Current Personal Injury Cases
Following are some of the personal injury cases of interest that we are currently working on. Also, check out our recent successes.
E. of L.L. v. Allision Tanck, M.D., OSF-Peoria, et al
A 57 year old woman was admitted to OSF-Peoria for a planned hernia surgery to be performed by Dr. Allision Tanck. During this very common surgery, Dr. Tanck mistakenly cut her intestine, which is a portion of her small bowel. Dr. Tanck did not know she cut the intestine, and finished the surgery and closed the incision. The opening in her intestine allowed contents to leak into her abdomen causing an infection. The patient did very poorly post-operatively, including complaints of pain, the area of the surgery became discolored and swollen and she was unable to urinate or have a bowel movement. Despite all the abnormal findings following a simple hernia surgery, Dr. Tanck did nothing to discover or treat the cause of the infection for almost two days. On the morning of the second day, she coded multiple times and died later that day.
E. of J.P. v. Michael Treanor, M.D., Illinois Gastroenterologists, Unity Point-Methodist, et al
A 63 year old man presented to Unity Point-Methodist for a planned outpatient colonoscopy and EGD to be performed by Dr. Michael Treanor. Both procedures are extremely common for men over 50 years old. During the EGD, Dr. Treanor took a biopsy of an area he should not have and did not realize it. The patient was sent home having been at Unity-Point Methodist for four hours. Less than two hours later, he collapsed in his living room and was rushed to Graham Hospital. Within hours he was transferred to Unity Point-Proctor where he was diagnosed with severe acute pancreatitis. It was caused by Dr. Treanor’s biopsy. Acute pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that can develop quickly and can be fatal. It was fatal in this case. The patient stayed at Proctor for three weeks and then was transferred to Methodist where he stayed another 5 weeks. Throughout this time, his condition worsened. After Methodist, he was transferred home to hospice and died three days later.
M.A. v. AMITA Health Medical Group, Paul Toussaint, M.D., et al.
Baby girl born at AMITA Health Resurrection Medical Center at 37 weeks (7435 W. Talcott Avenue, Chicago, IL 60631). Serum bilirubin drawn at age 33.5 hours was HIGH at 11.8. Dr. Toussaint, the treating pediatrician, noted the HIGH bilirubin characterized it as being in the “high-intermediate risk zone” and observed “jaundice” in his physical exam. Neither Dr. Toussaint nor any other healthcare provider at AMITA Health Resurrection Medical Center ordered phototherapy or any other treatment for the elevated bilirubin and jaundice before sending the baby home. Dr. Toussaint saw the baby the day after discharge and documented that the girl looked jaundiced, that mom was concerned about the jaundice, and he ordered another serum bilirubin at age 65 hours. That result was 32.2, which is off-the-charts HIGH. Dr. Toussaint asked mom to come back for a redraw of the serum bilirubin. After bringing her back, mom noticed that her baby girl spit up, crossed her eyes and did not look right. She took her to the AMITA Health Resurrection Medical Center emergency room, transferred to the Advocate Lutheran General Hospital for 3 days, and then transferred to Loyola University Medical Center. The baby girl suffered complete hearing loss and developmental delays.
J.T. v. Advocate Christ Medical Center, United Elite Hospitalists, LLC, Hussam Almasri, M.D. and Abdul Amine, M.D.
30 y.o. woman presented to the Emergency Department at Advocate Christ Medical Center with severe back pain. MRI showed a massive herniated disc at L5-S1. She was admitted into the care of Dr. Almasri. While at Advocate Christ Medical Center under the care of Dr. Almasri, J.T. developed urinary retention and cauda equina syndrome. Dr. Almasri asked Dr. Amine, a neurosurgeon, to consult. Dr. Amine claims that Dr. Almasri failed to tell him over the phone that the patient had both a massive disc herniation and urinary retention, and that if he had, Dr. Amine would have seen her and operated that day. Instead, Dr. Amine first saw J.T. the next day and she now suffers from permanent injuries related to cauda equina syndrome. Dr. Almasri claims that he did not view the MRI films and did not read the body of the ½ – page MRI report even though he included the entirety of the MRI report in his medical record.
L.B. v. Pekin Hospital and Dr. Harrington
A cesarean section delivery was not performed resulting in the delivery of a boy damaged by in utero hypoxia and ischemia. Our suit claims that the hospital and physician are jointly liable for the child’s cerebral palsy.
J.H. v. Brian Morsch et al.
A construction worker was thrown from an aerial bucket truck when its arm fractured during normal use, causing severe internal injuries and a permanent pain disorder. We are pursuing the landowner who hired the worker and the owner/operator of the lift truck for compensatory damages.
J.P. v. West Suburban Hospital, Nephrologists of Northern Illinois et al.
A 61 year old woman came to the hospital with severe hyponatremia, low sodium levels in her blood. The medical staff administered excessive sodium therapy to her, causing a well-known type of brain injury, osmotic demyelination. This is the second such case our office has prosecuted in the past two years.
S.U. v. Osco Pharmacy
We represent a man who suffers from tardive dyskinesia and dystonia as the result of having been negligently prescribed the drug Reglan for more than six years. Suit is pending against the family practice physician who gave the drug for years without knowledge of a black box warning from the drug’s manufacturer that it should only be used for 12 weeks, except in rare cases. We also sued the pharmacy that dispensed the drug as it should have been aware of the manufacturer’s warnings, yet neglected to alert the patient or the doctor of the warning. Our client is disabled from his employment as a Local 134 electrician due to his injuries.
L.T. v. Methodist Medical Center, et al.
Our client came to the hospital for elective surgery on her shoulder. During the peri-operative period, she arrested. During her continued care, hospital personnel oversaw her condition as she suffered decreased circulation to her legs that led to both legs being amputated below the knees.
