Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog
In late May of 2012, a 75 year-old woman presented to the hospital with a deep vein thrombosis blood clot in her leg. She was treated and discharged days later with instructions to take blood thinners. Less than a week after she was discharged, she awoke in the middle of the night with excruciating pain in the hip and groin area. She was taken via ambulance to the hospital where she came under the care of two separate physicians over a period of ten hours during which time no diagnostic tests were ordered or performed. She subsequently was discharged to a nursing home with a diagnosis of musculoskeletal pain which the physicians had attributed to the woman’s deep vein thrombosis blood clot a week earlier.
A day later, the nursing home staff found the woman to be in hemorrhagic shock. She was rushed back to the emergency room but ultimately died six weeks later. The lawsuit alleged that the Defendant physicians failed to timely diagnose and treat what turned out to be a retroperitoneal hematoma, which is an accumulation of blood in the portion of the abdomen called the retroperitoneal space.
After a six-day trial and nine hours of deliberation, the jury awarded the plaintiffs a total of $547,510 which included $8,900 in funeral expenses, $127,000 to her husband for loss of consortium, $125,000 to her estate for her conscious pain and suffer prior to her death, $125,000 to the husband for his pain and suffering as the result of the loss of his wife, and $30,000 to each of her five adult children for the loss of their mother.
If you or a loved one were the victim of a medical mistake, speak with one of our experienced medical malpractice attorneys today at 410-385-2225.