$500,000 Settlement

Our client saw the Defendant doctor, her child’s pediatrician, on January 7, 2012 complaining of itching of her eyes, a runny nose, sore throat and burning in her mouth. The Defendant doctor failed to take an accurate history and did not recognize that she was taking Lamictal. He diagnosed her with conjunctivitis and an antibiotic was prescribed. She returned to the doctor’s office a few days later complaining of swollen glands in the neck and throat, crusting around her eyes, and a yeast infection. Another antibiotic was prescribed.

Three days later, she was admitted to the hospital with a generalized macular vesicular rash on her back, torso and bilateral upper and lower extremities. Our client was diagnosed with Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN), which is a form of Stevens Johnson’s Syndrome, secondary to an allergic reaction to Lamictal. After the plaintiff healed from the allergic reaction she was left with some scarring from the skin lesions and small areas of discoloration of her skin.

A medical malpractice action was brought against the Defendant doctor for his failure to take an accurate history. Finz & Finz, P.C., charged the doctor with departing from good and accepted medical practice by failing to recognize the signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction which could have been treated prior to developing Stevens Johnson’s Syndrome.