Medical Malpractice: Verdict for Failure to Prevent a Pulmonary Embolism
We trust our medical professionals to help us when we have been hurt or suffer from an illness. We trust that their years of education and training and practice will equip them to offer the treatment and advice we need, but in many ways we expect that they will be perfect when they are as fallible as any other human being. Given that doctors as human beings are not infallible, they rely on their training and the structured approach that they learned when it comes to coming up with the proper diagnosis and treating their patients accordingly. When a doctor fails to properly diagnose the cause of the patient’s disease and then fails to properly treat the patient can lead to a worsening of symptoms and other complications.
One of the principle requirements for a medical malpractice cause of action is whether the doctor treated the patient by the accepted standard of care for patients with similar symptoms under similar circumstances.
An example is the case of Michael Wagner who was 48 years old and weighed 600 pounds. He underwent gastric bypass surgery which was performed by a general surgeon and an assistant surgeon. Mr. Wagner had been taking the blood thinner, Heparin, prior to surgery. After surgery, Mr. Wagner’s dose of Heparin was reduced to one ounce per day. The day after surgery, the patient was experiencing a slow heart rate and respiratory arrest. He was discharged the following day with instructions to drink 64 ounces of fluid daily and to take frequent walks, but no blood thinning medications were prescribed. Two days after surgery, Mr. Wagner died from a pulmonary embolism.
Mr. Wagner’s family filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctors claiming that he had been discharged prematurely and he had not been prescribed any medication to prevent deep vein thrombosis. After hearing the evidence, the jury entered a verdict of $1,106,806 finding the general surgeon 55 percent liable and the assistant surgeon 45 percent liable for Mr. Wagner’s death. Wagner v. Schmidt, No. HUD-L 517-13 (N.J. Super Ct. Hudson County, July 1, 2015
If a patient believes that their doctor failed to treat an illness or disease, and their failure to treat led to a worsening of their condition and further injury, failed to conduct the appropriate tests based on the patients description of their symptoms, gave the wrong medicine or failed to give the right medicine, they may be able to take legal action against their doctor.
Matthew A. Nace focuses his practice in the areas of medical malpractice, personal injury, trucking litigation, wrongful death, and other negligence cases.