Verdicts & Settlements

RESULTS: $675,000 Confidential Settlement

ATTORNEY: Eric K. Washburn

PARALEGAL: Heather G.

WHAT HAPPENED:

The plaintiff, a 29-year-old registered nurse, presented to the hospital’s emergency room on April 17, 2023, with shortness of breath. On April 24, 2023, after experiencing a significant drop in oxygen saturation and being diagnosed with acute respiratory failure, she was intubated and placed on a ventilator due to her worsening condition. During the two weeks she remained intubated, she was heavily sedated and depended entirely on the hospital’s nursing staff for feeding, bathing, turning, and repositioning.

A patient at high risk for pressure-related nerve injury must be turned and repositioned at least every two hours. This is the most basic and essential nursing intervention to prevent prolonged compression injuries. Because an intubated and heavily sedated patient cannot protect herself, the hospital’s nursing staff had a clear responsibility to monitor her positioning and protect her from avoidable harm. That duty included ensuring her extremities were not pressed against the bed rails and that she was not allowed to strike or rest against the rails in a manner that could cause a compression injury.

When the plaintiff was finally extubated, she immediately reported pain in her left leg and an inability to lift her left foot — clear signs of a serious injury that had developed while she was helpless, sedated, and entirely dependent on the hospital’s nursing staff. She was thereafter diagnosed with a left sciatic nerve injury affecting her lower left extremity, resulting in drop foot — a serious and life-altering condition that requires extensive rehabilitation and subsequent medical care.

KEY LEGAL STRATEGIES:

Attorney Eric Washburn retained a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and nursing experts to review the hospital records. He was able to demonstrate that the hospital’s medical staff breached the standard of care by ignoring the plan of care for the plaintiff and failing to adequately turn and reposition the plaintiff to avoid a pressure nerve injury.

As a result of the hospital’s failures, our client was left with drop foot and neuropathic pain. Our client, through her own determination, was able to progress with her rehabilitation and has made a significant recovery regarding her injury. She will require a consistent regimen of stretching exercises and strength training for her left lower extremity.

While the defense argued that nerve compression is an inherent, known risk of a hospital stay, we successfully argued that the injury was entirely avoidable had the medical team acted within the standard of care and turned and repositioned the Plaintiff every two hours. The case was resolved for $675,000 prior to trial, securing funds to cover our client’s past medical expenses, future medical care, and lost earning capacity.

RESULTS: $675,000 Confidential Settlement