Medication Errors
A week before trial was scheduled to begin, SUGARMAN principals David McCormack and Benjamin Zimmermann reached a significant settlement for their client and her husband in a case involving negligent hospice care over the course of many years. SUGARMAN’s client was an at-home hospice patient of the defendants for over 5 years and had been prescribed excessive and increasing amounts of narcotic pain medications to the point where she was unable to perform basic tasks. After not receiving answers to their concerns about the client’s deteriorating condition, her family brought her to a local hospital, where medical providers immediately began weaning her off all the medications. The client’s condition improved almost immediately. Through discovery and motion practice, SUGARMAN uncovered the hospice company’s employee bonus program which incentivized employees to keep patients in hospice care and to avoid patients from being seen at hospitals or by outside providers. During the case, SUGARMAN also defeated the defendants’ motion seeking to dismiss the case on various legal grounds — a Superior Court judge found that all of the client’s claims were legally and factually supported. The settlement was the second largest personal injury settlement reported in Massachusetts for 2021.
Pre-discovery settlement in wrongful death medical malpractice case for family of a 91 year old man who died in a Boston-area hospital as a result of the medical staff giving him a high dose of a psychiatric medication intended for another patient. Soon after filing suit, SUGARMAN’s attorneys served a demand letter on the hospital’s insurer for its failure to make a settlement offer when liability was clear. The case settled soon after.
Pre-trial settlement for man who developed severe Levaquin-induced tendonitis with resulting complications after his local pharmacy dispensed Levaquin to him instead of a sleep aid. The error went undetected for two months.
Settlement of medical malpractice case on behalf of 70-year-old patient who was over-prescribed NSAIDS (Indomethacin) by physician and nurse practitioner in Quincy, MA, to treat gout for more than two years. The medication caused irreversible kidney failure, forcing the patient into dialysis for several years.
Pre-suit settlement of medical malpractice case for 61-year-old man who suffered major stroke after his doctors and nurses failed to administer a critical medication for two days while the man was a hospital inpatient following cardiac surgery.
Settlement against physician and hospital following the death of a seventy-eight- year-old woman, who died from anoxic encephalopathy following an inappropriate dosage and combination of narcotic and anti-anxiety medications, and improper monitoring during MRI.