A jury has awarded a Georgia woman $46 million in damages following a medical malpractice jury trial. In this case, the woman gave birth to a child, then suffered a variety of complications after birth – including high blood pressure. Medical staff tried to lower her blood pressure, including intravenous drug therapy. Three days into treatment, the woman experienced shortness of breath. Doctors ordered a chest x-ray and oxygen mask, and continued to try to control the mother’s blood pressure, which was rising and spiked at 202/105. After getting the mother’s blood pressure under control, she was being wheeled to radiology for a CT scan when she suffered a heart attack. As a result of the heart attack, she went without oxygen for 10 to 12 minutes, suffering a hypoxic brain injury that led to a total disability.
The jury awarded damages for prior and future medical expenses, past and future medical damages, and compensatory damages to both the victim and spouse.
In this instance, doctors asserted that the case was made even more tragic as it was avoidable – and that the harm was the result of a routine post-delivery complication. Unfortunately, harm from preventable medical errors remains the number three leading cause of death in the United States, with hundreds of thousands of patients injured each year.
For more information or if you or a loved one have been harmed by medical malpractice, please contact the dedicated Los Angeles medical malpractice lawyers at Bostwick and Peterson, LLP for an immediate consultation.
