Erroneous brain surgery prompts med-mal suit against Oakwood Hospital

2010-02-10 04:12:37 (GMT) (JusticeNewsFlash.com - Justice News Flash, Medical Malpractice)

Medical malpractice lawsuit filed against hospital and doctors.

Legal News for Michigan Medical Malpractice Attorneys. Oakwood Hospital and two of its doctors are facing a medical malpractice lawsuit after failed neurosurgery.

Michigan medical malpractice lawyer alerts- delayed brain surgery prompts lawsuit against hospital and two doctors.

Dearborn, MI (News)—A medical malpractice lawsuit has been filed by the family of a woman who died after reportedly undergoing brain surgery on the wrong side of her head. The suit was filed on Friday, February 5, 2010 against Oakwood Hospital and two of its doctors, according to information provided by the Detroit News.

It was reported that 49-year-old Deborah Blankenship responded to the Oakwood Hospital emergency room with complaints of an acute headache on August 7, 2007. Radiologist Dr. Hasnain Haider-Shah allegedly determined Blankenship was suffering from a severe leak from an artery in her brain though upon locating the source of the leak, he was allegedly “unable to block the bleeding using a catheter to push tiny platinum coils through an artery to the site of the leak”.

The patient was subsequently transferred into another operating room to undergo an emergency craniotomy, which was to be conducted by neurosurgeon Dr. Robert R. Johnson. The lawsuit stated that upon cutting open the right side of her skull to make it possible to reach the site of the aneurysm, Johnson reportedly had to call Haider-Shah into the operating room after seemingly failing to ask which side of her brain the aneurysm was on before the procedure began. As a result of the surgery being deferred, Blankenship suffered severe brain damage and unfortunately died on December 8, 2008, 16 months after undergoing the procedure.

In regards to the suit, a medical malpractice lawyer on the case allegedly stated, “Wrong site operations should never occur… There are so many checks and balances and protocols that doctors and hospitals are responsible to adhere to, that it is hard to imagine how this could have happened.” Damages sought out by the family were undisclosed.

Legal News Reporter: Sandra Quinlan- Legal News for Michigan Medical Malpractice Lawyers.