Personal Injury Law

Broken Leg Turns into Vegetative State

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

A man entered a hospital to undergo minor surgery to fix his broken leg. However, according to his medical malpractice lawsuit, the hospital committed a series of preventable medical mistakes and procedural oversights. The man left the hospital severely brain damaged, quadriplegic, ventilator-dependent and semi-comatose. The lawsuit claims that the hospital staff had many opportunities to prevent serious complications. The victim?s stomach started to swell after the leg surgery and they suspected he had developed fat embolism syndrome. The doctors inserted a tube to drain the fluid from his stomach but expert testimony shows that the tube was ?pulled out too soon? after two days. After being taken in for a CAT scan the man was grasping for air. The emergency team was then summoned to the wrong floor and it took 10 minutes for someone to arrive. The victim stayed in full cardiopulmonary arrest for almost half an hour and he was significantly and permanently brain damaged. The victim left the hospital in a vegetative state and died within the next three years. The department of public health issued two violations to the hospital for failing to keep adequate medical records and failing to ensure diagnostic technicians had proper supervision. To read more about the medical malpractice lawsuit, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on August 17, 2009 (boomark / email).