Robert Clifford Named Chicago Best Lawyers Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year for 2010

Robert Clifford Named Chicago Best Lawyers Medical Malpractice
Lawyer of the Year for 2010

Robert A. Clifford, nationally renown personal injury attorney in Chicago, has been named Chicago Best Lawyers Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year for 2010.

Best Lawyers, the oldest and one of the most respected peer-review publications in the legal profession for the last quarter century, is designating “Lawyers of the Year” in high-profile legal specialities in large legal communities.  Only a single lawyer in each area is being honored as “Lawyer of the Year.”

Clifford, who has been on its list for more than two decades, was given the highest honor for 2010 after being designated the 2009 Chicago Personal Injury Litigator of the Year by the organization.

Best Lawyers’ compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers.  The current edition is based on more than 2.8 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers.

As this year’s honoree, Clifford received particularly high ratings in its surveys by earning a high level of respect among their peers for his ability, professionalism and integrity.

Steven Naifeh, Managing Editor of Best Lawyers, said, “We continue to believe – as we have believed for more than 25 years – that recognition of one’s peers is the most meaningful form of praise in the legal profession.  We would like to congratulate Robert A. Clifford on being selected as the ‘Chicago Best Lawyers Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year’ for 2010.”
___________________

For further information, please call Jeremy Wilson, Communications Manager at Best Lawyers at (803) 644-1668 or email him at jwilson@bestlaywers.com.  Communications Partner at Clifford Law Offices, Pamela Menaker, can be reached at (847) 251-4877 or pammenaker@cliffordlaw.com

Keith Hebeisen Obtains $5 Million Verdict

Keith A. Hebeisen, partner at Clifford Law Offices, obtained a $5 million verdict on behalf of a Greyslake woman who underwent an unnecessary hysterectomy.

The story received widespread coverage in the Chicago press.  Click here to see the coverage of the ABC affiliate.

Click here to see the coverage of the CBS affiliate. 

The Daily Herald also covered the story. 

For the press release issued by the firm on the verdict, please click here.

Patients’ Concerns

A recent survey of patient satisfaction at emergency rooms across the country indicates that being kept well informed was the greatest concern as well as how well the staff cared about them as people and how well their pain was controlled.

Of the 1.4 million patients surveyed last year, waiting time in the ER was not of greatest concern but would have improved their overall satisfaction, according to the report that was done by Press Ganey, a consultant for more than 10,000 health care facilities.  The average time spent for each visit to an emergency room four hours and three minutes in 2008.
   
   

The Dangers of Alternative Cancer Therapies

Associated Press is reporting some studies found that 60 percent of cancer patients try unconventional remedies and about 40 percent take vitamin or dietary supplements, which do not have to be proven safe or effective and are not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.
 
People who try these unproven treatments risk not only money but also sometimes their only chance at beating the disease by foregoing conventional treatment or concurrently doing other therapies, according to the study. Harmless-sounding vitamins and "natural" supplements can also reportedly interfere with cancer medication or affect hormones that help cancer grow, the study reports.
 
While no alternative treatments can cure cancer, some reportedly can assist in easing symptoms.  One study reportedly found ginger capsules to ease nausea if started days before chemotherapy.
 
A recent trend is more troubling, however.  With the aid of the internet, online retailers and virtual "quacks" are selling fringe treatments and miracle cures supported by so-called testimonials rather than scientific proof.
 
"What I am noticing in the last year or two is a resurgence of these things. It's coming back," said Barrie Cassileth, integrative medicine chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and a longtime adviser to the American Cancer Society.  Cassileth’s research has reported that about 7 percent of cancer patients go straight to an alternative approach, sometimes traveling to Mexico, the Bahamas or Europe for treatments not allowed in the United States.  And because of the slow spread of some cancers, people can be fooled into thinking their alternative approach is working, thereby wasting precious legitimate treatment time.
 
Alternative therapies can harm cancer patients in many ways, according to doctors.  Medically they can delay the time until the patient seeks effective treatment.  Financially they siphon off money that can be better utilized in other treatments.  Psychologically they can raise false hopes, and physically, they can interfere with the effectiveness of chemotherapy, radiation or hormonal treatments for cancer, doctors have reported.

University of Chicago Acknowledges Failure to Follow Protocol in Man’s Death

The headline was surprising: “U. Of C.: Staff may have erred in ER death.” 

Officials at the University of Chicago Medical Center acknowledged in late March that its staff may not have followed protocol in dealing with a man who died in its emergency room in February.

“Our investigation found that proper policies and procedures were in place, but staff members may not have followed the protocol,” according to a statement released by the medical center.  “Appropriate disciplinary actions are being taken.”

The incident involved the Feb. 3 death of a 78-year-old man that prompted an investigation by the Illinois Public Health Department and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS).

According to authorities, the elderly man was in the emergency room for “a couple of hours” but “was not originally triaged when he first arrived.”  Reportedly, the man’s daughter had to bring it to the attention of a nurse who noticed he was not breathing. 

Officials there reportedly intend to submit an improved performance plan in the emergency room to the state Health Department and CMMS so that it would avoid being in danger of having its Medicaid certification revoked.
   

University of Chicago ER Policy Criticized

The University of Chicago Medical Center’s initiative to divert patients that it deems not to be emergencies to other nearby hospitals and clinics is coming under some severe criticism.

A national emergency doctors’ group Thursday said that the policy is “dangerously close” to violating federal laws.  The American College of Emergency Physicians, a group representing 26,000 physicians in the country, issued a statement that said it has “grave concerns that the University of Chicago’s policy toward emergency patients is dangerously close to ‘patient dumping.’” Transferring or discharging a sick patient for financial reasons violates federal law.  Medical experts debate the law at issue that allows for varying degrees of medical judgment on who is admitted and who is cared for elsewhere.

The national physicians’ group reportedly charged the U of C’s Urban Health Initiative as a way to “‘cherry pick’ wealthy patients over poor” and expressed fear that if other hospitals did the same, “It will leave many emergency patients virtually out in the cold.”

The physicians’ group is accusing the university of “failing in its obligation to treat emergency patients” by reducing the number of inpatient beds for emergency patients in an effort to cut costs.  The issue came to light last week when a 12-year-old boy on Medicaid was treated at U of C following a pit bull attack but was transferred to another hospital for surgery.

U of C officials have defended themselves saying that the group’s criticism were “reckless and uninformed and based on hearsay.”  They said its policy is about getting patients the right treatment at the appropriate location in tough economic times.

Earlier this month, the hospital, located on Chicago’s South Side in Hyde Park, announced an effort to trim $100 million from the hospital’s budget.  One of the initiatives was it decision to send patients who do not require urgent care to be transferred to other hospitals and clinics in order to allow its emergency room staff to focus on more complex treatment.

Autism Ruled Not Connected to Children’s Vaccines

A United States court has ruled that children’s vaccinations are not related to autism, a brain development disorder.

Three special masters of the 5,500 cases that have been filed under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program ruled that “the evidence is overwhelmingly contrary” to the theory that the vaccines cause autism.

At issue really was the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine that contains a mercury-based preservative.  Instead of suing the manufacturers of the vaccines, families are forced to file a petition for “no-fault” compensation with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

The special masters of this fund function as trial judges in dealing with the thousands of autism-related claims.  Three test cases were selected to represent the theories of how vaccines can cause autism.  The Office of the Special Master found Thursday that the connection isn’t there.  

The families have vowed that they will appeal, and if they are unsuccessful there, they can then file a civil lawsuit in court asking for damages.