People just like you make up the clientele we serve. From deckhands to galley hands, housewives to husbands, welders to blasters and painters, ordinary people from all walks of life have sought our help. We are committed to the basic principles of honesty, integrity and hard work, and we also see our clients as friends who are not forgotten when a case is resolved. Presented below are a few of the many types of cases we have handled over the years. You can see from these case spotlights the divergence of the clients themselves and the variety of ways injury and disability strike the unfortunate.
A local family of sisters came to our law firm concerned that their elderly father had been admitted to a local nursing home and less than 24 hours later, he had suffered a fall and a fractured hip. Unfortunately for the family, their father passed in a number of days. Kopfler & Hermann undertook representation and recommended a complaint survey with Louisiana Department of Hospitals. From a review of the nursing home records, there was an indication that the father was a definite fall risk and the nursing home failed to follow their own precautions from the admission assessment. The elderly gentleman was not used to being in a strange environment and his roommate was creating noise and such that sleep was nearly impossible.
He wandered out of his room without any assistance and was observed by the CNA and the LPN in charge of the wing. We were able to obtain video footage and the video footage revealed that the elderly patient had approached the LPN in the hallway. The video reveals the LPN ignored him because she was busy checking her emails. Within minutes, the elderly patient fell and suffered a broken hip.
A conference was held with the physician who had treated and recommended the elderly man’s nursing home admission. The physician was very surprised that the death had taken place so soon. The treating physician confirmed that a significant portion of the population of elderly individuals who suffer a fractured hip will die thereafter.
A claim was brought pursuant to the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act. The Nursing Home and the Patients Compensation Fund, which is involved in medical malpractice litigation, came to terms and a successful settlement obtained where the children of the deceased individual were adequately compensated. In a nursing home setting, the nursing home must adhere to rules and regulations set down by Medicare and must develop a care plan. The nursing home failed to follow its own care plan to provide assistance to a resident who had difficulties ambulating on his own.
A sixty-three year old woman was brought by her family to the emergency room of a local state hospital with complaints of abdominal pain. The emergency room physician cursorily examined her, diagnosed mental illness and made a coroner’s commitment. Despite her extreme discomfort and feebleness, she was required to be transported by a Tangipahoa Parish deputy to the local parish health unit where she was examined by a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist, recognizing that the woman had a serious physical condition, indicated that he would make arrangements to have her hospitalized in another state facility and asked her to come back in the morning. The following morning, while waiting outside the health unit, the woman died. A subsequent autopsy revealed that the woman suffered from an obstructed small intestine which could have been readily diagnosed at the emergency room the day before. If a proper diagnosis and medical attention had taken place, the woman’s life would have been spared. We represented the children and widow of the woman in a claim for medical negligence. The case settled for $450,000.00.
A junior high basketball coach suffered a sprain to his knee in a physical education class. He went to an orthopedic surgeon who, with a minimal exam, indicated the coach should undergo arthroscopic surgery within a week or two. The doctor then injected a steroid solution into the coach’s knee. At the time of the arthroscopic procedure, the orthopedic surgeon recognized that there was something going on in the knee which looked suspiciously like an infection. The orthopedic doctor ordered testing to determine if an infection was there, what was the cause of the infection and what antibiotic to use. Because the orthopedic had a practice in two cities, the lab report showing an MRSA infection never got to the doctor. Despite the coach’s complaint of increased pain following surgery, the physician ordered physical therapy. Two and one-half weeks after the infection misdiagnosis, the doctor realized his mistake and cleaned out the knee joint which had been seriously damaged by the infection. The doctor denied performing the injection which caused the infection despite a charge for the injection. A claim for medical review panel was brought against the physician who admitted his liability and paid the $100,000.00 required under the Medical Malpractice Act. A subsequent proceeding was brought against the Patients’ Compensation Fund and the coach received full compensation for his knee injury and disability.
A patient admitted to the hospital for routine gall bladder surgery suffered permanent injuries when the doctor severed her common bile duct instead of her cystic bile duct . The doctor’s failure to detect the surgical error has led to a life of continuing, painful medical procedures and disability. The physician settled for the maximum cap allowed by Louisiana law.
Two doctors’ failure to diagnose pulmonary embolism as the potential cause of the patient’s symptoms resulted in her death 12 hours after discharge from the hospital. Only 20 years old, the patient left a minor son who was without other means of support. A pulmonary medicine expert explained to the court the absolute necessity for physicians to entertain all reasonably possible causes of a person’s symptoms. In this case, the doctors went through four diagnoses–none of them the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism–before discharging the young lady from their care. When the clot broke loose 12 hours later, it went straight to her lungs and caused her death. Even though a Medical Review Panel required by state statutes found that the doctors were negligent, the case was only resolved after the court, too, found the physicians at fault and awarded compensatory damages.
The minor son of a young mother who died right after child birth of septic shock prevailed in litigation with the Charity Hospital system of the State of Louisiana. A teaching institution, the Charity Hospital where the woman was admitted to give birth was staffed primarily by residents who failed to detect the critical nature of the septic bacteria which was assaulting this young woman’s body. The clear necessity for a second intravenous line to provide fluids and medicines was overlooked by the doctors. The internal medicine doctor who was supposed to be on call was in New Orleans and unable to attend to the patient. By the time a second intravenous line was placed, this patient’s condition had deteriorated to the point where she died.
A lumberjack turned away from a hospital emergency room after a limb struck his leg behind his knee lost his leg because of the misdiagnosis of a vascular injury which would have been easily treatable if detected. The case was successfully concluded for a confidential sum.
