Medical Malpractice - Wrongful Death
WRSMH attorney Jason Rubin obtained a $1,800,000.00 settlement in a wrongful death case involving the death of a 21 year old woman resulting from a hospital’s failure to timely diagnose and treat postoperative bleeding.
The decedent, an unmarried nursing student without any children, came to the hospital with complaints of upper abdominal pain and vomiting. An ultrasound revealed a dilated common bile duct containing a stone and further imaging confirmed the stone. She thereafter underwent a procedure known as an ERCP, unfortunately, this procedure was unsuccessful in removing the stone. As a result, so she underwent a repeat ERCP with stenting of the common bile duct. Following the second procedure, her hemoglobin and hematocrit dropped significantly, indicating a possible bleed. However, no blood products or fluid resuscitation was provided to her for approximately 10 hours. As a result, she suffered from hemorrhagic shock and multiple organ failure. After four months of hospitalization and multiple surgical procedures, she passed away.
We claimed that the drop in hemoglobin and hematocrit was indicative of possible internal bleeding which should have prompted the doctors to timely provide blood products and fluid to resuscitate the patient, and to perform further testing to rule out a potential site of bleeding. Because of the delay in diagnosing the bleed, decedent went into hemorrhagic shock and multiple organ failure, which contributed to her death approximately 4 months later.