Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Cancer Misdiagnosis Attorney Cleveland: Michigan Woman Has Unnecessary Double Mastectomy

A Michigan woman had a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy she didn’t need, because of a cancer misdiagnosis.

As our cancer misdiagnosis attorney in Cleveland will point out, incorrect diagnoses where there isn’t really cancer can be a serious health issue, altering lives irrevocably on the basis of faulty data.

Colleen Hanna had breast pain in October of 2012. An ultrasound and mammogram came back normal, but a blood test indicated she was BRCA positive.

As ABC12.com reports:

“The BRCA gene test is a blood test that uses DNA analysis to identify harmful mutations in either one of the two breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2. A woman who tests positive is more susceptible to developing breast and ovarian cancer. Doctors recommended Hanna have a double mastectomy, the removal of both breasts, to reduce the risk that she would develop breast cancer.”

Upon doctor recommendation, Hanna had a hysterectomy in May 2014.

The problem? The BRCA test actually never happened, and the results were falsified. Hanna had a BRCA test done in 2016, which came back negative.

And now she’s permanently disfigured as a result of the erroneous diagnosis.

Hanna is suing four medical institutions, including Mid Michigan Physicians Group in Midland, and five doctors for negligence and fraud.

“Unbelievable carelessness, and arrogance, the doctors just proceeding on, and can’t imagine a doctor not looking at a, at least a report of an x-ray before doing surgery on somebody. They didn’t do this at all,” said Hanna’s attorney Victor Mastromarco.

Why Our Cleveland Misdiagnosis Lawyer Always Recommends a Second Opinion

Want some free advice from a cancer misdiagnosis lawyer in Cleveland? Always get a second opinion when it comes to serious medical conditions, especially cancer. A recent analysis found that more than 20 percent of all diagnoses are incorrect.

An analysis at the Mayo Clinic found that only 12 percent of the people who asked specialists at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to review their cases had received correct diagnoses. The rest received diagnoses considered only partly accurate according to the Mayo doctors’ evaluations.

Fatal Errors in Judgment

Needless to say, mistakes left uncorrected can be devastating and oftentimes deadly. Previous analysis found that 10 percent of all hospital deaths are the result of a misdiagnosis.

“Diagnostic error is an area where we need more research, more study and more information,” said James Naessens, a professor of health services research at the Mayo Clinic, who led the study. “The second opinion is a good approach for certain patients to figure out what’s there and to keep costs down.”

So take the recommendation of your cancer misdiagnosis lawyer in Cleveland. Listen to your doctor, but then receive a second opinion. Having more opinions to weigh in on serious medical matters is good for your health.

Talking History with Our Cleveland Brain Injury Lawyer: The Case of Phineas Gage

Why does modern brain science owe its very existence to an 1800s era railroad worker? As our brain injury lawyer in Cleveland points out, the case of Phineas Gage led to some fundamental revelations on the nature of the brain, and is often used as a reference point for further discovery.

While blowing up rocks to clear the way for new railway lines, Gage set off a metal spark that in turn drove a tamping iron up and out of the hole, through his left cheek, behind his eye socket, and out of the top of his head. Gage didn’t die, but most of the frontal lobe of his brain was destroyed.

The injury led to dramatic changes in Gage’s personality.

“He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity, which was not previously his custom,” wrote John Martyn Harlow, the physician who treated Gage after the accident.

Laying the Foundation of a New Science

As a recent article in NPR points out, Gage’s case led to the development of modern brain science. “If you talk about hard core neurology and the relationship between structural damage to the brain and particular changes in behavior, this is ground zero,” Allan Ropper, a neurologist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told NPR. “It’s one region [of the brain], it’s really obvious, and the changes in personality were stunning.”

Healing and Time

The good news? The personality change was temporary, lasting likely only two to three years. Gage went onto work as a long-distance stagecoach driver in Chile, which requires a good deal of focus and planning capabilities.

“Even in cases of massive brain damage and massive incapacity, rehabilitation is always possible,” Malcolm Macmillan, an honorary professor at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, told NPR.

That’s inspiring news for the clients of a brain injury attorney in Cleveland. It may take patience, but time and hard work in rehabilitation will ultimately heal the wound and life goes on.

Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorney: Metro-Health Grant Announced

Clients of our Cleveland spinal injury attorney should take note of some good news that might directly benefit them one day, to say nothing of spinal injury victims everywhere:

The Cleveland Metro-Health System recently announced $2.26 million in grant funding to conduct studies on spinal injury and recovery.

“This will allow us to attract more (spinal care) patients for care,” said Dr. Gregory Nemunaitis, director of Spinal Cord Rehabilitation at MetroHealth.

Designated over a five year period, the grant will enable the center to, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

“Collect data on the recovery of people with spinal cords injuries that will provide a database for future research and care.

Assess recovery patterns in the arms and hands of people with spinal cord injuries to develop guidelines for treatment to restore upper extremity function.

Redesign a spine board used to transport patients from the scene of an injury to the hospital. Led by MetroHealth in collaboration with the University of Toledo’s Department of Engineering, the research will focus on reducing pressure ulcers.”

MetroHealth treats about 100 traumatic spinal cord injuries a year. The announcement of this funding should be good news for them as well as clients of Cleveland spinal injury attorneys.

Could a Global Data Base Help the Clients of a Spinal Injury Attorney in Cleveland?

Australian spinal cord injury experts are currently lobbying their federal government for a national registry of patients to track treatments in an effort to improve conditions. Advocates for the effort contend that millions of dollars could be saved in treatment, not to mention that victims’ lives could be substantially improved. It is an effort any spinal injury attorney in Cleveland could get behind.

“We have pools of acute data in the spinal units around Australia, we have some rehab data,” Chris Bertinshaw from the Australian Spinal Cord Injury Network told ABC. “None of it is connected, and we have no information once they leave rehab.”

The proposed registry would track patients throughout their lifetimes, noting treatment, medications and any complications. Such data could substantially improve treatment and in the process help patients lead more fulfilling lives.

“We don’t know what treatment works and what doesn’t work, and we don’t know the risks involved,” Jonathan Tang, a spinal injury patient and wheelchair racer, told ABC.”[A registry] will allow us to answer questions such as, if I had a kidney infection, what would be the best medication to use.”

Who knows? Perhaps other countries will launch similar efforts and combine databases into a universal resource? That would definitely be promising news for anyone who needs a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

How the Friendship of 2 Army Buddies May One Day Change the Lives of Every Client of a Brain Injury Lawyer in Cleveland

Army buddies Kit Parker’s and Chris Moroski’s story would inspire any client of a brain injury lawyer in Cleveland. It has all the best elements of movies that break your heart and reaffirm you belief in friendship and humanity at the same time. Read on.

Parker and Moroski became friends jumping out of airplanes together in the 1990s. After 9/11, the two went their separate directions in the two wars that resulted from that attack, Parker to Afghanistan, Moroski to Iraq.

After their deployments, life continued on as usual, at least on the surface. Parker pursued a new career as a heart research scientist. Moroski, who had a bit of a rougher landing back into civilian life, spent his days at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Ga, healing injuries from an IED that had blown up his vehicle during a patrol near Ramadi. Doctors had been promising a quick recovery, but from frequent phone calls between the two army buddies, Parker realized something was amiss.

“He’d lose his train of thought,” Parker remembered. “He couldn’t remember stuff,” including being awarded the Purple Heart, big stuff that’s tough to lose in the memory of your average soldier.

Parker pledged to help his friend. Beyond the frequent phone calls, Parker turned to his next best resource: science. From his heart research, he knew that sudden forces, similar to an IED blast, could have severe effects on the heart. Could such a blast also affect the brain?

“I had to bring the battlefield into the lab,” Parker remembered.

After much research, Parker published a paper demonstrating how a blast wave could cause integrins to send signals that could disrupt brain cell connections. “When that happens, it affects the networks that allow you to recognize your grandmother’s face or count your change at the fast-food restaurant,” Parker explained.

Dr. Geoffrey Ling, who at one time had been the Army’s leading expert on traumatic brain injury, describes Parker’s research as “a fundamental insight.”

Parker’s discovery could one day make a difference to all people suffering from brain injury, including civilians. That would be good news to the clients of any brain injury lawyer in Cleveland.

“Success is that a quarterback doesn’t suffer from dementia after being sacked,” Parker concludes. “Success is that brain injury is no longer the leading cause of death of children. Success is a war fighter gets blown up in some Third World rathole somewhere and he can still count his change at Burger King afterwards.”

From the Desk of a Cancer Misdiagnosis Attorney in Cleveland: When Cancer is Misdiagnosed by an Entire Medical Community

Sometimes an entire type of tumor can be misdiagnosed by the medical community for decades. In this case of cancer misdiagnosis, an attorney in Cleveland turned out not to be necessary. In fact, it’s good news for nearly 10,000 of the 65,000 thyroid cancer patients that are diagnosed with the disease in the US every year.

The New York Times recently reported that a panel of doctors decided that a type of thyroid cancer historically classified as cancer is not actually cancer at all. They have downgraded the condition, sparing thousands of patients the removal of their thyroid, radioactive treatments and regular checkups for the rest of their lives. It turns out the identified tumor is not actually a threat.

“The reclassified tumor is a small lump in the thyroid that is completely surrounded by a capsule of fibrous tissue,” the New York Times explained. “It’s nucleus looks like a cancer but the cells have not broken out of their capsule, and surgery to remove the entire thyroid followed by treatment with radioactive iodine is unnecessary and harmful, the panel said. They have now renamed the tumor. Instead of calling it ‘encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma,’ they now call it ‘noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features,’ or NIFTP. The word ‘carcinoma’ is gone.”

Is it a case for a cancer misdiagnosis attorney in Cleveland? Probably not, but it certainly is a relief to the patients and families who can rest assured knowing this particular tumor is not actually cancer at all.

Does Football Cause CTE? Should the NFL Fear Brain Injury Lawyers in Cleveland?

The National Institutes of Health recently announced a $16 million grant to researchers from Boston University seeking ways to detect a disease caused by repeated head trauma. How much will be coming from the NFL, which in 2012 pledged $30 million to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health to study chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)? Not anything. And no brain injury lawyer in Cleveland who pays attention to the news should be surprised.

Currently, CTE can only be diagnosed after an individual dies. It has been found in many former professional football players. Being able to diagnose it in current players would solidify a financial iceberg for the NFL. Citing unnamed resources, ESPN has reported that because the NFL dragged its feet for so long on the issue, the National Institutes of Health decided to write the study its own check to expedite the research.

“Sources told Outside the Lines that the league exercised that power when it learned that [Dr. Robert Stern], a professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Boston University, would be the project’s lead researcher,” ESPN’s Outside the Lines reported. “The league, sources said, raised concerns about Stern’s objectivity, despite the merit review and a separate evaluation by a dozen high-level experts assembled by the NIH.”

ESPN isn’t the only one calling foul. Also citing an unnamed source, the New York Times reported that the NIH had requested some of the $30 million for the research but ultimately “it decided to finance the grant with other funds.”

The NFL is obviously scared and concerned. Anyone who has played football for any duration of time would be well advised to contact a brain injury attorney in Cleveland for a free consultation. Brain damage is real, and may possibly result as a side effect of America’s favorite past-time.

Should The NFL Fear Brain Injury Lawyers in Cleveland?

The National Institutes of Health recently announced a $16 million grant to researchers from Boston University seeking ways to detect a disease caused by repeated head trauma. How much will be coming from the NFL, which in 2012 pledged $30 million to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health to study chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)? Zero. Zilch. Not a penny. And no brain injury lawyer in Cleveland who pays attention to the news should be surprised.

Currently, CTE can only be diagnosed after an individual dies. It has been found in many former professional football players. Being able to diagnose it in current players would solidify a financial iceberg for the NFL. Citing unnamed resources, ESPN has reported that because the NFL dragged its feet for so long on the issue, the National Institutes of Health decided to write the study its own check to expedite the research.

“Sources told Outside the Lines that the league exercised that power when it learned that [ Dr. Robert Stern], a professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Boston University, would be the project’s lead researcher,” ESPN’s Outside the Lines reported. “The league, sources said, raised concerns about Stern’s objectivity, despite the merit review and a separate evaluation by a dozen high-level experts assembled by the NIH.”

ESPN isn’t the only one calling foul. Also citing an unnamed source, the New York Times reported that the NIH had requested some of the $30 million for the research but ultimately “it decided to finance the grant with other funds.”

The NFL is obviously scared. And they should be. Anyone who has played football for any duration of time would be well advised to contact a brain injury attorney in Cleveland for a free consultation. Brain damage is real, and likely a side effect of America’s favorite past-time and Super Bowl Sundays.

The Case of a Cleveland Malpractice Attorney Client Goes Before Ohio Supreme Court

As any seasoned malpractice attorney in Cleveland knows, you must be prepared to go the distance if you want to win. A recent malpractice case between the Cleveland Clinic and a retired Air Force colonel found itself in the highest court in the state – the Ohio Supreme Court. In fact, the court is being asked to decide whether the patient has any right to bring his case before the law as well, due to a state four year window for medical malpractice.

The case involves David Antoon and his wife, who accuse the Cleveland Clinic of botching a surgery to remove a cancerous prostrate gland, which the Clinic denies. The surgery occurred in 2008, yet the case was only filed this year, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

But Antoon argues that the suit was only delayed because the Clinic refused to grant access to key records in the case. The couple dropped their first suit in 2011.

“There is so much obstruction in the process,” said Antoon told the Plain Dealer. “If the merits of the case are not heard, it is a great injustice. It’s not just an injustice for me as an individual, it’s an injustice for the entire process.”

Antoon will have his day in court, indeed in the highest court in the land. If you have been the victim of malpractice and seek justice, contact a Linton Law Firm malpractice attorney in Cleveland today for a free consultation. You deserve to be heard. You case should be expertly represented.