This case study examines how medical negligence — specifically, the repeated failure to investigate a dangerous secondary cause of headache — led to a tragic outcome, and what it means for patients and families who may be facing a similar situation. After several days of doctors failing to properly investigate his symptoms, a patient lost his life to a treatable infection.
Most people think of anesthesia as the part of surgery where you “go to sleep.” And for most patients, that’s more or less how it feels. But anesthesiologists are doing something far more complex and far more dangerous than simply administering medication. They are temporarily eliminating your body’s ability to protect its own airway and taking full responsibility for keeping you alive in its absence. When that responsibility is met with carelessness, inadequate preparation, or poor decision-making, the results can be catastrophic, even deadly.
Pittsburgh trial attorney Gregory R. Unatin, a partner at Lupetin & Unatin, LLC, has once again been named to the Super Lawyers list of Top 50 Lawyers in Pittsburgh and the Top 100 Lawyers in Pennsylvania — honors he has now received consecutively since 2023. Separately, he has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America® 2026 for Personal Injury Litigation (Plaintiffs), one of the oldest and most credible peer-review distinctions in American law.
Brendan B. Lupetin, managing partner of Lupetin & Unatin, LLC in Pittsburgh, has been named the 2026 “Lawyer of the Year” for Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs in Pittsburgh by Best Lawyers in America®. This distinction is awarded to only one attorney per practice area, per metropolitan area, per year—making it the most selective peer-reviewed honor in the legal profession.
A Pittsburgh family’s worst nightmare began with a simple fever check at an urgent care clinic. Within hours, their vibrant 14-month-old daughter was gone—not from her illness, but from a medical system that failed to recognize a screaming emergency. This is the story of how Lupetin & Unatin held a Pennsylvania healthcare system accountable for missing what every medical professional should have seen: a heart rate so dangerously high it should have triggered an immediate code.
There is a persistent myth in medicine — one that doctors and hospitals sometimes invoke in their defense — that medicine is an art, not a science. The suggestion is that outcomes are unpredictable, that mistakes are inevitable, and that holding physicians accountable for errors is somehow unfair given the complexity of what they do.
What should have been a routine evaluation for a woman in Armstrong County turned into a harrowing battle for survival due to a series of avoidable medical oversights. In November 2021, Patricia, a 59-year-old woman, sought medical help for post-menopausal bleeding—a classic “red flag” symptom that every gynecologist knows requires immediate investigation for endometrial cancer.
While it is true that the risk of stroke increases with age, strokes in young adults, teenagers, and even children are rising. Currently, 10% to 15% of all strokes occur in people between the ages of 18 and 50. Despite this, Emergency Rooms frequently operate on an “age bias.” When a 70-year-old walks in with slurred speech, the stroke team is activated immediately. When a 25-year-old or a child presents with the exact same symptoms, doctors often look for “more likely” explanations like intoxication, migraines, or vertigo.
One day, your mother is her normal self—doing crossword puzzles, chatting on the phone, and managing her own medications. The next day, you visit and she is a different person. She doesn’t know what year it is. She is talking to people who aren’t there. She is agitated, aggressive, or unusually lethargic. Your mind immediately races to the worst-case scenarios: Is this a stroke? Is this sudden onset dementia? Alzheimer’s?
If your son woke up in severe pain or complained of sudden agony after sports practice, you likely rushed him to the Emergency Room expecting immediate answers. You trusted the doctors to rule out the most dangerous conditions first. However, far too many parents are sent home with a diagnosis of a “groin strain,” “epididymitis,” or a vague viral infection, only to return hours or days later to find that their son has lost a testicle permanently.
It often starts with something minor: a scrape from a fall, a small cut while gardening, a surgical incision, or even a bug bite. You clean it, bandage it, and expect it to heal. Within hours, the situation changes. The area becomes swollen and hot. A red rash begins to spread visibly across the skin. Most terrifyingly, the pain is agonizing—far worse than you would expect from such a small injury.
Stop Guessing, Start Predicting Guests: Pete Mansmann, Rich Epstein, and Oscar McKnight In episode 41 of Just Verdicts, host Brendan Lupetin interviews the team behind
