The Chicago Sun Times has reported that a medical malpractice lawsuit has been filed against Northwestern Memorial Hospital for using the wrong green dye during a patient's angiogram. According to the suit the plaintiff, E.G., now suffers with permanent lung damage and a seizure disorder.
Arden E. Boyer, E.G.'s attorney, states that his client underwent a "fiasco" in the operating room where not one staff member questioned whether the green dye – normally used for clothing – was the correct dye to use for his angiogram.
Boyer contends in the suit that E.G. will be on drugs for the rest of his life to counter the harmful effects of the mishap.
E.G., 34, entered the hospital emergency room on April 10, 2010 with a chief complaint of "radiating neck pain" and headaches. Physicians diagnosed an intracranial aneurysm and a surgery was scheduled for the next day.
In a post-operative angiogram, a "Brilliant Green dye", kept in the hospital's pharmacy for use "in medicine as a topical anesthesia", was injected into E.G.
Boyer contends in the suit that the dye is "extremely poisonous" and the consequences were "really bad" for E.G. Boyer said that his client has "permanent damage to his lungs. He has a reduced lung capacity and permanent scarring of his lungs. He's got a seizure disorder (and) it actually shut down his kidneys for a time."
Boyer said, "He's got an inhaler he uses permanently. He gets coughing spells in the middle of the night" and he will "never get better."
Boyer added, "The drug they administered didn't have any FDA packaging" but doctors presumed it to be what they ordered for the angiogram: "IC Green."
The dye used for angiograms is fluorescent. The dye used on E.G., according to Boyer, failed to "have any FDA packaging" that would have spelled out exactly what it was.
Boyer stated that the IC Green comes in a powder form – but the dye used on his client came from the hospital's pharmacy in liquid form. Boyer concluded, "There were so many, many mishaps here. It's really sad. They brought this vial down to the operating room and nobody in there knew what it was. I can't for the life of me understand why (this dye would be used on the patient). This was just inexcusable."
Everyone in the operating room, according to Boyer, failed E.G. by not questioning the use of the dye. He said, "Nobody knew what it was. Nobody knew how much to give. Why would you just inject something because it says 'green'?"
The lawsuit is asking for $450,000 in damages and attorney fees.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital failed to return a call for comment on the litigation.
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