Complaining of lower back and abdominal pain, a 47-year-old Illinois nurse went to her local emergency room to have her ailments examined. The ER sent her home without diagnosis or treatment, and the next day, the nurse died of a bowel obstruction. The family filed a medical malpractice case against the ER physicians in 2009, as they were well aware of her symptoms and previous gastric bypass surgery. The medical malpractice trial, which began in November 2013, recently concluded awarding almost $2.5M to the plaintiffs. While there was no true victory for those who lost their loved one, this decently public case brought light to the reality of medical malpractice and the damages that occur as a result of misdiagnosis by healthcare professionals.
This story was originally blogged at MedicalMalpracticeLawyers.com.