Personal injury and medical malpractice

Fritzie Burkett gave birth to her son, Genesis, at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge in 2010.  Born four months premature, Fritzie and her husband Cameron stayed at his bedside for six weeks following his birth.

With no sign of complication, Genesis died suddenly following a heart operation in October 2010.  Hospital investigation uncovered the following medical errors:

• A hospital pharmacist incorrectly entered electronic information when preparing an intravenous order for Genesis.  The resulting IV contained 60 times the sodium chloride prescribed—killing Genesis.
• An automatic alert system on IV compounding equipment was disabled.
• The label of the IV bag administered to Genesis did not reflect its actual contents.
• A lab technician assumed abnormally high sodium blood test levels were a mistake.

On April 5, 2012, Fritzie and Cameron Burkett agreed to settle their lawsuit against Advocate General for $8.25 million.

Following investigation of the incident, Advocate Lutheran addressed and changed policies to avoid future accidents.  Said hospital spokesman Greg Ward, “[w]e have taken comprehensive steps across Advocate to ensure this type of tragedy does not happen again.”

People of all ages suffer injury leading to disability and death each day.  Our attorneys represent clients throughout Indiana injured by the negligence of others.

Although money does not compensate parents and loved ones for grief, or loss of their child, this incident drew attention to admitted errors and a death that should not have happened. Although the past cannot be changed—a future may be saved.