Our personal injury lawyers obtained a $1.4 Million dollar medical malpractice settlement against a southern Illinois hospital. We were able to get the case settled just a few months after filing the personal injury lawsuit. Medical malpractice settlements early on in a lawsuit or rare but they do happen from time to time. Detailed investigation, preparation, your lawyers reputation can help speed up the settlement of a personal injury case and avoid trial if necessary.
In this case, we were able to clearly show that the hospital staff was negligent when they failed to monitor a patient and allowed a delay in diagnosis of a patient’s condition. This nurse negligence resulted in a brain injury, a brain injury that was avoidable. The details of the case and parties involved are confidential per the settlement agreement.
The delay in diagnosis occurred when the hospital staff was negligent by parking the patient in a waiting room and then forgetting about him for several hours. During this time he aspirated by choking on material he coughed up. The aspiration made it difficult for him to breath and cutting off oxygen to his brain resulting in a mild traumatic brain injury.
The patient was an aspiration risk based on his condition. Therefore, the medical safety rules required the hospital staff to monitor him for aspiration problems.
As a result of the negligence of the employees and agents of the southern Illinois hospital (named confidential per settlement agreement), a routine knee replacement resulted in a patient’s life being permanently altered. One nurse, consciously disregarded and otherwise violated numerous patient safety rules which contributed to this accident then took diligent efforts to cover it up by altering the medical records.
When handling medical malpractice cases, injury lawyers oftentimes see the underbelly of the medical profession, some healthcare providers act like factory line workers where patients are just another product running down the conveyor belt. Fortunately, the vast majority of healthcare providers are good doctors and nurses that provide good care for their patients.
The nurses and doctors were negligent because: (1) did not timely diagnose and respond to risk factors known to Increase the likelihood of patient aspiration; (2) did not have procedure for keeping patients located; (3) did not transfer patient to ICU when required; (4) did not properly diagnose and respond to respiratory distress of patient (aspiration); (5) staff failed to consistently follow their aspiration prevention protocol. In addition there was evidence of medical record alteration and attempts to retroactively go back and alter the records to reflect proper procedure was followed.
Illinois medical malpractice lawyer Ben Sansone is an experienced trial lawyer who routinely handles cases from simple car crashes to complex medical negligence cases. If you would like to discuss a potential case we are available for a free consultation to discuss your case. Call us at (314) 863-0500 or contact us online to arrange a free meeting.
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