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Medical Malpractice

Success for 26 Patients in Fertility Doctor Medical Fraud Case

"Dr. Cecil Jacobson told his patients, "I'm the one fertility doctor who can get you pregnant. You'll be glad you came to me. They call me the baby maker!" Injecting his patients with a drug which "would help aid conception" he would schedule three such injections each week for "as many weeks as it would take." Invariably his patients became pregnant. Or, did they? The drug, HCG, triggered positive pregnancy tests. 10 to 15 weeks later he would advise, "Sadly, the ultrasound shows that your baby has died. We should start over. You will pass no tissue. The fetus will be absorbed back into your body." Hundreds of women heard this same story, and endured nearly 1,000 false pregnancies. Dr. Jacobson's fraud continued until partner Robert Hall's lawsuits revealed the truth behind these false pregnancies. During the litigation another sordid truth emerged: Dr. Jacobson also ran an "anonymous sperm donor program", and assured his patients that the donor had been selected to match their complexion, height, ethnicity and religion. There were no anonymous donors. Dr. Jacobson "donated" his own sperm and fathered an estimated 77 children. Hall was successful in his civil action on behalf of 26 patients. Jacobson was indicted and convicted on 55 counts of fraud and perjury. Robert Hall's role in bringing Dr. Jacobson to justice is described in the book Babymaker written by investigative reporter Rick Nelson, and published by Bantam Books, Incorporated.

BECAUSE THE RESULTS OBTAINED IN SPECIFIC CASES DEPEND ON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE, PAST CASE RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN FUTURE CASES UNDERTAKEN BY A LAWYER OR LAW FIRM.

$1.34 Million for Brain Injury from Diagnostic Test

Patient went to a spinal operative treatment center in Reston, VA for a diagnostic discogram procedure of the cervical spine. The patient suffered a toxic brain injury following an injection into the spinal canal. The defendant denied injecting into the spinal canal but Hall Sickels conducted an investigation and found X-rays showing the discogram needle had in fact enter the spinal canal and an MRI of the brain showed a coating of fluid surrounding the brain. A spinal tap proved negative for blood. The jury awarded $1.34 million to the victim.

Gastric ByPass Surgery Results in Brain Damage

Patient suffered brain injury and multiple organ failure due to anemia, hypotension and hyper-profusion during and following a gastric bypass surgery at an area hospital. Hall Sickels successfully established the Defendants'-- the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, CNRAs, the nursing staff and the hospital -- shared responsibility for failure to monitor and respond to his critically low blood pressure, oxygen carrying capacity of blood and blood volume. The Defendants failed to appreciate and timely intervene when the patient progressed to multiple organ failure. The patient suffered brain injury and organ failure due to insufficient oxygen carrying capacity of the blood, low blood volume and low blood pressure. This case was resolved with a favorable settlement for the patient.

Negligent Psychiatric Polypharmacy Injures 12 Patients

Twelve patients under the care and treatment of a psychiatrist in Arlington, Virginia were inappropriately prescribed a host of psychiatric drugs resulting in serious impairments and permanent damage to the patients' cognitive abilities. Hall Sickels spearheaded the litigation against the psychiatrist and the case resulted in a favorable settlement to each of the twelve patients. BECAUSE THE RESULTS OBTAINED IN SPECIFIC CASES DEPEND ON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE, PAST CASE RESULTS DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN FUTURE CASES UNDERTAKEN BY A LAWYER OR LAW FIRM.

$1.245 Million for Failure to Diagnose Prostate Cancer

A 50-year old man had his routine physical, including a prostate exam and blood tests. His PSA (prostate specific antigen, a marker for prostate cancer) was normal at 1.0ng/MI (0-4 is normal) and his prostate was normal. He changed doctors due to a change in his health insurance and continued regular physical exams for four years. During his next physical, his PSA was 44.9ng/MI -- an increase of more than 400%. A biopsy confirmed prostate cancer which had metastasized and was deemed incurable. During the four years he was a patient of the second medical practice, he was never screened for prostate cancer. The defense argued that 'evidence based medicine' does not support preventive testing because there is insufficient evidence to conclude that early detection of prostate cancer saves lives. The plaintiff successfully argued that prostate cancer screening should occur annually; and, that had timely screening been done, his cancer would have been detected at a time it was curable. The jury awarded the victim $1.245 million. As a result, the medical practice's managing physician said they would revamp record keeping and institute new client protocols.

Failure to Diagnose Cancer Settles for $1 Million

A 36 year-old father of two sought medical help for severe knee pain which then developed into severe back pain as well. His doctor ignored a specialist's recommendation for an MRI and instead treated him for the back pain for the next 12 months. Yet his condition continued to deteriorate, until his hip spontaneously fractured. The cause was a larger cancerous tumor, a tumor that would have been detected by the recommended MRI. By that time, the Ewing's sarcoma had metastasized and sadly, the patient died. Plaintiff successfully argued that had the MRI been performed as recommended, the cancer would have been found before it metastasized and the patient's likelihood of cure would have been 65 to 70 percent.

$1 million for Failure to Diagnose Bone Cancer

A 29-year old man visited his family practitioner complaining of knee pain, and then of debilitating back pain. A neurosurgeon recommended a pelvic MRI which the physician ignored and instead for the next year treated the patient for back sprain. The patient's pelvis spontaneously fractured; a large tumor was discovered and diagnosed as Ewing's sarcoma which had metastasized. Plaintiff successfully argued that had the MRI been performed as recommended, the cancer would have been found before it metastasized and the patient's likelihood of cure would have been 65 to 70 percent.

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