Medical Malpractice

Birth Injury

$1.7 Million Settlement. Deborah Dodge and David Ansley represented a child who was born not breathing and without a pulse. The child was revived after 32 minutes of his life. The child suffered from a skull fracture and was diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. He currently has severe left-sided weakness, walks with a severe limp, and suffers from a seizure disorder.

Infant Death

$160,000 Settlement. Deborah Dodge represented a mother regarding the death of her three-month-old daughter who died from respiratory failure. The emergency room doctor discharged the child to home and misread the chest x-ray as normal. The child had been brought to the hospital because she had stopped breathing. The x-rays revealed extensive pneumonia in the infant's right lung.

$125,000 Settlement. Don Woody represented a single mother in a wrongful death action of her still-born baby. The hospital nurses and the OB/GYN improperly used Cytotec to induce labor and failed to promptly recognize signs and symptoms of fetal distress and failed to perform a timely C-section resulting in the baby's death.

Surgery

$850,000 Settlement. Don Woody represented a woman with prior vascular and neck problems. She took coumadin as a result of a prior blood clot in her lower leg. She experienced pain in her neck and consulted a neurosurgeon who diagnosed a partial ruptured disc at C4-5. She consulted a neurosurgeon and her performed a discectomy to remove a ruptured disc. He discontinued Coumadin prior to the surgery, a short time after the surgery, he returned the plaintiff to her coumadin, except at only half of her pre-surgery dose. Several days later, a blood clot was suspected, and a vascular surgeon was called in. He decided to attempt to dissolve the clot with urokinase. He commenced urokinase therapy, which resulted in plaintiff's quadriparesis.

$100,000 Settlement. Don Woody represented the surviving mother of an unmarried son who was involved in a head-on collision. He was seen by a trauma surgeon who failed to diagnose the presence of a pneumothorax.

$790,000 Settlement. Deborah Dodge represented the family of a man in a wrongful death case. The man went to the hospital and was admitted with a diagnosis of intestinal obstruction. The defendant surgeon diagnosed the patient's condition as Crohn's Disease and informed the patient he would need to change his diet. The doctor failed to diagnose the man's condition as ischemic bowel requiring immediate surgery. Three days later the man died at another hospital from ischemic bowel.

$900,000 Settlement. David Ansley and Deborah Dodge represented a man who underwent lumbar surgery to alleviate symptoms of spondylolistheis. The surgery involved an attempted back fusion. The fusion failed. After the surgery, the man underwent four additional surgeries within a nine month time frame, all of which were performed by defendant doctor. After the fourth surgery, the man was unable to walk.

$500,000 Settlement. David Ansley & Deborah Dodge represented a woman who underwent tarsal tunnel release procedures on both feet and the doctor negligently resected the calcaneal nerves in both feet.

$75,000 Settlement. Debbie Dodge represented 68 year-old man who was to undergo surgery to his left great toe. The orthopedic surgeon and hospital failed to identify the correct toe and operated on the wrong great toe causing superficial nerve damage.

$215,000 Settlement. Deborah Dodge represented a 32-year-old man who suffered from a kidney stone. The defendant surgeon recommended that he retrieve the stone and thereafter place a stent in the plaintiff's ureter. The doctor lost the stent and made several attempts retrieving the stent causing a portion of the ureter to die. The man had to have reconstructive surgery and continues to suffer from ongoing pain

Cancer

$775,000 Verdict. David Ansley and Ben Stringer represented a man whose doctors failed to diagnose prostate cancer. The man's doctor failed to inform him of the existence of PSA testing. Several years later the man was referred to another physician who ordered a PSA test. This blood test revealed prostate cancer that had spread beyond the prostate gland. He was immediately referred to a urologist within the clinic who informed him it was too late to treat the cancer. The plaintiff traveled to the Mayo Clinic for a second opinion, where he underwent a radical prostatectomy. On the basis the man was diagnosed with prostate cancer that of the PSA test had spread beyond the prostate gland.

$330,000 Settlement. David Ansley and Deborah Dodge represented a woman who suffered from a delay in diagnosis of breast cancer. The woman presented to a family practitioner. The defendant doctor recognized a lump in the breast measuring 2 cm and referred the woman for a mammogram. The mammogram was read as normal. Ten months later, the woman was diagnosed with breast cancer with lymph node involvement.

Confidential Settlement. Deborah Dodge and David Ansley represented a woman whose family practitioner, despite a palpable lump, did not recommend further follow-up treatment. Due to a 12-month delay in diagnosis, plaintiff was diagnosed with breast cancer with lymph node involvement.

$800,000 Verdict. David Ansley and Ben Stringer represented a man who suffered a sore on the inside of his cheek. His oral surgeon diagnosed the lesion to be benign when in fact it was Stage I cancer. By the time it was diagnosed, the cancer had progressed to Stage III, requiring an 18-hour surgery to remove his cheek and all of his teeth and lymph nodes with reconstructive surgery.

$662,000 Verdict. David Ansley represented a 63-year-old woman whose anal cancer was misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids. She and her husband brought suit alleging the delay in diagnosis reduced her chance of surviving the disease.

Confidential Settlement. David Ansley represented a 55-year-old man whose kidney cancer was misdiagnosed as anemia. By the time the cancer was diagnosed, it had progressed from Stage I to Stage III.

Confidential Settlement. David Ansley represented a 38-year-old woman whose breast cancer was misdiagnosed as fibrocystic disease despite the surgeon's failure to obtain a biopsy.

Cardiology & Heart Medicine

$350,000 Settlement. Don Woody represented the surviving husband and three grown children of a female who was experiencing classic heart attack symptoms diagnosed by the emergency room doctor as unstable angina and an internist (not a cardiologist) assigned from the hospital's "call box system" to admit her to the hospital failed to properly consider her troponin blood levels as a heart attack indicator, and he released her with "gastrointestinal" symptoms and she died of another heart attack within two days.

$1 Million Dollar Verdict. David Ansley and Deborah Dodge represented a woman who was having an allergic reaction to the administration of herparin while in the hospital. The doctor managing plaintiff's care did not discontinue the herparin, or request a hematological consult. As a result, the plaintiff suffered from a debilitating stroke.

Radiology

$125,000 Settlement. Ben Stringer represented a woman who underwent an ultrasound guided liver biopsy and during the procedure she experienced severe abdominal pain because the radiologist perforated the hepatic duct. Plaintiff developed an abscess, severe bleeding and nearly died.

Family Medicine

$500,000 Settlement. David Ansley represented a middle-aged man whose heart symptoms of extreme fatigue, sweating and pain were misdiagnosed as "Rabbit Fever." Before a correct diagnosis was made, the client suffered a heart attack resulting in permanent heart damage as well as requiring the placement of a pacemaker.

Emergency Medicine

$750,000 Verdict. David Ansley and Ben Stringer represented a 49-year-old woman who was presented to the ER with symptoms of transient ischemic attack (TIA). Her impending stroke was misdiagnosed as anxiety and she was discharged. She suffered a stroke the following day.

1.5 Million Settlement. Debbie Dodge and Ben Stringer represented a woman who presented to the Emergency Room with weakness and numbness in her legs. Her symptom worsened in the ER. A neurosurgeon was contacted but he did not come and examine the patient until the following day. Once admitted to the hospital, plaintiff was unable to move or feel her legs. However, no doctors were contacted. Once doctors examined the patient late the following morning, plaintiff was diagnosed with cauda equina syndrome and was rushed for emergency surgery. She did not regain feeling or movement in her legs.

$100,000 Verdict. David Ansley represented a man who presented to a local ER with flu-like symptoms including diarrhea. The ER doctor ordered a stool sample based upon history of antibiotic-induced diarrhea. The pathologist determined plaintiff suffered from clostridium difficile. While ER had access to these lab results, the diagnosis was not communicated to either the patient or his family physician. As a result, plaintiff had a perforated colon requiring surgery and removal of a portion of his colon.

Physical Therapy

$650,000 Settlement. David Ansley represented a 63 year-old male who sued his physical therapy group after hurting his back in an accident during therapy. The plaintiff was placed on a sliding traction table and while attempting to get off the table, it gave way in the middle. The plaintiff suffered from a herniated disc and later developed a methacillin resistant staph infection as a result of back surgery.

Nursing

$250,000 Settlement. Debbie Dodge represented a 62 year-old woman who presented to the hospital with signs of stroke. The woman was a candidate for the use tPA (clot-busting drug). She was admitted for observation. She then again exhibited signs and symptoms of stroke. The admitting doctor was not notified timely. Instead of contacting the doctor of t he woman's change in condition the nurse started the plaintiff on IV heparin which precluded her from getting tPA treatment.

**Past results afford no guarantee of future results. Every case is different and must be judged on its own merits.