Personal Injury Law

Jury Finds Hospital Negligent

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

The Herald Online is reporting that a jury has found that both a hospital and the doctor were medically negligent in the wrongful death of a patient. The jury awarded the medical malpractice victim a $3 million verdict and ruled that the hospital bore the bulk of the responsibility. The jury did believe that the patient?s husband was partly negligent in his actions. The patient?s initially sued the hospital and doctor after his wife died. She had gone to the emergency room at the hospital with both stomach and lower back pain and the doctors diagnosed her with a kidney stone. The medical malpractice victim stayed at the hospital for about four hours until the doctors sent her home. They had given her a prescription for pain medication and an appointment in two days.

The medical malpractice victim endured a seizure and went into septic shock before she was ever able to make it to her appointment. She died approximately 48 hours after she left the hospital. Her doctors argued that the hospital committed medical error in the victim?s treatment. The hospital did not follow the nationally recognized standards of care that are in place to ensure patient safety. The hospital did not run all of the necessary tests, nor did they take the victim?s temperature into account. It is imperative that hospitals perform all necessary tests in order to make an accurate diagnosis. This hospital had specific guidelines stating that patients must have their vital signs checked at the minimum of twice during an emergency room visit.

Additionally, a fever is an important sign of a problem when diagnosing kidney stones. A medical expert testified that if a kidney stone patient presents a fever, the doctors should treat it as a medical emergency. Failure to properly diagnose is a common medical mistake that can be avoided if doctors check all the vital signs. To learn more about this medical mistake, please check out the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on June 02, 2010 (boomark / email).