Medical Malpractice: When you don't Get what you Pay for

Philadelphia, PAMedical malpractice is something both sides of the equation fear: for the patient, a medical malpractice suggests a botched procedure, or diagnosis that could begat a lifetime of pain and suffering, and invoke medical malpractice law. For the medical professional, it could mean a hit on their medical malpractice insurance. For either side, nobody wins.

That was certainly the case for Eva Liberato, a suburban mother from Northlake, Illinois whose 6-year-old son Angel is unable to walk, talk, feed himself or sit on his own—and it was all due to complications during delivery, further complicated by the decision of an attending physician at the hospital where Angel was born.

It was on March 1st, 2002 when Liberato was admitted to Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, and was administered a drug to induce contractions. However, when the baby's heart rate began to drop an attending physician—a family practitioner—decided to deliver the baby then and there, with the aid of a vacuum retractor.

When that didn't work he tried using forceps, but incredibly the instrument became lodged in Liberato's uterine wall. Meantime, the baby was experiencing increasing distress.

The baby was subsequently delivered by another doctor via C-section, but by then the baby had been deprived of oxygen long enough to cause permanent brain damage.

Liberato's legal counsel argued in a malpractice trial that an obstetrician should have been immediately called in, rather than Dr. David Demorest attempting to deliver the baby on his own. Late last week a Cook County jury agreed with Liberato's lawyer and found Demorest liable for the boy's injuries. However, even though Dr. Laura Loya-Frank, the doctor who eventually performed the delivery, and Westlake Hospital were not found to be liable, they were both named in the lawsuit and must therefore contribute to a $5.5 million settlement agreed to by the stricken boy's mother.

Meanwhile, a low-dose radiation treatment program for veterans in Philadelphia has been temporarily suspended pending an investigation after it was revealed that 55 patients with prostate cancer had been given doses of radiation that were lower than prescribed.

The affected patients, all suffering from low-risk prostate cancer, had radioactive seeds implanted in their prostate to destroy cancer cells. However, it was recently discovered that the patients were receiving dosages that, in the end, were less than what had been originally prescribed.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in the process of assessing facilities and procedures at the hospital, in an effort to root out the recent problems plaguing a program that has been on the books since 2002.

Officials at Philadelphia VA Medical Center not only suspended the program, but are pouring over the records of 114 cancer patients in an effort to determine which patients might have received incorrect dosages of radiation, and what impact—if any—the error may have had on their health, and prognosis. It was recently reported that two, of the 114 patients in the program had died, but it was unclear if the alleged radiation dosage error may have played a role in those deaths, and whether or not potential malpractice lawsuits might be forthcoming.