Firm News

Our client became seriously ill after taking the wrong medication that was dispensed in a mismarked bottle by a local pharmacy.  The case was settled prior to litigation.

My client’s 56 year old mother passed away unexpectedly in a car crash.   She had not set up any funeral arrangements in the event of her death.

Her adult sons called various funeral homes to get estimates for the costs of a funeral.  One of the several funeral homes they called went and picked up the body without the family’s permission or consent.  After picking up the body from the county coroner, they then had the body embalmed, also without authority or consent.

Under Ohio law, funeral homes are required to have consent before picking up a deceased body and are required to get written consent before embalming.  Neither of these things were done in this case.

The funeral home admitted the mistake, but contended that our clients were not damaged in any way, as they got a “free” pick up and embalming.  We argued that our clients were denied the choice of funeral home and suffered great emotional distress upon learning that their mother had been picked up and taken away unlawfully.  In addition, we argued that the funeral home had fraudulently advised the coroner that they had authority to pick up the body.

The case was settled short of litigation.  The amount and terms of the settlement are confidential.

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LORAIN, Ohio –The Lorain County Coroner’s Office is being sharply criticized for allowing organs of a deceased teenager to be released prior to doing an autopsy.

Vanessa Webb,17, died unexpectedly last November and the coroner was unable to determine the cause of death.

“We’re not satisfied that a 17-year-old died for no good reason,” said Dr.Stephen Evans, who is the coroner in Lorain County.

Some of Vanessa’s organs, including her heart, were donated to Lifebanc, before the coroner did an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

“I don’t understand how you can donate someone’s organs before you do an autopsy,” said a distraught Jennifer Stewart, Vanessa’s mother.

Jennifer told the Investigator Tom Meyer that the coroner’s office talked to her twice about organ donation, just hours after she learned her daughter had passed away. Dr. Evans insists that the organs were recovered at the request of the family.

“We try to honor the family’s wishes. The family’s wishes in this case were to do a donation,” he said.

“That infuriates me,” said Jennifer. She believes the coroner jumped the gun, and presumed wrongly that her daughter died of a drug overdose. Police ruled out suicide or foul play.

“My wishes were to find out a cause of death, and now, because of them pushing to have an organ donation, rather than an autopsy, I may never have closure,” she said.

Dr. Evans admits he considered an accidental overdose given the local heroin epidemic. But he says he had never come to any conclusions at the time the organs were donated.

“This is still an ongoing investigation,” he said.

It’s been 10 months since Vanessa passed away.

“I think they’re buying time. I think they (the coroner) will never determine the cause of death,” said Roni Sokol, one of the attorneys along with David Malik who are representing the family.

Malik said in a statement: “It has long been recognized in the transplant industry that the procurementt of organs for transplant is a process wrought with conflcits of interest. Both Lifebanc and the Lorain County Coroner’s office are two parties at the center of the conflicts of interest in this case. We will be seeking to improve the process related to the procurement of organs for transplant through every legal weapon available.”

Sokol says a lawsuit is being prepared.

“Under Ohio law, they’re not supposed to release the body to anyone until a cause of death has been determined,” Sokol said.

Dr. Evans believes his office has done nothing wrong. He says Lifebanc examined the heart and his office autopsied the rest of the body, but only after the organs were taken.

Lifebanc declined to talk about the individual case, but sent a statement regarding the importance and value of organ donations.

“Lifebanc recognizes all organ, eye and tissue donors as heroes in their efforts to save the lives of the more than 125,000 women, children and men who are currently waiting for life-saving organ transplants nationwide. One organ donor can save up to eight lives and enhance the lives of 50 other people through tissue donation,” according to the statement released by Jillian Frazier, the Director of Development and Community Services.

Jennifer Stewart maintains that the autopsy was always the top priority and should have been done before any of her daughter’s organs were given away.

She says she’ll keep fighting for answers.

“She (Vanessa) deserves that. We deserve that,” she said.

Our client was a 12 year old boy who, with his family, was visiting a relative in the hospital. While in the waiting area, our client and his cousin wandered away from their mothers and, while walking down a hallway, were stopped by a nurse who asked them if there was an adult with them.  The nurse was holding a tray of supplies. While they were talking, the nurse somehow punctured the boy in the back of his hand with a hypodermic needle.  The boy immediately saw blood and ran to his mother.

The boy received immediate treatment, including being tested for various diseases.  The tests all came back negative.

Upon reviewing the videotape, it was clear that the nurse had engaged in conversation with the boys, and that she was holding a tray of supplies.  It was unclear what exactly caused his wound.

The hospital contended that he was scratched by the edge of the tray, and if he had been stabbed by the needle,  the cap was on it.  They argued that even if the cap was off the needle, it was clean, as all used needles are immediately disposed of.  The nurse was prepared to testify that the cap was on at all times and if anything had stabbed the boy, it was the cap on the needle.  Our client was prepared to testify that he was indeed stabbed by a needle.

The terms of the settlement are confidential.

My client became violently ill after consuming mussels at a well-known chain restaurant.  She spent several days in the hospital, where she was diagnosed with dehydration and renal failure.  The insurance company for the restaurant disputed the claim on the basis that lab results did not show evidence of E. Coli, salmonella, or any other bacteria.  We argued that something in the food clearly made her sick, as she had eaten nothing else that day.  Also, she had complained to her waiter that the mussels didn’t taste right and had sent them back.  Fortunately, we were able to settle the matter without court intervention.

In November of 2013, the widow of Eric Wiley found out from a channel 8 news report that her late husband’s cremated remains were found in an Akron area dumpster 3 years after his death.  Upon investigation, it was revealed that, instead of burying the cremated remains, the funeral director had left them in a storage unit, where they sat for years.  After not paying his bill to the storage facility, the contents of his unit (including the cremains of Mr. Wiley) were thrown into a dumpster where they were later discovered by a “dumpster diver.”

The Sokol Law Firm was hired to represent the family in their claim against the funeral director.  Today, a year and one-half later, we obtained a settlement for our clients.  In addition, their beloved husband and father is now buried in his proper final resting place.  It was a long road, and we are thrilled to be able to offer our clients closure in this matter.

You can see the original FOX 8 news story at the link below:

http://fox8.com/2013/11/20/cremated-remains-found-in-akron-dumpster/

My client was an 81 year old resident of an apartment building that housed senior citizens.  She was seriously injured when she stepped into the building’s laundry room after the floor had been treated with glue or some other type of strong adhesive in preparation for replacing the floor.

When our client stepped into the laundry room, she became stuck to the floor and fell (first backwards and then upon getting herself up again, forwards). She struggled for approximately 45 minutes to get out of that laundry room without help.  She sustained a broken wrist, among other injuries.

We argued that our client had no warning of the dangerous condition of the floor in the laundry room before entering, as there were no signs or tape warning that the floors were being redone.  Moreover, the condition of the floor was not open and obvious because she got stuck upon her first step in. Both the carrier for the apartment building and for the contractor denied the claim.

We filed suit, and in depositions, elicited testimony that the contractor had been instructed to put caution tape all around the area, but had not done so. Based in large part upon this deposition testimony, we were able to settle the case for a confidential amount.

Our client was the daughter of an elderly woman who was wheelchair bound.  She had retained the services of an in-home nursing care facility to provide day care services for her mother.  To that end, a home healthcare provider was to go to  her mother’s apartment every day, five days a week, and provide health care services for her for the entire day.

On one of that provider’s visits to the mother’s apartment, the provider knocked and/or rang the bell, but no one answered.  The provider then left.  This happened again the next day, the day after that, and the day after that.  The health care provider did not tell anyone that no one was answering the door.  Finally, on day five, the healthcare provider advised her supervisor that no one had been answering the door for the past five days.

The manager of the building was notified. Once they entered the home, they discovered our client’s mother lying on the floor in a puddle of urine.  She had suffered a stroke and was barely conscious.  She spent several months in the hospital where she suffered a heart attack, a loss of her leg, and numerous other ailments.  She ended up passing away from her injuries.

The client came to us a year and a half after her mother’s death.  Therefore, we were unable to pursue a survival claim on her mother’s behalf (Ohio statute is 1 year).  We were left with only the wrongful death action (Ohio statute is 2 years).  We argued that the nursing facility was liable for the death of our client’s mother, as it had a contractual duty to provide her daily care and the failure to do so resulted in her untimely death.

We were able to settle the case in the six figure range six months after making the claim.

The client was an 8 year old boy who was bitten by a rat.  At the ER, the treating physician wrote a prescription for a non-Penicillin antibiotic (Zithromax), as the child had a severe Penicillin allergy.

The boy’s mother dropped off the prescription at a local pharmacy that they often used. A pharmacist filled the prescription incorrectly, giving the boy Penicillin.

Upon arriving home, the mother gave the boy a first dose without carefully reading the bottle.  When her son commented that it tasted good, she looked at the bottle and realized that a mistake had been made.

Shortly thereafter, the boy suffered a severe allergic reaction requiring him to seek emergency treatment.

Pharmacists can be held liable for their mistakes and, like doctors, can even be held liable for medical malpractice under certain circumstances.

The terms of the settlement are confidential.