A 6-year-old was left with permanent scars following a laser procedure, which was meant to get rid of a birthmark. The scars are circular open wounds that appear on the left side of her face from her face around her nose to her ear.

Consequently, the girl’s family is suing the University of Minnesota Physicians for allegedly inflicting the wounds on the girl.

The girl’s mother, Kasey Bernu of Minnesota, told the Star Tribune that she wants “accountability”. She wants Hook to take responsibility for disfiguring the girl’s face back in 2017 during a laser procedure.

According to the girl’s mother, the girl’s family is filing a lawsuit because they do not want to see the same thing happen to another child. Additionally, the girl’s mother says that she does not want to see another family suffer the way they have suffered with her daughter.

Hook and the University of Minnesota Physicians were named as defendants in the family’s lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court.

The family’s representative, attorney Jeff Storms, stated that Mrs. Bernu’s daughter still has visible scars two years after the alleged medical malpractice at the University of Minnesota Medical Center.

According to a statement given to New York Post, Jeff Storms said, “The girl still has very serious pocking and deep scarring on her face. And they’re going to be permanent.”

According to the family’s attorney …

According to the family’s attorney, the girl will have to wait before she can receive treatments to minimize or get rid of the scarring.  The attorney went further to state that the girl, who is a resident of Minnesota’s Crow Wing County, is seven or eight years old.

According to the lawsuit, the girl was born with a “port-wine stain”, which is a reddish birthmark. James Storms further stated that the girl’s family began treating the girl shortly after she was born back in the year 2011. According to Attorney James Storms, the girl was treated using a pulsed dye laser, which is certainly not the one that had been used to treat her in 2017. Additionally, storms stated that the Nd: YAG laser was recommended after 25 treatments, which had been done using the pulsed dye laser.

The lawsuit claims that Hook, who is pediatric dermatologist, did not disclose her inexperience as far as using such an “extremely powerful” laser was concerned.

Additionally, the lawsuit states that Hook offered the girl’s family “improper wound care” over the phone following her injuries in 2017. According to the lawsuit, Hook did not refer them for proper treatment.

On the other hand, University of Minnesota Physicians declined to comment stating that they never comment on pending litigations or matters touching on a patient’s privacy.

Hook could not be reached for comment. However, attorney Ryan Ellis, who was speaking on behalf of the family stated that, “We sympathize with this patient and her family”.

Through the lawsuit, the family wants to be compensated for damages. It wants $50,000 for various damages including emotional distress, suffering, pain, as well as loss of future earnings.

Citation

http://www.startribune.com/lawsuit-u-physician-s-misuse-of-laser-treatment-seriously-wounded-child-s-face/564945192/

When John Kinlaw was imprisoned, the hope was that he could use the rehabilitative nature of prison to come out a new person. Like all prisoners, though, that is reliant on the staff of the prison doing the job to their best ability. Mr. Kinlaw, though, suffered a broken finger whilst he was imprisoned. Unfortunately, the injury was not properly treated by medical staff. As such, this meant that his finger, fractured whilst playing sports, became worse.

Despite x-ray images showing that he needed immediate treatment on the and to prevent incorrect healing, he was merely given an ice pack and some Motrin. The complaint alleges that, even after weeks of telling Dr. Charles Nwaokocha and other medical staff that his hand still needed more care, that nothing was done. No stabilisation or surgical treatment was put in place, meaning that the hand would heal incorrectly.

Informing the staff every few days of the severity of the injury, Kiinlaw says that he attempted to tell staff that he could not close his hand – and was afraid that his fracture was healing incorrectly. He also alleges that he was either denied additional treatment, or treatment was heavily delayed. After one month and a half of time passing since the fracture, he was unable to bend his ring finger – but was told that he needed “more healing” instead.

The complaint states that over 100 days passed before a specialist in orthopaedics took a look at his hand. The problem could potentially be unsolvable, or only fixable with surgical treatment. Speaking about the incident, Kinlaw said: “There are a lot of things I’ll never be able to do again,

“According to the testimony, I possibly have to get the amputation that my orthopaedists have said I may have a chance to get back all of my dexterity.”

His case was taken on by Nexus Services Inc, who are specialist in medical malpractice prison cases. In total, Kinlaw was awarded with a settlement of $1,058,761, with $700,000 of that fee in compensation and over $300,000 in punitive damages.

However, the lawyers with Sands Anderson, who represent Dr. Nwaokocha and Armor Correctional Health Services, say the verdict comes from a misunderstanding of the facts of the case. Edward McNelis III, attorney for Sands Andersons, said that the injury was not amenable to surgical intervention after the incident. He said that the case was ‘completely appropriate’ and ‘consistent with the care he would have received if he was not an inmate in the Virginia Department of Corrections.

Citation

https://www.nbc12.com/2019/07/19/former-va-inmate-wins-over-million-injury-lawsuit/

Spinal damage is some of the worst that you can suffer from, and will almost immediately lessen the quality of life that you can enjoy moving forward. If you worry about such an injury in life, it’s likely because it could leave you without any opportunity to continue doing what you love. One man learned that his spinal injury caused paralysis, and it came after hospital staff were unable to determine that the man had suffered spinal damage.

The individual has been awarded $3 million in damages, which is at the time of writing among the largest jury verdicts ever handed out in Pueblo County, Colorado. Sixty-six-year-old Samuel Chifalo suffered a fall in February 2016, when he landed on his face when falling upon furniture and was in need of medical care. According to Denver attorneys David Woodruff and Henry Miniter, his spinal injury was not recognized by the staff who were working on him at Parkview Medical Center.

Apparently, neurosurgery in an immediate manner would have led to the complete resumption of normal life for Mr. Chifalo. His spinal injury, though, was not diagnosed, and thus he was released without anyone noticing the incredible damage that has been done. Woodruff said in a statement: “This case, like all medical malpractice cases, was incredibly sad because Mr. Chifalo will never fully recover what he lost.”

A nine-day trail took place over the 2016 treatment, and eventually there was a decision made. The evidence showed that Mr. Chifalo could have been prevented from paralyzation. When he fell and hit his face on the furniture, surgical treatment on his spine could have stopped the damage from becoming permanent.

Citation