Examples of successful medical malpractice claims resolved by Faraci Lange
Faraci Lange has successfully resolved thousands of cases for clients since 1968. Here are some summaries of just a small percentage of the medical malpractice cases that we have handled successfully.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Fairport woman who lost sight in one eye due to a corneal infection. The patient was admitted to the hospital for severe depression and was unable to care for herself. At the time of admission she had contact lenses in which were not discovered by the staff. She then developed an infection which festered for over a week as the antibiotic eye drops given to the patient could not reach the site of the infection due to the contact lens. The result was severe corneal scarring, and a corneal transplant was unsuccessful in restoring eyesight.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Rochester resident who was rushed to the hospital in the early stages of an embolic stroke. In the emergency department he was evaluated to be an excellent candidate for the drug tPA which is a (thrombolytic) clot-busting medication when given in the early stages of an embolic stroke can have a significant beneficial effect. Unfortunately, the patient was mistakenly given another drug, TNK, which is also a thrombolytic but used as a cardiac medication, and this drug was given at an improper dose because the dosing information for the tPA was used, causing further complications.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a claim of a North Tonawanda man and his wife when the doctor doing surgery on his lower back dropped the power burr tool he was using to grind down the bone in the lamina and the tool severely damaged the cauda equina section of his spinal cord causing loss of sexual, bowel and bladder function and a permanent severe pain syndrome.
Faraci Lange successfully tried to jury verdict a case involving a Rochester man who had surgery on his parotid gland and after the completion of the surgery it was discovered that his leg had come off of the operating table and he suffered a nerve injury to his leg. The defense had contended that his injury was not the fault of the hospital staff and that his injury was not serious or permanent.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a claim of a Phelps man who was admitted to a hospital after a motor vehicle accident and then taken to surgery to repair his broken leg. During the induction of anesthesia due to improper preparation and inappropriate technique the patient aspirated his stomach contents into his lungs and became critically ill. After months on the respirator and paralytic drugs used with the respirator, when the drugs were withdrawn the patient remained permanently paralyzed and unable to speak.
Faraci Lange successfully tried to verdict a case in favor of a Henrietta woman who suffered a permanent nerve injury due to the improper administration of epidural anesthesia during childbirth. The anesthesiologist tried multiple times to insert the needle and improperly injected the anesthetic into the patient’s nerve root while she was complaining of agonizing pain.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Brockport woman who lost a significant portion of her central vision due to the medication chloroquine, which she was taking for lupus. The defendant physician failed to properly test her vision to detect the retinal damage this medication was known to cause in certain cases.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Wellsville man and his wife. He suffered an infection of his colon and the physician who performed surgery on him failed to perform a temporary colostomy but tried an end to end anastomosis which failed and resulted in severe peritonitis and significant abdominal damage.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Batavia woman and her family as a result of the failure of her gynecologist to recognize the signs and symptoms of vaginal cancer. As a result she suffered extensive tissue and nerve damage from radiation therapy and a permanent pain syndrome.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a claim on behalf of a severely brain damaged infant and her family from Rochester when the doctors caring for her failed to recognize the signs and symptoms of fetal hypoxia and failed to deliver her promptly. She now requires 24 hour care for the rest of her life.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Brockport man and his wife, after the man developed colon cancer which was able to progress to a point that it became untreatable due to the failure of his primary care physician to perform any standard colon cancer screening tests, even though he specifically requested them.
Faraci Lange successfully tried to verdict a case on behalf of a Skaneateles woman who suffered a spinal hematoma after surgery that cause permanent paralysis. The woman complained of severe pain after surgery but these complaints were ignored and the hematoma was not discovered until it had caused permanent spinal cord injury including loss of bowel and bladder control.
Faraci Lange successfully tried to verdict a case on behalf of a Brighton woman and her husband who was injured after the lancing of a Bartholin’s cyst in her vaginal area. When she returned to the hospital after the initial procedure against the doctor’s instructions, the doctor sutured the area without sufficient anesthesia causing a permanent pudendal nerve injury and permanent pain syndrome.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of an Elmira woman and her husband after laparoscopic surgery to remove her gall bladder. The surgeon negligently severed her common bile duct resulting in severe complications and permanent disability.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Rochester woman who presented to her primary care physician complaining of a lesion on her back that had changed color and grown larger in recent months. The doctor told her it was nothing to worry about, but it was later diagnosed as melanoma and had invaded deep into the dermis by that time significantly increasing her risk of recurrence and death from the condition.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Branchport man who developed prostate cancer. Although he was over sixty years old, his primary care physician of many years had never performed any routine prostate cancer screening including PSA testing, which is standard for any man over the age of 50.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Burlington, PA man and his family after he suffered severe burns and was placed in a medically induced coma. After aspirating mucus which blocked his airway, the ICU alarms went off but the nurses failed to respond assuming it was a false alarm. As a result he suffered a permanent anoxic brain injury and required 24 hour lifetime care and was permanently unresponsive.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved at trial a claim on behalf of a brain damaged infant and her family from Webster. Her mother had what is called a velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord which left the blood vessels unprotected. During labor the mother began to bleed severely but the doctors failed to recognize the problem. At birth the child was severely hypovolemic due to blood loss, which also went unrecognized until she suffered a permanent brain injury.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a claim on behalf of an Irondequoit man and his wife due to the failure to diagnose a sinus tumor. The man had severe headaches and went to the emergency department and had CT scans taken. The scans clearly showed the tumor completely filling one of his sinus cavities but the radiologist failed to report it as abnormal. Six months later he lost vision in one eye as the tumor pressed on the optic nerve. This was again misdiagnosed as an optic nerve stroke until the tumor spread to the other optic nerve causing total blindness. It was only at that point that the tumor was diagnosed and removed. Unfortunately, the blindness was irreversible.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Pittsford man and his wife who suffered a bowel perforation due to the misdiagnosis of benign cysts in his colon during a colonoscopy. The doctor mistook the cysts for colonic polyps and attempted to cauterize them, which caused a perforation of the colon wall and the development of peritonitis. The man was rushed back to the hospital for emergency surgery and the removal of a significant portion of his colon.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Canandaigua man and his wife against a podiatrist who treated him for two years for what he believed was a plantar wart. The lesion never responded to treatment and the podiatrist failed to take a biopsy until over 25 visits and then failed to take a sufficient sample. The lesion turned out to be verrucous carcinoma which had spread so deeply by the time it was diagnosed that amputation of the lower leg was required to save the man’s life.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Rochester woman who during a contrast CT scan had the contrast material injected outside of the vein and into the soft tissue of the back of her hand resulting in compartment syndrome and a permanent nerve injury.
Faraci Lange successfully settled a birth brain damage case on behalf of the child of a Canandaigua family after a one month long trial against the hospital and attending physician. Plaintiffs’ claimed that the hospital and attending physician failed to properly monitor the mother’s condition and progress resulting in the baby undergoing asphyxia at birth.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of the Estate, wife and son of a town Judge who was admitted to the hospital with severe pancreatitis, and who died three days later as a result of the hospital’s mismanagement of the patient’s fluid therapy.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a birth brain damaged baby case on behalf of a Rochester couple on the third day of jury deliberations after a one month long trial. The claim was that the hospital and acting physician had not taken the baby by C-Section though there was clear evidence that the baby was in distress and was lacking oxygen.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case, just prior to jury selection, for a woman who had undergone an unnecessary surgical removal of her right breast followed by reconstruction. The surgery resulted from an error in the diagnosis of the biopsy specimen made by the pathologist who reported the cells as cancerous when in fact they were not.
Faraci Lange successfully settled a case just prior to jury selection on behalf of a woman who had undergone a rupture of her uterus and bladder during labor and as a result lost her uterus and suffers from a permanent pain syndrome. She was undergoing a trial of labor though she had previously had a C-Section. The claim was that VBAC patients are subject to higher risks of rupture of the uterus during labor. Plaintiff claimed that the patient should not have been in defendant hospital and attended by a family practice physician because neither could meet the standard of care for VBAC patients, which required the ability to do an immediate C-Section if signs of rupture were observed.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case in favor of a man, against a hospital, and his primary care physician for not properly working up his cardiac history after the onset of severe chest pain. The patient went on to sustain a severe heart attack which permanently damaged over 50% of his heart leading to a substantial decrease of cardiac function.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case in favor of a thirty-eight year old mother brought against her oncologist for failure to properly treat a thyroid cancer, which allowed it to progress and metastasize and go from stage one cancer with a favorable prognosis to a stage four cancer with a dismal prognosis.
Faraci Lange Faraci Lange successfully prosecuted a claim for failure to timely diagnose colon cancer. The Fairport resident had a positive guaiac test. Despite the positive guaiac test the physician failed to order a colonoscopy. Sometime later the patient developed symptoms. A colonoscopy revealed the patient had colon cancer. The patient required multiple surgeries and treatments.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a case on behalf of a Webster resident who lost the majority of sight in one eye due to the failure to diagnose a retinal detachment. Only after persistent complaints was the diagnoses made by another provider as a result the patient underwent procedures and lost the majority of vision in the right eye, including severe photosensitivity.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved the claim on behalf of a Marion resident who was not timely diagnosed with the beginning of symptoms of a perforated bowel. As a result the patient became septic, required multiple surgical procedures, extended hospitalizations and a colostomy.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a claim on behalf of a Greece resident who while hospitalized was given pain medications in a crushed form by the hospital staff. As a result, the patient sustained an overdose of the time released Oxycontin which led to an anoxic brain injury. As a result of the anoxic brain injury the patient sustained paralysis to one side of the body.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a claim on behalf of an Avon resident whose blood disorder was improperly managed by the physicians, despite recommendation of the specialists to the contrary. As a result of excessive amounts of anticoagulants, the patient developed a severe internal bleed that led to surgical procedures, extensive hospitalizations, and permanent nerve injury.
Faraci Lange Faraci Lange successfully prosecuted a claim on behalf of a Perinton man who developed colon cancer as a result of polyps that were detected in a previous colonoscopy. However the results of the colonoscopy were never communicated to the patient. Unfortunately, the results of the colonoscopy were never communicated between the doctors and the patient was unaware that polyps were present in the colon. As a result, the patient developed metastatic colon cancer and ultimately died of the disease.
Faraci Lange successfully resolved a medical malpractice action for the family of a Geneva man who died from sepsis (related to septic joint). The man, who had recently undergone a knee replacement, went to the emergency room of a local hospital with symptoms of an infection. A blood test was taken, the results of which had not been reported before the man had been released. The blood test showed that the man had an infection and the results were reported to the emergency room, but nobody contacted the man or his doctor to inform them that he had an infection and was in need of immediate treatment. Three days later he returned to the hospital with a serious septic infection. Despite aggressive treatment he died two days later. Had the blood test result been properly communicated and treatment initiated, the man’s infection was curable. The three day delay caused his death.
