Medical Negligence Compensation

An award of 78.5 million dollars in compensation for medical negligence due to faulty equipment has been made to a three-year-old boy by a jury in Philadelphia.

The jury at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas heard how the boy´s 36 weeks pregnant mother – Victoria Upsey (34) of Pottstown, Philadelphia – had been admitted to Pottstown Memorial Medical Centre with signs of a placental abruption in August 2008.

A foetal scan proved inconclusive and a bedside ultrasound scan was performed by the consulting obstetrician. The obstetrician failed to hear a heartbeat and declared that the baby had died, however when the ultrasound technician arrived at the hospital, a further examination was performed and a heartbeat was recorded.

Victoria´s son was delivered by an emergency Caesarean operation but, due to a delay of 81 minutes from the time the original ultrasound had taken place, her child was born with severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy for which he will require life-long care.

The court was told that the mistake was made because the ultrasound machine at the Pottstown Memorial Medical Centre was an older model and did not have the sensitivity of modern equipment, however they also heard that it had not been serviced in the past ten years despite the operating manual stating that an annual service was required.

Finding the hospital guilty of medical negligence due to faulty equipment, the jury awarded the Upsey family a total of 78.5 million dollars to account for the suffering the child had experienced, his future care costs and loss of earnings, and to compensate Victoria for her emotional trauma.

A teenage girl is to receive 700,000 Euros after the High Court in Dublin approved an offer of compensation for Erbs Palsy injury made by the consultant obstetrician from the hospital at which she was born.

Aoife James (14) from Douglas, Cork, has suffered the shoulder injury in her right side since she was born at the Cork Clinic, Cork, in 1998 and despite two operations to relocate her shoulder and years of physiotherapy Aoife is still unable to complete simple tasks such as washing herself or drying her hair.

Through her mother, Carol, Aoife claimed birth injury compensation against Patrick Kieran – the consultant obstetrician present at her birth – alleging that her right upper limb was severely functionally compromised due to negligence when she was born, and that her quality of life had suffered as a result.

Although the claim was denied, Ms Justice Mary Irvine at the High Court in Dublin heard that an offer of compensation for Erbs Palsy injury had been made without admission of liability and that the family was prepared to accept it. Approving the compensation settlement, Ms Justice Mary Irvine ordered that it be paid into court funds until Aoife turns eighteen.

A woman, who lost both hands and feet due to an infection after medical staff turned her away from hospital, has agreed to a 17.9 million dollars out-of-court settlement in compensation for failure to treat.

Tabitha Mullins (35) from Brooklyn, New York, had attended the Brooklyn Hospital emergency room in September 2008 complaining of pain and numbness and was diagnosed with having a kidney stone and sent home with painkillers. However, the next day, the level of her pain increased and despite calling 911 twice, medics at the New York Ambulance Service (FDNY) refused to take her back to hospital.

It was only when fiancé, Kahseem Davis, rushed her into New York´s Fort Greene hospital the following day that Tabitha was diagnosed with a sepsis infection. The infection developed further and Tabitha lapsed into a coma. When treatment brought her out of the coma, Tabitha discovered that both her hands and feet had been amputated due to gangrene spreading to her extremities. She was also blind in one eye.

While still recovering from her infection, Tabitha and Kasheem brought a hospital medical negligence lawsuit against the Brooklyn Hospital and FDNY, claiming compensation for failure to treat which directly led to her condition. Brooklyn Hospital disputed the lawsuit, stating that they provided excellent care, but a judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit.

Fearing that a sympathetic jury would be swayed by Tabitha´s “profound injuries”, the Brooklyn Hospital, the two doctors who initially attended Tabitha and the city of New York agreed to settle Tabitha claim for compensation for failure to treat and, after a year of negotiations with Tabitha´s legal representatives, the figure of 17.9 million dollars was agreed.

A widow, whose husband died due to the delay in treatment for a perforated bowel, has been awarded a compensation for wrongful death settlement of 500,000 Euros following the hospital´s acknowledgement that they were responsible for his loss of life.

Mr Justice John Quirke, sitting at Dublin´s High Court, heard how Barry Murphy (38) from Carrigaline in County Cork had been admitted to the South Infirmary–Victoria University Hospital in Cork on the morning of April 24th 2008 complaining of pains in his abdomen.

Barry, who was known to suffer from Crohn´s Disease, was diagnosed with a perforated bowel – a particular dangerous condition for somebody with his illness – however surgery was not scheduled until much later in the day.

Because of the delay, Barry suffered a septic shock – a condition where clots form in the small arteries, stopping the blood flow and preventing oxygen reaching the vital organs – and he was pronounced dead at 11.15pm on the same day.

Barry´s widow, Mary, made a hospital negligence claim for wrongful death, alleging that the hospital had failed to provide her husband with an adequate standard of care, failed to operate on him in a reasonable time frame and were ultimately responsible for his death.

Although the hospital initially refused to accept liability for Barry´s death, an investigation into the incident revealed that the delay in treating Barry´s perforated bowel could not be justified and that the South Infirmary–Victoria University Hospital was indeed responsible for his wrongful death.

However, due to the time that it had taken for the hospital to acknowledge their liability, Mary had suffered severe psychological damage. Diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mary´s life changed completely following her husband´s death.

At the High Court in Dublin, Mr Justice John Quirke heard that settlement of 500,000 Euros in compensation for wrongful death had been agreed between the two parties and, after an apology from the South Infirmary–Victoria University Hospital was read to the court, the judge formally approved the settlement.

Authorities in Finland have started making payments of Pandemrix compensation to victims who developed narcolepsy during swine flu vaccination programs in 2009 and 2010.

A fund of 30 million Euros has been set up to pay for medical care for 94 people so far identified as contracting the sleeping disorder, following research by Finland´s Institute for Health and Welfare which indicated that that children given the drug Pandemrix were nine times more at risk of developing narcolepsy than those who were not administered the swine flu vaccine.

Narcolepsy is a life-long condition which can be passed genetically to future generations, and Kari Valimaki – the Finnish Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health – has already admitted that the Pandemrix compensation fund may be insufficient to meet future demand as nobody is sure how many personal injury compensation claims for Pandemrix side effects will be made in the future.

The Finnish research has since been supported by the Swedish Medical Products Agency and the European Medicines Agency, although no other countries have yet announced Pandemrix compensation payments to any of the victims diagnosed with narcolepsy or their families.

A Dublin GP is facing allegations of clinical malpractice after it was claimed that he over-prescribed benzodiazepines for patients with anxiety and insomnia.

Dr Mohammed Ahmed Khan faces fives poor professional performance claims in respect of his practice in Wicklow Street, Dublin, where it is alleged that he prescribed up to four times the recommended dose of the psychoactive drug over extended periods of time.

Dr Khan is also accused of failing to comply with Department of Health guidelines on the prescribing of drugs, and of placing undue reliance on prescribing brands such as Valium – often when an alternative drug may have been more appropriate for the patient, or in their best interests.

The Medical Council are also investigating claims that Dr Khan failed to arrange referrals for patients that clearly would benefit from treatment by a specialist substance misuse practitioner or drug treatment centre, and that he failed to make adequate enquiries into whether any of the patients to whom he was prescribing benzodiazepines was already being treated by another doctor.

The widow of a man who died due to the hospital medical negligence of a consultant gastroenterologist and a surgeon at the University College Hospital in Galway has been awarded almost 1.6 million Euros in wrongful death compensation.

The High Court in Dublin heard how Michael Davoran (47) from Ballyvaughan, County Clare, died in August 2003 from a fatal cardiac arrest after being admitted to the University College Hospital the previous month suffering from colitis. It was claimed in the action brought by Michael´s widow, Grace, against Ireland´s Health Service Executive, consultant gastroenterologist John Lee and consultant surgeon Oliver McAnena, that doctors continued treating her husband with medication for three weeks following his admission, when it was clear that his condition was deteriorating.

It was alleged in the claim for hospital medical negligence that an emergency laparotomy had to be performed eight days after standard surgery had failed to prevent Michael´s health from getting worse and, as a result, Michael died two days later when the cardiac arrest was brought on by multiple organ failure. As a result of Michael´s death, it was claimed that his mother had re-written her will to disinherit Michael´s widow and descendants from the family home on the 623 acre Ballyalben Farm, and instead passed the estate and income from it to his sister. Michael´s mother passed away soon after.

Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill at Dublin High Court heard that the three defendants did not dispute liability for the wrongful death claim, but claimed that the disinheritance was as a result of a disagreement between Michael´s mother and widow and was not connected to his wrongful death. The judge dismissed the argument, stating that had it not been for the hospital medical negligence and wrongful death, Michael´s dependents would have inherited the farm and any disagreement between the grieving mother and widow could be attributed to their emotional state of mind at the time.

Awarding Grace 1,312,275 Euros for her husband´s wrongful death due to hospital medical negligence, Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill, added a further 184,271 Euros in special damages to account for the loss of income Michael´s dependents had experienced due to being unable to work the farm and a further 50,436 Euros for lost income on the assumption that they would have rented out their existing property had the disinheritance not prevented them from moving into the family home on the farm

A woman, who claimed compensation for negligence in patient follow up resulting in the amputation of both her legs, has settled her claim for doctor negligence compensation out of court.

Catherine Blake (62) of Clonmel in County Tipperary had attended Dr Gerald Sullivan at the Mary Street Medical Centre in Clonmel in July 2000, complaining of pains in her legs and difficulty in walking – possibly due to an accident in which she had sustained back and head injuries in 1998.

It was alleged in Catherine´s claim for doctor negligence compensation that Dr Sullivan ignored the possibility that her ailment could be attributable to deep-vein thrombosis despite – it was claimed – symptoms indicating the condition.

It was further alleged that Dr Sullivan diagnosed thrombophlebtis in September 2000, but failed to adequately provide treatment with the urgency that the condition warranted. Catherine´s condition deteriorated until it got so bad that both her legs had to be amputated.

Dr Sullivan denied Catherine´s claim for negligence in patient follow up and also denied that he had failed to make a proper diagnosis at the time. However, shortly before the trial was due to commence at Dublin´s High Court it was announced that a settlement had been agreed without admission of liability. No further details of how much compensation Catherine would receive were provided.

Health Service Executive chiefs in Ireland had admitted that the wrong dosage of flu vaccine was provided to members of the public and their own employees – raising the potential for medical negligence claims to be made against them.

The situation occurred after Hibernian Healthcare – the company responsible for training pharmacists how to administer the flu vaccine – inadvertently instructed the pharmacists to administer child dosages of the vaccine to adult patients. The error only came to light after one of the country´s 835 trained pharmacists queried why so much vaccine was left in the syringe.

Although Hibernian Healthcare have agreed to cover the cost of recalling all 489 adults and 850 Health Service Executive employees and providing them with a booster injection, the potential for medical negligence claims could arise should one of the affected victims be unaware of the situation and contract the flu virus after being under the impression that they were protected against such an occurrence.

Many of the Health Service Executive´s employees who are provided with the flu vaccine are front-line workers most at risk from illness, and many of the members of the public who have had the incorrect dosage of flu vaccine administered are elderly or those with low immune systems. The National Immunisation Advisory Committee has confirmed that there are “no safety issues” for those receiving a revaccination – a problem may only exist if those given an inadequate initial vaccination fail to have a booster.

The parents of a young woman who died after her doctor failed to recognise the symptoms of deep vein thrombosis have agreed to a £151,000 Euros doctor negligence settlement.

Ray and Angela Hennessy, had brought the action against Dr Hassan Al Bayyari, following the death of their daughter Julie in March 2007. It was claimed in the case against Dr Bayyari that Julie had visited him twice earlier in the month to complain of pains in her leg which she believed were due to a skiing accident four weeks previously.

Despite Julie raising the prospect of deep vein thrombosis, Dr Bayyari failed to prescribe any medication for the Hennessy’s daughter or refer her to the hospital for further tests. Two days after Julie’s second visit to Dr Bayyari’s surgery she was found dead in her home. A post-mortem into Julie’s death revealed that Julie had died from deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism, exacerbated by the oral contraceptive prescribed for her by Dr Bayyari.

After seeking legal advice, the Hennessy’s decided to bring a doctor negligence claim against Dr Bayyari which was due to be heard in the High Court. However, just before the trial was due to commence, Mr Justice John Quirke was told that the two parties had agreed to the out-of-court settlement and that the matter was now resolved.