HPS Attorneys Mike Prangle, Ken Webster, and Trent Earl successfully defended a Las Vegas area hospital (defendant hospital) against allegations that it had contributed to a patient’s Osmotic Demyelination Syndrome (ODS) resulting in the Plaintiff being in a complete, locked-in state.

A recent study by the CDC suggests that approximately 84.2% of postpartum deaths are preventable. When the CDC viewed the statistics to determine whether a death was preventable, the CDC asked was “there at least some chance of the death being averted by one or more reasonable changes to patient, community, provider, facility, and/or systems factors.”

In December 2022, three additional attorneys at Hall Prangle and Schoonveld, LLC were sworn into the Wisconsin Bar, which now makes eight attorneys at the Firm licensed to practice law in that state. HPS partners and associates moved to gain permanent licenses in Wisconsin to better serve clients with healthcare legal and litigation needs in that state. 

On November 4, 2022, the CDC released new guidelines for the prescription of opioids for pain. The new guidelines have been described as a “corrective” measure after the 2016 CDC Guidelines were often misinterpreted by health systems, physicians, and state governments.

Eleven Attorneys at Hall, Prangle and Schoonveld LLC have been recognized as 2023 Super Lawyers or 2023 Rising Stars. Super Lawyers, which is owned by Thomson Reuters, is a national organization that ranks attorneys based on peer nominations that are then reviewed by an independent research team.

Suicidal ideation-related emergency department visits for youth in Illinois increased substantially from 2016 through 2021, with key peaks starting before the COVID-19 pandemic, medical researchers in Chicago have found.

The March of Dimes recently released the “Nowhere To Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the U.S.” report for 2022. A maternity care desert is defined as any county without a hospital or birth center offering obstetric care and without any obstetric providers.

A recent report from VMG Health, a healthcare strategy and transaction company, suggests that a delay in progressing medical malpractice cases during the pandemic is leading to an increase in medical malpractice activity and is increasing the costs of medical malpractice cases to the hospital in 2022.

From all of us at HPS, we wish you and yours a happy holiday and a prosperous new year.

In October, Federal Judge Steven C. Seeger declined the defendants’ request to stay Illinois’ prejudgment interest statute in the case of Saiyed v. U.S. due to ripeness. He based his decision on procedural law. Both the state’s appellate courts and Supreme Court have yet to take prejudgment interest under consideration.

HPS Attorneys Marilee Clausing and Molly Pankauskas successfully defended an anesthesiologist against claims that he negligently performed the patient’s preoperative evaluation and failed to timely treat postoperative airway complications.

Ann Ford, Partner at HPS Law and Managing Director of HPS Advise, and Chad Gough, HPS Advise Consultant, presented a webinar on electronic health records (EHR)/electronic medical records (EMR), audit trails, digital discovery and managing the risks they present in litigation. The webinar focused on federal law and on related issues that are current in Illinois.

On November 1, 2022, the Anesthesiology and Respiratory Therapy Devices Panel of the FDA’s Medical Devices Advisory Committee met virtually to discuss a problem brought to light by the COVID-19 pandemic: pulse oximeters are not as accurate as previously thought, particularly for patients with darker skin.

HPS Attorneys Laura Ginett and Elizabeth Neidig successfully defended a Chicago-area anesthesiologist against allegations of negligence related to his administration of a supraclavicular nerve block and pre-operative sedation.

Prior research has identified an association or correlation between moms with disabilities and elevated risk of preterm birth and low birth weight. A new study published in the September 2022 issue of Pediatrics, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found a mild to moderate increased risk of neonatal complications among newborns of women with disabilities compared with the newborns of women without disabilities.

In the last two months, Hall Prangle and Schoonveld, LLC has expanded its ability to serve its clients by adding attorneys to its Chicago, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City teams.

Hall Prangle and Schoonveld, LLC attorneys, David Hall (Dave), David Kalimuthu and Gina Ambrose received a 2022 Trial Lawyer Excellence Award from the Jury Verdict Reporter (JVR), a division of Law Bulletin Media.

In the latest round of settlements between Florida and chain pharmacies over opioid-related claims, on October 20, 2022 Attorney General Ashley Moody announced a $215 million settlement with Walmart.

Bradley H. Rowe, Partner in the Pensacola Office of Hall Prangle and Schoonveld, LLC, reactivated his License to practice law in Alabama, expanding the firm’s standing ability to defend clients into that state.

On October 6, 2022, Ann Ford, Partner at Hall Prangle and Schoonveld, LLC and Managing Director of HPS Advise, presented on the topic of compliance and value adds in the medical supply industry to the Midwest Association for Medical Equipment Services & Supplies (MAMES) during its 2022 Fall Conference.