Articles Posted in Medication Malpractice

This week, a Baltimore City, Maryland jury in a medical malpractice lawsuit awarded $10 million to the estate and surviving family members of a pastor who died after treatment for liver and kidney problems at a Baltimore City hospital.  The sixty-three year-old man presented to the hospital for dialysis and treatment of rhabdomysolysis, a condition that is caused by the death of muscle fibers and release of their contents into the bloodstream which often causes kidney failure.  During his admission to the hospital, the man experienced heart problems as the result of elevated potassium levels causing his physician to administer the medication “Kayexalate.”

A Chicago jury has awarded $3.3 million to the family of a man who died less than two weeks after a pharmacy error resulted in him being administered ten times the appropriate dose of the medication that he was supposed to receive. The patient, who was 55 years old at the time, presented for treatment of an infection that he was suffering from as the result of having received a bone marrow transplant to treat his cancer. As part of the treatment for the infection, doctors ordered him to receive 2,400 milligrams of the antiviral medical known as Foscarnet, a drug usually used with patients who have compromised immune systems.

A Missouri jury has awarded $2.6 million in compensatory damages and $15 million in punitive damages to a husband and wife after the husband became severely addicted to opioid pain medications. According to the lawsuit, the man had gone to see his primary care physician for back pain and immediately was prescribed highly addictive pain medication. At trial, evidence was presented that the man was prescribed more than 37,000 opioid pain pills – including OxyContin, Vicodin and Oxycodone – between 2008 and 2012 and that the dosages being prescribed were well above the levels recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A nearly-two-week jury trial in Pennsylvania has culminated in a more than $44 million verdict for a woman who suffered a catastrophic brain injury that left her paralyzed. The woman, who was 57 at the time, underwent surgery in 2011 to remove a mass on her brain. After that surgery, she was placed on Heparain, an anticoagulant drug. While in the intensive care unit, hospital personnel measured the woman’s coagulation using an aPTT test and found that it had risen from 19 seconds to 32 seconds.

This week, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals upheld the dismissal of a medical malpractice and wrongful death action filed against a board-certified anesthesiologist and critical care physician at the University of Maryland Medical Center. STSW attorneys were not involved with the prosecution or appeal of this case.

Physicians have known for decades that persons with decreased renal (kidney) function or kidney failure have a reduced ability to process and metabolize certain drugs such as opiate pain medications. If due to decreased kidney function, the body is unable to metabolize and pass these drugs, the patient can overdose and die. These risks are increased in patients who, in addition to suffering from diminished kidney function, also suffer from liver dysfunction.

A New York jury has awarded $1.7 million in damages to a woman in a medical malpractice case, to compensate her for permanent nerve damage that was caused by an improper injection given to her following the delivery of her baby. The woman was given an intramuscular injection several hours after delivery, while in the recovery room, to try to stop her vomiting. But the nurse improperly administered the injection too low, damaging the woman’s sciatic nerve. The woman now has lower back problems, difficulty sitting and standing for any significant period of time and limitations on her physical activities. The condition is expected to worsen. A copy of an article regarding the case can be found here.

A Texas jury has awarded a man $10 million in a medical malpractice case. The man had an allergic reaction to the blood thinner Heparin. During surgery, he suffered what’s called Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia or H.I.T., which is a complication where the blood clots instead of thinning, stopping the blood flow to the extremities. As a result, the man lost his leg from thigh down, part of his right foot and a several fingers.

As an experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice lawyer, I am frequently asked to comment on malpractice cases from around the county. Recently, a Chicago hospital settled a case for $3 million after it failed to properly treat a toddler for an allergic reaction to penicillin, which had been given to her for an ear infection despite previous signs of an allergy to the medication. The suit and an Illinois Appellate Court decision tied to the case suggest that efforts by the hospital’s risk manager, who is not employed there any longer, to investigate the girl’s death may have been obstructed by hospital administrators. Apparently, syringes, Intravenous tubes and other medical materials, which were physical evidence of the girl’s treatment that day , were tossed minutes after she died.

A Delaware jury has awarded a family $1.6 million in a medical malpractice case in which the wrong prescription medicine was allegedly prescribed by a doctor. In this particular case, the woman was given too much of a heart medication for her kidneys to handle. Since she was on dialysis, her body couldn’t process the amount of the drug that they gave her and she died.