An Illinois oncologist was found not to be qualified to testify as an expert witness in a Chicago medical malpractice case against a surgeon accused of failing to diagnose and treat a patient’s lymphoma. McWilliams v. Dettore, et al., No. 1-07-0678. In a split decision, the Illinois Appellate Court for…
At the completion of a jury trial where the family of the deceased patient received a verdict of $3.6 million in an Illinois wrongful death case, a Cook County Circuit Court judge entered a verdict in favor of the defendant notwithstanding that verdict. However, on appeal, the Illinois Appellate Court…
Chicago-based Resurrection Health Care has dispensed with a class action lawsuit by settling with uninsured patients who allegedly were excessively charged. Under the settlement agreement these patients will be issued vouchers for future health services at Resurrection Health Care facilities. Niewinski et al. v. Resurrection Health Care. Notices have been…
A lawsuit brought on behalf of an individual for Illinois medical malpractice was found to be a nullity because the supposed lawyer was unlicensed. The so-called nullity rule directly punished the unknowing client in this case. In Applebaum v. Rush University Medical Center, 2008 WL 4943860 (Nov. 20), the high…
A new study by researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center has stated that at least 2.2 million U.S. adults take medicine in combinations that could trigger dangerous drug interactions. Some of the possible dangerous interactions include muscle breakdown, gastrointestinal bleeding, disruption in heart rhythm, and other serious problems.…
While much attention is given to cases where a physician commits medical malpractice, nurses also must meet a certain level of standard of care. Oftentimes in Illinois medical negligence a nurse’s obligations seem to be overlooked. For example, let’s say that a Chicago patient has known allergies to certain medications…
A California organ transplant surgeon was acquitted in a criminal action that alleged he had intentionally harmed a donor by prescribing excessive amounts of drugs in order to speed up the extraction of the patient’s kidney and liver. The surgeon’s attorney argued that the doctor had flown in from his…
On Thursday, November 13, 2008, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments from attorneys representing the various parties in the case of Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital Nos. 105741 and 105745. The main issue of contention was whether or not there should be caps on non-economic damages in Illinois medical…
The Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a Cook County jury’s $2.7 million verdict for institutional negligence against Loyola Medical Center in a Chicago transplant error case. Longnecker v. Loyola University Medical Center, 2008 WL 2550686 (1st Dist., June 25). The issue in Longnecker was whether Loyola University Medical Center was negligent…
The U.S. Food and Drug Association is responsible for ensuring that new medical devices are safe enough to be put on the market. As a federal agency, the FDA controls regulation nationwide and within Illinois and Chicago. But what most consumers don’t know is that the process for approving these…