News Category: Surgical Malpractice
The prospect of surgery can be stressful, but what can be even more distressing is being told a mistake was made during the surgery. A study released on WebMD indicated that, “More than 4,000 preventable mistakes occur in surgery every year at a cost of more than $1.3 billion in medical malpractice payouts.”
Some of these errors include leaving a sponge or other object inside a patient, performing the incorrect surgical procedure, operating on the wrong body part or on the wrong patient. The detrimental effects of surgical malpractice vary from non-permanent injury in 59% of the occurrences to death in 6.6 percent of the cases. Additionally, permanent 33 percent of the cases result in a permanent condition.
Six years ago, Silvino Perez underwent open heart surgery to bypass a blocked artery. The operation was performed by Dr. Pervaiz Chaudhry at the Community Regional Medical Center in April 2012. Chaudhry, 57, was then associated with the Valley Cardiac Surgery Medical Group located in Fresno, California. According to a medical malpractice lawsuit Chaudhry completed
Read MoreAccording to research conducted by John Hopkins University, 10 to 15 percent of the United States adult population have gallstone disease and around 800,000 operations are performed each year. The majority of patients suffering from gallstones do not require surgery, but the procedure is very common and statistically very safe. Billy Pierce, who is now
Read MoreBernard Puiatti, Pam Bisaccia, Constance Nenni, and more than 250 other former patients of Dr. Spyros Panos, settled their vast medical malpractice lawsuit against him for $45 million. Spyros was released from prison one year ago this month, after serving less than three years of a four-and-a-half-year sentence for health care fraud. The U.S. government
Read MoreKathy Arient, then 58, sought out medical attention in October 2012, complaining of severe stomach pains. She was referred to Dr. Yasser Alhaj-Hussein, who worked at the Orland Park Surgical Center in Illinois. According to a medical malpractice lawsuit, filed on behalf of Arient’s family, during a celiac plexus block procedure, intended to help manage
Read MoreAfter completing a 5k race in October 2012, Sandra Williams experienced an intense pain in her neck. Barely able to move her head, Williams, then 55, consulted doctors at St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, Georgia. She quickly agreed to undergo a neck operation scheduled just four days after the race. The surgery was deemed a
Read MoreJury Finds Eastern Maine Medical Center & Surgeon Negligent for Medical Malpractice; Awards Robbie Nason $2 Million On July 17, 2013, Robbie Nason went to work at Old Town Canoe located in Old Town, Maine, just as he had for over a decade. Nason, 49, started building boats for Old Town Canoe in 1989 and
Read MoreDuring Samantha Alpert’s senior year at Livingston High School, she was informed by her doctors that she had a benign bone growth in her left leg called osteochondroma. Steven Robbins, her orthopedic surgeon, wanted to check for cancer and performed a biopsy on June 5, 2013. According to a medical malpractice lawsuit, filed on behalf
Read MoreNew York State Settles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit; Agrees to Pay Abdusalamov Family $22 Million Magomed Abdusalamov, formerly a professional boxer from the Republic of Dagestan, was undefeated entering his last fight on November 2, 2013. The match was held in the Theater at Madison Square Garden, located in midtown Manhattan, before thousands of spectators. The
Read MoreIt was September 2013 when Miguel Diaz and his wife, Esther Diaz, sat in the waiting room at one of the health clinics run by Leon Medical Centers in South Florida. Miguel Diaz still had postoperative bandages covering his right eye following his cataract surgery a few days earlier. Diaz was excited, but nervous for
Read MoreIowa Jury Finds Nurse Anesthetist & Medical Group Negligent for Wrongful Death; Family Awarded $10 Million Towards the end of 2014, Richard J. Pellock and his wife, Joann, waited nervously for his bladder test results. Pellock, then 80, had been experiencing pain during urination and the couple, married for 54 years, were hoping to
Read MoreSeven Women File Separate Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Against Omaha Doctor Every year in the United States millions of people undergo cosmetic surgery procedures. Some of the surgeries are elective and some are medically prescribed, but as the industry grows, so too has the reported incidents of medical malpractice by the doctors performing the operations. Over
Read MorePennsylvania Surgeon Found Negligent for the Death of Thomas A. Natale; A Mercer County Jury Awards Family $5.1 Million Nearly a decade ago, Thomas A. Natale Jr. was standing on the back of a truck at work when he lost his balance and began to fall. Natale tried to brace himself before he hit the
Read MoreLouisiana Appellate Court Upholds Verdict & Increases Award by $1,186,000 After seeing a gastroenterologist in August 2013 about a pain in his upper right abdomen, Roger Burchfield was referred to the Willis-Knighton Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. Forrest Wright, a surgeon at the medical center, determined that Burchfield, then 58, required immediate gallbladder surgery. Before
Read MoreFlorida Doctor Found Negligent; Deceased Woman’s Family Awarded $949,000 Jeanne Marks decided to undergo reconstructive surgery on her foot in May 2014. She elected to have the surgery on her forefoot performed at the Delray Medical Center, located in South Florida. Before the operation Brian Coleman, Marks’ doctor, instructed an internal medicine specialist to conduct
Read MoreSurgeon Found Negligent for Performing Unneeded Operation; Jury Awards Pennsylvania Woman $625,000 In April 2013, Natisha Almeida went to the Doylestown Women’s Health Center, located in Doylestown Pennsylvania, because she was feeling pressure in her pelvis. Based on an ultrasound by radiologist, Dr. Paul Adelizzi, it was determined that Almeida had a mass in her
Read MoreNC Court of Appeals Reinstates Negligence Lawsuit Against Duke Surgeon & Hospital In 2012 Marjorie C. Locklear, then 75 years old, suffered a heart attack. After consulting with Dr. Matthew S. Cummings at the Southeastern Medical Center of Lumberton, she opted for cardiovascular surgery. According to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Locklear, Cummings and
Read MoreWhen Dean and Tracy Dixon attended their son’s wrestling match in January 2012 they were forced to watch as his shoulder was driven into the unforgiving mat. He came up in excruciating pain and could not continue his match. Six days later, the pain had still not subsided, so the Dixons brought their son, then
Read MoreTwo years ago, Michael Holmes was told by his doctors at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond Virginia that his left carotid artery was blocked and needed to be cleared out. A few months later he underwent the routine vascular surgery, which typically takes around one-hour to complete. But something went terribly
Read MoreIn 2012, one week after giving birth to her fourth child, Chenille Condon was called back to the St. Alexius Hospital for a biopsy on her inflamed lymph nodes by Dr. Allen Michael Booth. The lymph nodes, located in the middle of her chest and in-between her lungs, called for a mediastinoscopy. During the procedure
Read MoreLast year when Roland N. Smith, 83-years-old, learned that he had a cancerous tumor growing on his right kidney he was relieved to learn that it could be safely removed. By the time Smith arrived at the Idaho Falls hospital for surgery the tumor had grown to the size of a grapefruit. Despite the growth
Read MoreEarlier this year beloved actor Bill Paxton, 61 years-of-age, suffered an aortic aneurysm and had emergency surgery to replace his aortic valve, which pumps blood out from the heart to the body. The procedure is very common and has a high success rate. In fact, just days before Paxton’s surgery, news anchor Charlie Rose had
Read MoreAfter taking a nasty fall in August 2011, Tonya Valentine could not walk. She was then rushed to the emergency room where doctors found that she had badly fractured her ankle during the fall. The fracture was so severe that she required surgery. The procedure appeared to be successful, but her wound would not heal
Read MoreAll biopsies can be scary because of the uncertainty of what they may uncover. But the procedure itself is routine and rarely causes any issues. This was not the case, however, for Beverly Wilson, who went in for a biopsy in December 2013 and left with second and third-degree burns to her face, neck, shoulder,
Read MoreHudson E. Myers was born with a rare heart condition requiring the replacement of his aortic valve, which is found on the left side of the heart. In 2006, when he was 17-years old, Doctor James H. Oury replaced the aortic valve with his pulmonary valve and replaced that with one from a cadaver. The
Read MoreWhen Kevin Clanton walked into the Windsor Health Center in June 2008, then just 28-years-old, he could have never anticipated experiencing kidney failure four years later. But after hearing arguments from his lawyers and an attorney representing the federal government, Judge Nancy Rosenstengel ruled that the kidney failure and subsequent transplant could have been avoided
Read MoreIf you or a loved one becomes harmed or killed in a surgical mishap, you may want the legal assistance of a reputable attorney. Our skilled medical malpractice attorneys are here to provide you with reliable information to help guide you through this sometimes difficult process. Review our materials and contact us today.