New York Malpractice & Injury Lawyer Blog

George Tourloukis made the difficult decision to undergo cataract surgery on his right eye on January 24, 2014. Unfortunately however, Tourloukis’ trust was misplaced since his doctor put in the wrong lens and caused permanent damage and substantial financial loss for him.

Tourloukis has now filed a lawsuit January 21st in Cook County Circuit Court a and has named as defendants in the lawsuit Elmhurst Outpatient Surgery Center LLC, Westchester Eye Surgeons S.C. and Dr. Spero Kinnas, and he alleges medical malpractice.

According to the complaint filed in court, Tourloukis underwent cataract surgery on his right eye under the care of the defendants at the beginning of 2014. Dr. Kinnas allegedly implanted the wrong lens, as well as failing to provide proper follow-up care and neglecting to monitor Tourloukis’ condition. Because of this, Tourloukis claims to have suffered permanent injury and has been unable to work and lost a great deal of money on corrective measures after the January 2014 surgery.

Leanna Loud, 47, a nurse, wife and mother of three was awarded $7 million verdict by a jury after a doctor misdiagnosed her condition as being benign.

Loud’s doctor failed to adhere to a “degree of care and skill ordinarily exercised by medical care providers.” Because of the misdiagnosis, Loud’s cancer was allowed to advance until reaching a terminal state. Loud, who serves as a nurse at Medical University Hospital and is a member of the Air Force Reserve, continues to do so in spite of her current condition.

The malpractice lawsuit named Dr. Jeffrey Short and Charleston Radiologists as defendants in the case where Loud underwent mammography screenings in 2003 at age 35 and again in 2008 at age 39. The American Cancer society has recently recommended that women begin early mammograms at age 45.

Northwest Community Hospital has reached a $5 million settlement with a woman and her family who alleged that the treatment she received at the Arlington Heights hospital left her with brain damage.

Urmila Patel, 64, and her husband will receive the settlement as approved by Cook County Judge James N. O’Hara. Also named as defendants in the case were Northwest Community Hospital, and doctors Venkata Behara, Tina Han and Andrew Peck. Although the trial for the case was scheduled to begin this month, a settlement was approved out of court on December 30, 2015.

Court documents indicate that Urmila Patel went to the emergency room of Northwest Community Hospital on May 5, 2011. Patel was confused, progressively weakening and may have had a seizure in the ER. Testing purportedly indicated that she had a low serum sodium level.

HOUSTON, TX – Medical malpractice lawyers are used to hearing that their claims are frivolous. Lawyers are used to these types of comments, yet they go on fighting for their clients anyway. It’s their job. One attorney in Houston, Texas is fighting back, if only in words.

Kay Van Wey is a 30-year veteran of the law. She has been defending clients who have been injured by medical professionals for most of her career. She says that medical malpractice lawsuits are anything but frivolous. According to Van Wey, no lawyer worth their title would take a medical malpractice suit to court if it wasn’t one that they believed could be won. These types of cases are time consuming and expensive and it would be akin to “shooting yourself in the foot” to file a silly medical malpractice claim.

In Van Wey’s experience, one of the most costly mistakes in medicine is a failure to communicate. This miscommunication may be on the part of medical professionals or on the part of the patient. In either case, the results can have disastrous consequences. She also points out that there is now a cap on medical malpractice winnings, making it even more important to ensure that cases are sound before taking them to court.

Medical errors are now the third leading cause of death in the United States and are responsible for the deaths of more than 400,000 people each year. That is according to the Journal of Patient Safety (September 2013 – Volume 9 – Issue 3 – p 122-128).

Even with those statistics, there are those within the healthcare industry and in the legislature that still talk of those who bring so-called “frivolous lawsuits”. The whole idea makes Kay Van Wey, who has been practicing law with a focus on medical malpractice, grit her teeth. Van Wey’s specialty is representing those who have been injured or lost their lives due to medical errors, pharmaceuticals or medical devices.

On average, medical malpractice lawsuits will take between two and three years and are both expensive and extremely technical if they are to be effective. It’s a risky investment of time and money for something that ends up with the medical industry winning far more often than patients and their loved ones do.

The New York Court of Appeals recently ruled that a third party may sue a doctor at a hospital that gave a pain medication to a patient who later caused an accident in which the third party was injured.

According to documents in the case of Davis v. South Nassau Communities Hospital, Lorraine Walsh came to the South Nassau Communities Hospital emergency room on March 4, 2009 with stomach pain. A doctor at the hospital administered a heavy pain medication then soon after discharged her without advising that it was not safe for her to operate a motor vehicle while she was under the influence of the drug.

Ms. Walsh, unaware that the Dilaudid she was given could impair her ability to drive, attempted to drive herself home from the hospital. On her way, she crossed into oncoming traffic. Walsh’s vehicle struck the vehicle of Edward Davis who suffered injuries as the result of the accident. Davis filed suit against the hospital and the attending physician for medical malpractice, alleging that the hospital and doctor had been negligent in having failed to warn Walsh of the dangers of driving while under the influence of Dilaudid.