The difference between a civil trial and a criminal trial is easy. In a civil trial, the jury must reach a majority opinion based on a “more likely than not” standard, as opposed to the criminal law requirement of a unanimous decision which is beyond a reasonable doubt. Thankfully for young Hannah Tilton, a ten year old girl who is severely disabled, the civil jury system worked out. In a six to three decision, a jury found that midwife, Irene Meyers, had breached the standard of care when she oversaw Hannah’s birth which led to dramatic injuries. Medical malpractice attorneys say that following a nine day trial, spanning three weeks, the jury got this case right after about six hours of deliberation.
Money Damages Help but They Certainly Aren’t Enough
Young Hannah Tilton was awarded $2.3 million for medical and health care expenses that she will incur in the future, $345,000 for medical expenses that she and her family have already paid, and $500,000 for the girl’s permanent impairment and loss of enjoyment. The young girl was born with severe mental retardation which has left her confined to a wheelchair. Furthermore, she must use a feeding tube for sustenance and maybe worst of all, she is blind and can’t speak or verbally communicate. Hannah was diagnosed with Kabuki Syndrome but her medical malpractice attorneys urged that she must have suffered a serious injury during birth due to a lack of oxygen. In a tight vote, the jury decided that Meyers failed to follow the standard of care when she was charged with overseeing the delivery and her negligence caused these significant injuries. Medical malpractice attorneys believe that this is a major victory for a plaintiff who has suffered an inordinate amount in her young life.
Medical Malpractice Attorneys in New Jersey and Philadelphia
If you or a family member has recently been the victim of medical negligence, it is possible that you would like to speak with 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.
With a growing elderly population, we are seeing an increase in 
Carmella Saldana, of Oklahoma City, was arrested on June 6, 2011 on a felony abuse and neglect by a caretaker charge. Saldana’s mother, Deborah Gay Ramirez, suffered a stroke in 2006 that left the right side of her body paralyzed. In 2009 she suffered a mini-stroke that left her completely paralyzed and bedridden. According to Saldana’s sister Christa Ramirez, Saldana took a more active role in their mother’s care after her stroke. But after their mother died on August 7, 2010 at the age of 57, Christa is accusing her sister of elder abuse and wants her to pay for the way she treated their mother.
A woman entered the Lake Ridge Care Center in Buffalo, Minnesota on January 14, 2010 with a diagnosis of congestive heart failure and low potassium. She was prescribed two tablets of potassium three times a day to help keep her blood pumping through her heart. On January 23, 2010, the resident was sent to the emergency room because she was found unresponsive. Treaters in the emergency found a severely abnormal heart rhythm and extremely low potassium levels. The woman died later that afternoon. Her official cause of death was cardiac arrest. 
According to a report issued by the Minnesota Department of Health Facility Complaints Office, the man fell from his wheelchair on March 8th and suffered a “large hematoma, approximately four centimeters by three centimeters, on his left forehead.” He had bleeding that was putting pressure on his brain and depriving him of oxygen. The patient was examined 30 minutes after the fall, but no vital signs or neurological tests were done for at least three hours. Four hours after the fall, he was unresponsive and his vital signs were not stable. The nursing home transferred him to a hospital where he died two days later on March 10th. The death certificate states the cause of death as a “massive intracranial hemorrhage.”
An 82-year-old man from Illinois died this month at Heartland Healthcare nursing home. According to the police report, Irvin W. Brackett was found by nursing assistant Annette Payton at 10:30 p.m. on the floor with an oxygen tube and electrical cord wrapped around his neck and tied to an assistance lever that was hanging over his bed. Payton immediately called other nurses for help. They removed the constraints and began emergency resuscitation. An ambulance was called to help but nothing could be done and the nursing home called for the coroner at 12:16 a.m. Brackett was pronounced dead at the scene by the Knox County Coroner Mark Thomas. According to Thomas: 
On April 17, Grove called an ambulance to her home because she believed she was overdosing on drugs. While in the home, police found the elderly couple injured and in unsanitary conditions. The 77 year old husband was found in his urine soaked bed with blood and feces smeared on the bed and bed frame. Both victims were taken to the hospital. the husband was taken for facial bruises, broken ribs, and a partially collapsed lung, and his 82 year old wife was taken for a hand and wrist injury which she said she received when Grove pushed her wheelchair across the room and pinned her hand against the wall. The wife also told the police she heard Grove beating her husband on several occasions. The couple is bedridden/confined to wheelchairs, the husband has had part of his leg amputated, and the wife recently had hip surgery. The husband was in the hospital several weeks prior to this when he had to have one of his eyes surgically removed after a TV set fell on him, which his wife believes was an injury from Grove.
The Duques brought their baby girl to Nebraska for a transplant after she was born with congenital defects. Almariah received a pancreas, liver, and small bowel transplant in late December of 2009. She was discharged from the hospital a few months later but quickly returned as she developed an infection.