A woman in Virginia has been awarded a $3 million verdict in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

According to court documents, Shannon E. Taylor alleged that Dr. Katherine Averill and Winchester Womancare were “negligently, grossly negligently, and recklessly breached [their] duty of care to [the] plaintiff.” The lawsuit pertained to a laparoscopically-assisted vaginal hysterectomy performed on Taylor in April 2009. The suit claimed that “Dr. Averill used material from Taylor’s anterior rectal wall rather than peritoneal tissue to restore the vaginal cuff following the removal of her uterus. As a result, Taylor sustained lacerations and injuries to the anterior rectal wall and rectum.”

The jury awarded Taylor $3 million in damages plus legal interest. A statutory cap on medical malpractice damages will limit Taylor’s award to $1.5 million.

If you or someone you love has suffered injury because of hospital error or medical negligence, you may be eligible for compensation and legal recourse. Contact the Pennsylvania surgical error lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 610-667-7511.

After over a year since the woman’s death in 2009, a Pennsylvania family has received $2.9 million in compensatory funds.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reinforced a lower court’s ruling by denying an appeal from St. Luke’s Hospital and Health Network. The woman claimed that the hospital failed to diagnose her breast cancer, which was cited as the cause of her May 23, 2009, death. According to her claim, instead of recognizing a growth as a malignant tumor, her doctor labeled the growth as only a cyst. The growth ruptured a year later, and was finally determined to be cancerous.

Although the jury awarded the plaintiff almost $4 million, the amount was cut down to acknowledge some blame placed on the woman. The late woman’s lawyer is seeking an additional few hundred-thousand dollars to add interest accrued during the time of the lawsuit, which brings the total to just under $2.9 million.

The Obama administration has begun a $25 million project to reduce the number of medical malpractice suits and their overall price.

To appease Republicans in Congress, Obama had promised this attempt to cut back on medical malpractice lawsuits last year, and today put together a series of grants to make good on that vow.

Money will be going to Ohio State University, Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital, the University of Utah, Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Tacoma’s Multicare Health System. Specifically, the administration hopes that the new projects will cut back on lawsuits by improving education to reduce injuries, bettering patient-doctor communication, and decreasing premiums on liability insurance.

Obama commented on the decision, saying that Republicans had argued during the political battle over health care reform that malpractice reform would help lower costs and better streamline the health care industry. He acknowledged previous Bush administration ideas, and said that his Secretary of Health and Human Services was well-prepared to enact the new government plan.

If you have been injured during an operation or because of a false diagnosis, you may be eligible for compensation. Contact the Pennsylvania misdiagnosis attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., by calling 610-667-7511 today.

A jury in Baltimore County, Maryland has awarded $1.44 million to the family of a man who died after doctors failed to properly treat a case of sepsis.

According to court documents, the family of Thomas Murphy filed a lawsuit against St. Joseph Medical Center of Towson, and several doctors, after Murphy died of sepsis on June 11, 2007. The Baltimore County Circuit Court jury ruled that doctors at the hospital failed to provide proper care for Murphy. Doctors beleived Murphy had some kind of infection, but thought it was most likely pneumonia. Doctors administered a series of tests on Murphy, and he was given a broad spectrum antibiotic. Murphy was pronounced dead the next morning.

Sepsis is a severe inflammation that results from the body’s reaction to an infection, and can cause high heart rate, high respiratory rate, high body temperature, and an elevated white cell count. Sepsis causes organ damage and failure, severe cases result in death 20 to 35 percent of the time.

If you or a loved one has suffered an illness or injury due to the negligent actions of a doctor or another health care worker, contact a Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyer of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., by calling 610-667-7511.