Verdicts and Settlements

Settlements Reached In 41 Las Vegas Hepatitis C Lawsuits

February 22, 2012 lawmed No comments

Clark County District Court Judge Jennifer Togliatti has approved settlements involving Teva Parenteral Medicines Inc. and other companies after nine days of negotiations which were brought about by a Nevada Supreme Court order. The state high court dubbed the talks a “global settlement conference.”

Terms of the settlements were not immediately made public, however Denise Bradley, a spokeswoman for Teva, said the Israel-based pharmaceutical company had set aside $285 million to pay its share of the final agreement. “Teva is pleased to have put the vast majority of these matters behind us,” Bradley said, adding that the company still has 15 more cases pending in Nevada courts.

The ‘group’ settlement is reportedly one of the largest in Nevada history and averts countless hours and untold millions spent in litigation. The load on the judicial system of Clark County just got significantly lighter. Cases included in the settlement include a Teva … (Continued…)

Paramedic Errors: Chicago Will Pay $1.75M In Death Of 13 y/o

February 17, 2012 lawmed No comments

A Chicago City Council committee has signed off on a $1.75 million settlement to compensate the family of 13-year-old Arielle Starks who died of an asthmatic attack after a series of alleged mistakes by Chicago Fire Department paramedics in 2002.

Starks died at Advocate Trinity Hospital after an ambulance carrying her to the hospital collided with a car. Another ambulance picked her up at the accident scene and took her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Attorney’s for the girl’s family alleged 3 crucial mistakes that day. The first mistake: the child was “intubated through the esophagus that leads to the stomach instead of through the trachea that leads to her lungs,” attorney Brian Murphy said. The second mistake involved ignoring a “standing medical order” issued by the Fire Department. According to Murphy, it states that if a patient’s condition worsens, paramedics are to make a direct observation … (Continued…)

Texas Medical Board Suspends Conrad Murray’s Medical License

February 17, 2012 lawmed No comments

Citing no emergent need to act since Conrad Murray is serving a 4 year prison sentence for his conviction of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson and is not a threat to the citizens of Texas, the Texas Medical Board put the matter of dealing with the convicted felon’s medical license into their routine flow of business. On February 10 they suspended his license to practice. His Texas license was already restricted, forbidding him from administering propofol to any patients. Murray’s licenses to practice in California and Nevada have already been suspended indefinitely.

Read the Board’s order below:

View this document on Scribd

… (Continued…)

Nurse Pleads Guilty To Propofol Murder Of Stepfather

February 12, 2012 lawmed No comments

In Dekalb County, Al, prosecutors say 32-year-old Karri Denise Willoughby siphoned money away from her stepfather, Billy Shaw’s, account and stole her mother’s identity for financial gain. When her theft was discovered her access to the accounts was cut off and in response she murdered Shaw they say. On Wednesday, the day after a jury was seated and the morning her trial was to begin on capital murder charges, Willoughby agreed with them and pleaded guilty to a lesser count of murder. She has been sentenced to 20 years.

It was first thought that in 2008 Shaw died of a heart attack. A year later his body was exumed when toxicology results revealed a high concentration of propofol in his blood stream at the time of death. Also found were the drugs vecuronium and succinylcholine, powerful paralytic drugs used in surgery. Willoughby worked as a registered nurse at a Chattanooga, … (Continued…)

Judge Rules Dr. Desai Competent For Trial In Nevada Hepatitis C Case

February 04, 2012 lawmed No comments

Citing a report from two psychiatrists and a psychologist at a state mental facility in Sparks who found that Dipak Desai is “competent and obviously exaggerating his symptoms” from strokes in September 2007 and July 2008 to avoid trial, Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen declared him competent to stand trial. Desai received six months of treatment at the facility last year after being court ordered there after state psychiatry experts declared him incompetent.

“The only impediment to competency asserted by the defendant is self-reported memory loss, secondary to two strokes, regarding facts relevant to his criminal charges,” the judge said. “Memory loss itself, even if true, is not a bar to prosecution of an otherwise competent defendant.” Desai’s lawyer, Richard Wright, contends that Desai is incapacitated by his strokes and other physical and mental ailments, to the point he is legally incompetent for trial.

The ruling cleared the way … (Continued…)

Full Circle: Winkler County Atty Tidwell Has License Suspended

February 04, 2012 lawmed No comments

Things have been coming full circle in the extraordinary case of the Winkler County Texas Nurse Whistleblower Case over the past year and that circle may just have closed. The last bit of justice seems to have been served with the suspension of former Winkler County Attorney Scott Tidwell’s license to practice law in the state of Texas.

It all began in 2009 when Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle, two nurses working at Winkler County Memorial Hospital who were responsible for Quality Assurance, Risk Management and Medical Staff privileges advised hospital administrator Stan Wiley that one of their physicians, Dr. Rolando Arafiles, had violated the standard of care, hospital policies and made some serious medical errors. Wiley refused to take any action and told the two they were prohibited from reporting Arafiles to any outside agency without his approval, in violation of state law.

Concerned over the safety of their … (Continued…)

Ohio Anesthesiologist Convicted Of Murder Seeking New Trial [VIDEO]

February 01, 2012 lawmed No comments

Former anesthesiologist and convicted murderer Mark Wangler is back in an Ohio courtroom asking for a new trial.

His attorney argued before the Third District Court of Appeals the reasons they should overturn the aggravated murder conviction for the death of Wangler’s first wife Kathy. The arguments focused on scientific evidence allowed, and not allowed, during the March 2011 trial. Attorney Christopher McDowell criticized the method scientists used to test chemicals on duct work in the home, calling it junk science. McDowell said Judge Richard Warren shouldn’t have allowed jurors to hear the testimony at all. He also objected to a defense witness not being allowed to refute the evidence. The chemical evidence was key since Wangler was convicted of killing his wife by using carbon monoxide, a deadly asphyxiate gas.

McDowell also says officers collected evidence beyond the scope allowed by a search warrant including a diary. However, assistant … (Continued…)

OH Appelate Court: Disclosure Of Errors To Family Not Peer Review

January 26, 2012 lawmed No comments

Similar to laws on the books in every state, Ohio law protects a hospital that reveals an admission of error in peer review from having that information being discovered and used in malpractice cases. In the case of medical malpractice case Smith v Cleveland Clinic, et al., the defendants attempted to prevent statements made by the hospital’s chief medical officer during a conference with the family being admitted in court claiming they were privileged as part of peer review.

Howard L. Smith, 73, underwent an uneventful knee surgery at Community Health Partners Regional Medical Center, now known as Mercy Regional Medical Center, in Lorain, Ohio, on February 17, 2010. Postoperative routine blood work orders were entered and Smith’s blood was taken on the 18th. One of the ordered tests was for serum potassium. On February 19th Smith suffered a cardiac arrest, was resuscitated, but removed from life support on March … (Continued…)

OH Supreme Ct: Expert Witness Needed In Informed Consent Cases

January 13, 2012 lawmed No comments

In a medical malpractice suit filed by Robert and Mary White against Dr. Warren Leimbach II, the Supreme Court of Ohio has ruled that a claim of a lack of informed consent is a medical claim, not an issue of battery, and requires expert medical testimony to establish the material risks or dangers inherent in a procedure, and that an undisclosed risk or danger became a reality and caused injury.

Robert White had back surgery. After surgery his back was worse than before and he was in more pain, a possibility he said his physician never mentioned. White also said he’d never been given or signed a consent form of any kind. The surgeon did not dispute the lack of a consent form, and couldn’t specifically recall notifying the patient of the surgery’s risks, but claimed he’d done so because that’s what he always did.

For reasons which defy explanation, … (Continued…)

Winkler Atty Tidwell Not Indigent Judge Rules

January 07, 2012 lawmed No comments

No one can say just how many lessons former Winkler County Attorney Scott Tidwell will need before he begins to consider the obvious facts that he is not the smartest person in the room, or in possession of any sort of brilliant legal mind, but he got another one on Friday.

Tidwell was convicted in October on two counts each of felony retaliation, felony misuse of official information and misdemeanor official oppression for his role in bringing about the Winkler County Memorial Hospital whistle-blowing nurses trial. He was sentenced to four months in jail, 10 years probation and a $6,000 fine. Despite the overwhelming evidence presented against him, and his decision to present no defense whatsoever or call any witnesses, Tidwell has filed an appeal.

Part of the required appellate process requires the appellant to request the clerk of the trial court to prepare a copy of the case … (Continued…)

SHOCKER: Victim In Propofol Rape Case Is Wife Of Convicted Dr [VIDEO]

January 06, 2012 lawmed No comments

In a stunning development, the victim in the Fargo, N.D. ‘propofol rape’ case has stepped forward and identified herself to the public. She is none other than Alonna Norberg, the wife of the accused, now guilty, Dr. Jon Norberg who entered an Alford plea of guilt in court yesterday. For months the only description of the victim had been a ‘woman who was not a patient’ of Dr. Norberg.

After Dr. Norberg’s plea he made statements to the media which were false according to Mrs. Norberg who says she has come forward to set the public record straight. “I would have preferred that these matters remain private to shield my children, but the legal cases and news coverage make it important that I correct the public record,” she said in a statement released by her attorney. According to court documents, she has filed for a divorce. However her husband claimed … (Continued…)

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