Kentucky Injury Attorney Blog

In November 2010, a woman went to the Walgreens on Stony Brook Drive in Jeffersontown, Kentucky to get her prescription filled. She had been suffering with high blood pressure among other things and needed hydralazine to treat it. Unfortunately, the pharmacist that took the prescription from her gave her hydroxine, an antihistamine, instead. Because of the error, the woman did not receive the proper treatment for her high blood pressure for two weeks. By the time the error was found, she had to be hospitalized and she died soon after.

The victim's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit on February 15, 2012 in Jefferson Circuit Court. The suit claims that the pharmacist on duty did not counsel the victim on the medication. If he had, he would have noticed the mistake and the proper medication could have been dispensed immediately. Both the pharmacist and Walgreen Corporation are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Compensatory and punitive damages are being requested in the claim.

A wrongful death lawsuit can be filed for numerous reasons. In this case, the victim was treated improperly because she was given the wrong medication, which is considered a type of medical malpractice. Fatal car accidents caused by drunk drivers, drivers under the influence of drugs, or other distracted drivers can result in a wrongful death lawsuit. A lawsuit of this kind can be filed if someone is killed by faulty products or equipment. A good example of this situation is the stage collapse at the Indianapolis, Indiana fairgrounds that killed several people. Deaths from nursing home negligence or abuse can also be cause for a wrongful death lawsuit.

Wrongful death lawsuits are filed by the estate of the victim, most often a family member. The statute of limitations in Kentucky, which is how long the estate has to file suit, is a bit confusing. After a victim has died, the family has up to two years to appoint a representative and to file a lawsuit. Once a representative has been named, a suit must be filed within one year. So if a representative is appointed two days after the victim's death, the estate has one year and two days after the death to file a claim because a representative has been appointed. If the estate waits 18 months to find a representative, there are only six months left in which to file a claim before the two-years-after-death deadline.

Continue reading "Kentucky Woman Dies after being given Wrong Prescription at Pharmacy" »

A medical malpractice suit has ended in the victim's favor in New Albany, Indiana, and a new case has been filed in Taylor County, Kentucky. The first case altered a young woman's life forever, and the second case took the life of a woman completely.

A 21-year-old woman went to Floyd Memorial Hospital because of abdominal pain on June 5, 2003. She was told by Dr. William Garner that she required surgery the next day. Dr. Garner changed his mind about the surgery the next day, then left for the weekend. By June 8th, the patient's condition had dramatically worsened and she had emergency surgery to remove her bowel. She filed a medical malpractice lawsuit contending that if the doctor had continued to have her monitored in his absence, her need to have surgery would have been discovered sooner and more of her bowel could have been saved.

As a result of the delayed surgery, the suit alleges that the victim's life has been negatively affected. She finds it impossible to work. Her body processes food in 30 minutes, rather than the normal six to eight hours, so she is unable to obtain proper nutrition from the things she eats. She also suffers from bloating.

In January, 2012, the jury agreed with the victim and awarded her $1.5 million in damages.
The amount was reduced by the courts to $1.25 million due to a state limit on medical malpractice awards. Some may think a jury of the victim's peers may have not been fair because they are not in the medical profession. But Indiana requires all medical malpractice claims to be reviewed by a panel of three impartial doctors before they can go to trial, and all three agreed with the victim and allowed the case to go to trial.

Continue reading "Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Ends in $1.5 Million in Indiana, Another Begins in Kentucky" »