A lawsuit has been filed on the behalf of a Blue Island teen who died after undergoing a root canal.

Christopher Schutzius lost a filling while eating a piece of caramel in January of 2011. He went to Dental Dreams at the Blue Island office in the 12200 block of Western Avenue on February 1, 2011 to rectify the problem.

Christopher ended up having root canal surgery. His foster mother reported that Christopher complained of feeling sick four days after the surgery. He was rushed to the hospital eight days after surgery when his condition worsened. According to the medical examiner’s office of Cook County, Christopher died the following day from sepsis which he contracted after the root canal.

The wrongful death lawsuit claims negligence on the part of Dental Dreams and Dr. Jungah Ko, who is alleged to have performed the operation and using the wrong size of files on the infected tissue during the procedure. The suit also claims that the doctor failed to properly drain and seal the tooth which lead to the spread of the infection.

Poor medical care can lead to more injury than the original complaint. If you or a loved one knows someone who had received inferior medical care, call Spiros Law at 815-929-9292 for professional legal representation. Visit the website at www.spiroslaw.com.

The mother of a man who was seriously injured in a bar fight has filed suit against the hospitals and doctors that cared for her son.

Tinley Park resident Eric Bartels is a single dad who was going to school for an MBA in 2009. But one night he got into a fight with Joseph Messina, of New Lenox, outside of a Mokena bar. After that fight, Janet Bartels alleges in her suit that the staff of Silver Cross Hospital miscommunicated the condition of her son with first responders who brought him to the hospital and miscommunicated again with the staff of Provena St. Joseph Hospital during his transfer to that facility.

In doing so, Bartels condition was not diagnosed correctly and correct treatment was not started soon enough. The suit claims that the hospitals, both Level 2 Trauma Centers, do not have a neurosurgeon on call who could make it to the hospital within an hour’s time.

Since the incident, Bartels has been taken care of by his mother in her home. He is paralyzed and blind in one eye.  Janet stated he still cannot see nor speak. Messina was charged with aggravated battery.

Medical care that does not happen in a timely manner can delay or hamper recovery. If you or a loved one has suffered inadequate medical treatment, call Spiros Law to explore your legal rights. Visit the website at www.spiroslaw.com.

More cases have been reported in the bacterial Meningitis outbreak that stemmed from an injected steroid.

As of Monday morning, CNN stated there are more cases of a rare fungal meningitis caused by a tainted batch of steroid than previously announced. Officials in 23 states are working to notify thousands of patients who received the steroid to treat back pain.

Eight people in four states (Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland) have died from the illness. There have been a total of 91 cases reported so far with confirmed cases also located in Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina and Ohio.

These cases have been traced back to three lots of methylprednisolone acetate that came from a lab at New England Compounding Center in Farmington, Massachusetts. The lab has suspended all operations and surrendered its license until an investigation can be completed. They have also voluntarily recalled all products made at their lab.

Fungal Meningitis can not be passed from person-to-person. Persons who have been injected with the steroid may show symptoms 1 to 4 weeks later. Symptoms may include a fever, a new or increasingly worse headache, nausea as well as symptoms consistent with a deep brain stroke.

Medicines are supposed to heal people, not put their lives in jeopardy. If you or a loved one knows someone who has been made ill by defective pharmaceuticals, call Spiros Law at 815-929-9292 to explore your legal options. Visit the website at www.spiroslaw.com.

A family is awaiting court approval for a settlement agreement in regards to a wrongful death lawsuit against a Chicago nursing home.

Jennifer Seafield filed the suit against Warren Park Health and Living Center after the death of her mother, Jean Engstrom, on July 4, 2010. Engstrom, 51, was living at the West Rogers Park neighborhood facility at the time. The woman was found in a bathtub with the water running by staff members.  Police were called to the facility and paramedics took Engstrom to St. Francis Hospital where she later pronounced dead. The autopsy states that Engstrom died from drowning.

Seafield’s suit stated that the staff should have monitored her mother more closely as Engstrom had expressed suicidal thoughts to staff members. Otherwise, the woman would not have been able to drown herself in the facility’s tub room. If the settlement is approved by the court, the total amount of $102,500 will be paid to Seafield and her lawyers.

Nursing home negligiance can lead to bedsores, poor health conditions and death in some instances. If you or a loved one knows someone who has a family member that suffered negligence in nursing home care, call Spiros Law for professional legal representation. Visit the website at www.spiroslaw.com.

An operating room in Riverside Medical Center, a hospital located in Kankaee, Illinois, caught fire on Monday rendering an unidentified patient injured. The medical center transported the patient to Loyola University Medical Center 40 miles away. Hospital spokesperson reported that the fire was extinguished before the Kankakee Fire Department arrived.

At this point the condition of the patient is still unknown, although further investigations are being made into the cause of the fire and the full extent of its damage.

Hospital accidents can leave many people at risk of serious injuries. The Kankakee personal injury attorneys of Spiros Law are dedicated to helping victims of accidents who need legal representation. If you or someone you love has suffered from an accident in a hospital that left you facing health problems, you may qualify for legal compensation. Contact our offices at 815-929-9292 or by visiting www.spiroslaw.com for more information.

The Justice Department of the United States announced that GlaxoSmithKline LLC has agreed to pay a $3 Billion fine as well as plead guilty to promoting two of their drugs for unapproved uses and failing to disclose safety information with a third drug.

In a practice known as off-label marketing, prosecutors stated that GlaxoSmithKline promoted the drug Paxil for treating children with depression from April 1998 to August 2003 despite Paxil being approved only for people over the age of 18.

The company also promoted Wellbutrin for weight loss, sexual dysfunction, substance addictions and attention deficit disorder from the period of January 1999 to December 2003. However, Wellbutrin is only approved for treatment of major depressive disorder.

The Justice Department further reported that the corporation did not report safety issues with the diabetes drug, Avandia, between 2001 and 2007 after problems were discovered in certain post-marketing studies and two studies on the cardiovascular safety of the drug.

The fine will be the largest to be paid by any drug company. The guilty plea and sentence must be approved by the federal court in Massachusetts. Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole stated the company will be monitored by government officials for the next five years to ensure compliance.

Not knowing all of the side effects of a drug can lead to other health problems. If you or a loved one knows someone who has dealt with medication issues, call Spiros Law at 815-929-9292 to explore your legal rights. Visit the website at www.spiroslaw.com.

Hillcrest Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Joliet is facing revocation of their license to operate a nursing home as well as the loss of Medicare reimbursement from the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The investigation from CMS was a result of complaints about a 26-year-old male resident who sexually, physically or mentally assaulted 23 residents. This resident allegedly threatened his victims not to report his behavior or he would return with a gun. It was also found that the facility was not monitoring controlled substances in a proper manner.

Illinois Department of Public Health currently has a monitor in the facility because residents were being transferred to other facilities without regards to their preferences. Sixteen residents were transferred between March 17th and March 23^rd of 2012, 10 of whom complained to IDPH. One former resident was quoted in an IDPH report as stating they were told ”Hillcrest was closing” and that “the facility… did something very wrong and everyone had to go.”

When things go wrong at a nursing facility, residents need someone to look after their interest. If you or someone you know has a loved one in a nursing home who has been neglected or abused, call Spiros Law at 815-929-9292 to explore your legal rights. Visit the website at www.spiroslaw.com.

A suit alleging mismanagement in the care of a premature baby boy at a Chicago-area hospital has been settled, resulting in an $8.25 million payout to the parents of the infant.

The baby had been born prematurely at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge in 2010 to Fritzie and Cameron Burkett. For the next six weeks, both parents were by the side of their son while he remained in the hospital. However, on October 15, 2010, the baby passed away after a heart surgery without clear complications.

During the investigation, it was determined information had been entered incorrectly while processing an electronic IV order for the infant. This lead to massive sodium chloride overdose in the IV solution. Furthermore, the outmost label on the IV bag did not reflect its actual contents.

Because of the problems that occurred with the care of this baby, the Provena system has changed its policies to prevent problems such as this.

The loss of a child because of medical error is heartbreaking. If you or a loved one has been in this situation, call Spiros Law at 815-929-9292 for professional legal representation. Visit our website at www.spiroslaw.com.

The $29.1 million medical malpractice verdict was recently upheld in the federal appellate court. T he verdict was awarded to a boy after

he suffered a serious brain injury at birth.

The lawsuit was filed against government-employed doctors at Chicago’s Northwestern Hospital claiming that they did not take the appropriate measures to prevent infection and missed the signs that there was neonatal infection. Because of this, the child suffered from serious brain damage.

The government tried to appeal the decision claiming that the statue of limitation was up because the suit was filed two years after the child was discharged from the hospital. The decision was recently upheld. The child now suffers from cerebral palsy and is a quadriplegic.

A medical malpractice lawsuit that was filed after a man suffered from a brain injury after being in the care of the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center has just been settled and an amount of $16.2 million has been approved by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

According to the lawsuit, the 47-year-old man, a former police officer, suffered a brain injury after the nursing staff failed to monitor the man’s intracranial pressure during an EVD challenge.

The result of the negligence lead the man’s ICP levels dangeorusly elevated causing the man to suffer from quadriplegia. In addition to the $16.2 million, another $1.5 million will be paid by the nursing agency.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, you may be able to be compensated for your pain and suffering. Contact the Kankakee medical malpractice lawyers of Spiros Law, P.C., by calling 815-929-9292 today.