Indiana Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

The Indiana medical malpractice lawyers at Garau Germano Hanley & Pennington, P.C. recently obtained a $1.2 million verdict in a jury trial in the DuBois County Superior Court in Jasper, Indiana.

The medical malpractice verdict was reached by the jury on January 21, 2011 in the case of Meserve v. P. Bryan Lilly, D.O. In July of 2004, Dr. Lilly chose to prescribe a 75 microgram Duragesic patch to a patient he saw in the emergency room, Chad Aders. The Duragesic patch distributes a potent narcotic called fentanyl through the skin and into the patient's bloodstream. The dosage prescribed by Dr. Lilly was far in excess of the manufacturer's recommendations for administration of the drug. Mr. Aders had the prescription filled, applied the patch as he had been instructed, and was found dead in his bed the following day. He was 37 years old and left behind three children, ages 7, 8 and 17.

Jerry Garau represented Mr. Aders' children in the case, which was tried from January 18 to January 21, 2011. After four days of trial, the jury needed only 58 minutes to return a verdict for the full amount requested, $1,206,394.72.

Indiana medical malpractice lawyers are well aware of the alarming rate of substandard care at many hospitals. A recent report from the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services confirms just how widespread the problem is.

The Department of Health and Human Services is the primary government agency charged with protecting the health of all Americans. The report was designed to estimate the incidence of "adverse events" for hospitalized Medicare patients. For purposes of the report, an "adverse event" was defined as harm to a patient as a result of medical care. The report looked at a random sampling of Medicare patients hospitalized in October of 2008 and found that 13.5% of the patients had experienced an adverse event during the course of their stay. This projected to a mind-boggling 134,000 Medicare patients injured during the one month study period. An estimated 1.5% of the patients experienced an adverse event that contributed to their death, which projects to 15,000 patients during the single month. The most disturbing finding of the report: 44% of the adverse events were clearly or likely preventable.

Preventable medical errors remain a serious and challenging problem. If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of medical malpractice, contact an experienced Indiana medical malpractice attorney.