Personal Injury Law

Doctors at Swedish Hospital are sued for Wrongful Death

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

The family of a medical malpractice victim who died at a hospital has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the doctors. The family states that the victim underwent surgery to remove a noncancerous mass and later died from peritonitis that was improperly diagnosed after the surgery. Peritonitis is caused by a spread of an infection from the blood and lymph nodes to the peritoneum. It is a very serious disease that becomes life threatening if not quickly treated. The Puget Business Journal has reported that the victim was complaining of thirst and pain for three days after the surgery. He later died what they referred to as an ?agonizing? death. Their attorney stated that all patients undergoing invasive abdominal surgery are at risk for infection. The medical malpractice lawsuit claims that the doctor?s failure ?to diagnose and treat the basic signs of a horrendous onset of peritonitis is astonishing.?

One of the legal issues in this case is whether or not the hospital can be held responsible for the doctor?s actions. Hospital officials claim that although the doctors have the credentials to practice at the hospital, they are not actual employees. This oftentimes occurs at hospitals that treat doctors as independent contractors.

This victim is one of the 98,000 people that die annually as a result of medical error. Doctors must properly diagnose post surgery infections in order to avoid wrongful deaths. It is important to closely monitor patients after any surgical procedure. To read more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on March 29, 2010 (boomark / email).