Richard S. Donahey Medical Malpractice Law Blog on Lawyers.com

In 2008 in South Florida, a Broward County jury granted Denise and David Brown $35 million in a medical malpractice case against North Broward Hospital District. Denise Brown was pregnant with her son, Darian, on January 10, 2000 when she went in for a regular doctor check-up. While monitoring the fetus, it came to the doctor’s attention that the heart rate of the baby was greater than 160, known as fetal tachycardia. Mrs. Brown was admitted to Broward General Hospital for observation since she was at risk for pre-term labor due to the high heart rate of the fetus. For three days, the hospital was able to stabilize the baby’s heartbeat and control Mrs. Brown’ pre-term labor contractions. On the evening of January 14th the baby took a turn for the worse, but the hospital staff did not alert the doctors in spite of polices and procedures of the hospital.

Around 5am on January 15th, the hospital staff finally notified the doctors of the decline in the baby’s health and was finally delivered about two days later. Due to the delayed delivery, Darian suffers from severe brain damage and is unable to feed himself, walk, or make life decisions.  After contacting attorney Nancy La Vista, the case was rigorously investigated and a medical malpractice suit was filed blaming doctors for failure to put into action a timely delivery. The nurses were also blamed for negligence in their failure of informing doctors as quickly as possible of the significant changes in the fetus’s heartbeat. After eight years of litigation, the Browns were finally rewarded their compensation by proving to the jury all of the mistakes made by the hospital staff.

In 2008 Kentucky man, Phillip Seaton, 61, is began seeking compensation in a medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. John M. Patterson, claiming his penis was removed without his consent during a surgery that was suppose to be a circumcision. Dr. Patterson’s post-surgical notes show that the doctor that he had discovered cancer and went ahead and removed the penis. Mr. Seaton had the procedure on October 19, 2007 to treat inflammation and was never consulted on the cancer prior to the doctor cutting off his penis. Mr. Seaton is also suing the anesthesiologist, Dr. Oliver James because he administered a general anesthesia to Mr. Seaton, after Mr. Seaton asked that it not be. Mr. Seaton’s case is similar to a case in Indianapolis where a man claimed his penis and left testicle were removed during a procedure in 1997 during surgery for an infection; he was awarded $2.3 million in damages.

Article provided by Ohio medical malpractice lawyers of The Donahey Law Firm, Attorney’s at Law, 1-800-686-1699, www.donaheyohioinjurylawyers.com.