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Our Case Results

Medical Malpractice

Vaginal Stenosis from Pelvic Radiation. A 57-year-old woman suffered severe vaginal stenosis, a narrowing and shortening of the vagina due to scarring, following pelvic radiation therapy for rectal cancer. She was not told about the risk before consenting to treatment and was not informed she had the option of using vaginal dilators and therapeutic creams to prevent or minimize vaginal stenosis. Her vaginal canal completely closed so that she is unable to engage in sexual intercourse. Settlement: Confidential.

Stroke from Improper Birth-Control Prescription. A 19-year-old college student suffered a stroke after being prescribed birth-control pills for contraception despite a history of blood clots. Post-stroke evaluation revealed that she had a clotting disorder, which increases the risk of developing clots when taking the hormone estrogen. The plaintiff recovered with mild-to-moderate neuropsychological deficits, completing college and earning a degree. Settlement: Confidential.

Pressure Sore from Improper Post-Surgery Skin Care. A 77-year-old woman with a history of diabetes, chronic obstructive-pulmonary disease from smoking, and steroid use underwent partial shoulder surgery. Signs of a developing pressure sore three days after surgery were ignored by hospital nursing staff. The pressure sore was not diagnosed and treated until after the patient was discharged from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility. Despite proper skin care and pressure-reducing measures taken at that facility, the wound eventually opened up, manifesting itself as a Stage IV decubitus ulcer. Settlement: Confidential.

Anesthesia Errors. A 46-old-man suffered irreversible brain damage from cardiac arrest as the result of multiple anesthesia errors during kidney transplant surgery. His heart stopped 30 minutes into a four-hour operation. A former sales manager, he is totally disabled and under the full-time care of his wife. Jury verdict: $1.6 million.

Radiation Overdose. A 59-year-old woman being treated for breast cancer at a Seattle hospital received a severe radiation overdose from an incorrect computer entry and a missing filter in the radiation machine. A delay in discovering the errors required extensive medical interventions, resulting in open wounds, infections, excruciating pain, and psychological issues. Settlement: Confidential.

Recovery Room Mistake. An 84-year-old man suffered brain damage after open-heart surgery when an IV bag containing lidocaine infused too quickly, sending the patient into cardiac arrest and seizures. It was discovered the recovery room nurse miscalculated the IV drip rate when she hung the full bag. Settlement: Confidential.

Misinterpretation of Mammogram. A 42-year-old woman went to see her gynecologist because she felt a lump in her breast. The radiologist at the clinic read her mammogram as negative for malignancy. Fourteen months later, she was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. Had the patient’s cancer been picked up in the mammogram, she likely would have lived longer. Settlement: Confidential.

Birth Injury. After a normal pregnancy, a mother was admitted to the hospital in early labor. She was told everything “looked good and was going well.” She did not know the physician and labor/delivery nurse failed to monitor the baby’s heart rate for hours. By the time the boy was born, he was not breathing, was blue, and was not moving or crying. As a result of negligent care, the baby sustained severe brain damage due to a lack of oxygen. The physician settled prior to trial. Jury verdict against hospital: $5 million.

Stroke from Birth Control Pills. A 19-year-old college student suffered a stroke after receiving a prescription for birth control pills despite the fact she had a clotting disorder. Settlement: $450,000.

Knee Replacement Surgery Error. After receiving total knee replacement surgery, a 69-year-old patient continued to suffer persistent knee pain and gait deformity due to malpositioning of the tibial component. Corrective surgery was required. Settlement: $131,000.

Shoulder Joint Infection Misdiagnosis. A patient required two surgeries after an orthopedic surgeon failed to properly diagnose and treat her infected shoulder joint. Settlement: $325,000.

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Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

Nursing Home Negligence. An 88-year-old man was severely injured while in the care of the nursing staff of an Everett, WA, nursing care facility. While in the facility, he sustained a total of nine falls resulting in injuries that included a fractured arm; head trauma with bleeding into the brain; fractures of the bones surrounding the eye resulting in loss of vision; and fractures to his jaw and back bones. Settlement: Confidential.

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Dangerous Drugs and Medical Devices

Shoulder Pain Pump Leads to Chrondrolysis (shoulder joint destruction). A 29-year-old elite female athlete underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery with a pain pump placed in the joint. This led to the development of chrondrolysis requiring total shoulder replacement and the need for future shoulder-replacement surgeries. Settlement: Confidential.

Stroke from Cold Medicine. A 28-year old woman suffered a hemorrhagic stroke after taking an over-the-counter cold medication, resulting in product liability claim. Settlement: Confidential.

Diabetes Medication. A 52-year-old woman received a cardiac injury after taking a drug prescribed for her diabetes, resulting in product liability claim. Settlement: Confidential.

Diet Drug Injury. Cardiac injury from diet drug, resulting in a product liability claim. Settlement: $656,786.

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Brain Injury and Other Catastrophic Injuries

Brain Injury in Multi-Vehicle Crash. A man sustained a brain injury and his family minor injuries when a driver going the opposite way on I-5 near Seattle lost control of his vehicle, which catapulted into oncoming lanes and landed on top of the family’s SUV. The occupants of two other vehicles were seriously injured. The at-fault driver died at the scene. His insurance liability policy limits were $1 million, which was divided among all those injured. Settlement: $750,000 to the family.

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Wrongful Death

Cardiac Catheterization Negligence. A 46-year-old obese woman smoker with diabetes suffered a heart attack and was taken to a hospital cardiac catheterization lab where a 90 percent blockage of the left circumflex artery was ballooned and stented. Within two minutes of balloon inflation, the patient's vital signs crashed, and a clot in the left anterior descending artery (LAD) was found. The patient was stabilized and discharged from the hospital on the fifth day. Within hours of discharge, she went into cardiogenic shock and died two days later. The plaintiff alleged the patient suffered the LAD clot and subsequent complications because of improper anticoagulation before coronary intervention was performed. Settlement: Confidential.

Misdiagnosed Lung Blood Clot. A healthy 33-year-old husband and father of two died from an undiagnosed blood clot in his lung (pulmonary embolism). He visited a local clinic three times in five weeks before his death, complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath. Jury verdict: $1.25 million.

Newborn’s Death from High Bilirubin Levels. A newborn died from a failure of the attending physician to properly monitor the baby, who was discharged with “mild jaundice” one day after his birth. Two days later, he was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at a local hospital with profound hyperbilirubinemia (an abnormal amount of bilirubin in the blood), resulting in brain damage. Settlement: Confidential.

Death from Brain Injury in Hospital. A 57-year-old woman admitted to a local hospital for acute bacterial endocarditis, anemia, and brain abnormalities received two head injuries while hospitalized that resulted in her death. She fell twice because proper fall precautions were not taken and died within a day from her brain injury. Settlement: $250,000.

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Automobile and Trucking Accidents

Metro Bus Hits Pedestrian in Crosswalk. A 35-year old woman in a marked crosswalk in downtown Seattle was struck by a Metro bus whose driver denied striking her. Injuries included a shoulder sprain, rotator-cuff sprain, degenerative changes of the shoulder joint, thoracic-outlet syndrome, and aggravation of pre-existing chronic muscular pain syndrome, all of which were vigorously disputed. Settlement: $250,000.

Car Rental Coverage for Brain Injury. A man suffered a brain injury while driving a Hertz rental car that slid on ice and crashed into an abandoned disabled vehicle. An appellate court victory held that car rental companies must offer underinsured motorist coverage in the same amount as the liability limits in the rental contract. Settlement: $500,000 for underinsured motorist coverage obtained under the rental contract after winning appeal; $100,000 underinsured motorist coverage limits under the injured driver’s policy; and $50,000 under the at-fault driver’s auto liability policy.

Brain Injury in Multi-Vehicle Crash. A man sustained a brain injury and his family minor injuries when a driver going the opposite way on I-5 near Seattle lost control of his vehicle, which catapulted into oncoming lanes and landed on top of the family’s SUV. The occupants of two other vehicles were seriously injured. The at-fault driver died at the scene. His insurance liability policy limits were $1 million, which was divided among all those injured. Settlement: $750,000 to the family.

Health Insurance Exclusions Prohibited. Washington Supreme Court victory in the case of a man who was injured and later died from injuries sustained in an auto accident after he was struck by an uninsured driver. The man’s health insurance company tried to avoid paying the medical bills based on an exclusion in the policy, but the court held that the exclusion violated public policy. Result: The health insurance company paid all medical bills and the widow received the maximum available under her husband’s uninsured motorist coverage.

Trucking Accident Injury. A 52-year-old woman was driving home from work on I-5 near Chehalis, WA, when an 18-wheeler moved into her lane as she was trying to pass him. She took evasive action to avoid being hit by the truck. Unfortunately, although she avoided the truck, she hit the jersey barrier and sustained multiple fractures and a head injury. Settlement: Confidential.

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Construction Site Accidents

Construction Accident. An 82-year-old woman fell into an unmarked construction trench dug by a construction company working for a city public works project. She fell face-first into the 5-foot-deep open trench while stepping around a parked dump truck blocking the crosswalk. She lost all vision and depth perception in one eye and sustained fractures of her left wrist and right foot, which severely reduced her independent activities. Settlement: $900,000.

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Maritime Injuries

Fall on Fishing Vessel. During a winter storm in the Bering Sea, a fisherman slipped and fell on ice that had accumulated on deck. He suffered a lumbar disc herniation and required two surgeries. Settlement: $750,000.

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General Personal Injury

Big Box Store Accident. A customer suffered a minor concussion when a store employee operating a forklift knocked metal pipes off a shelf onto the customer's head. Settlement: $20,890.

Store Parking Lot Accident. A cyclist sustained a concussion and crushed facial and jawbones when she rode through a parking lot and ran into a forklift that had been left negligently unattended with the forks in the high position. Settlement: Confidential.

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Our Case Results