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The attorneys at Burke, Mahoney and Wise have a long and impressive history of successfully representing individuals who have suffered injury or death due to medical malpractice. Medical malpractice typically results from the negligent conduct of a doctor, nurse, hospital or other medical staff.
Luera v. Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Physicians repeatedly misdiagnosed a heart infection in a 33-year-old man. The infection led to a stroke that left the man with severe physical and mental disabilities.
Settlement date: 10/15/08. Settlement amount: $10,200,000.
Liberato v. Westlake Community Hospital
A woman’s son was born with severe brain damage after delays in delivery caused him to be deprived of oxygen.
Settlement date: 9/19/08. Settlement amount: $5,500,000.
Lopez v. Cohen
A young girl suffered severe brain damage during birth. She developed microcephaly and experiences significant delays in all aspects of her development.
Settlement Date: 6/20/08. Settlement Amount: $9,750,000.
Schmal v. Northwestern Memorial Hospital
A man was sent home from the emergency room after sustaining a hockey injury to his leg. His pain increased and he was readmitted the following day for compartment syndrome. He had 5 surgical procedures, lost a large percentage of the muscle in his left leg below the knee and has left foot drop at the present time.
Settlement Date: 12/01/07. Settlement Amount: $1,000,000.
Drew v. Advocate Health and Hospitals Corporation
A 55-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital and treated for pneumonia.
She suffered a cardiac arrest and her heart stopped beating for more than fifteen minutes. Although physicians were able to start her heart beating, she did not regain consciousness. Physicians indicated that she suffered from a fatal infection and severe brain damage. Ventilatory support was discontinued and she passed away shortly thereafter.
Settlement date: 4/07. Settlement amount: $850,000.
Crose v. Children’s Memorial Hospital
A young girl suffered hypoxic ischemic encelopathy during her birth due to a delayed emergency c-section. The girl is now a quadriplegic, needs to use a walker and her speech is difficult to understand.
Settlement date: 3/20/07. Settlement amount: $2,250,000.
Ochsner v. Emmert
A physician failed to diagnose a tumor in the plaintiff’s right eye.
Settlement date: 01/06. Settlement amount: $1,750,000.
Drew v. Gokani
Settlement date: 04/06. Settlement amount: $3,500,000.
Speck v. Children’s Memorial Hospital
A 6-year-old-boy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia
as a result of untreated bacterial meningitis.
Settlement date: 2/16/05. Settlement amount: $12,000,000.
Domahidi v. Swedish Covenant Hospital
A newborn was born with cerebral palsy after being deprived of oxygen
for 40 minutes during delivery.
Settlement date: 2/10/05. Settlement amount: $6,000,000.
Campbell v. St. Francis Hospital
A 7 year-old boy suffers from cerebral palsy, critical blindness and
is fed through a tube in his stomach following hospital staff's failure
to recognize numerous signs of fetal distress during labor.
Verdict date:10/22/04. Verdict amount: $32,000,000.
Kraeger v. Advocate Good Shepard Hospital
A boy died of brain injuries four days following birth after hospital
staff failed to recognize numerous signs of fetal distress.
Settlement date: 06/24/04. Settlement amount: $1,750,000.
Duvall v. Hutter
A boy was born brain damaged with chronic seizures and limited movement
as the result of a physician’s alleged failure to act on numerous
warning signs of distress.
Settlement date: 4/04. Settlement amount: $15,000,000.
Osberger v. University of Chicago Hospitals
A woman’s face was severely burned when an operating room fire
occurred during the course of a minor surgical procedure.
Settlement date: 3/04. Settlement amount: $6,000,000.
Arkebauer v. Northwestern Memorial Hospital
A boy was born with severe brain damage when doctors failed to perform
a cesarean section after recognizing numerous signs of fetal distress.
Settlement date: 2/04. Settlement amount: $35,000,000.
Phillips v. Saleh, et al.
A woman suffered a stroke, flesh-eating bacteria and required multiple
amputations following a trip to the hospital for routine surgery.
Verdict date: 10/03. Verdict amount: $19,468,514.
Townsend v. Little Company of Mary
A newborn suffered brain damage and severe cerebral palsy after hospital
staff failed to recognize hours of fetal distress.
Verdict date: 12/02. Verdict amount: $20,250,000.
Riley v. Northwestern Medical
A 33-year-old woman went to Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s emergency
room complaining of a horrible headache, a stiff neck and vomiting.
She was sent home and instructed to take Tylenol. Ten days later an
aneurysm ruptured in her brain, causing a stroke that left her partially
paralyzed. Her memory and cognitive abilities are also severely impaired.
Settlement date: 05/02. Settlement amount: $17,500,000.
Eilers v. Kishwaukee Hospital
A newborn baby suffered brain damage during a delay in delivery that
left him unable to walk, talk or see.
Settlement date: 04/01/02. Settlement amount: $6,000,000.
Welborn v. Arrise
A 25 year-old man suffered from severe autism, including a disorder
which caused him to ingest any inedible objects within his reach. He
died from suffocation after he ingested a latex glove which an aide
had left on his bedroom dresser.
Settlement date: 11/ 26/02. Settlement amount: $1,500,000.
Carroll v. Barrows
An 8 year-old Glenview boy was rendered blind due to the negligence
of his pediatrician. Although the pediatrician examined the retina of
both eyes seven separate times, he failed to diagnose the presence of
tumors.
Verdict date: 02/05/01. Verdict amount: $7,900,000.
Razzak v. DeKalb Clinic
Shortly after a woman went into labor her doctor attempted a delivery
with the use of forceps. The baby was born at 6:41 a.m. and died three
hours later due to a brain hemorrhage caused by a fractured skull.
Settlement date: 08/03/00. Settlement amount: $1,000,000.
Crisp v. MacNeal Memorial Hospital
Doctors misread a young boy’s CT-Scans which were indicative of
a tumor. When the boy underwent a biopsy he developed a bleed from the
tumor bed. Two hours following the procedure, he lapsed into a coma
and died.
Settlement date: 06/23/00. Settlement amount: $3,000,000.
O’Kane v. Olympia Fields
A 31 year-old woman had a routine Pap smear in July, 1992, which was
read as normal. When a subsequent testing in 1995 showed she had cancer,
the 1992 slide was re-read and found to be positive. The woman died
in 1995 from cervical cancer.
Settlement date: 05/08/00. Settlement amount: $7,000,000.
Garrett v. Children’s Memorial
Doctors punctured the wall of a young child’s heart while performing
a cardiac biopsy to determine the cause of her irregular heartbeat.
The puncture caused the child to go into cardiac arrest. She now suffers
from a range of injuries, including cerebral palsy.
Settlement date: 04/17/00. Settlement amount: $3,500,000.
Kawalek v. Midwestern
In September, 1994, a 37 year-old woman went to her physician for a
routine mammogram. The test was suspicious and her doctor recommended
a biopsy to ensure that she was healthy. The woman underwent the biopsy
at Olympia Fields Medical Center and was told that the pathology was
negative. She underwent another biopsy in October, 1996 that revealed
a cancerous tumor. In June, 1998, the woman died of breast cancer.
Settlement date: 03/28/00. Settlement amount: $3,100,000.
Skuba v. Lauderdale
A 40 year-old diabetic male was admitted to Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s
Hospital, apparently suffering from a hypoglycemic episode. The results
of an EKG indicated that he had suffered a heart attack. However, the
attack was not diagnosed and the man was discharged from the hospital
two days later. He died the following month from a massive heart attack.
Settlement date: 01/20/00. Settlement amount: $2,750,000.
Klingberg v. Children’s Memorial
A young boy suffered a permanent brain injury after a delay in diagnosing
post-operative bleeding at the site of surgery.
Settlement date: 10/29/99. Settlement amount: $5,500,000.
McCallister v. Bulow
A 55 year-old woman died on the operating table after doctors punctured
her right ventricle while inserting a defibrillator.
Settlement date: 08/12/99. Settlement amount: $1,250,000.
Maurer v. Mercy Center
A newborn baby boy was born brain-dead and died six days later after
life-support systems were removed. During his mother’s labor,
the fetal monitor had indicated that his heartbeat was abnormal.
Verdict date: 03/31/99. Verdict amount: $1,050,000.
Doolittle v. Phipps
A young boy suffers from seizures and requires extensive speech and
occupational therapy as a result of a delay in diagnosis of his mother’s
preeclampsia until after her blood pressure had risen to dangerous levels.
The mother experienced seizures and placental abruption, leading to
a lack of oxygen to the child’s brain and subsequent brain damage.
Settlement date: 12/16/98. Settlement amount: $1,500,000.
Hearlston v. Loyola University Medical Center
A 30 year-old pregnant woman died after a 36-hour delay treatment from
the time she called the hospital to inform them she had been exposed
to chicken pox. She had never been exposed before and was six months
pregnant. Her fetus also died.
Settlement date: 11/98. Settlement amount: $4,250,000.
Collins v. EHS
A 29-year-old man died 11 days after undergoing surgery to repair arm
fractures. During surgery, the man aspirated stomach contents into his
lungs and developed Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome. He remained
on a respirator and was rendered unconscious from drugs from the point
of surgery until his death.
Settlement date: 10/05/98. Settlement amount: $1,000,000.
Elster v. Sutow, M.D.
A 40-year-old woman died of a pulmonary embolism. Two-days earlier she
had visited her physician complaining of pain in her leg and shortness
of breath. Despite a prior pulmonary embolism and predisposing factors,
her doctor diagnosed the problem as hip bursitis.
Verdict date: 05/20/98. Verdict amount: $1,000,000.
Revord v. Glen Ellyn Clinic
A 41-year-old man went into anaphylactic shock after a nurse mistakenly
gave him two allergy shots that were more than 3,000 times the proper
dosage. He later died after a delay by staff in calling 911.
Settlement date: 02/26/98. Settlement amount: $1,500,000.
Dolan v. Chavaria, M.D
A Chicago Police Officer went to Christ Hospital’s emergency room
complaining of shortness of breath, chest pains, pain in her right calf
and heart palpitations. She died two days later of a pulmonary embolism.
Settlement date: 02/23/98. Settlement amount: $1,050,000.
Cervellone v. Simpson, M.D.
A baby was born with permanent spinal cord damage after he was delivered
by forceps.
Settlement date: 01/06/98. Settlement amount: $3,700,000.
Laude v. Consolidated Labs
Lab technicians failed to detect a woman’s cervical cancer after
they read two annual Pap smears as normal. The cancer spread to her
ovaries and abdomen, requiring a hysterectomy, radiation and chemotherapy.
Settlement date: 01/05/98. Settlement amount: $3,500,000.
Bellino v. Raju
A girl suffers from cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, and seizures
after her birth by Cesarean Section was inappropriately delayed causing
her to suffer brain damage.
Verdict date: 09/24/97. Verdict amount: $16,600,000.
Marchetti v. Yarzagaray
A 52-year-old pressman for the Chicago Tribune became paralyzed after
laminectomy surgery to repair a herniated thoracic disk.
Settlement date: 10/28/96. Settlement amount: $1,000,000.
Daubach v. Lutheran General
A 28-year-old man became a quadriplegic following the removal of his
soft collar two days after an automobile accident. After his collar
was removed, Mr. Daubach was moved to a new bed and allowed to sit up.
The movements compressed his spinal cord, rendering him a quadriplegic.
Verdict date: 05/31/96. Verdict amount: $10,050,000.
Collins v. Cook County Hospital
In 1979, an infant boy underwent elective surgery to repair coarctation
of the aorta. Prior to the procedure his blood cell count was elevated
and bacteria were found in his urine. He now is confined to a wheelchair
and suffers from pulmonary hypertension.
Settlement date: 01/95. Settlement amount: $2,500,000.
Ricobene v. Jain, M.D.
A 53-year-old woman was taken to the hospital with complaints of vomiting,
nausea, weakness, a fall at home and difficulty speaking. She was diagnosed
with gastroenteritis and sent home. The next morning she suffered an
embolic stroke, leaving her with hemilegia (left side) and moderate
cognitive defects.
Settlement date: 09/06/95. Settlement amount: $1,800,000.
Lintern v. Motarjeme, M.D.
A 65 year-old woman’s right leg and left hand were amputated after
the Heparin she was taking for a suspected pulmonary embolism caused
Heparin-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (HITT) – a drop in
platelets and a new blockage of blood.
Settlement date: 10/13/94. Settlement amount: $1,100,000.
Synowiecki v. Nowak
A 30-year-old woman went to the emergency room complaining of severe
chest pain. She was diagnosed as having a panic attack and was sent
home. Thirty minutes after being discharged she died of a heart attack.
Settlement date: 03/03/94. Settlement amount: $1,025,000.
Brown v. Luedtke, M.D.
Delays in delivering an infant caused a lack of oxygen to reach his
brain, resulting in spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, cortical blindness
and intractable seizures.
Verdict date: 03/93. Verdict amount: $6,950,346.
Friedman v. Glenview Pavillion Convalescent Center
An alzheimers patient at a Convalescent Center died after being strangled
by a vest restraint that had been applied backwards.
Settlement date: 02/22/93. Settlement amount: $500,000.