Last week, the family of a 39 year-old mother of two young children settled a medical  malpractice case against a Chicago hospital for $9 million prior to filing the lawsuit.  The family alleged that the mother was admitted to the hospital for a routine medical procedure, but was subsequently over-medicated and stopped breathing.  Instead of calling an immediate Code Blue, the family alleged that the hospital health care providers failed to timely recognize and appreciate that the mother was no longer breathing, negligence that delayed the issuance of the Code Blue and arrival of a "code" team.  Upon recognition of the dire situation, the responding code team began CPR but was unable to resuscitate the mother.  Importantly, the family also alleged that the health care providers who participated in the code also committed medical malpractice/negligence when they misinterpreted electrical activity in the heart as a sign of life, and consequently, failed to perform chest compressions.  As a result of these failure, the mother of two did not receive adequate oxygen to the brain and heart, deprivations that led to her suffering a hypoxic (without oxygen) brain injury and ultimately her death. 

As experienced medical malpractice/negligence attorneys in the Baltimore, Maryland area, our lawyers have handled several cases involving the failure of health care personnel to respond timely to a patient's "crash" or "code."  These failures are preventable and often lead to a patient suffering a severe brain injury (resulting in a lifetime of care) or tragically, death.  If a loved one has been the victim of such negligence, call the lawyers at STSW for a free consultation.