Age of Patient at Injury: 25 years of age

Result: $488,000 Settlement

Court: Camden County, NJ

Comments:  Stage 4 bed sore (Hospitals like to call them “decubitus ulcers” because it sounds nicer) aquired by a patient who, a life-long paraplegic, was unable to turn himself in his own bed every 2 hours to prevent this “never event”.  Completely absent from the patient’s chart was any nursing documentation that our client received proper care.  As a result of the location of this injury and our client’s condition, he was required to have a colostomy, which he will have for life and which has impinged significantly upon his dignity.  Part of the actual defense in this case was that our client was not harmed because he could not feel the bed sore.  We hope that by bringing this matter, better documentation and more significantly, better care will be provided to patients in the future.

Age of Patient at Injury: 6 years of age

Result: $7 Million Settlement

Court: Philadelphia County, PA

Comments:  Heart breaking case of injury following anesthesia for a cardiac procedure at a Pediatric Hospital.  The young child sustained life-altering brain injury from oxygen deprivation from approximately 8-11 minutes and is now venitlator dependent and non-commuicative.  The Defendant doctor and hospital denied all liability and defended the care based upon the child’s prior cardiac history, a common defense in medical malpractice cases involving pediatric injury where the child has other congenital conditions -here a heart condition. Given her current state, the young girl has been deprived of the opportunity for future heart transplant, effectively shortening her life. After lengthy discovery, numerous depositions and following a good-faith Medidation with the parties, who will remain confidential according to terms of the agreement, we were able to secure the future medical care needs of this child and hopefully prevent this tragedy from occurring again.

Age of Patient at Injury: 37 years old

Result: $350,000 Settlement

Court: Lancaster County, PA

Comment:  Our client was a young mother who had a c-section with her second child.  During the course of the surgery, her ureter was cut or stiched resulting in injury recognized during the surgery but not fully repaired at that time.  She underwent multiple attempts at repair including robotic surgery and was left with all too common injuries of chronic urinary difficulty, multiple urinary tract infections and pain and discomfort.  Ureteral injury is one of the most serious complications of gynecologic surgery. Less common than injuries to the bladder or rectum, ureteral injuries are far more serious and troublesome and are often associated with significant morbidity, the formation of ureterovaginal fistulas, and the potential loss of kidney function, especially when recognized postoperatively which is the case approximately 70% of the time.  We were pleased that we were able to obtain a relatively quick settlement of this matter to offer our client  who fortunately did not lose her kidney function, some relief from her suffering.

Age of Patient at Inury: 5 years of age

Result: $30 Million Jury Verdict

Court: Philadelphia County, PA

Comments:  Our clients suffered greatly from the incorrect administration and incorrect dosing of medication at a well-known Pediatric Hospital.  The young child at issue has sustained life-altering brain injury from swelling of his brain.  The Defendant doctors and hospital argued that they saved the child’s life and that any medical negligence in his care should be excused.  Unfortunately this is a common defense in medical malpractice cases involving birth and pediatric injury.  The jury trial lasted 3 weeks and the verdict came after another 5 days of deliberation.  Our medical experts were able to demonstrate the clear medication error and the resultant harm to this child and his family.  The jury clearly agreed awarding $30 million with $5 million in past medical costs, $10 million in future medicals, and $15 million in pain and suffering.  This was among the highest medical malpractice awards in Pennsylvania.  We were able to secure the future medical care needs of this child and hopefully we may prevent this tragedy from occurring to another child.

Age of Patient at Injury: 30 years old

Result: $9 Million Jury Verdict

Court: Philadelphia County, PA

Comments: Our client was a young woman whose ureter was injured during gynecologic surgery.  This is all too common during abdominal and gynecologic surgeries for women.  During the attempted corrective surgery by her doctor, the ureter was cut.  This injury went untreated for 2 days resulting in severe abdominal pain.  When the problem was finally diagnosed, the doctor attempted a second surgical repair.  Unfortunately the doctor incorrectly attached the ureter to the wrong side of the bladder, causing the patient to suffer reflux, as well as chronic kidney infections.  At trial, the doctor testified that he was aware that improper placement of the ureter could lead to such complications but he failed to inform the patient of this.  Our experts were able to prove the clear malpractice and surgical errors by the doctor which caused our client harm.  The Defendants appealed the Verdict twice, resulting in 3 trials over the course of 7 years.  $6 Million was ultimately awarded to our client and an additional $3 Million was awarded to her husband for the change in their lives from her injuries.  Some law firms would have given up after the first Appeal and encouraged their client to move on.  The Lewis Law Firm is different.   Sometimes the fight takes longer than expected, but we stand committed throughout the process.

Age of Patient at Injury: 39 years old

Result: $1.2 Million Settlement

Court: Camden County, NJ

Comments: Our client was a husband and father of two young children at the time of his untimely death.  Prior to his fateful emergency room visit he had recurrent symptoms of cough, shortness of breath and leg pain.  The patient was seen by both his family doctor in the weeks preceding his death and was also seen in the emergency room of the NJ hospital where simple diagnostic studies were not performed.  The patient died from a pulmonary embolism (blood clot to the lung) shortly after discharge from the NJ hospital’s emergency room, leaving his young family behind.  Our medical experts were able to show that it was unreasonable for the doctors to have missed the clear signs and symptoms of a pulmonary embolism and to perform simple diagnostic testing or admit him to the hospital instead of discharging him.  Unfortunately this decision to discharge patients from emergency rooms with symptoms is all too common.  The Defendants settled with the patient’s family prior to jury selection.

Age of Patient at Injury:  28 years old

Result:  $1.25 Million Settlement

Court:  Philadelphia, PA

Comment:  This sad case was brought by the husband and 1 year old infant who survived this young mother.  The patient was Hepatitis B positive, a common finding in African Women and one which placed her at greater risk for complications, including liver cancer.  While they knew her history and were aware of the risks, the OB/GYN Defendants and their practice did not perform simple testing to ensure that there was no change in their patient’s liver function after her pregnancy.  Abnormal liver functioning was noted during her pregnancy but there was no follow-up by her women’s doctors after she gave birth.  Because of the delay from the malpractice of these doctors, the patient tragically died within a year of giving birth to her first child from liver failure.  Our medical experts were able to show the increased risk for this patient and the clear malpractice in her medical care.  The doctors and their practice settled with the patient’s family instead of going to trial.

Age of Patient at time of Injury:  18 years old

Result:  $520,000 Settlement at Mediation

Court:  Philadelphia, PA

Comment:  Demonstrating that the Lewis Law Firm will take cases which we feel strongly about on a personal level, our client was an 18 year old student working part-time at a veterinarian hospital and boarding kennel.  The safety conditions for the kennel workers were so limited that it was inevitable that a serious dog bite would occur.  There was no supervision on-site and no security cameras in the basement of the kennel where this brutal dog attack took place.  Our client was attacked over a period of 20 minutes during which her bicep was torn from her arm and she received multiple bite wounds to her arms and legs.  Our veterinary and animal behavior experts argued that the attack could have been shortened or prevented with proper training and safety equipment.  Our client was left traumatized and with permanent nerve damage and disfigurement from this unprovoked attack.  The Defendants argued that her medical care was paid for by workers compensation.  We were able to secure a significant settlement for her pain and suffering and permanent injuries at Mediation to enable her to go on with her life.

Age of Patient at Injury: 56 years old

Result:  $2.1 Million Settlement at Mediation

Court:  Philadelphia, PA

Comment:  Our client was a successful businessman, husband and father who was being followed for Hepatitis B, a common finding in Korean men.  The hospital and doctors who ran the monitoring program performed periodic MRI’s and blood tests to ensure that there was no progression of his disease.  Tragically, the patient’s liver were misread for 2 years during which the opportunity to identify and treat the liver cancer was lost.  The misdiagnosis was made worse by the fact that his doctor was not following these studies closely enough to notice when the tumors were finally found, resulting in additional delay in his diagnosis.   The doctors and hospital argued that the cancer was too advanced to be treated even before it was diagnosed.  This is a common defense in failure to diagnose cancer cases but it does not excuse clear medical malpractice which harms a patient.  Had the diagnosis been made earlier, this patient was a good candidate for a liver transplant. Our client and his family agreed to Mediation because of the likelihood that he would not live to the conclusion of a trial.  Our medical experts were able to clearly show the malpractice in reading and interpreting the MRI’s and the lack of any follow up by the patient’s Doctor.  We successfully settled this case at mediation, however, our client tragically died shortly after the settlement, leaving his family to survive him. 

Age of Patient at Injury:  55 years old

Result:  $775,000 Settlement after Arbitration

Court:  Philadelphia, PA

Comment:  Our client was a 55 year old woman diagnosed with advanced (stage IV) abdominal cancer.  It was known at the time of her fibroid surgery that she had an advanced cancerous tumor and that it was unlikely that she would ever be cured following her diagnosis.  Most law firms would not take such a case, however, the Lewis Law Firm is different.  We focused upon the fact that the Doctors and Cancer Hospital to which she was referred did not provide her with any specific treatment instead opting for a “wait and see” approach.  The Defendants argued that she was going to die anyway so that any malpractice in her medical care did not matter.  This is, sadly, a common defense in such cases and one with which we take issue.  We were able to achieve this Settlement for the loss of 2 years of the patient’s life through persistence and through strong medical experts who argued that she could have survived an additional 2-3 years with surgery and proper cancer treatment with chemotherapy.  While our client died during the course of this litigation her husband continued to honor her.  Arbitration was successfully used to show the Defendants that the patient’s life had more value than they considered, resulting in this settlement.