economic damages such as when someone suffers a spinal cord injury, a brain injury, or birth injury. In those instances, a plaintiff may seek compensation for pain and suffering and disability or loss of a normal life. In wrongful death cases, a surviving spouse or child is entitled to compensation for the loss of companionship, support, and affection they lost because their parent and/or spouse is gone.

The cornerstone of the tort reform movement is to cap non-economic damages in personal injury, medical negligence, and wrongful death cases. There are various justifications given by tort reformers for caps. The primary justifications given is that caps on damages purportedly prevent frivolous lawsuits, prevent runaway jury verdicts, reduce healthcare costs, and/or prevent doctors from fleeing to states with caps on damages.

Continue reading "Another State Supreme Court Decides Caps On Damages " »

Last September, I wrote about the medical dangers of cheap cosmetic surgery by unqualified doctors. The article discussed the benefits of choosing a board certified cosmetic surgeon compared to often lesser-trained doctors. The article focused on differences among doctors--the key word being doctors. Unfortunately, there are some individuals performing cosmetic surgery on patients who are not even doctors. As a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer, I cannot stress enough the surgical error risks associated with individuals performing surgery who are not licensed to practice medicine. A cheap cosmetic procedure is no bargain if you do not survive.

In order to become a licensed physician in the United States, extensive medical education and training is required. Following a four-year undergraduate degree, students wishing to become medical doctors must complete fours of education at medical school. After medical school, students earn their doctor of medicine. However, before practicing medicine on their own, these doctors must complete additional training in a three to seven year residency program under the supervision of a senior physician educator. Doctors completing their residency program may then practice medicine on their own although they have the option to receive additional training in a fellowship program. Fellowship trained physicians receive one to three years of additional training in a subspecialty.

Despite the fact becoming a doctor in the US requires extensive medical training, there are some who fraudulently hold themselves out as doctors even though they are not. Some of these people even perform medical procedures like plastic surgery--not only in third world countries--but right here in the United States. Consider the just one city, Las Vegas, Nevada. In the last two years, three people have been charged with performing cosmetic surgeries on patients in Las Vegas without a medical license.

Continue reading "Cosmetic Surgery On Patients By Non-Doctors - Yes It Happens" »

It always seemed unlikely Dr. Conrad Murray would ever testify in his own defense. A cross examination of Dr. Murray would be blistering, as he was paid $150,000 a month by Jackson to give Jackson a dangerous surgically anesthetic to help the pop star sleep. On Tuesday, Dr. Murray made it official. He told the judge in his criminal trial he will not take the stand. Dr. Murray is accused of criminal medical negligence in connection with Michael Jackson's death, though the official charge is involuntary manslaughter. The prosecution and defense had a day off on Wednesday to prepare for closing arguments scheduled for Thursday. After closing arguments, the Judge will instruct the jury on the law. The case is then turned over to the jury to deliberate whether Dr. Murray should be found guilty or innocent. As a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer, I am eager to see how each side will present their closing arguments and, most importantly, how the jury will decide this fascinating case.

As with a civil medical malpractice case, the prosecution must generally prove Dr. Murray was negligent (albeit criminally) and that his negligence was caused Jackson's death. Unlike a civil case, the prosecution must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt rather than a preponderance of the evidence. The defense does not have to prove anything. They need only demonstrate reasonable doubt on whether Dr. Murray was negligent or whether he caused Jackson's death. As predicted, the primary battle is over whether Dr. Murray caused Jackson's death. After all, none of Dr. Murray's experts seemed to offer credible testimony that it was within the standard of care for Dr. Murray to give Jackson propofol, an anesthesia drug, to help him sleep in his home. Dr. Murray's central defense is that Jackson caused his own death when he allegedly gave himself propofol while Dr. Murray briefly left the room for a bathroom break.

Causation is the relationship between conduct and result. In nearly all cases, causation requires a two-part part analysis. First, was the defendant's conduct the "factual cause" of harm? In other words, but for the defendant's conduct, would the harm have still occurred. If so, the second questions is whether the defendant's conduct was the "legal cause" of the harm? Legal causation generally turns on whether it was "reasonably foreseeable" that the defendant's conduct could cause the harm.

Continue reading "Jackson's Doctor Declines To Testify: Closing Arguments Next" »

There have been many studies over the years measuring the care hospitals provide to patients. Few studies have measured how individual doctors provide medical care. The Wisconsin Collaborative For Healthcare Quality recently revealed the results of their new study that publicly measured the care provided by individual doctors. The results show public disclosure of how individual doctors provide care resulted in improved healthcare by doctors. As a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer, I am encouraged by these results of this study and would like to see similar public disclosure measures implemented in the future on a broader scale.

The premise of the Wisconsin Collaborative is quite simple: to improve quality healthcare, you must measure it. Led by Professor Geoffrey Lamb of the Medical College of Wisconsin, the latest Collaborative study compared medical care given to diabetic patients by physician practices belonging to the collaborative with the care given by physician in Iowa, South Dakota and national performance measures. The study found an improvement by members in the collaborative in every measure. Dr. Lamb observed "[t]he thing that really impressed me is the people who performed the lowest when they started had the greatest improvement." Simply put, "[t]hey cared where they were in ranking."

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Dr. Murray's defense team continues to deny he is responsible for Michael Jackson's defense, claiming Jackson gave himself the fatal dose of propofol. The latest evidence offered by the defense at trial came from two witnesses. Jackson's former nutritionist (and nurse) testified Jackson often discussed his need for propofol to sleep. Jackson's former concert promoter testified about the demands of Jackson's upcoming tour. As a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer, I continue to be fascinated by how this case is being tried.

Dr. Murray is on trial in California charged with involuntary manslaughter for the death of pop singer Michael Jackson in 2009. The prosecution claims Dr. Murray recklessly provided the anesthetic propofol for sleep, which ultimately resulted in Jackson's death. The defense denies Dr. Murray acted recklessly and, in either event, denies Dr. Murray's actions resulted in Jackson's death. If convicted, Dr. Murray faces up to four years in prison.

Although Dr. Murray claims Jackson killed himself by giving himself propofol while Dr. Murray temporarily left Jackson's room, the defense does not seem to have any direct evidence of this claim. Instead, the defense is relying on circumstantial evidence. The defense hopes the jury will piece together various evidence to create reasonable doubt on whether Jackson gave himself the fatal dose of propofol. However, this theory is problematic. If the jury concludes it does not matter whether Jackson gave himself propofol because, ultimately, Dr. Murray should have never brought propofol into Jackson's home, then Dr. Murray could still be found guilty. Consistent with this theory, prosecution experts earlier testified they still believe Dr. Murray is responsible for Jackson's death regardless of whether Jackson gave himself the fatal dose. They reason it was extreme medical malpractice to give propofol in a home for sleep purposes.

Continue reading "Will Defense Claim Jackson Gave Himself Propofol Work?" »

From the beginning of this trial, the defense has been claiming Michael Jackson caused his own death when he gave himself propofol. Thus, the defense has argued that Dr. Conrad Murray is not guilty because he did not cause Jackson's death--Jackson did. Last week, Dr. Murray's defense team officially dropped the defense Jackson "swallowed" propofol himself. As a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer, I am amazed the defense ever made such an allegation because, even if true, swallowing propofol would almost certainly not cause death.

Dr. Murray's defense team gave up on Jackson swallowing propofol after medical studies showed propofol has no major effects on a person when swallowed. This is, no doubt, a major set back for the defense. That said, the defense's mistake is not necessarily fatal. After all, Dr. Murray can still make the general claim Jackson gave himself propofol when Dr. Murray left the room for two minutes. They just can no longer argue Jackson swallowed propofol. Instead, they will likely argue Jackson injected himself with propofol. No doubt, a self-injection of propofol, depending upon the circumstances, could result in death.

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Many clinical physicians have financial interests in private health companies (or organizations) including pharmaceutical companies. This fact has long been known. However, according to a recent study, most clinicians who draft practice guidelines have a financial interest in at least one private health company or organization. As a result, there is an inherent financial conflict of interest for these clinicians who draft practice guidelines. Among those doctors who have financial conflicts of interests, some fail to even disclose their conflict of interest yet actively participate in drafting important practice guidelines that directly effect patients. As a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer, I believe these conflicts of interest are extremely concerning. This is particularly true when the clinician fails to disclose their financial conflict of interest yet participates in drafting practice guidelines that further their own financial interests.

A practice guideline is a document designed to guide medical decisions and criteria regarding diagnosis, management, and treatment in particular areas of medicine. These documents often include a summary of consensus on best practices in healthcare. Doctors routinely rely upon these guidelines in formulating important medical decisions for their patients. For all these reasons, it is critical that these guidelines be completely safe, sound, and reliable.

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An Illinois woman filed a medical malpractice suite after losing both legs following weight loss surgery. Mary Beth Ruphard underwent bariatric surgery at Provena St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Illinois. She chose surgery because, at 278 pounds, and suffering from diabetes and hypertension, she was worried about her health. Weeks after surgery, on Thanksgiving, Ms. Ruphard went back into the hospital complaining of pain and tingling in her legs. She was diagnosed with blood clots in her legs. However, the hospitals did not get a surgeon in to operate on Ms. Ruphard until 36 hours later. By that time, it was too late according to her attorney. As a result, both of Ms. Ruphard's legs had to be amputated. The surgeon who performed the surgery was reportedly furious, stating "[w]hy was I not called earlier?"

As a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer, I have handled many hospital negligence cases including those involving complications from surgery. Of course, anytime a patient undergoes surgery, there are certain risks of the procedure. This includes blood clots in one or more legs. In patients with diabetes, these blood clots can be particularly dangerous in regard to vascular problems and requires even prompter attention.

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