Missouri Injury Attorneys Blog

An Ozark couple has recently settled their Missouri medical malpractice suit with the University of Missouri Hospital for $2.5 million.

Susan Martin, now 49, was being treated at the hospital in Columbia, Missouri for dehydration due to a gastrointestinal -related condition. In an effort to rehydrate her, doctors ordered an IV of nutrients. The IV was intended to go into a subclavian vein, but was mistakenly put in her subclavian artery. This mistake caused fatty blockages to flow to Martin's brain for five days straight. The blockages caused serious and permanent damage to Martin, including numerous devastating strokes and other neurological and cognitive destruction.

Martin is now physically and mentally handicapped. The doctors argued that the strokes and other problems could have been caused by pre-existing conditions, but Martin's Missouri personal injury attorney argued that it was due to the direct negligence of her medical care providers.

The University Hospital made no comment regarding this Missouri medical malpractice suit.

Read an Article

Continue reading "Ozarks, Missouri Couple Settles Medical Malpractice Suit with University Hospital" »

Missouri Medical Malpractice Attorney Aaron W. Smith, based out of Columbia, Missouri, secured a $2,000,000 award for a case involving an unnecessary and unsafe medical procedure in southern Missouri.

Plaintiff "McGinnis", a 38-year-old man, was admitted to Wesley Medical Center, with severe right-sided abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. McGinnis, who weighed 420 pounds, had been suffering from these symptoms for the past two months. He believed that the symptoms were similar to a gallstone attack he had suffered eight year earlier, which ultimately required his bladder be removed.

A gastroenterologist (the defendant) at the Medical Center ordered a full lab work up with both upper and lower endoscopies. None of the tests were conclusive, and McGinnis continued to have pain, so the gastroenterologist suggested an endoscopic procedure called an ERCP. This, the doctor claimed, would allow them to see if McGinnis was suffering from a gallstone that obstructing the common bile duct.

The defendant advised McGinnis that if he did have an obstruction of the duct that it could be life threatening. However, the defendant did not explain to McGinnis that the ERCP is one of the most technically difficult endoscopic procedures to perform, and that it also carries the highest likelihood of both complications and death from the procedure. McGinnis was also not advised that the endoscopy should be avoided if the likelihood of a gallstone was low, or if there is a high risk of complications from the surgery.

During the procedure, the defendant encountered complications due to the plaintiff's size and weight, and was unable to locate the common bile duct on fluoroscopy. Immediately following the procedure, the plaintiff began to experience extreme abdominal pain and acute pancreatitis. Five days after the procedure, McGinnnis died of cardiomyopathy, pulmonary embolus and acute necrotizing pancreatitis.

During the trial, the plaintiff's injury attorney, Aaron W. Smith, alleged that the ERCP was not necessary, that the defendant didn't uphold the expected standard of care when he convinced the plaintiff to have the endoscopy, or when he was performing the procedure, and that alternative procedures should have been discussed and offered to the patient.

The trial resulted in a $2,000,000 verdict in favor of the plaintiff.

Continue reading "Missouri Medical Malpractice Attorney A.W. Smith Secures $2,000,000 Verdict" »

The A.W. Smith Law Firm secured a $280,000 settlement in a Missouri medical malpractice case in which a doctor misdiagnosed a patient's heart attack as heartburn.

On February 2, 2002, at 11:45 pm a 55-year-old patient went to a rural hospital complaining of mid-upper epigastric pain with a history of hiatal hernia. After waiting for 20 minutes, the patient went back to the nurses' station and told the triage nurse that she was now experiencing chest pain radiating into both of her arms. The hospital put their chest pain protocol into action, and the patient was taken for an emergency assessment.

The hospital's protocol included two diagnostic examinations, both key in diagnosing a heart attack: an EKG and a blood test for the cardiac enzyme Troponin I. The EKG demonstrated a past heart attack, which plaintiff's experts described as "age indeterminate." The troponin I test showed elevated levels of enzymes in the blood stream. Plaintiff's experts testified any elevation of enzymes required serial Troponin tests prior to discharge from the hospital.

After reviewing the test results, the doctor examined the patient and ordered a GI cocktail - a mixture of antiacid and lidocaine used to relieve heartburn, which the doctor claimed was to determine if the pain was coming from chest problems or heartburn. The patient reported that the pain in her chest was gone, and the doctor discharged her with a prescription for Prevacid - a medication commonly used to treat heartburn.

Five days later, the patient was found dead. The plaintiff's Missouri injury attorney, Aaron W. Smith, alleged the doctor missed the correct diagnosis of a heart attack. Plaintiff's experts opined that due to the initial test results, and the patient's health history, she should have been admitted into the hospital for further cardiac assessment. Furthermore, they believed the decedent likely died of another heart attack, five days after her original doctor's visit. The medical malpractice attorney also argued that the doctor missed the correct diagnosis of heart attack, and that the ER nurse was at fault for allowing the patient to be discharged, given her EKG and Troponin I results.

The case was settled for $280,000 about a week before trial.

Continue reading "Missouri Family Settles Wrongful Death Case" »