INDIVIDUAL OUTPUT ASSIGN-LMR.docx

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The most famous case of medical malpractice in recent years involved Michael Jackson. Jackson

death was ruled a homicide because of acute propofol intoxication, administered by his personal

physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. Along with the misuse of propofol, improper patient monitoring, and

inappropriate resuscitation efforts, resulted in cardiac arrest and subsequent death of Michael

Jackson. Dr. Murray is currently serving 4 years in jail.

Another famous medical malpractice case involved the newborn twins of actor, Dennis Quaid. In

2007, they nearly died due to an accidental overdose of a blood thinning medication. A misplaced

comma in the dosing directions put the infants lives at risk. They received 100 times the amount of

prescribed medication. The courts settled for $750,000 against Cedar Sinai Hospital, in Los Angeles,

California.

In 1997, Julie Andrews, actor and Broadway star, sued her physician after throat surgery resulted in

permanent vocal cord damage. The error left her hoarse and unable to resume a singing career. The

case settled for an undisclosed amount.

In 2003, the family of John Ritter, filed a wrongful death suit against Providence St. Josephs Medical

Center for conducting improper and unnecessary procedures on the actor. Ritter complained of chest

pains and dizziness upon admission to the hospital. Ritter died from an aortic aneurysm due to a

misdiagnosed flaw in his heart. Doctors failed to give Ritter an X-ray, which would have detected the

problem. The case settled in 2004 for an undisclosed amount.

Famous Unbelievable Medical Malpractice Lawsuits21/06/13 at 3:21 pm

Medical malpractice is the act or omission on the part of a health care provider

which fails to comply with the generally accepted medical standards and which

causes injury or death. There are different laws in different countries to deal with the

medical malpractices. Prior to the 1830s, lawsuits against medical malpractices werealmost unheard of, but after that there were suddenly an unparalleled excess in the

number of such cases. In these cases the patient or the legally authorized person on

his behalf is considered the plaintiff, while the healthcare provider is taken as

defendant. Although the defendant is usually a physician, it does not exclude otherhealth providers including nurses, dentists and therapists.

1. The Michael Jackson medical malpractice/wrongfuldeath case
http://famous101.com/famous-unbelievable-medical-malpractice-lawsuitshttp://famous101.com/famous-unbelievable-medical-malpractice-lawsuitshttp://famous101.com/famous-unbelievable-medical-malpractice-lawsuits


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Michael Jackson

Conrad Murray was the personal physician of the superstar Michael Jackson. A law

suit known as People of the State of California v. Conrad Robert Murray was filed

against him, charging him of involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson. The trialwas held in the Los Angeles County Superior Court and it started on September 27,

2011. David Walgren and Deborah Brazil, Los Angles deputy district attorneys, were

the prosecutors in this case. Murrays defense council comprised of Edward

Chernoff, Matthew Alford, J. Michael Flanagan and Nareg Gourjian. Theprosecutors opening statement included Misplaced trust in the hands of Murray

cost Jackson his life. According to Murrays defense council Jackson was over-fatigued and took eight tablets of lorazepam, branded as Ativan, and he also self-

administered Propofol, also known as Diprivan, which reacted in the way thatculminated in the death of Michael Jackson. After eight hours of deliberations in

November 2011, the jury found Murray guilty and sentenced him to four years

imprisonment.

2. Lawsuit against Dr. Scott Kessler /in Dame Juliescase


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Julie Elizabeth Andrews

Dame Julie Elizabeth Andrews, DBE was a famous British, actress, singer and

dancer. She was the recipient of almost all the relevant prestigious awards including

the Academy Award, Emmy Award, Grammy Award, Peoples Choice Award GoldenGlobe Award, BAFTA, Theatre World Award, and Screen Actors Guild honors. In

1997, she was constrained to quit her shows on account of the development of some

benign nodules in her throat. In 1999 she filed a lawsuit of medical malpractice

against the doctors of Mount Sinai Hospital, including Dr. Jeffrey Libin and Dr.Scott Kessler, who operated her throat assuring her the recovery of her voice within

six weeks, which never happened. The lawsuit was settled outside the court inSeptember 2000.

3. John Ritters case


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John Ritter

Jonathan Southworth Ritter, better known as John Ritter, was a renowned,

multiple-award-winning American comedian, best known for his performance in

Jack Tripper. He has appeared in hundreds of films. During rehearsals of 8 SimpleRules for Dating My Teenage Daughter in 2008, he collapsed and was taken to the

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, where he was subjected to aortic

dissection. Following the operation, he died there the same evening. Yasbeck filed a

wrongful death lawsuit against radiologist Dr. Mathew Lotysch and cardiologist Dr.Joseph Lee. In 2008, the jury at Los Angels County Superior Court found the doctors

not negligent. Ritters family however received more than $13 million dollars insettlements.

4. GranuFlo wrongful death lawsuit

GranuFlo and NaturaLyte causes the death

Dialysis is a treatment given to patients when 85% of their kidney function fails. The

treatment is performed to remove toxins from the body, which otherwise areremoved by healthy kidneys. GranuFlo and NaturaLyte are the drugs used in this


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treatment. A plaintiff Harold Bolton Jr. filed a lawsuit of wrongful death against

Fresenius Medical Care, in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. The plaintiffmaintained that the drugs GranuFlo and NaturaLyte, used in this treatment, caused

the death of his father. In 2010, 941 patients, who were administered these drugs,

died of heart attack. FDA was involved in the case and class 1 recall was ordered.

5. Suicide Malpractice Suit

Paxil

Joseph Mazella was a 51 years old basket ball coach and teacher. His self-inflicted

death was shocking to the community. William Beals M.D, who was the family

physician of Joseph Mazella, prescribed Paxil, an anti-depressant drug for ten years,and doubled the dose of Paxil from 20 to 40 mg on telephone, without physically

seeing the patient. A lawsuit was filed against William Beals and on November 21,

2012 the Syracuse, N.Y.jury found that Dr. Beals acts had contributed to or caused

the death of Mr. Mazella. The jury awarded a $1.5 million verdict of medicalmalpractice to the family of Mr. Mazella who had committed suicide. The plaintiffs

attorney Ernest Del Duchetto commented after the verdict It was comforting to see

a jury agree with our proposition that these drugs, antidepressants are not panaceas

for all sadness.

6. Law suit against physician Lorraine C. Novich-Welter


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Milwaukee County

Nelson and his wife, while riding on a motorcycle near Lake Geneva, faced a serious

accident when a car crossed in front of them. Both were immediately hospitalized

but Nelson had to undergo six surgeries and was in a wheelchair. While in the

hospital he was immobilized and a healthcare provider was assigned permanently byhis side. On the morning of Oct. 18, the sitter called for an emergency team, seeing

Nelsons quickly deteriorating condition. The team found the tracheotomy tube

obstructed, and after the obstruction was removed he stabilized, but the doctorsdeclared him in a vegetative state with zero chance for recovery. After a three week

trial, the Milwaukee County jury ruled that Lorraine C. Novich-Welter, the

physician, was negligent, while Froedtert Hospital or other medical personnel were

not negligent. The jury awarded $2.1 million dollars to Nelson and his family.

7. Delia v. E.M.A Lawsuit

Cesarean surgery

E.M.A. are the initials of Emily Armstrong, born to Sandra and William E.

Armstrong on February 25, 2000 at Catawba Valley Medical Center, in Hickory,

North Carolina. Dr. James A. Barnes Jr. delivered the baby by cesarean section, but

the operation injured the baby severely leading to cerebral palsy. She is blind, deafand unable to walk, crawl or converse. The lawsuit settlement in 2006 entitled the

Armstrong family to receive $2.8 million dollars. Sandra Armstrong commented It

will help Emily in her needs. North Carolina State officials declared a lien on one-

third of the total money received from medical malpractice suit, as per the North

Carolina State Law.

8. John Edwards Medical Malpractice Lawsuit againstRed Cross


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John Edwards

John Edwards was an American politician .He served North Carolina as a

U.S.Senator. In 2004 he was the running mate of the presidential nominee, Senator

John Kerry of Massachusetts. He won a $3.7 million verdict for his client, whosuffered from permanent brain damage due to the use of an anti-alcohol drug

Antabuse. In 1985 he represented and won a medical malpractice case for a child,

who was born with cerebral palsy because doctors did not choose a cesarean section

on time at the birth of child. As a plantiff lawyer he won more than $60 million forhis clients in about twenty cases of medical malpractice.

9. Jason Daubert and Eric Schuller Medical MalpracticeLawsuit


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Seal of the Supreme Court of the United States

Jason Daubert and Eric Schuller were born with serious defects. Their parents filed a

medical malpractice lawsuit against a subsidiary of Dow Medical Company, the

Merell Dow Pharmaceuticals. They claimed that the drug Benedictin caused birth

defects. The case was moved to Federal Court and then to Summary judgement. Theexpert opinion in this case was that there was no scientific study to prove that

Benedictin was the causative factor for the birth defect. Merrell Dow and Daubert

and Schuller appealed to the U.S. Court of appeals, the Ninth Circuit. It maintainedthat the district court had granted the summary judgment correctly.

10. Lawsuit against

An X-ray shows the shattered pieces of a screwdriver used in a botched spinal operation on Arturo Iturralde.

Dr. Robert Ricketson was an orthopedic surgeon at Hilo Medical Center. He

performed a spinal surgical operation on 73 year old Arturo Iturralde. During theconduct of the process he realized that the required titanium rods were not available

and, due to loss of blood, he could not wait, therefore he improvised and cut ascrewdriver to the required size and inserted it in the spine. After some time, the

screwdriver broke inside the patients body. He had then to undergo severalsurgeries. After two years the patient died of the associated complications and his

family filed a lawsuit for medical malpractice. The Hawaiian jury found Ricketson65% liable and the Hilo Medical center 35% liable for the act. The family was

awarded $5.6 million dollars of which $2.2 million were compensatory damages and$3.4 million were punitive damages.

Conclusion


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Although most of the professional healthcare providers are very careful in the

discharge of their professional duties, being humans they too are susceptible toerrors. Statistics reveal that 195,000 people die of medical errors in U.S. annually. It

is estimated that in 2008, the costs of the medical errors exceeded $320 in U.S. An

average of 15,000 lawsuits are filed against health providers on account of medical

malpractices, but more than 80% are rejected due to lack of sufficient evidence.

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