Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney Blog - Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP

Monday was a hard day for Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which settled two cases of wrongful death as a result of medical malpractice on the same day for a total payout of $5 million.

In the first case, a woman broke her ankle and went to the hospital on April 25, 2007. The doctors knew that she suffered from several respiratory conditions, including obstructive sleep apnea and asthma, and that she had several allergies to medicines. When she was taken into surgery to set her ankle, she was given Dilaudid, a medication to which she was allergic. After the operation, she was given more Dilaudid by a nurse, even though the doctor had not ordered it. In the early-morning hours of the 26th, she was discovered to have no heartbeat and an extremely low blood-oxygen level. CPR was performed and she was placed on life support, but life support was terminated the next day.

The hospital agreed to a settlement of $1.8 million in the case.

In the second case, a woman woke up on September 6, 2007 with severe pain in her abdomen. When she consulted with her primary care physician, an ambulance was called to take her to Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre. The pain got worse, and she received many tests, but was discharged the next morning with some of the tests unreviewed. Doctors believed she suffered from a urinary tract infection. The pain continued to grow worse, and the next day, the 8th, she collapsed and was unresponsive. She passed away that night.

Her family filed a suit claiming her death was preventable if she had been appropriately diagnosed and treated. Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre settled the case for $3.2 million.

It may not be coincidental that Geisinger has also decided to lay off 400 people at the South Wilkes-Barre medical campus, arguments about the relationship between doctor shortages and medical-malpractice cases notwithstanding.

However, the layoffs seen in the light of these settlements point to the presence of serious quality-of-care issues at the facility. If this is the type of medicine that would be practiced here, perhaps people are better off with traveling to places where better care is practiced.

The layoffs are also symptomatic of the new corporate philosophy of medicine. Geisinger purchased Mercy Hospital in 2005, after determining that it could make the economically-troubled hospital profitable. The downsizing of the staff, and the consequent shifting of serious care to other facilities, namely its Plains Township medical center, were probably part of the plan.

If you have lost a loved one as a result of clear medical negligence, contact the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Pomerantz, Perlbger, and Lewis, LLP today for a free initial consultation.