According to reports, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has finally decided to suspend the license of a doctor who was responsible for making fatal mistakes when treating one of his patients in 2007.
State officials had been asked over a year ago to revoke the doctor’s license. However, the doctor has since retired. Although this is a very minor consequence for making a mistake that resulted in thewrongful death of a patient, the victim’s family has been able to obtain some justice after pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor.
According to the family’s lawsuit, the victim was harmed by the doctor’s negligence while he was jailed in November 2007. While the victim was behind bars, he had complained of stomach pain and vomiting. After being prescribed Mylanta, Zantac and Benadryl, the patient’s symptoms persisted. However, the doctor failed to provide the inmate with additional medical treatment for his symptoms.
The inmate’s condition did not improve, and he went into cardiac arrest. The patient died after he was finally taken to a hospital. He was later diagnosed with septic shock, a perforated ulcer and a brain injury. The family’s lawsuit argued that the man’s doctor had failed to diagnose and treat the inmate’s serious medical condition. As a result, the patient suffered fatal injuries from his medical condition.
The victim was only 50 years old when he died. After pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit, the victim’s family was able to reach a settlement in their case against the doctor. The family received more than $737,000 in damages; however, they would have also liked to have seen the doctor face harsher consequences for his actions than what state officials recently imposed.
Source: PJStar.com, “Peoria doctor linked to inmate’s death fined and suspended,” Dean Olsen, May 2, 2013
