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MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE

Doctors are human; they sometimes make careless mistakes just like everyone else.

When that carelessness causes severe harm, our legal system gives us only one way to achieve compensation-with a lawsuit.

It has nothing to do with punishment or revenge-a civil lawsuit is simply about compensation for a loss.

We take calls all the time from people with questions about their doctors. We are happy to listen and give you our thoughts.

In all honesty, we decline most of the calls. We will not file a malpractice case unless we are confident it has real merit.

We have handled tragic cases of medical negligence, including birth injuries and death cases.

We have pursued claims against radiologists, ophthalmologists, ear nose and throat specialists, orthopedists, ob/gyns, plastic surgeons, psychiatrists, internists and nearly every other medical specialty.

We have pursued claims involving infection, heparin induced thrombocytopenia, pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, ectopic pregnancy, timeliness of delivery and cesarean section, emergency room errors, COBRA, surgical misadventure, elective hand surgery, sodium fluorescein angiography, percutaneous abscess drainage, PICC lines and catheters, arthroscopy/athrotomy, anaphylaxis, depression, HIV, pulmonary embolism, meningitis, hepatitis, hernia repair, endoscopy, laminectomy, wart removal and many other kinds of medical treatment.

We have successfully sued doctors, hospitals, managed care companies, nursing homes, therapists, dentists and other medical groups for negligence causing death and severe damages.

Some examples include:

• Emergency personnel completely failed to recognize seriousness of our client's severe headaches and nausea.  They did not properly examine her or take a CT scan and discharged her to home where she died several hours later of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm.  We were able to recover a sizable settlement for her young daughter.
  
• During the delivery of her child, our expectant mother sustained a uterine rupture which resulted in her child being born with cerebral palsy.  The case settled for seven figures.
  
• We represented a young African American who was incorrectly diagnosed by his doctor as HIV positive. The misdiagnosis had devastating consequences. A one-time college basketball star and a cum laude graduate, the young man became so distraught that he joined a gang and resolved to die until another physician finally correctly diagnosed him. Despite an ambiguous reading on the original HIV test and notwithstanding having seen only one or two tests in her career, the young man's physician spent 14 months treating him before referring him to an infectious disease specialist. Even though the jury had only one African-American member, it returned a six-figure verdict in favor of our client.
  
• Imagine the horror of the Hispanic mother and grandmother who watched their beautiful daughter bleed to death when the doctor accidentally inserted a needle too far into her chest and struck the pulmonary artery during a routine CT-scan guided abscess drainage. Neither the doctor nor the hospital wrote one word of this in any record! Fortunately our experts found it on the films and the doctor admitted everything during his deposition. The daughter was physically and mentally challenged and lived at home.The case settled for $2 million dollars.
  
• Our 83-year-old client needed a routine office eye exam called "angiography. "He was healthy, active, vigorous-the head of a large family, which absolutely adored him. When he had an anaphylactic reaction to the sodium fluorescein test, he needed the epinephrine that the doctor had hanging on the wall, inches away from where our client collapsed. Unfortunately the doctor was nowhere around and there was no one else in the office who could give him the medicine he needed to save his life. The case settled for seven figures after six days of jury trial.
  
• Our client, an amazing athlete at age 74, went to his HMO because he noticed a bump on his foot. Over the next nine months he was seen by a variety of different doctors in different specialties none of whom looked at any of the others' records. The bump grew to the size of a small grapefruit. By the time they correctly diagnosed the cancer (MFH) it was too late and he died, leaving a large and loving family. The case settled for several million dollars. The family dedicated a baseball park in his honor.
  
• Our client had a history of cancer and went to a laboratory to have blood drawn for upcoming surgery. The phlebotomist convinced our client to use her right arm, which was not supposed to be used. The phlebotomist inserted the needle into her right arm and damaged her median nerve. We obtained a very nice settlement for our client who donated it to a cancer association to benefit patients who cannot afford treatment.
  
• During her pregnancy, our client had ongoing high blood pressure, which her doctors completely ignored ("pregnancy induced hypertension" and "preeclampsia"). Finally, she was rushed to the hospital, where she had an eclamptic seizure. Her child has almost no use of one arm and other physical and mental challenges. The doctor and his staff tried to backdate their records. Finally the doctor paid his entire insurance policy in settlement.
  

• When our client had a routine hernia surgery, the doctor accidentally cut his femoral artery and accidentally sewed the femoral nerve shut. Our client had spent his life building a dream retirement home in Wisconsin. The doctors denied everything. They tried to blame it on a different surgery 13 years earlier. Luckily, the doctor who had performed that earlier surgery was still around and testified convincingly that there was no problem from his surgery. The client received a very satisfactory award.
  
• Our client, the mother of a three-month old newborn, knew that something was very wrong with her son. She brought him to the emergency room twice during the night and twice they told her to go home. Unfortunately, the hospital missed the diagnosis of meningitis and the baby died soon after the mother again brought him back to the emergency room for a third time early the next morning. The case settled in the upper six figures.
  
• A woman who was having a baby watched in horror as the baby slipped through the doctor's hands and struck his head on a bucket. It was noted right in the medical records. Still, the doctors denied it! The case settled for six figures.
  
• Our client, a very independent 79-year old woman, went to the hospital for elective surgery. She had an allergic reaction to a medication called "heparin" but they kept giving it to her. Finally, they put a big sign over her bed saying "NO MORE HEPARIN". Unfortunately she got gangrene (heparin induced thrombocytopenia) and she lost her right leg and use of her left hand. She received a significant award.
  
• Our client, a hard-working nurse, needed routine arthroscopic knee surgery. She had it done but she woke to find permanent knee damage. In his chart, the doctor claimed there was a defective tourniquet. The evidence proved he accidentally cut a nerve. The case settled in the upper six figures.
  
• Imagine waking from routine nasal surgery to find you had a permanent loss of vision in one eye! The client who suffered this injury received a very full award.
  
• A newborn baby had a catheter inserted into his arm, called a "PICC" line. The doctors paid no attention as his fingers started to turn dark and the arm began to shrivel. The baby lost that arm. The hospital and doctors involved still deny any responsibility.
  
• Our client is a 34-year-old woman who had gallbladder surgery. The doctor accidentally cut a vessel, which was not discovered until much later. She received a six-figure settlement.
  
• A doctor failed to treat our client for coronary artery disease for over 16 years. He received a settlement of six figures.
  
• A well-known doctor came to a church and convinced the elderly members to have cataract surgery. Our client lost substantial vision in one eye when the surgery was done incorrectly. She was one of the first to receive an award from this doctor.
  
• Our client's doctor mistakenly told her that she had an ectopic pregnancy that could kill her if the pregnancy was not terminated immediately. The truth is she had a normal intrauterine pregnancy and had every reason to expect a healthy baby just like her other two beautiful children. Unfortunately, the doctor's mistake was not discovered until after the doctor ordered an injection of a cancer-fighting poison called "methotrexate". The doctor then told the horrified family that if they wanted to continue with the pregnancy, their baby would be at risk for severe birth defects. To this day, the doctor denies all responsibility.
  
• The worst nightmare for any parent happened to one of our clients who came home to find his beautiful daughter had taken her own life. Our case is against the psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers that had been treating her for depression.
  
• The hospital and several doctors repeatedly discounted our client's complaints of chest pain. They misdiagnosed this 29-year-old woman with back strain and a urinary tract infection. The truth was she had a dissecting aneurysm that killed her. She was survived by her mother and three siblings. The case against the hospital settled for a significant amount.
  
• Our client raised five lovely children and numerous grandchildren. She went to the hospital and was kept waiting for hours without being seen. Finally she went into cardiac arrest and died. The family received a significant award.
  
• Our diabetic client had routine finger surgery. That night, after the surgery, she had severe pain and swelling. When she came to see her doctor the next morning, the doctor never even considered that the finger might be infected. It developed rapidly into a systemic infection and almost one month later she died in the hospital. She left a husband and son.
  
• Our client was told he had tested positive for HIV. The truth is the test result was "indeterminate". He lived under a death sentence for about two years until they retested him and told him he was not infected and never had been. His mother died believing her son was infected.
  
• Our client was discharged from the hospital after elective surgery. As soon as she got home she collapsed and was rushed right back to the emergency room where she died from a pulmonary embolism. The doctors paid no attention to the important signs when they discharged her.
  
• Our mentally ill client was hospitalized after attempting suicide. Unfortunately, she was allowed to run out of her room three times, before she jumped from the window to her death. This case marks our third verdict/settlement of $1million dollars or more on a suicide case.
  

As soon as you call us, we are ready to investigate your case with our medical experts and analysts. All of us want to believe in our doctors. Usually we can. Our firm only files malpractice cases when there is a provable case of severe injury or death.

Call us anytime-there is never a charge to ask questions.

Michael R. Panter & Associates
30 N. LaSalle Street
Suite 1524
Chicago, IL 60602

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