An Indiana jury returned a $2.5 million verdict in a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a man with stage 4 incurable colon cancer.

According to court documents, 42 year-old Jeffrey Davis claims his doctor failed to order the proper tests to rule out colon cancer when he was 35. Davis says his doctor at UAP Clinic in Terra Haute failed to diagnose the colon cancer when presented with rectal bleeding and other gastric complaints.

The jury’s verdict was $2.5 million. Davis had requested $3.1 million, but the state of Indiana caps medical malpractice awards at a total of $1.25 million.

The jury deliberated for six hours after listening to four days of testimony in the trial.

If you have suffered due to a misdiagnosis or improper treatment, please contact a Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Attorney of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., by calling 215-238-1130.

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld a $7.5 million verdict in a medical malpractice lawsuit, in favor of an Air Force spouse who was disabled at a base clinic in Guam.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled Wednesday that the negligence of Air Force medical staff at the Andersen Air Force Base clinic in 2004 directly resulted in Deborah Rutledge suffering severe nerve damage, losing most sensation below her waist, and becoming permanently incontinent.

The court affirmed a 2008 Guam district court judge’s ruling, saying the $7.5 million verdict was not excessive considering the extent of her injuries, which were caused when clinic staff failed – for several weeks – to diagnose a herniated spinal disc. According to court documents, a nurse and a doctor’s assistant at the clinic failed to do basic medical examinations for numbness, and did not report Rutledge’s case to supervisors.

If you have been a victim of medical malpractice or hospital negligence, please contact a Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyer of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., by calling 215-238-1130.

A jury in Las Vegas, N.M. has returned a verdict of more than $10 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

According to court documents, the estate of 55 year-old Alfred Gonzales claimed that Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe failed to follow its own defined procedures during his stay for hip surgery in 2008. The lawsuit, filed in March 2008, claimed that Christus staff failed to properly administer care to Gonzalez, which resulted in the development of severe pressure ulcers. Lee Hunt, attorney for the Gonzalez family, said the hospital failed “to implement its own policies on how to prevent pressure ulcers.”

The jury awarded the Gonzalez family $595,000 in compensatory damages and $9,750,000 in punitive damages. Hospital spokesman Arturo Delgado said St. Vincent plans to appeal the verdict.

The jury returned its verdict Friday, after a week long trial.

If someone you love has suffered complications arising from incorrect treatment, please contact the Philadelphia Improper Treatment Lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., by calling 215-238-1130.

A $1.4 million settlement has been reached in a medical malpractice lawsuit filed against an allergy specialist in Detroit.

According to court documents, the lawsuit was brought by a 13 year-old patient who received regularly-scheduled immunotherapy allergy injections. The lawsuit alleged that the teen developed an acute anaphylaxis reaction in the form of respiratory distress and loss of consciousness.

The patient was transported by EMS to an area hospital where he was successfully resuscitated. He was then transferred to a tertiary care facility, but was comatose for several weeks. When he regained consciousness, the teen was severely brain-damaged and suffered near-complete quadriplegia. The parties reached a $1,400,000 settlement agreement shortly after the lawsuit began.

If someone you love has been the victim of medical malpractice, please contact an experienced Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyer of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., by calling 215-238-1130.

A $2.5 million settlement has been reached in a medical malpractice lawsuit filed in Boston on behalf of a four year-old girl who died last year of a prescription drug overdose.

Lawyers for the estate of Rebecca Riley announced last week that they have settled their medical malpractice lawsuit against the girl’s psychiatrist, Dr. Kayoko Kifuji of Tufts Medical Center. The $2.5 million settlement will be distributed between Riley’s two siblings, now 15 and 10. Riley’s parents, Carolyn and Michael Riley, were convicted last year, in separate trials, of murdering their daughter through their reckless dispensing of the drugs used to treat her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar illness.

Attorneys for Riley’s estate, Andrew Meyer and Benjamin Novotny, said the settlement did not contain an admission of wrongdoing on the part of Kifuji, but, Meyer added, the decision to settle for $2.5 million, the maximum paid out by Kifunji’s insurance policy, suggests culpability.

To discuss filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, contact an experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 today.

A woman in Texas has filed a lawsuit against an obstetrician-gynecologist claiming she left a foreign object inside her abdomen during a Caesarean section six years ago.

According to the lawsuit, filed January 18 in Galveston County District Court, Phaedra R. Mills claims Dr. Janice R. Crowder failed to remove all surgical sponges prior to closing her abdomen during an operation. Mills says Crowder performed a Caesarean section on November 3, 2004 without any assistance, which reportedly and ultimately caused Mills to suffer a possible hernia.

In January 2010, Mills sought medical attention for alleged problems with her abdomen and pelvis. The petition says Mills learned that the lower left quadrant of her abdomen contained a lap sponge marker which had to be surgically removed.

The lawsuit accuses Crowder of neglecting to disclose that “the treatment involved risks and hazards that would have influenced a reasonable person in making a decision to give or withhold consent. The lawsuit also claims both Crowder and Texas City’s Mainland Medical Center of unilaterally severing the doctor-patient relationship “without reasonable notice to the plaintiff and without providing adequate alternate medical care for the plaintiff, while the plaintiff was in need of continued care and medication.”

If you have been the victim of medical malpractice or hospital negligence, please contact a Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyer of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., by calling 215-238-1130.

Currently, about 4,000 lawsuits have been filed against drug producer Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals for medical complications including pulmonary embolism.  The primary drug associated with these medical complications is the birth control pill, Yasmin or Yaz.

The most common side effects stated in the lawsuits include pulmonary embolisms (or blood clots in the lungs), heart attack, strokes, gall bladder issues and deep vein thrombosis.  The lawsuits claim that consumers who take these birth control pills are at a greater risk of suffering from these complications due to the drosperinone in Yasmin.  In addition, documents state that the pills offer no added benefits to other birth control pills that have less of a chance of causing side effects.

Medical experts warn women taking Yasmin and other birth control pills to look out for signs of pulmonary embolism such as swelling in the arms and legs, coughing blood, headaches or vision problems.

Contact the Philadelphia pulmonary embolism lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 today to set up an appointment to talk with one of our experienced medical malpractice attorneys about pharmaceuticals causing pulmonary embolisms.

A third veteran suffering from vision loss at the Palo Alto Veteran’s Hospital has settled a medical malpractice lawsuit.  68-year old Lt. Kennedy Jr. will receive $400,000 from the federal government as a result of the settlement.  The veteran served in the Korean war with the U.S. Air Force maintaining fighter jets.

Kennedy and 7 other veterans were informed by the hospital in 2009 that their treatment at the hospital may result in vision loss.  The hospital discovered the treatment errors when looking into their glaucoma treatments.  The hospital’s optometry department had failed to follow hospital protocol which required that glaucoma patients be seen by not only an optometrist, but an ophthamologist.  The department was closed and is being investigated further.

If you or someone you love is experiencing a medical complication related to hospital negligence, contact the Philadelphia hospital negligence attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. P.C. at 215-238-1130 today.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services released a report stating that treatment mistakes occur in 1 in 7 hospitalized Medicare patients.  According to the report, the most common causes of the mistakes are incorrect medications, excessive post-surgical bleeding and urinary tract infections from catheters.

“While hospitals have made great strides in improving patient care, the report highlights that there is more we can do,” stated President and CEO of the American Hospital Association Rich Umbdenstock.

Medical researchers estimate that the treatment mistakes affecting hospitalized Medicare patients result in 180,000 patient deaths a year.  Officials suggest that to reduce the risk of suffering from a treatment mistake, always bring someone to the hospital with you, know what medications you are taking and be cautious of catheters.

To discuss filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, contact the experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 today.

According to a recent medical study, patients who have previously been hospitalized for pneumonia are likely to be misdiagnosed with pneumonia at their next hospital visit.  The study analyzed patients who were readmitted to a hospital shortly after being admitted an initial time for pneumonia.

The study was completed by a team of researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.  Medical records of 127 patients diagnosed with pneumonia that returned to the hospital within 30 days of being released showed that 72 percent were misdiagnosed with the same illness after being readmitted.

Main reasons cited for the misdiagnoses were preexisting lung conditions and abnormalities on chest X-rays.

Contact the Philadelphia misdiagnosis attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 if you or someone you love has been the victim of a wrong diagnosis.