Hospital Negligence--Failure to Monitor Patient--Wrongful Death--Settlement
This case is a classical example of "failure to monitor" a patient .
In this case, the patient presented to the emergency department around 3:30 in the afternoon on Christmas Eve 2004. According to the ER record, she complained of the sudden onset of chest pain (left side), with radiation to the abdomen, back, left shoulder and arm. She was properly evaluated by the emergency department, and it was determined she had pneumonia, so she was admitted to the hospital.
A pulmonary consult was obtained, which means they called in lung doctor, and the diagnosis of pneumonia was confirmed. Pneumonia is basically fluid on the lungs. Medication was prescribed and the patient was placed on a heart monitor.
In the early morning hours of January 1, 2005, the hospital’s central monitoring unit, which monitors patients all throughout the hospital, called the floor on which the patient was staying and advised the floor nurse that the patient’s monitor had somehow been disconnected. For some reason, no one from the hospital went to check on the patient for approximately 20 minutes. When a nurse finally made her way into the patient’s room, she was found to be asystolic and a code was performed. She was resuscitated but it was too late. She suffered a fatal anoxic brain injury. That means her brain was not getting any oxygen. She “lived” for two more days and died on January 3, 2005.
The family retained us and we hired two experts to evaluate the case. Not surprisingly, the nursing expert found there to have been several negligent acts and failures on the part of the nursing staff. Obviously, the most significant was the failure of the nurses on the floor to respond to the call from the central monitoring unit, and the failure of the central monitoring unit to follow up with the nurses on the floor.
A board certified pulmonary physician reviewed the records concluded that the patient would have in all likelihood left the hospital in good condition but for the negligence of the hospital staff. There was no indication of physician error in this case.
Prior to filing a lawsuit, the hospital was contacted and agreed to participate in mediation. The case was settled without a lawsuit being filed. At the request of the hospital, the amount of the settlement remains confidential.
