Philosophy and Accepted Cases
Philosophy and Goals
The Law Offices of Kenneth H. Coleman, P.S., established in 1993, primarily represent individuals and their families who have been permanently injured or who have died as a result of medical malpractice or medical negligence. Whether the case involves catastrophic injury or death, the firm's purpose is to guide people in their search for justice and accountability. In addition, our purpose is to not only hold those accountable who have caused an injury or death, but in so doing to help prevent such errors from occurring to others in the future.
Prior Case Examples
Since its inception in 1993 the firm has handled various types of medical malpractice cases, both independently and in association with other firms. Below are examples of prior cases:
A jury verdict in excess of $4,000,000 was secured in Spokane, Washington, for the surviving spouse and three young daughters of a woman who bled to death when the doctors missed the diagnosis of ectopic (tubal) pregnancy.
Confidential Settlement . HMO case. A 48 year-old man had obvious heart attack symptoms, but he was not hospitalized or fully evaluated. Instead, he was managed as an out-patient. They never consulted a cardiologist, and he died two weeks later.
Confidential Settlement . A 39 year-old automobile sales manager had a tonsillectomy. He then developed an infection (epiglottitis) and the surgeon sent him home without proper care or investigation. He died the next day leaving behind a wife and two young sons.
Confidential Settlement . A woman in her early thirties lost control of her legs. The emergency doctor accused her of malingering (lying or faking) and sent her home in a wheelchair. Two days later when she was properly diagnosed it was too late to prevent a permanent spinal cord injury. This would not have occurred if the emergency physician had ordered the proper tests and had called the neurosurgeon to see the patient.
Confidential Settlement . A neurosurgeon tried to remove a benign tumor from the spinal cord of a healthy Idaho woman in her early forties. He was not experienced or qualified to attempt the surgery, and he did not tell the patient about specialized centers that do this type of surgery. She is now paralyzed and requires full-time care.
Confidential Settlement . An 86 year-old man had chest pain and an obvious heart attack on his electrocardiogram. The emergency physician missed the diagnosis and the patient was not treated in a timely fashion. As a result, he died two weeks later.
Confidential Settlement . An orthopedist set an ankle wrong in a 51 year-old woman and did not check the x-rays after surgery. The ankle healed improperly and caused permanent damage including life-time ankle pain and disability.
Confidential Settlement . A dermatologist missed the diagnosis of skin cancer in a mother of four children. This caused a delay in her treatment and put her at significantly increased risk of the cancer returning.
Confidential Settlement . A family physician performed a tubal ligation (tied her tubes) on a 32 year-old married Hispanic woman with four very young children. During the surgery he injured her bowel which then caused an abdominal infection. The next day in the emergency physician failed to diagnose the infection, and instead gave her pain pills and sent her home. The following day she returned, but at this point the still-untreated infection was unable to be controlled and she died.
Confidential Settlement . An 85 year-old man became blind in one eye when his physician failed to properly treat his temporal arteritis condition.
Confidential Settlement . A surgeon cut a nerve in a Spokane mother's neck when doing a lymph node biopsy and caused permanent shoulder disability. She could no longer lift or perform her work as a package delivery driver.
Confidential Settlement . A young woman teacher waiting in her car at a railroad crossing was exposed to toxic fumes from a passing train. This then caused her to subsequently have severe reactions to household and classroom cleaners and chemicals, and she could no longer teach.
$40,000 Settlements . A surgeon tied off the wrong vein, causing worsening of a varicose vein condition instead of improvement, in two different patients. A second surgeon had to re-operate on both women to repair the first surgeon's mistakes.
Confidential Settlement . A doctor injured the intestine while tying a woman's tubes (tubal ligation). He then failed to diagnose the resulting infection, and she nearly died. She lost all her hair and had a two-year recovery period. Her sons had to care for her during that time until she was able to work again.
A $150,000 jury verdict was obtained in Lewiston, Idaho, when a family physician sent a 65 year-old man home who had classic symptoms of a heart attack. He died of a cardiac arrest three hours later.
$1,000,000 Settlement . Physicians failed to properly advise a 52 year-old teacher of his heart condition. The condition was treatable if the patient had been properly managed. He died and left a wife and three school-aged daughters.
Confidential Settlement . A woman died because the radiologist missed an obvious breast cancer on her mammogram. The cancer would have been treatable if it had been properly diagnosed and discovered at the time of the mammogram.
