Tragically, a medical condition or injury sometimes results in death for too many individuals, particularly young children. This is a loss that no parent should have to experience in his or her lifetime. Often, there is nothing that can be done to prevent these tragedies. However, there are occasional incidents in which a child’s death could have been prevented, but wasn’t. In these situations, errors by medical professionals and hospitals are crucial and sometimes may be the bases for medical malpractice lawsuits. Medical malpractice suits function to hold these professionals and hospitals accountable when they fail to meet the appropriate standards of care and injury or death results. Medical malpractice can take many forms, including a misdiagnosis. Recently, this prompted a medical malpractice lawsuit by a Dallas couple whose six-year-old boy died after treatment by an emergency physician at a Texas medical center. A copy of the article regarding the recent medical malpractice case can be found here.
According to the medical malpractice suit, on May 8, the young boy injured his back after running into a pole and falling on the concrete playground at his elementary school. The boy subsequently received treatment from an emergency physician as well as other hospital personnel at the children’s medical center. The medical malpractice complaint alleges that the boy initially complained of back and abdominal pain, and was noticeably pale and in significant pain. The treating physician ordered multiple tests, which revealed the boy had an elevated white blood cell count and was showing signs of constipation.
Ultimately, the boy was given medication for his vomiting and at least one enema before discharging him with a diagnosis of constipation. Four hours after he was discharged, the young boy tragically died.
The autopsy found that the young boy suffered from an abrasion on the left lateral chest wall, a lacerated left kidney with hemorrhage, intestinal hemorrhage, and injuries to his pancreas, stomach, right kidney, and abdomen. The medical malpractice suit alleged that the enema and other medical mistakes masked symptoms of internal trauma and ultimately led to the misdiagnosis. Additionally, the medical malpractice complaint goes on to say that nurses and other medical staff underestimated the seriousness of the boy’s injuries, inadequately examined him, failed to order appropriate testing, misdiagnosed his condition, and made other medical mistakes that ultimately led to the boy’s tragic death. The boy’s family sued the medical center, emergency physician, and the institute at which the physician worked.
This case represents just one example of how medical providers make mistakes. The skilled medical malpractice attorneys at Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White are here to assess these claims and provide victims and their families with the support and legal advice to best protect their rights. No patient or parent should have to question the competence of medical care from physicians and hospitals. If you believe you have suffered due to a physician’s medical malpractice, please contact one of our experienced medical malpractice attorneys today.