When doctors and nurses treat patients, they take on a big responsibility. Human error—which is made more likely by financial pressure from insurance companies to cut corners and reduce time spent with patients—can cause lifelong injury or even death. People place their trust in doctors at a time when they are at their most vulnerable, when even a small mistake can cause catastrophe.
For decades, the attorneys at Raynes McCarty have come to the aid of victims of medical negligence. Our team of trained health care professionals guide the initial analysis as to whether we recommend filing a claim. Our attorneys have represented clients whose care involved almost every area of medicine, including: obstetrics, gynecology, pediatrics, cancer, radiology, emergency care, cardiology, surgery, and orthopedics.
We approach each client's case with dedication and concern. Our relationship with our clients has earned us the respect of the lawyers and insurance carriers who defend doctors and hospitals. They ask us to represent their families when negligence has occurred, and they regularly invite us to help mediate complicated cases where a knowledgeable outsider is needed.
- $9,700,000.00 Arbitration Verdict for Child Victim of Missed Diagnosis of Meningitis. A young central Pennsylvanian couple, concerned about their infant son's fevers and loss of appetite, brought him to his local pediatrician. The doctor's incomplete evaluation, coupled with his improper instructions to the parents as to how they should monitor their son at home, delayed the diagnosis of the boy's blood infection, which progressed to bacterial meningitis. The meningitis caused the child to become deaf and blind. After two law firms told the family that the malpractice case was too challenging, they came to Tim Lawn. Tim worked to assemble the missing pieces of the puzzle, consulting with a half dozen experts from around the country. Tim was able to secure a $9.7 million dollar verdict at arbitration, which triggered a settlement that will help take care of this special child's needs.
- $7,500,000 for Negligent Liposuction Surgery. A 40-year-old man wanted to have liposuction to reduce his "love handles." The plastic surgeon punctured his bowel in at least eight places and then ignored the warning signs, ordering discharge from the hospital. Following the man's discharge, the punctured bowel emptied into his abdomen. He was rushed to another hospital, where his life was saved by heroic medical care. After several hospitalizations and 15 surgeries, the man's stomach was disfigured and his bowel was severely restricted. During trial, the team of Arthur Raynes and Eugene McGurk was able to secure a $7.5 million recovery.
- $7,400,000.00 to Mothers of Murdered Children A troubled veteran was thrown out of a VA Medical Center, where he had been receiving counseling, support and a job. Feeling that he had lost everything, the veteran went to the home of his estranged wife and murdered his two children and two of their friends before killing himself. The family turned to Jerry McHugh and Regina Foley, who learned that the VA had been warned by its own staff that the patient's expulsion could provoke an act of domestic violence. The VA refused to acknowledge its culpability, forcing trial before a federal judge who found the VA guilty of gross negligence and awarded damages in excess of $7,400,000.00.
- $7,000,000.00 Recovery for Death Caused by Hospital's Failure to Prevent Blood Clots Rushing to help respond to an emergency, a young man received minor injuries in a car accident, for which he was briefly hospitalized. Unfortunately, because he was bedridden, blood clots formed in his legs which went unrecognized by hospital staff. Shortly after the hospital discharged him, he died when the clots moved into his lungs. Tim Lawn and Jerry McHugh achieved this confidential $7,000,000.00 settlement for his family, which included an agreement to change the way in which the hospital trained its new residents.
- $7,000,000 wrongful death recovery for loss of guidance, tutelage, and companionship A young mother died of a treatable heart condition because her doctors did not tell her or her family about the condition. Because the mother did not work outside of the home, a claim for economic damages was not made. Instead, the Raynes McCarty trial team of Arthur Raynes, Jim Mundy and Mike McGuckin focused on the family's loss of her guidance and companionship. We were able to achieve a $7 million settlement for the family during the third week of trial.
- $5,000,000 Settlement for Mistreated Back Injury Marta wrenched her back and went to two different Philadelphia-area emergency rooms with complaints of severe pain and numbness down both legs, as well as urologic dysfunction. She was suffering from an emergency neurological condition known as cauda equina syndrome, which required immediate surgery. This condition went undiagnosed by the physicians at two hospitals, and as a result Marta suffers from permanent neurological dysfunction. Stephen Raynes secured a global settlement in excess of $5 million from the medical providers and from the homeowner's policy of Marta's mother (at whose house Marta initially injured herself).
- $5,000,000 Settlement for Failure to Diagnose Cervical Cancer A recently married young woman, following general medical advice, underwent annual pap smears. Tragically, the screening lab misread at least two positive tests. On behalf of her widower, Raynes McCarty secured a $5 million settlement.
- $5,000,000 Recovery for Brain Damaged Child A young child was transferred to a children's hospital for treatment of a gastrointestinal disorder that required close monitoring of fluid and electrolyte replacement. The child was administered an overdose of IV sodium that damaged the brain and several other organs. Raynes McCarty achieved a $5,000,000 settlement for the child.
- $4,500,000 Settlement for Death Due to Medical Errors When a mother of two went to the emergency room on a Friday evening with symptoms of upper respiratory infection, her chest x-ray was read as negative by a moonlighting doctor. When told that no treatment could be provided to her over the weekend and that her x-ray was negative, the mother went home to help care for her two small children. To do so, she signed a "discharged against doctor's order" note. On Saturday, the hospital radiologist saw that the x-ray was positive for pneumonia, but no one contacted the woman. Feeling worse, she returned on Monday with full-blown pneumonia. When a breathing tube was inserted, it pierced her esophagus, causing oxygen deprivation and brain damage. She went into a coma and died. Raynes McCarty secured a $4.5 million settlement for the family.
- $4,250,000 for Death of a New Mother A single mother who was expecting twins went into labor at a major teaching hospital, where errors in anesthesia caused anoxic brain injury, leading to her death. At the time, the victim was unemployed and receiving public assistance. One of our attorneys argued that the children's loss of their mother, particularly at the inception of life, had a substantial value. Despite the lack of an earnings history—an important item of damage in a wrongful death case—he succeeded in achieving a confidential settlement of $4.25 million to provide for the children's future.
- $4,100,000 Verdict for Deafness in One Ear At a major teaching hospital, a patient suffering from a tumor in one ear mistakenly received radiation treatment to his other, healthy ear, rendering him deaf. To overcome the hospital's argument that the patient's hearing loss was the result of an autoimmune disease, our attorney arranged for state-of-the-art DNA testing to be done by the medical expert who created the definitive diagnostic test. The test result convinced the jury that the hospital was wrong, and they awarded the patient a $4.1 million recovery.
- Establish Duty of Hospital to Patient A senior citizen underwent surgery at a major teaching hospital in Philadelphia to implant an artificial lens in his eye. At the time, the lens was classified as experimental by the Food & Drug Administration, but this fact was not told to the patient and his consent was not obtained. A jury awarded substantial damages for the resulting loss of the eye. They concluded that the hospital, as an institution, owed a duty to the patient to get his consent to participate in an FDA clinical trial. This verdict was affirmed on appeal, representing the only instance in Pennsylvania law where a hospital, rather than an individual physician, was held legally responsible for failure to obtain a patient's consent. Friter v. Iolab Corp., 607 A.2d 1111 (Pa. Super. 1992).
- $2,950,000 Verdict for Death of Eight-Year-Old In what was described as the largest award in Maryland history for the death of a child, a federal jury in Baltimore, Maryland, awarded a total of $2.95 million to the family of an eight-year-old child. He died as the result of medical negligence; the doctors treating him failed to adequately treat complications of the young boy's "Dandy Walker Syndrome." The jury awarded $500,000 for four hours of suffering that the child endured. The father was awarded $1.15 million and the mother $1.3 million for their suffering and grief. Click here to read more about the case.