Medical Malpractice
Pediatrician negligence $3,813,000 + interest
Type of injuries: Mental
retardation/seizure disorder
Court: Hampden Superior Court
Judge or Jury: Jury verdict for plaintiffs
Special damages: The minor plaintiff is expected to reside
with her parents for the indefinite future; and the plaintiffs
presented testimony that the parents would be assisted at home
by a part-time licensed practical nurse from now until the time
that the minor plaintiff turned 25; and economic testimony was
adduced as to the cost of custodial care after the minor plaintiff
turned 25.
Amount: $3,813,000 plus interest ($3,313,000 for the minor
plaintiff; $500,000
for the mother, who brought a claim for loss of consortium)
Case Summary: The
five-month-old plaintiff was suffering from pertussis (whooping
cough) and turned blue at home. Parents reached defendant pediatrician
by telephone, and pediatrician arranged for the child to be admitted
to the hospital that evening.
Pediatrician failed to come into the hospital to examine the child that evening, or at any time during the following days, leaving the child to be cared for by pediatric residents.
Plaintiffs' experts asserted that blood gas studies and supplemental oxygen were necessary to properly manage the plaintiff's pertussis and to relieve documented cyanosis. Plaintiff was given no oxygen.
Defense counsel called three experts, including a pediatric neurologist, a pediatric pulmonologist, and a professor emeritus of pediatrics to testify that the child did not require oxygen; that the care she received was not substandard; and that the brain damage she ultimately suffered was not caused by the mismanagement of pertussis, but rather that the cause of her seizure disorder and mental retardation was idiopathic (unknown).
The jury, after deliberating for three-and-a-half days, rejected the defense contentions and found that the pediatrician who failed to come into the hospital and treat the minor plaintiff himself was causally negligent.
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