Articles Posted in In The News

The family of a man who died after a physician failed to diagnose his liver cancer has been awarded $7 million by a Sussex County Jury.

The malpractice lawsuit brought by the surviving family members of Glenn Garofano Sr. of Hardyston, was filed in Superior Court in Sussex County in 2012. Garofano died in 2011. The lawsuit named Advanced Imaging Associates and Dr. Clifford Barker as defendants in the case.

According to the attorney representing the family, Paul O’Connor, Garofano initially went to his primary care physician in April 2010 with complaints of abdominal pain. The doctor, Steven Braunstein, wanted Garofano’s gallbladder evaluated and ordered an ultrasound.

It’s unfortunate with the high cost of healthcare in this country that healthcare fraud cases are becoming more prevalent, in spite of the government cracking down on the practice more severely than it has in previous years.

Such is the case of the owner of two Brooklyn-based medical clinics, Valentina Kovalienko. Kovalienko entered a guilty plea last week in connection to her involvement in money laundering healthcare fraud scheme that made use of illegal kickback that totaled some $55 million .

Kovalienko has agreed to forfeit over $29 million and she admitted to the court that the money could be traced directly to her criminal behavior. Beginning in 2008 and extending for a period of four years, Kovalienko’s actions resulted in patients receiving cash kickbacks that involved billing of medically unnecessary physical and occupational therapy, diagnostic tests, and office visits that were not performed by licensed professionals.

A federal judge in Sacramento has awarded a 3-year-old girl who suffered a brain injury during her delivery $9.6 million. The judge also awarded the girl’s mother, Micaela Palacio $250,000 in compensation for her emotional distress during her daughter’s delivery.

According to court documents, U.S. District Court Judge John Mendez entered his ruling on October 28th. The lawsuit alleged that the defendant, Dr. Paul Davainis had waited too long to perform a C-section, despite evidence that the baby’s heart rate was worsening and that the mother of the baby would not be able to deliver vaginally.

Because of the delay in delivery of the baby girl that was born at Banner-Lassen Hospital in Susanville, the child will never be able to walk, talk, or care for herself. She cannot see and must be fed through a feeding tube into her stomach and also suffers occasional seizures.

A man has filed a malpractice lawsuit claiming that he had been injured as a result of negligent care and treatment before and after circumcision.

The lawsuit was filed by Corban M. Denny and his wife Deanna Denny on September 11th in Raleigh Circuit Court naming Dr. Ashokkumar V. Bhalodi and Appalachian Regional Healthcare Inc. as plaintiffs, citing medical malpractice.

Court documents state that in April of 2013, Corban Denny sought medical attention at the New River Clinic in Fayetteville with complaints that his foreskin had been red, swollen and itching for more than a week. Denny’s initial diagnosis was balanoposthitis. He was prescribed medication. Once the treatment was completed, Dr. Bhalodi diagnosed Corban Denny with recurrent balanoposthitis and phimosis.

A patient from Cook County has initiated a malpractice lawsuit against his heart surgeon, alleging malpractice arising from his surgery

Cook County Circuit Court records indicate that Arshad Muhammad filed a lawsuit on September 1st naming Swedish Covenant Hospital, Dr. Muhammad A. Saudye and Shifa Cardiology Consultants as defendants in the suit.

The complaint states that on November 26, 2013, after Muhammad was admitted to Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago for a heart attack, Dr. Saudye performed heart surgery on the plaintiff. The surgery included angioplasty, catheterization and the deployment of stents. Muhammad was discharged from Swedish Covenant Hospital on November 28th, just two days later.

Drew Martin went before Wisconsin legislators on Thursday urging them to open the courthouse doors to victims of possible medical error.

“We must create a system of accountability (so) there will be fewer parents sent home with keepsakes like this,” Martin told a small audience, which included his wife, Erin Martin, who sobbed as her husband held up a molding of their deceased baby daughter’s face. Their daughter died just a week after she was born. Martin spoke during a Capitol briefing discussing Wisconsin’s medical malpractice laws.

Senator Nikiya Harris Dodd called the briefing and began circulating a bill that would allow the parents who lose their children, including adult children up to age 27 to sue for medical malpractice in the state.

A former mechanic has been awarded $9.1 million in a jury trial. It was a malpractice suit against his anesthesiologists after he suffered spinal cord damage and paralysis following a 2012 surgery.

Court documents allege that Joseph Lakoskey an anesthesiologist left him dangerously dehydrated before his surgery that was performed at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale in order to repair a perforated bowel.

Lakoskey went to the hospital with flu-like symptoms and received fluids for dehydration. When doctors discovered his injury, they recommended immediate surgery. Lakoskey’s treatment for dehydration was suspended while he was prepped for surgery and anesthesia was begun. This caused his blood pressure to drop and his spinal cord to get blood flow that caused damage and paralysis.

This week, the Missouri Supreme Court heard a case from a family that wants to challenge the state law limiting the amount of damages they can receive after the mother of the family died following heart surgery.

In February 2011, Dodson went to Mercy Hospital to undergo a “routine catheterization” procedure. During the procedure, one of Dodson’s arteries was dissected. As a result, the inner lining of Dodson’s artery collapsed and blocked blood supply to her heart, resulting in her death.

The husband and children of Shannon Dodson, 34, were awarded a settlement of $10.83 million in August 2013. The lion’s share of the settlement ($9 million) was for non-economic damages. The lawsuit came after a medical procedure that was performed at the medical campus of Mercy Hospital St. Louis that resulted in Dodson’s death. The award in the case was among the largest that was ever granted in the St. Louis area for a case of medical negligence.

An attorney who was accused of giving a client substandard advice during the client’s divorce case has now been told she is not allowed to use her communication with the client to write off a malpractice action that was brought against her.

The ruling by Judge John C. Gemmill is just the latest in a number of cases that affirm the confidentiality of communications between an attorney and a client and to protect the materials created and made for or used during mediation.

Even after a panel reversed a trial court’s finding that that attorney Andrea C. Lawrence could defend herself against former client Karen Grubaugh’s malpractice claims by “utiliz[ing] as evidence communications between herself and Grubaugh, occurring during and after the mediation, which led to Grubaugh’s ultimate acceptance of the dissolution agreement.”

A jury in Coles County has awarded damages to a woman who claims that she was injured during a surgical procedure at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center seven years ago.

The lawsuit filed by Cheryl Long, who sued the hospital in 2013. Her lawsuit claimed her trachea was injured when a breathing apparatus was inserted during preparation for thyroid surgery in September 2008.

The jury awarded Long a total of $425,000 in damages at the end of a four-day trial. The damages included in the lawsuit were $200,000 for pain and suffering and s little more than $155,000 for Long’s medical expenses.