Failure to Timely Treat Pulmonary Embolism Leads to Settlement
Article posted on:07/09/2008
Recently, in Ohio, the family of a 38 year old woman who died of a pulmonary embolus shortly after being admitted to the hospital, settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the doctor for 5.85 million dollars. The decedent had suffered from leg pain and shortness of breath for several days. She consulted an internist who admitted her to the hospital. Several hours later, the doctor ordered various tests to rule out or diagnose hypercoagulability. These results were extremely elevated. Shortly thereafter, the woman was found unresponsive in her hospital bed. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a pulmonary embolism. The estate of the woman sued the internist, alleging a failure to timely treat the pulmonary embolism, arguing that the doctor should have immediately ordered a STAT chest CT scan, ordered an ultrasound following admission and initiated heparain therapy. The defendants argued that the heparin would not have prevented the death because the clot was old and would not have been dissolved by the drug. After testimony from the experts, the parties reached settlement in the amount stated above.
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