Medical Malpractice

Afonso v. City of Boston, 587 F. Supp. 1342 (D. Mass. 1984)  Although a doctor was on military duty detailed to a private university while training for his residency when he provided treatment to the plaintiff, the United States could not be substituted as defendant because the doctor was not a servant of the United States with respect to his treatment of the plaintiff.

Bois v. United States, 747 F. Supp. 109 (D. Mass. 1990)  Court upheld a judgment won by Sugarman lawyers against United States in a medical malpractice case for failure to diagnose throat cancer.

Death in ICU  Settlement of a medical malpractice case against a hospital for failure to monitor and respond to a patient's respiratory distress in the ICU resulting in the death of the patient, a 38-year-old mother of two young children.

Death of newborn  Verdict awarded to parents of a newborn whose death resulted from doctor's failure to respond to emergency during labor.

Emergency room negligence  A physician's failure to perform emergency CT to diagnose spinal cord compression resulted in paraplegia; settled before trial.

Failure to diagnose acute coronary episode  Settlement against a primary care physician following the death of a father of two children who died from myocardial infarction as a result of the defendant's failure to appreciate the severity and cause of the patient's complaints and failure to properly interpret the patient's EKG readings.

Failure to diagnose and treat coronary artery disease  Settlement against primary care physician for family of patient with multiple high risk factors who died from myocardial infarction.

Failure to diagnose fetal distress  Settlement from obstetrician for brain-injured child for failure to perform C-section sooner.

Failure to diagnose hyperbilirubinemia in newborn  Settlement for bilateral hearing loss in newborn where lab test showed elevated levels but lab and physicians failed to act.

Failure to diagnose intra-abdominal injury in emergency room  Settlement for family of 59-year-old cardiac patient who died after falling from a ladder. Internal bleeding caused a heart attack.