Patient Dies from Lack of Oxygen after Being Ignored by Physicians
The following excerpt from a Notice of Intent to File Claim, or more commonly called, “Notice of Intent to Sue,” is a recent case the litigators at Erlich, Rosen, Bartnick & Cook P.C., have begun on behalf of one of our clients. If you wish to discuss a medical malpractice claim please contact ERBC at either www.ERBCLaw.com or 1-877-453-2840 for a free consultation.
Factual Basis for Claim
The 53 year old Plaintiff was admitted to the Emergency Room on February 28, 2006 with a sore throat and cough for one week. Her primary care physician had diagnosed pneumonia, but her condition worsened and he instructed her to go to the Emergency Room. After Plaintiff was examined by the Emergency Room doctor, the decision was made to admit Plaintiff with the admitting diagnosis of pneumonia. When she was originally admitted her oxygen saturation levels were low and she was placed on oxygen by nasal cannula. Plaintiff was admitted to the services of an internal medicine specialist. It is also believed that she was seen by a house officer as well. As a result of not having a bed available, Plaintiff stayed in the Emergency Room Department until shortly after midnight on March 2, 2006.
At approximately 10:30 p.m. on March 1, 2006 her condition deteriorated and her oxygen saturations went to 80 while on 5 liters of oxygen through nasal cannula. This was brought to the attention of the internist but no new orders were given. While Plaintiff was in the Emergency Room she had a temperature and her heart rate was accelerated and she was treated with antibiotics. During Plaintiff's initial evaluation when she was transferred to the floor, which was in fact a medical floor and not an Intensive Care Unit, she was very anxious during her assessment. She had a temperature and her oxygen saturations while on oxygen were still below normal limits.
At approximately 3:38 she was found unconscious and in respiratory and cardiac arrest. CPR was initiated. Her heart rate was returned but from this moment on Plaintiff had suffered anoxic encephalopathy. She did have a second respiratory and cardiac arrest shortly thereafter and never regained consciousness or the ability to make decisions on her own as a result of the brain damage that she had suffered as a result of her cardiopulmonary arrest.
Plaintiff at no time prior to her arrest had any blood gas work performed, nor was she intubated. After her death an autopsy was performed at the Defendant hospital where it was ascertained that she died secondary to her pneumonia and respiratory distress.
If the breaches of the standard of practice by plaintiff's physicians had not occurred the seriousness of the Plaintiff's respiratory distress would have been known and the Plaintiff treated prior to her cardiopulmonary arrest. After proper evaluation of her blood gases, her physicians would have known that intubation was required. If intubation, or other effective methods of obtaining proper oxygenation, would have occurred at any time prior to her cardiopulmonary arrest, she would not have suffered anoxic encephalopathy and brain death. If the intubation and ventilation had occurred, it is far more likely than not that her pneumonia and underlying respiratory distress problems would have been treated successfully within a relatively short hospitalization and she would have returned to her normal health status following the hospitalization.
As a result of not recognizing the seriousness of the Plaintiff's respiratory distress, proper oxygenation did not occur which led to her cardiopulmonary arrest, brain death, and eventually the reason that she died on March 5, 2006.
