Chicago Wrongful Death Lawyer Blog

A jury awarded nearly $3 million to the estate of a man who died after his esophagus tore while he was swallowing a piece of steak, finding an Alexandria radiologist liable for misdiagnosing the man's condition as a hiatal hernia. However, as is common practice in various states the jury verdict was reduced to about $1.25 million. People don't realize the impact that caps can have on everyday people. In this case the jury heard all of the evidence and awarded what it believed was a fair amount. In this wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit the facts were that Alvarez ate some steak and felt pain in his throat. He went to the hospital and was told her had a hiatal hernia and was given oral medication for this.

However later that night Alvarez was taken by ambulance to Inova Fairfax Hospital after complaining of severe pain in his chest. After running tests and taking images, doctors discovered a perforated esophagus. As a result of this, Alvarez ended up dying ten days later from complications related to attempted surgery. When determining a fair amount of money Alvarez should receive his wages should be taken into account. In this case he was making $100,000 a year as a technology specialist for the Defense Information Systems Agency and was retired from the United States Air Force where he was receiving a pension. It's sad that jury awards get reduced in wrongful death cases like this.

If there is ever a case that proves you should always get a second opinion regarding medical care this case is it. The Estate of Juan Blanco filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the County who owns the hospital that treated Mr. Blanco after he was diagnosed with cancer given years of radiation and other treatment for the cancer and it turns out he never had cancer. The problem for Blanco started in 2001 when he arrived at the emergency room at Kern Medical Center after suffering a seizure. Doctors there believed he had a cancerous brain tumor and did emergency surgery followed by two months of radiation. The problem was the diagnoses was wrong according to the lawsuit.

Blanco endured almost six years of constant suffering when he collapsed and was rushed to Stanford University Medical Center. Doctors at Stanford told him that all the treatment he received was in error and he did not have cancer and never had cancer. The doctors said Blanco suffered a minor stroke and did not have a tumor or cancer. In a continued remarkable series of events Blanco was taken back to Memorial Hospital in late 2007 suffering from another seizure, and the doctors there told him they needed to resume cancer treatments.
Blanco died in July 2008 from a cerebral hemmorhage and the family claims it was on the spot of the radiation.

"He was like a guinea pig for them," Poot said. "They didn't really know what they were doing.

Felita Dowdy, a young 33 year old woman suffering from cerebral palsy went in to the dentist to have teeth extraction surgery and unfortunately, she never came out alive. Her estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the dentist Dr. Bruce Lish and St. Luke's Hospital. The lawsuit alleges among other things that a dose of fentanyl painkiller given to Dowdy by the dentist may have contributed to her going into cardiac arrest during surgery. Fentanyl is 100 times more powerful than heroin and many times is only prescribed to patients suffering from severe pain.

Once Dowdy went into cardiac arrest she was taken to the hospital with a brain injury. At this point it is unclear what caused the problem with the surgery. It may have been a combination of the Fentanyl or a surgical mistake. Once Dowdy was taken to the hospital, the lawsuit alleges that she wasn't given the proper care and monitoring which also let to her death.

Thomas Quirk who is a retired police officer and his two sons settled a wrongful-death lawsuit in Cook County Illinois against Little Company of Mary Hospital and two other medical establishments for $7.5 Million. The lawsuit was the result of the 2004 death of Patricia Quirk who was diagnosed with stage three endometrial cancer and had to endure being overradiated 17 times which led to her death. This type of personal injury is very tragic and preventable.

Many times medical professionals have such work loads that they fail to spend the kind of quality time evaluating what is going on. Treatments are not properly given to patients and no one seems to be watching what is going on. Hospitals and medical establishments should spend more time on each patient and less time warehousing people. This wrongful death lawsuit should not have been needed because the death was not necessary. This was preventable with good procedures in place. No family should have to suffer a loss like this.

"The prescription called for 180 centigrays of radiation. She

received 270 centigrays, which represents a 50 percent overdose," said Barry Goldberg.