Hemorrhaging Patient Dies in ER, Family Receives Damages | Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp

The family of a victim of medical malpractice has received a settlement of $825,000, thanks to their Richmond, Virginia (VA), trial attorneys.

According to trial testimony, the patient underwent a lithotripsy procedure for the treatment of kidney stones. Three days later, the patient went to the emergency room with severe pain in his side. A CT scan revealed a large retroperitoneal hematoma and prominent perinephric and pararenal hemorrhages. Physicians who later became defendant, including an emergency room doctor and admitting urologists, failed to monitor or treat the man’s hemorrhage over the course of nine hours. The medical personnel did not order coagulation studies or respond to the signs of hemorrhagic shock to reverse the coagulopathy, control bleeding or seek consults from surgery and interventional radiology.
 
Sadly, the patient remained on a gurney in the hallway of the emergency room during all that time. His condition continued to deteriorate until he was admitted into the intensive care unit. By then, he was in grossly critical condition. Despite attempts to save him, he died the next day.

This is a truly devastating story, and one that reveals the gross negligence that can sometimes occur in busy emergency rooms. Though no amount of money can ever bring back their loved one, it is good that the family sought justice and held the appropriate personnel responsible.

It’s cases like this one that make people fearful of hospitals and doctors. By pursuing responsible parties and seeking justice for those injured or killed through the fault of those supposedly protecting and aiding patients, families like this one raise awareness of such medical malpractice. I congratulate fellow Virginia injury lawyers, the Stoneburners, on this good result.

CD