$1,450,000 Settlement

The human body is a complex grouping of muscles, tissue, nerves and organs. Although we hope that we will all live a long and pain-free life, that is more of a fantasy than a reality. After years of working hard as a security guard, our client, who was in her 60s, started to develop moderate neck pain. She consulted with her doctor and it was ultimately determined that she required surgery to relieve the pain. The surgery went well. After the operation, an anesthesiologist administered pain medication to assist in the healing process. However, before giving medication, a doctor has an obligation to ensure that the medication is one that will help and not hurt a patient. Here, the anesthesiologist neglected to review our client’s medical records. Had he done so, he would have known that our client was allergic to the very pain medication that he was about to administer.

The medication was given to our client, and unfortunately, she had an adverse reaction including mild hallucinations. In response, our client was given clear liquids without approval from a speech therapist, who was supposed to make sure that our client had the neurological capacity to properly swallow. Due to the adverse reaction to the medication, our client’s ability to properly swallow was compromised, resulting in the liquids not going into her stomach, but instead going into her lungs. This resulted in what’s called an “aspiration,” which caused our client to go into cardiac arrest, from which she never recovered. A lawsuit was brought against the doctors and hospital, charging them with medical malpractice in failing to determine that our client was allergic to the very medication they administered. It was further alleged that the doctors and hospital then compounded their initial failure by not testing our client’s ability to swallow prior to providing her with clear liquids to drink. After a long and hard-fought litigation battle, where the defendants pushed forward with their denial of responsibility, ultimately, the parties agreed to a non-binding mediation, which resulted in a settlement.