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A jury awarded $40 million to a family whose daughter was sent home with a fatal condition without being tested by a hospital. Continue reading
prREACH
Sep 15, 2017 /prREACH/ -- After a two-week trial, one family has been left with the sense that justice has finally been served after they were awarded $40 million for the death of their loved one.
The day prior to her death, a 26-year-old college student arrived in the emergency room. She was complaining of shortness of breath, dizziness, and several other issues. Without doing any testing, the staff on call informed her that she had a virus and sent her home. The next day, she was brought back to the ER unconscious and died shortly after.
It was revealed that her death was caused by a pulmonary embolism and that the symptoms she had described were the classic signs and symptoms of that condition. Despite this, no one performed bloodwork, took x-rays, or ordered any other sort of testing. Her lungs continued to malfunction due to a blood clot and this is ultimately what led to her death.
Her family pursued legal action against the hospital, alleging that her life would have been saved if they had only someone had ordered a few simple tests. They noted during the trial that the hospital claimed to be “clot busters” in advertisements and even noted in those ads that shortness of breath was a symptom of pulmonary embolism. To their shock, the hospital defended themselves by saying that the patient was overweight and so it was reasonable to send her home.
After three hours of deliberation, the jury determined that that hospital was at fault and awarded the family $40 million for their loss.
"This is a disturbingly clear case of medical malpractice.” stated attorney Kevin Marciano, “No one with shortness of breath should be sent home without a single test being done - it’s a symptom of many serious illnesses that if left untreated, could be fatal - and was in this case. ”