Medical Malpractice Case Report: $300,000 for Failure to Recognize and Treat Postoperative Bleeding
Firm Partner William Maddix reached a $300,000.00 medical malpractice settlement for the wrongful death of a 77-year-old woman in a case involving negligence in failing to recognize and treat postoperative bleeding after heart surgery. Read the following Minnesota Association for Justice (MAJ) Minnesota Case Report, Volume 29, No. 2 Oct. 2010:
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In November 2007, an elderly woman underwent surgery to replace her aortic valve. Postoperatively the nurses notified the surgeon of significant amounts of blood loss in her chest tube and other signs and symptoms suggestive of bleeding: high heart rate, low blood pressure, low urine output, worsening acidosis, and falling hemoglobin levels. By the time the surgeon decided to return the woman to surgery on the second postoperative day, the woman was in blood loss shock and profoundly acidotic. When the surgeon opened the chest, it was full of blood. The woman did not survive the surgery.
The plaintiff alleged that the surgeon departed from accepted standards of care by failing to recognize and act on internal bleeding. The case settled shortly before trial.