Medical providers face wrongful death suit stemming from renal mass procedure

A doctor and three medical care providers are being sued over claims a Cook County man died as a result of a procedure intended to remove a mass.

Anna Cascio, individually and as executor of the Estate of Joseph Cascio, filed a lawsuit April 25 in the Cook County Circuit Court against Dr. Robert S. Lai, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, Loyola University Health System and Uropartners LLC, doing business as Uropartners of Illinois and Uropartners Melrose Park.

The wrongful death suit states Lai performed a laparoscopic hand-assisted left radical nephrectomy to remove Joseph's renal mass on April 30, 2012, and provided postoperative care.

During the procedure, Cascio contends Lai committed numerous acts of negligence, including, but not limited to, failing to recognize and repair a perforation. She claims as a result of Lai's negligence, Joseph's sepsis went undiagnosed until May 4, 2012 and he died on Nov. 30, 2012.

Cascio is seeking more than $100,000 in damages and is being represented in the case by Thomas J. Nathan and Mark P. Munninghoff of Munday & Nathan.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L004609.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.