Medical Malpractice and Wrongful Death
David A. Axelrod & Associates achieved an outstanding $4.5 million settlement on behalf of a Plaintiff for his wife’s injuries and death. David A. Axelrod & Associates were not involved in the early litigation of the case, however with great effort and determination, the attorneys of David A. Axelrod & Associates accepted the case at the eleventh hour after numerous other attorneys had handled the matter. The case was about to be dismissed, when David A. Axelrod & Associates was not only able to salvage the case, but was able to amend the complaint and refocus the case on the real issues, which resulted in the settlement with a large Chicago area hospital.
Plaintiff’s wife was admitted as an inpatient at the Chicago hospital for the purpose of undergoing a surgical procedure to remove a polyp in her colon. She was sick within a few days after the initial surgery, causing the surgeon to take her back for exploratory surgery. During this procedure, the surgeon found a perforation in the connection he made in her bowels and an infection with purulent pus-like matter in the abdomen for which she was put on antibiotics.
Several days later, the surgeon went on vacation. According to the hospital’s records, the only surgical physician who actually saw the Plaintiff’s wife for the remainder of this hospitalization was a first year intern in general surgery that became involved in her care on the first day of his internship. Despite the obvious signs of an ongoing infection, and blood cultures that now showed different bacteria that would not respond to the antibiotics that she had been on, the Plaintiff’s wife was discharged from the hospital. She was not on any antibiotics when she was discharged.
About one week later, the Plaintiff’s wife was brought to the hospital’s emergency room and was re-admitted to the hospital with complaints of pain, wound drainage, and weakness. She was diagnosed with sepsis syndrome due to e. coli, which had been untreated. All of her major organs, like her kidneys and liver, shut down. The Plaintiff’s wife underwent several additional surgical procedures and remained hospitalized for sepsis syndrome and the consequences thereof for months.
Following her discharge, the Plaintiff’s wife continued to suffer from the effects of sepsis syndrome and required permanent medical care for the remainder of her life, during which time she was hospitalized over forty times. Ultimately, she died as a result of the complications and severely weakened condition that the sepsis and multi-organ failure caused.
When the Plaintiff and his wife first approached David A. Axelrod & Associates, the case had already been pending for years and several law firms had given up on the case. David A. Axelrod & Associates took a new perspective, concentrating on the treatment of the infections instead of surgical error, as had been the prior theory of the case. The firm had to avoid a summary judgment, and then obtain court approval to present the new theory. Additionally, David A. Axelrod & Associates had to engage new medical experts to establish the new theory. The firm was able to complete these tasks in an extremely shortened period of time, ultimately taking a case that was about to be dismissed to a $4.5 million settlement.
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If you are in need of experienced, dedicated, and tenacious trial representation, call David A. Axelrod & Associates today at 312-782-4600 for your free consultation.
