 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Lambie v. Schneider6/11/1999
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
On March 7, 1987, Chelsey Lambie was born six weeks premature. On March 19, 1987, after Chelsey started to suffer left congestive heart failure, defendant, Dr. Joel Schneider, operated on her to repair a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), an abnormal opening connecting the heart to one of the blood vessels leaving it. When Schneider could not locate the PDA, he placed Gore-Tex bands around the vessels leaving Chelsey's heart to decrease the abnormally high flow of blood from Chelsey's heart to her lungs. On December 6, 1993, plaintiff Lucie Lambie, mother and next friend of Chelsey, brought a medical malpractice action against defendant. On May 5, 1998, a jury returned a verdict in favor of defendant. Plaintiff appeals, arguing the trial court erred by not giving her tendered instruction on "increased risk of harm," by refusing to instruct the jury so as to correct a misstatement of the evidence by defense counsel in opening and closing argument, and by refusing to excuse one juror for cause. We affirm.
When Chelsey was born, she was in respiratory distress and immediately came under the care of Dr. Carlos Chua, a neonatologist at the High Risk Center at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Illinois (St. John's). Within days of her birth, Chelsey developed a heart murmur and Dr. Patricia VonBehren, a pediatric cardiologist, was consulted. VonBehren concluded Chelsey had a PDA. Both VonBehren and Chua diagnosed Chelsey as also having congestive heart failure.
After attempts to close the PDA with drugs failed, VonBehren recommended that Chelsey undergo surgery to close it. On March 19, 1987, defendant performed surgery on Chelsey to ligate the PDA. During the surgery, defendant could not find a PDA and chose to cut further into Chelsey's chest cavity to diagnose her problem. Defendant concluded Chelsey had a truncus arteriosus, a condition where the blood vessel carrying blood to the body merges with the blood vessel carrying blood to the lungs.
Defendant testified he chose to place a band on each of Chelsey's two pulmonary arteries. Dr. Arnold Strauss, the pediatric cardiologist under whose care Chelsey came when she was subsequently transported to St. Louis, testified that banding had been used where there was some abnormal shunt. It constricts the flow of blood to the lungs until such time as a problem can be repaired. VonBehren testified she was consulted during the surgery. She understood the bands to be a temporary measure, to slow down the shunt for "a short period of time." Dr. David Ott, a pediatric cardiovascular surgeon, and Dr. Thomas Spray, a cardiac surgeon at Children's Hospital in St. Louis (Children's), testified the bands were a temporary, palliative maneuver, to be used until the problem could be diagnosed and fixed. The parties presented conflicting opinions from these and other medical experts as to whether defendant was negligent in prolonging the surgery and cutting deeper into Chelsey in order to attempt a diagnosis and place the bands. After surgery, defendant consulted with all of Chelsey's treating physicians and concluded further diagnostic tests needed to be performed.
According to Dr. Kenneth Barron, a cardiovascular surgeon called by plaintiff, Chelsey was then taken to Children's for more tests. According to VonBehren, defendant did not know of the transfer until the day it occurred. According to Dr. Kenneth Barron, a cardiovascular surgeon called by plaintiff, Chelsey's condition worsened after the surgery and before she got to St. Louis. Strauss described Chelsey as critically ill when she arrived in St. Louis. Chelsey could not breathe on her own and required a ventilator. Her
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Illinois Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|