Kevin Parsons was a successful physician practicing in the fields of geriatric and internal medicine. Tragically, Parsons was diagnosed with Lambert Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS), an extremely rare autoimmune disorder. Medical malpractice attorneys have found that the disorder is so uncommon that it only affects 300 people on the face of the earth. Parsons devoted the next twenty years of his life researching and writing on LEMS as well as advising others with this terrible disorder. Through his far-reaching research, Parsons determined that a stem cell transplant might be a potential cure for LEMS, so he traveled to Chicago to undergo the procedure at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Unrelated Malpractice Ends Parson’s Search for a Cure
While at the hospital awaiting his transplant, an unrelated instance of medical negligence led to serious medical issues for Dr. Parsons. Parsons was accidentally given a dose of insulin from a nurse who failed to read a note that specifically stated that no insulin be administered. Medical malpractice attorneys believe that the insulin led Parsons into a diabetic coma and eventually caused his death only three weeks later. That’s when medical malpractice attorneys took on the case of Parson’s widow and family to seek justice for the alleged malpractice. The case never reached trial, which allowed the parties to avoid a lengthy litigation process. The two parties agreed to settle for a sum of approximately $5 million earlier this month. It appears that nurses had previously complained to higher-ups that the healthcare providers, on the floor Parsons was located, were overworked and given far too many patients.
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If you or a family member have recently been the victim of medical negligence, it is possible that you would like to speak with our medical malpractice attorneys. Please contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation, or call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
A very popular scam in recent years has been to call elderly adults pretending to be a grandchild, asking for money to be wired due to some emergency. This Grandparent Scam has cost people thousands of dollars all over the country. The scam has been around for several years, but it has gotten more elaborate lately. Originally, scammers would call and slowly get details from the victim through the conversation. Now-a-days, the caller will already know detailed information before they make the call. They will immediately identify themselves as a grandchild by name and give other details about their lives in order to increase credibility. Officials are warning everyone, especially the elderly, to never send money to family members or loved ones unless you can be certain you are sending it to the right person. It is easy for predators to access personal information so you must ask more than just basic information.
First, Damian Saul, 43, suffered a massive stroke while he waited for hours to see a physician at a city hospital. Upon his arrival, Saul informed a nurse that he was having trouble with his sight in one eye. This should have been recognized by the nurse as an initial sign of a stroke. The ensuing stroke left him almost completely paralyzed and he was unable to speak clearly. His medical malpractice attorneys reached a settlement of $5.5 million. His medical malpractice attorneyswere quoted as saying,
Jeffers’ family agreed to a settlement with Methodist Hospital and emergency room workers in the amount of $10 million. Medical malpractice attorneys believe that $9 million will come from the hospital while the remainder will be paid by Emergency Physicians Medical Group of Sacramento, resulting in one of the largest awards in California history. Some of the money will go towards current expenses and the remainder will be given to young Malyia, beginning in 2026 on her 18th birthday, at $16,000 per month. Although California has a damage cap in place at a quarter of a million dollars, this only limits damages related to “pain and suffering”. Medical malpractice attorneys believe that this settlement was properly designed to avoid the cap and attribute the amounts of money to different types of damages. Hopefully, this amount of money will help the young girl adapt to her new life after this devastating case of malpractice and will allow her to lead a normal life.
After a state Health Department investigation, a Minnesota nursing home is being held responsible for the death of 82-year-old Keith H. Johnson. The nursing home served Johnson a tuna sandwich on December 13, 2010 which was in violation of his doctor’s orders to only eat pureed food because of his history of eating too fast and choking. The man, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, was then left unsupervised and began to choke on the sandwich. An employee noticed that he was trying to cough and then became unresponsive and was not breathing. There were two failed Heimlich maneuver attempts to restore his breathing before Johnson was taken to the hospital. He died six days later from lack of oxygen to his brain and cardiac arrest.
At the end of October the police went to the son of 74-year-old Carol Brown’s home to find her unresponsive and living in deplorable conditions. The paramedics rushed Brown to the hospital but she died several days later. According to the officers who entered the home, they described Brown as “a rotting corpse that was still breathing.” The rescue crews had to pry her from the leather recliner because her legs had become fused to the chair. Court documents also revealed that she was sitting in her own bodily fluids and waste with a swollen ankle wound with maggots inside. According to Brown’s daughter Laura Sanders, the doctors told her “There were sores on her back the size of a man’s fist.”
Medical malpractice attorneys have traditionally believed that the use of electronic medical records would actually decrease the number of medical mistakes and other prescription errors. With the increase in technology, medical malpractice attorneys thought that doctors and nurses would be better equipped to avoid preventable mistakes and injuries and reduce the potential for civil lawsuits. It is easy to see why people thought that better technology would help healthcare providers avoid unnecessary medical malpractice. Doctors, who are notorious for poor handwriting, would not have the same problems communicating data to others in patient charts, the equipment could monitor drug prescriptions to avoid dangerous mixtures, and hospital workers could be alerted easily of particular patient conditions without the hassle of digging through charts. However, many studies are now showing that the expected benefits of the new healthcare technology are not coming to fruition as fast as expected, if at all. The Institute of Medicine has also highlighted numerous dangers that could lead to malpractice and cause patients severe injuries. The report stated “although the magnitude of the risk associated with health IT is not known, some examples illustrate the concerns. . . Dosing errors, failure to detect life-threatening illnesses, and delaying treatment due to poor human-computer interactions or loss of data have led to serious injury and death.”
Peggy Ballinger, a 55-year-old former care provider at the Alois Alzheimer Center, is facing charges after being accused of stealing pain medications from her Alzheimer’s patients. She is being charged with
Brian Watt, a 29-year-old sex offender and former certified nursing assistant at the facility, was arrested on September 9. He was charged with