Chicago Medical Malpractice Attorney Blog

While some doctors are working to create cures for cancer, others are working to create effective solutions to combat the destructive effects of certain types of cancer. Take for example the recent breakthroughs in tissue engineering that allowed doctors to replace the cancerous windpipe of a Baltimore man with a new, synthetic windpipe. While a similar procedure had been performed on a Swedish man, this is the first time an American has undergone such a procedure.

The surgery was possible thanks to the efforts of Dr. Paolo Macchiarini and his colleagues at Sweden's Karolinska Institute. Dr. Macchiarin is the director of the Advanced Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine and has been working in the field of tissue engineering. His goal is to effectively reproduce tissues and organs outside of the body, a field that is undergoing a surge in success thanks to advances in stem cell research.

Christopher Lyles, the 30 year-old Baltimore man who received the synthetic windpipe transplant, had been diagnosed with inoperable tracheal cancer. However, following his transplant surgery, he was quoted telling a New York Times reporter, "I'm just thankful for a second chance at life."

Continue reading "Doctors Successfully Transplant Synthetic Windpipe to Replace Cancerous One" »

According to a recent survey in the Journal of the American Medical Association, male physicians age 55 or older are twice as likely to be sued for medical negligence as younger women doctors. This survey and other similar findings are the basis of a recent program on Radio Health Journal - "Do Women Make Better Doctors?"

In order to get the perspective of the legal community on whether or not females in fact make better doctors, Radio Health Journal interviewed Chicago medical malpractice attorney Robert Kreisman. Kreisman explained that in his experience, most medical malpractice lawsuits arise out of a failure to communicate between the patient and physician. While sometimes this communication failure might simply result in the patient feeling negatively about his medical care, in other instances it could lead to a misdiagnosis or medical negligence.

Kreisman generalizes that "most times that I've heard from potential clients about a physician that they feel chose not to communicate well with the patient or family, it tends to be a male." However, the show also suggests that perhaps more male doctors are being sued not because women are necessarily better doctors, but for other reasons. For example, traditionally men have dominated high-risk medical fields, such as surgery or obstetrics, while women have generally remained in fields that don't get sued as often, like pediatrics or family practice.

Continue reading "Radio Health Journal Interviews Attorney Robert Kreisman, “Do Women Make Better Doctors?”" »

A recent Wall Street Journal article focused on new developments in research on how our brain reacts to pain. The article revealed that new research has demonstrated that we have a lot of control over how we interpret pain and that new methods are being developed to try and train our brains to feel less pain, especially in the case of those experiencing chronic pain.

For example, Stanford University's Neuroscience and Pain Lab has conducted studies where subjects watch their own brain scans while reacting to pain. Researchers then work on training the subjects to focus on something else instead of the pain. Distracting oneself from the pain lessens our perception of the pain and in essence takes some of the pain away. The more the subjects work at re-evaluating their pain, the less interference the pain had in their day to day lives.

This idea of refocusing one's attention away from the pain has been used by laymen for years. When a child falls and hurts himself, his mother might try to distract him from his cuts and scrapes with a special treat. Or having women in labor focus on breathing techniques to try and remain calm through the pain. So while this research might seem obvious to many, it is only recently that researchers are studying the underlying science and figuring out new ways to apply these findings to pain therapy.

Continue reading "Brain Scan Study Reveals Where Pain Lies" »

Pre-eclampsia is a medical condition that affects one in twenty pregnancies and can lead to various complications for the mother and child, including stroke, seizures, or even death. Pre-eclampsia can be diagnosed during the second trimester and occurs when the mother develops hypertension, i.e. high blood pressure, or unusually high concentrations of protein in her urine. While there is currently no treatment for pre-eclampsia, a recent study published in Reproductive Sciences could help identify those women at risk for developing pre-eclampsia.

The article, titled "Placental Protein 13 and Decidual Zones of Necrosis: An Immunologic Diversion That May be Linked to Preeclampsia," was published by Harvey J. Kliman, MD, PhD, a research scientist operating out of Yale University, and several other scientists. The article focused on recent findings Kilman and his colleagues had unearthed about the role of Placental Protein 13 (PP13) and what this could mean for pre-eclampsia patients.

PP13 is a protein made by the placenta during pregnancy. Prior research had found PP13 levels to be very low among women who develop pre-eclampsia; however, the role of PP13 in pregnancy had previously been unknown. In the present study, the doctors studied placentas from normal pregnancies that had been terminated prior to the 14th week of gestation. They not only found the PP13 to be concentrated in maternal tissue surrounding the veins running under the placenta, but also found a high degree of necrotic maternal tissue in the same area.

Continue reading "Medical Study Reveals Placental Protein Connected to the Dangers of Pre-Eclampsia " »

A gene therapy study done at the University of Pennsylvania has yielded profoundly significant results for cancer patients. A trial study done on three leukemia patients was able to successfully send two of those patients' cancer into remission. While the program is still in its trial stages, the gene cancer study could prove to be a major advance in the fight against cancer.

All three of the studies participants had been diagnosed with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia and were no longer candidates for chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant. Therefore, for these patients the experimental study represented their only treatment option. The goal of the University of Pennsylvania study was to try and get the patients' own immune system to fight the cancer.

To do so, the scientists focused on the patients' T-cells, which is a white blood cell that works to fight tumors and viruses. The process involved removing millions or billions of the person's T-cells, splicing them with new genes, and then returning the modified T-cells to the person's body. What was unique about the University of Pennsylvania study was that it was the first time a modified version of the H.I.V. virus has been used in cancer gene therapy research.

Continue reading "Breakthrough in Cancer Gene Therapy Sends Cancer Patients Into Remission" »

To many women, pregnancy and childbirth is a magical time that ends with the arrival of a new family member. However, for many women pregnancy and labor are anything but easy. Some women suffer difficult pregnancies and are placed on high risk status, or put on bed rest. Other women undergo difficult and complicated labor and deliveries, sometimes resulting in birth injuries to the baby. However, a recent article in The New York Times highlighted another potential complication of the birthing process - stillbirths.

Despite America's status as a wealthy nation that offers high quality prenatal care, stillbirths continue to be a problem for many pregnant women. A group of papers put together by The Lancet, a British medical journal, stated that about 1 in 300 babies continue to be stillborn in high-income countries. And while about 98 percent of the global stillbirths occur in low- or middle-income countries, the report calls into question what doctors and families can be doing to decrease the incidences of stillbirths in the U.S.

Some of the risk factors for stilbirths include maternal obesity, maternal age over 35, smoking during pregnancy, and multiple pregnancies, e.g., twins or triplets. Reports suggest that obesity is the cause of 18 percent of stillbirths in higher-income nations, a statistic that is not surprising considering other medical reports citing the increase in adult obesity in the U.S. However, while the negative effect of obesity on one's heart and general health are well-known, perhaps the effect of obesity on one's fetus is not as well-known. Educating American women about the link between maternal obesity and stillbirth could at least make more women aware about this problem and perhaps work towards lowering the cases of maternal obesity, just as educating women about the risks of smoking during pregnancy has lowered the rate of smoking-related stillbirths.

Continue reading "Stillbirths Still a Problem in High-Income Countries Like the U.S." »

Over the years, medical advances have led to countless innovative inventions that have saved many lives. However, not every medical innovation lives up to its expectations. The recall of DuPuy's metal-on-metal hip joint is a perfect example of a medical device that failed to delivery as promised.

The first artificial hip joint was developed in the 1960s and was made of a metal ball placed in a plastic cup, which were meant to replicate the thigh bone and hip socket, respectively. Then, metal-on-metal hip implant devices were developed in response to studies showing that metal and plastic hip devices were leading to bone loss in some patients.

The medical community believed the medical device changes made to metal-on-metal hip implants would revolutionize the future of artificial hips. Not only would the newer design lead to less bone loss in patients, but by replacing plastic with metal, the belief was that the new medical device would last longer than the original metal and plastic version. Medical professionals viewed metal-on-metal hip devices as the final solution to hip implant patients' problems.

Continue reading "Medical Advances Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be" »

France's Agence Francaise De Securite Sanitaire Des Produits De Sante (AFSSAPS) banned the use of Actors, a drug prescribed to control diabetes, due to concerns that it increases the risk of bladder cancer amongst patients taking the drug. Actors manufactured by Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical and is one of the pharmaceutical company's top-selling drugs. The French medical board's decision has caused Germany to follow suit in banning the diabetes drug, with reports that the UK might soon follow.

The French drug suspension not only affects Actos, but also applies to Competact, a similar prescription drug that combines Actos with metformin. Both drugs were suspended because they contained the active ingredient Pioglitazone, which has been linked to the increase risk of bladder cancer. This risk was documented in a study of antidiabetic patients taking antidiabetic medicines that was conducted by the Caisse National d'Assurance Maladie between 2006 and 2009.

The sale of Actos was approved in Europe in 2000, with Competact being approved in 2006. Since that time, an estimated 230,000 patients use Actos in France alone. In 2010, Europe accounted for Y29.5 billion, or about 7.5%, of Actos Y387.9 billion in global sales. The banning of Actos in Europe could drastically affect the fate of the Japan-based pharmaceutical company and exposes it to potential pharmaceutical liability lawsuits.

Continue reading "Use of Actos Suspended Across Europe After Studies Link Its Use to Increased Risk for Bladder Cancer" »

Illinois hospitals are required to have an internal review board that conducts investigations that focus on the quality of patient care. These investigations can be triggered by catastrophic outcomes, unexpected deaths, and also by the suggestion of another hospital employee. The purpose of these investigations is to improve the quality of patient care by identifying any potential abuse or medical negligence and then coming up with ways to prevent similar outcomes in the future.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has recently amended its regulations regarding various components of patient abuse and neglect in order to increase patient safety in hospitals. These new regulations fall under the amendments made to 77 Ill. Adm. Code 250 et seq. and have already gone into effect in Illinois.

One of the most valuable tools for identify patient abuse is hospital employees themselves. Hospital employees are aware of what the appropriate standards are for patient care and are in an unique position to identify when abuse does occur. Therefore, many of the new regulations are meant to clarify the process of reporting patient abuse and neglect and putting protections in place for the "whistleblower" employees.

Continue reading "Illinois Department of Public Health Establishes New Rules for Protecting Patients' Safety" »

The death of a high-power, Chicago executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center could lead to the Chicago hospital losing its medicare payments. James Tyree, CEO of The Chicago Sun-Times and Mesirow Financial, died from an air embolism that developed after his catheter was removed incorrectly. The medical negligence occurred while Mr. Tyree was being treated for pneumonia at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The air embolism occurred after air entered the catheter as it was being removed. The air bubble then entered Mr. Tyree's blood stream. This is problematic because when an air bubble becomes lodged in a vein or artery it can eventually block the flow of blood through that vein or artery. If your blood flow is blocked you are at risk of not getting enough blood to your heart or brain, which is a deadly situation.

This fatal medical error was not only preventable, but involved a skill that was so basic its being done incorrectly could be seen as gross negligence. After considering the facts of Mr. Tyree's death, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services stated that the “deficiencies [which led to Mr. Tyree's death] were so serious that they constitute an immediate threat to patient health and safety.”

Continue reading "Fatal Medical Error by University of Chicago Medical Center Leads to Threats of Medicare and Medicaid Termination" »

Prior to the 1980s, the risk of transmitting HIV through transplanted organs was fairly high, at a time when even blood transfusions put patients at risk for contracting the deadly virus. However, in 1985, HIV antibody testing became available, which enabled doctors and medical staff to test to see whether organs were infected with HIV. Therefore in today's medical climate it is unlikely that an organ transplant recipient would receive organs infected with HIV.

However, in 2007, four Chicago patients were found to have transmitted HIV by way of their transplanted organs. While the transplant surgeries were done at three different Chicago Hospitals, each of the four patients received organs from the same organ donor. At the time of the transplant surgery the donor was not known to be infected with HIV. His organs passed the standard tests for HIV antibodies; however, those tests could not have detected HIV if the donor acquired the infection within a few weeks of his death.

Critics of the way these 2007 transplant surgeries were handled argue that a nucleic acid test could have detected the HIV infection earlier. However, the nucleic acid test was not approved by the FDA until 2009 and even today is not effective 100 percent of the time; too many false positives make the nucleic acid test unreliable as an universal screening tool.

Continue reading "Chicago Hospitals Alter Organ Transplant Rules After 2007 HIV Infections" »

Radiation therapy is a common treatment for a large range of cancers and has been responsible for saving, or at least extending, many peoples' lives. However, the basic premise of radiation therapy involves targeting and killing cancerous cells in one's body. And while properly administered radiation therapy can save lives, when hospitals and doctors administer too much radiation it can result in negative effects for the treating patient.

Overdoses of radiation is becoming more and more widespread amongst cancer patients. A recent report of Evanston's Northshore University HealthSystem, a Chicago-area hospital, provided one such example. A 50 year-old mother of three was administered dangerously high doses of radiation when the hospital staff made radiology errors involving the administration of her radiation doses. The young Illinois resident went from an active, vibrant person pre-radiation to a virtual invalid post-radiation and now resides in an Illinois nursing home.

This woman was just one of three oncology patients who received an overdose of radiation at Evanston Hospital. All three instances of the radiation errors were allegedly the result of faulty linear particle accelerators. These accelerators are used to focus the radiation on the cancerous cells and are commonly used for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).

Continue reading "Evanston Hospital Over-Radiation Leads to Severe Brain Damage: The Hidden Dangers of Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS)" »

Nine years ago Josie King lost her 18-month-old daughter as a result of medical negligence. She has since turned this tragedy into something positive, as she has become a major advocate in the prevention of further medical negligence. King has used her own personal experiences to become a voice in the fight for better communication among hospitals and doctors.

King's daughter was being treated at John Hopkins Hospital for severe burns when she received a methadone shot that resulted in her brain death. The medical negligence in King's case was due to the fact that her daughter was not meant to get the shot - the doctor had cancelled the order for it, but a nurse gave it to King's daughter anyway.

The King family brought a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital and have used the settlement they received to start the Josie King Foundation in memory of their daughter. This foundation focuses on increasing patient safety programs in hospitals and doctor offices.

Continue reading "Mother Whose Daughter Died Due to Medical Malpractice Becomes Advocate for Patient Safety" »

A recently published government report has sparked additional concerns regarding the risk of overexposure to radiation from unnecessary radiology scans. The results of the national report on medical imaging practices shows that Illinois hospitals provide double chest CT scans almost twice as often as other hospitals nationwide. A double chest CT scan is when a study is ordered both with and without contrast, which requires it to be done twice thereby exposing the patient to twice as much radiation.

One of the main hospitals cited in the report as potentially giving "patients a double scan when a single scan is all they need" is Edward Hospital, located in Naperville, Illinois. Edward Hospital officials were reportedly surprised to learn that their CT scans exceeded the national average and have since launched an investigation into its radiology department policies and procedures.

The new government reports on Edward Hospital and other medical institutions nationwide can be found at the government-run website Hospital Compare. This informative website allows patients to search different hospitals by region and compare the quality of care provided by each. Medical information websites like Hospital Compare allow patients to be their own medical advocate and make informed decisions about their care and treatment.

Continue reading "Illinois Hospitals' Double CT Scans Exceed National Average for Rate of Usage - Raises Concerns for Overexposure to Radiation" »

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer for American women, coming in just second behind lung cancer. According to www.breastcancer.org, one in every eight women in the U.S. develops some form of breast cancer. Like any form of cancer, a delay in diagnosis or a misdiagnosis of cancer can have a negative effect on a patient's outcome.

Once breast cancer is diagnosed, the typical treatment for breast cancer involves surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. However, a new study unveiled at a Chicago meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) could change the standard for breast cancer treatment. TARGIT-A study is an international study of breast cancer clinical trials involving over 2,000 breast cancer patients. The participants were women 45 years-old and up who had been diagnosed with invasive ductal breast cancer and were undergoing breast-conserving surgery.

Traditionally patients who elect for breast-conserving surgery undergo whole breast external radiation therapy for up to 6 1/2 weeks following surgery. However, the TARGIT-A clinical trials studied the effects of targeted radiation administered during the surgery. The radiation is administered in a single dose and targets only the area of the breast with cancer instead of the whole breast. Half of the studies participants underwent the traditional post-op radiation while the other half received the targeted radiation therapy during surgery. The TARGIT-A study found that the targeted therapy group did somewhat better overall than the traditional radiation group.

Continue reading "Breast Cancer One-Dose Radiation Treatment Option Revealed at Chicago Oncology Meeting" »

In an effort to find new ways to stop tumors from growing, scientists are researching ways to develop drugs that will stop blood vessels from growing. The first step to developing these complex drugs is to identify the human genes that are essential for blood vessel growth, something that researchers at the University of Austin were able to do by using the new branch of biology known as deep homology.

The study's results, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, revealed that these scientists were able to identify five different human genes that were essential for blood vessel growth. The hope is that by developing a drug that would halt these genes from working we would have a new tool in the fight against cancer.

And while the results of the study are remarkable, what is perhaps even more amazing is the way these scientists isolated these human genes. The researchers first identified the blood vessel growing genes by discovering that the same genes work at building cell walls in yeast. The same group of scientists is responsible for finding the genes associated with deafness by studying plants and the genes associated with breast cancer by studying nematode worms.

Continue reading "Deep Homology Opens Up New Possibilities For Gene Research" »

Last Friday, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston hosted a symposium for patients diagnosed with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) and their families. The all-day event, "Living with GIST", was not only informative for GIST patients, but was also a celebration. The event marked the ten-year anniversary of finding a successful treatment for GIST.

GIST is a rare type of cancer that affects the body's digestive tract and its nearby abdominal structures. Unlike the majority of cancers, which are carcinomas, GIST tumors are sarcomas and do not respond to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. As Dr. George Demetri explained to the audience, prior to the development of effective treatments, GIST tumors were surgically removed until it was no longer clinically effective to do so. The development of molecular targeted therapy, such as Imatinib (Gleevec) and Sunitinib (Sutent), changed the prognosis for GIST patients, bringing hope where there had been none.

Dr. Demetri and his colleagues shared the joy of the early days of the Imatinib clinical trials, when they saw the previously untreatable cancer tumors shrinking and stabilizing after short trials of drug therapy. The enthusiasm of Dr. Demetri and his colleagues, combined with the stories of hard work and barriers overcome, spoke to the amazing accomplishments of these medical professionals.

Continue reading "Celebrating Ten Years of GIST Treatment: A Look at Developments in Molecular Targeted Therapy" »

H.R. 3962, also referred to as the Health Care Reform Bill, promises "To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes." However, at 2,000 pages, the Health Care Reform Bill is a very lengthy document. Over the next five to ten years the Health Care Reform Bill will change the way Americans receive healthcare so it is important for all U.S. and Illinois residents to understand this bill.

This post will summarize the key issues involved in the Health Care Reform Bill rather than how the Healthcare Reform Act impacts Illinois residents. Basically, the Health Care Reform Bill deals with the issues of community rating in health insurance markets, employer mandates to offer health insurance, imposing a tax on "Cadillac" health insurance plans, and health insurance market competition.

The purpose of establishing community rating in health insurance markets is so that people with pre-existing conditions can gain access to affordable health insurance. Currently these people, who some would argue are the ones who need health insurance the most, are subject to higher rates and premiums on health insurance. These increased premiums were imposed by health insurance companies based on the logic that people with pre-existing conditions are more likely to see doctors than those without. Under a community rating plan, insurance companies would not be prohibited from charging higher health insurance premiums for people with pre-existing conditions and would be required to provide insurance to anyone who desires it.

Continue reading "Health Care Reform 101: Breakdown of Main Concepts of the New Health Care Reform Bill" »

Yesterday, President Obama signed into law the house bill overhauling the United States' healthcare system. Illinois’ Director of the State’s Department of Insurance will be at the center of overseeing changes that will affect Illinois citizens through the new bill, most of which involve insurance premium rates and eligibility.

One of the first changes that will affect Illinois residents is that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services now has the ability to review and challenge any unreasonable health insurance rate increase. For example, the insurance hikes like those proposed by Anthem BlueCross in California this past February of rate increase of up to 39% would definitely raise a red flag under the new Healthcare Reform Act.

While Illinois did require insurance companies to report any increases to premiums within the local market, the Illinois Department of Insurance did not have the authority to approve or deny rate changes. Likewise, in small-employer markets the Department of Insurance did not have any authority to authorize rate changes, nor was it automatically given any information about rate increases or premiums charged to individual companies. But now, with the new healthcare laws, Illinois' Department of Insurance will receive reports on rate increases and promises to examine and challenge any unreasonable insurance rate increase.

Continue reading "How Does the Healthcare Reform Act Impact Illinois Residents?" »

Medicine is an area where new advances are being made on a regular basis that lead to better care and treatment for patients. However, this means that in some cases, patients who received older forms of treatment develop unforeseen complications, particularly in the area of Illinois defective medical devices. Consider the case of patients receiving metal-on-metal hip replacements. Once considered the norm, these types of hip replacements are now leading to an increase in problems for patients.

A recent editorial in The Journal of Arthroplasty, a medical journal for orthopedic surgeons, urge doctors to use metal-on-metal devices only with “great caution, if at all.” This comes on the heels of reports that metal-on-metal hip replacement procedures create tiny particles of debris that can damage soft tissue and bone.

Recent studies that estimated that anywhere from one to three percent of hip implant recipients could be affected by the problem, however, given the large number of people who have received metal devices the number could actually be dealing with thousands of patients in the United States who have been affected by defective medical devices.

Continue reading "Chicago Hospital Study Finds New Hip Replacement Procedures Required For Metal-On-Metal Devices" »

The Archives of Internal Medicine released a new report revealing that roughly 48,000 people a year in the U.S., including patients in the state of Illinois, are killed as a result of pneumonia and sepsis caused by hospital-acquired infections. Not only did this take an obvious toll on the survival rate of patients nationwide, but it also increased U.S. healthcare costs by $8.1 billion within a single year. Some of these Illinois cases could have been the result of Illinois medical malpractice or Illinois nursing negligence.

Both pneumonia and sepsis are caused by potentially deadly microbes, which includes the well-known Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Sepsis is a potentially lethal, systemic response to infection wherein the body's bloodstream is overwhelmed by bacteria, that can eventually lead to massive organ failure. Pneumonia is an infection limited to the lungs and respiratory tract that can also be fatal. The study reports that it analyzed 69 million discharge records from hospitals in 40 different states.

The increase in hospital costs is mostly due to the fact that patients who acquire pneumonia or sepsis in the hospital typically require longer stays and more care than those who don't. For example, the study found that patients that developed sepsis after surgery were hospitalized 11 additional days than those patients who did not develop sepsis, which increased the hospital costs by $33,000 per patient. And for those patients who acquired pneumonia after surgery, their hospital stay was lengthened an additional 14 days, leading to additional costs of $46,000 per patient.

Continue reading "Hospital-Acquired Infections Killed 48,000 People According to New Study" »

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it is working with other entities to launch The Initiative to Reduce Unnecessary Radiation Exposure from Medical Imaging. The purpose of the initiative is to promote safer use of all relevant medical imaging devices, to support and increase the degree of clinical decision making, and to further patient awareness.

This initiative is part of a growing movement to increase the safety of life-saving diagnostic and therapeutic radiation and prevent Illinois radiology errors from occurring. The FDA has promised to take steps towards increasing its regulatory supervision of some of the more powerful forms of medical radiation, including fluoroscopy, CT scans, and nuclear medicine.

Some of these forms of radiology can deliver enough radiation in one exposure to equal almost 400 chest x-rays. Obviously with scans this powerful it is important that the medical community is making informative decisions as to the appropriateness of their use and practicing safe administration of these tests.

Continue reading "Medical Radiation From Radiology Scans to be More Stringently Regulated Per New FDA Requirements" »