Does Medical Malpractice Occur at The Cleveland Clinic?
The Cleveland Clinic is one of the world’s most renowned hospitals. Recently, it was ranked Number 1 in the nation for heart care by U.S. News & World Report. This was the 22nd year in a row that The Clinic has received this honor. It was also ranked in the top 3 nationally in 8 other specialties, which gave the hospital the number 2 overall ranking by the same publication. All of this does not mean that the Cleveland Clinic is not without fault or does not make mistakes. The increased size of the hospital alone has led to a number of medical malpractice and negligence actions.
On February 12, 2010, a neurosurgeon name Dr. Xiao Di suffered an injury when bone chips went into his left eye during a procedure he was performing. On January 14, 2011, Dr. Di underwent surgery at The Cleveland Clinic to repair his left eye. Unfortunately, during that procedure a hole was torn in Dr. Di’s iris and his pupil was severely damaged. Consequently, Dr. Di was unable to perform any further surgeries or work as a neurosurgeon. A lawsuit was brought against the Cleveland Clinic, and the jury returned a $7.7 million medical malpractice verdict.
In May 2008, the Cleveland Clinic quickly settled a case after seeing a verdict form filled out by the jury awarding the plaintiff almost $16 million. The case involved a 6 year old boy that had suffered significant brain damage during child birth. The allegations were that the Cleveland Clinic nurses failed to properly monitor the child during birth who had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck.
On June 10, 2002, a jury found that the Cleveland Clinic was negligent by performing experimental psychosurgery on Mary Lou Zimmerman without her informed consent. The surgery resulted in permanent and disabling brain damage to Mrs. Zimmerman. Four lesions formed in her brain, which were caused by passing heated electrodes through her brain tissue. There was a subsequent abscess, and Mrs. Zimmerman became mute and developed severe dementia. The jury awarded Mrs. Zimmerman $7.5 million and stopped performing this type of surgery after the lawsuit.
As you can see, although the Cleveland Clinic is one of the top ranked hospitals in the nation, medical mistakes do happen. Our lawyers are experienced in pursuing claims against the Cleveland Clinic. If you think you have a potential case, click here for our contact information.