Personal Injury Law

Jury Awards $2.35 Million in Medical Malpractice Case

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

A medical malpractice trial recently ended involving a terrible medical misdiagnosis of a kidney problem in a young 24 year old mother of two.

As reported in the Washington Post, Yesenia Rivera went to her local emergency room several years ago complaining of pain in her left side. The doctors incorrectly believed the pain was cause by kidney stones. They gave her medication and sent her home. Two days later, however, Rivera was again suffering for extreme side abdominal pain. She rushed back to the emergency room to seek help. ER doctors believed that she was suffering from either a gallbladder problem or ectopic pregnancy.

It was until twelve hours later that it was finally discovered that Rivera was in fact suffering from a kidney infection. The delay in diagnosis allowed the infection to spread. Eventually gangrene set in, leading to severe amputations. Ms Rivera ultimately lost part of her left leg and her right foot. In addition, in a syndrome called ?autoamputation? the several injured tips of her fingers literally fell off on their own.

The debilitating injuries have costs hundred s of thousands of dollars in medical bills and lead to month of physical therapy. On top of that, Rivera now uses prosthetics and has been unable to work since the complications from the delayed diagnosis.

Our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at Levin & Perconti have fought for decades for the rights of victimized patients like Ms. Rivera. The mismanagement of her care by the physicians at the emergency room that treated her is an unacceptable breach of the care all medical patients deserve.

Often forgotten in cases discussing these medical errors are the other innocent victims when these mistakes are made, like Ms. Rivera's two young children. All the suffering that their mother endured affects their day to day lives. Our medical malpractice attorneys are committed to pursuing justice both for the patients hurt by medical negligence and the suffering family who was also scared by the mistake.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on August 12, 2010 (boomark / email).