Articles Posted in In The News

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently sent an alert to doctors, announcing the birth of at least four children in New York City with Zika-related brain issues since July. The four births bring the total number of babies born with these issues in the city to five. Doctors have been urged to remain vigilant and advise pregnant and sexually active women about the dangers of Zika and the ways it can be transmitted.

The threat of the Zika virus has waned slightly, but this warning tells doctors that it still poses a danger. The consequences of Zika may be realized for some time to come. Any woman who is sexually active is strongly urged to utilize condoms for safe intercourse and to avoid traveling to areas of the country and world where the virus is known to be present.

As of early December, close to 8,000 people in New York City had been tested for Zika. Of those tested, 962 were positive, and among those were 325 pregnant women. All of the confirmed cases of Zika can be traced back to travel in some way. In addition to the five babies with Zika-related developmental symptoms, eight others have tested positive for the virus.

A family in Clark County, Nevada has been awarded $14.5 million by a jury after it was determined that medical professionals were responsible for a child’s brain injury.

According to reports, a jury found that Ali Piroozi and Ralph Conti, both doctors, were responsible for the injury sustained by MayRose Hurst. Although the award was for $14.5 million, the award assigned as responsible to be paid by Conti will not be. Conti passed away in 2012 and had settled the case for $2 million prior to his death. The family’s award is reduced to approximately $5.8 million. That money will be paid by Piroonzi or his insurance company.

The child in the case was delivered prematurely at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Law Vegas. She remained in the neonatal intensive care unit for 11 weeks. Doctors did not tell her parents of her condition, failing to disclose the child’s severe anemia and lack of adequate red blood cells. Because no treatment was given, the girl is mostly blind and cannot speak or walk.

A medical malpractice trial began in California last week. The case was filed against a Newport Beach doctor who performed an experimental procedure on a patient diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The patient suffered a stroke as a result of the procedure.

According to court documents and reports, Linda Vicary went to Dr. Michael Arata for a balloon angioplasty in 2011. The experimental procedure was an attempt to control the symptoms of MS that the woman was experiencing, including difficulty with swallowing, balance and speech, as well as decreased strength.

Instead of experiencing relief from her symptoms, Vicary had a stroke. That stroke left Vicary unable to care for herself. According to her attorney, it was hours before Vicary was transported to a hospital. She can now not use her walker, dress herself or use the bathroom. She still suffers with symptoms of MS and now suffers with symptoms of having had a stroke.

A Federal Judge, Irene Berger, recently awarded a woman and her husband the maximum medical malpractice amount allowed by West Virginia state law. The couple was awarded $672,681.67, according to court documents.

Sara Lambert Smith gave birth to her first child in 2013. She returned to the hospital five days after giving birth because she was experiencing heavy bleeding. Smith’s child was delivered via c-section, but her bleeding was from her vagina. She was admitted to the emergency room and was ordered to undergo a dilation and curettage. She was also scheduled for a possible hysterectomy if doctors were not able to stop the bleeding.

Smith advised her doctor, Ray Wolfe, that she intended to have more children, but signed for the procedure under the impression that the hysterectomy would not be necessary. Despite knowing that Smith wanted more children in the future, Wolfe performed the hysterectomy without attempting to stop Smith’s bleeding by any other means following the unsuccessful dilation and curettage.

A news station in Richmond, Virginia recently discovered not one, but five separate medical malpractice lawsuits that have been filed against the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center. The suits are not part of a class action case, but have been filed by five different patients for five different reasons.

The lawyer representing the victims, Brewster Rawls, said, “We’ve never had five cases in the same court at the same time. That’s very unusual; we do these cases all over the country and I don’t think we’ve ever had a situation where we’ve had the same two in the same jurisdiction at any given time, and that’s really over 20 years.”

In one of the cases that has been filed, an elderly gentleman with dementia was going treated at the VA and ultimately broke his leg. He died of a bowel obstruction less than 30 days after the break. Family members say it isn’t clear how is leg was broken and why no one knew.

Christopher Zinski, a former partner of the Schiff Hardin law firm, went to the hospital in late 2012 complaining of a painful and stiff neck, a headache, vomiting and disorientation. He was seen by a medical professional who knew his family. Attorneys for the Zinski family say that’s where the troubles began.

The physician assistant who knew the family brushed Zinski’s symptoms off as related to the heat. The patient was not treated further and sent home with pain medication. Zinski had no further issues during the week and went to work the following morning. At the end of the business day Monday, Zinski was found slumped over his desk.

After being transported to the hospital, it was discovered that Zinski was suffering from a subarachnoid hemorrhage. His attorneys said that his symptoms that he had complained of the week before were a warning sign. Had he been administered a CT scan, doctors may have found the bleeding and could have prevented the stroke he eventually suffered.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. is facing a $1.5 billion class action lawsuit. Plaintiffs claim that patients and newborns were exposed to tuberculosis after administrators ignored a nurse assistant’s symptoms and allowed her to work multiple shift. Those shifts put the woman in contact with newborn infants and their families.

Esperanza Martinez, the nurse assistant, told the hospital in December 2013 that she had symptoms of active tuberculosis. She was not removed from her duties until August 2014. During that time, she cared for approximately 3,000 newborns.

According to the filing, Providence Memorial and Tenet did nothing to reduce the exposure to families and their infants. Instead, they failed to alert all exposed, only sending letters to families whose babies had been born on the days that Martinez was working. The Texas Department of State Health Services said that Providence Memorial did not adequately protect its patients.

A statute of limitations applies in medical malpractice cases in every state. This is, in part, to prevent retaliation on the part of a dissatisfied patient. In most cases, the statute of limitations stands. In a recent Connecticut case, a jury sided with the family, determining that their attorney did not file a lawsuit in time through no fault of the family.

According to reports, a Connecticut jury ruled that a family could have won a malpractice lawsuit in the death of a child. The original complainant, Tina Gonzalez, took her son to a walk-in clinic for care. The child ultimately died at Bristol Hospital due to complications from a perforated appendix.

The family hired an attorney, David E. Marmelstein, to represent them in a medical malpractice lawsuit despite him not having much experience in this type of law. Marmelstein failed to investigate the death properly and did not file a medical negligence claim within the time frame dictated by Connecticut law.

An Illinois man has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit, claiming that a catheter was misplaced by a medical professional. As a result of the misplacement, the man has suffered severe injury. Named in the suit are Dr. Randolph Freeman, Lindsey Landeck, and Protestant Memorial Medical Center.

The complaint was filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court on October 25. R. La Gene Vassallo says that doctors at Protestant Memorial Medical Center failed to use equipment to assess the placement of a catheter, and that those same doctors failed to determine that the catheter was not placed properly.

As a result of the medical error, Vassallo has suffered permanent injury. His injuries, not limited to those of a vascular nature, have caused pain and suffering, medical expenses and mental anguish. The man is seeking a trial by jury and more than $50,000 in damages and court costs.