Recent Posts in Medical Malpractice Category

A New York family recently settled a lawsuit for $2 million against a hospital in Brooklyn over the June 2008 death of a woman in the center's emergency room.

The suit alleges negligence on behalf of the city-owned hospital and emergency room staff who made the woman wait for nearly 24 hours for medical attention.  When her condition worsened before receiving her chance to see a doctor, she collapsed on the floor. Shockingly, no one attempted to help her, not even hospital staff who walked by.

A surveillance tape of the incident was released publically, receiving national attention and outrage.

Believing the hospital's high level of negligence was to blame for the woman's death, her family filed a wrongful death suit.  According to the family's attorney, "What remains most important is the criminal culpability for those responsible for what happened and those who attempted to cover it up."

If you have been injured as a result of a negligent or intentional act, call a Wrongful Death Attorney at the law offices of Page Cagle in St. Louis today for your free initial consultation.  We specialize in various types of personal injury cases and are available 24/7 for a free consultation.

For at least the second time this year, Anderson Hospital faces a wrongful death suit where the family cited hospital and staff negligence as the cause for victim death. 

Claudia Terry filed suit in February against Anderson Hospital, Dr. Mahmood Qalbani, and two nurses over the death of her husband due to respiratory failure.  She alleges that Dr. Qalbani failed to diagnose and treat Terry's condition in time, causing him to suffer pain, mental anguish and disfigurement prior to his death.

According to the suit, Anderson Hospital was negligent because it failed to question the fentanyl doses that doctors ordered in combination with a morphine epidural, and for failing to recognize signs of inadequate respiratory function.  Furthermore, the nurses failed to appreciate the effects of multiple significant IV doses of the two medications and give instructions to the relief nurses of Terry's previous dosages.

Overall, the 15-count suit claims several acts of negligence against the Hospital, doctors, and staff, and Terry seeks a judgment in excess of $1.125 million plus costs.

When admitting a loved one into a hospital for medical attention, it is assumed that the physicians and nurses will provide safe and efficient care. If you have lost a loved one because of negligent medical care, you may be entitled to a wrongful death suit.  Because of state laws, you have a limited amount of time when you can file a claim, so it is imperative that you consult with a Wrongful Death Attorney at Page Cagle right away to begin examining your options. 

Dr. Paul Francel thought he was doing a good thing when he agreed to perform a risky brain stem operation on a teenage boy, David Kurbanov, in October 2006.  The much publicized procedure was Francel's attempt to gain positive publicity after doctors in Moscow discovered a tumor in Kurbanov's brain stem, which interfered with his ability to swallow as well as his appetite and balance.

All hopes for a successful outcome were forgotten when Kurbanov went into a coma following surgery and was subsequently declared brain dead in November.  He died in June 2007 at the age of 16, a death his family blames on Dr. Francel's medical negligence.  They filed a medical malpractice suit against Francel this month alleging that he was more interested in self-promotion rather than the surgery itself and therefore provided care that was below the acceptable medical standard.

For Dr. Francel, this suit is only one of at least twelve pending medical malpractice claims against him since June 2007, according to the Associated Press.  The Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision put him under investigation, and he has agreed to stop practicing until it comes to a conclusion about his medical license.

Although we all like to believe that doctors do not make mistakes, the unfortunate truth is that they do.  Regardless of whether it was an intentional or negligent act, if you have been wrongfully injured by your doctor, you have the right to file a medical malpractice claim and seek compensation.  At Page Cagle, our Medical Malpractice Attorneys can research your medical records, examining every aspect of what went wrong in your treatment in order to prove your case.  Contact us today for a free consultation!

The parents of Sierra Wilson received a damages award of $4.4 million this week after a jury ruled that the Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill, SC and its staff was negligent during their daughter Sierra's November 2003 birth. 

The medical malpractice suit alleges that baby Sierra suffered a permanent brain injury from a lack of oxygen because a nurse trainee assigned to Sierra's mother did not monitor fetal heart strips.  As a result, she did not realize the baby was in distress until it was too late to avoid brain damage.  Doctors performed immediate emergency intervention for the baby, but the lack of oxygen caused her to develop cerebral palsy, a condition that took her life less than five years later.

Accidents such as this one are unfortunately not uncommon as thousands of patients are either injured or killed because of a preventable medical mistake.  If you have experienced an injury or death of a loved one because of the negligent acts of a health care professional, you may be entitled to a medical malpractice claim.  The Medical Malpractice Lawyers of Page Cagle in St. Louis are available 24 hours a day to discuss your case and your legal options.  Contact us today!

A Dallas man who contracted an MSRA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infection six years ago, which caused him to lose parts of all his limbs, won a $17.5 million judgment this week. 

David Fitzgerald, 53, was diagnosed in 2003 with MSRA, an extremely dangerous strand of Staph infection that is resistant to several common antibiotics and can be fatal.  He developed the infection after having ulcer surgery, and was treated by an infectious disease specialist, Dr. Meenakshi Prabhakar, who gave him eight different antibiotics but not the one needed to treat MSRA. 

At the time, Dr. Prabhakar was one of seven doctors who saw Fitzgerald, and no one knew what kind of infection he had.  Fitzgerald went into septic shock and developed gangrene in all four of his limbs before doctors finally realized he had MSRA and treated him properly.  He had to have emergency surgery to amputate both his arms under his elbows and both legs under the knee.

The Dallas jury found that Dr. Prabhakar was 100 percent liable for what happened, but agreed he was not guilty of gross-negligence.  RHD Hospital and three other doctors named in the suit settled with Fitzgerald before the trial.

When a physician or a health care provider makes a mistake or fails to take appropriate action to prevent harm, the patient has the right to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.  If you have been injured because of the mistakes of your doctor, call the Medical Malpractice Attorneys at Page Cagle in St. Louis today for a free consultation.

In a recent wrongful death suit filed in Florida, three families allege that a hospital renovation project exposed their children to mold while being treated for cancer.  As a result, all three of the children died from fungal infections within months after the renovation began.

According to a Florida newspaper, the three children- ages 2, 5, and 9- were being treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is a cancer of white blood cells.  One of the children was still fighting the disease, the other two were considered in remission, when they all developed fungal infections during their stay at the pediatric oncology ward at the Clyde Perry Cancer Institute of St. Joseph's Hospital.  At the time, the hospital was in the middle of renovations of the outpatient area just one floor below where the three children were treated.

Since the children were already susceptible to infections, the lawsuit claims that the hospital's failure to properly seal off the renovation area to keep dust and airborne fungi out of the air conditioning system put the patients in danger.  All three of the children died within one month.

It is an unfortunate reality that when a hospital is negligent or an organization makes a mistake that causes injury or death, it is inevitably the families of the victim that suffer.  If you have lost a loved one because of the intentional or accidental actions of another, you should not hesitate to seek legal counsel.  The loss of a loved one is painful enough, but the St. Louis Wrongful Death Attorneys of Page Cagle law firm can help you get the attention and compensation you deserve.  Contact us today.

In a five-count suit, Charlie Stokes alleges that after a three-month hospital stay, his wife Frankie Mae Stokes died as a result of negligence on behalf of Anderson Hospital and three doctors.

Frankie Mae was a patient at Anderson Hospital from November 2006 to January 2007 where she experienced an abdominal infection, severe sepsis, and infected decubitus ulcers (bedsores). 

Two years later, Stokes is filing suit against Anderson Hospital because it failed to closely monitor his wife for signs of infection or immediately alert her physicians of any major changes in her condition.  Also, he alleges that the doctors did not order appropriate diagnostic tests to determine the full scale of Frankie Mae's condition.  As a result, she developed an abdominal infection as well as deteriorating bedsores.

Because the hospital staff and doctors did not prevent or appropriately treat Frankie Mae Stokes' symptoms in time, Charlie Stokes attributes his wife's death to negligence, seeking a judgment of at least $200,000 plus costs.

If you have lost a family member or loved one because of the negligence or actions of others, you may be entitled to a wrongful death claim.  The experienced legal team of Page Cagle will help you determine your options and build a case with the ultimate goal of client satisfaction.