After a two week medical malpractice trial, a Texas jury has ruled in favor of the family of Stacy Meaux, who died after doctors and nurses at Christus Hospital St. Mary misdiagnosed her heart attack.  They awarded the plaintiffs $1.4 million for their loss.

Ms. Meaux reportedly went to the hospital emergency room because she was experiencing chest pains, tightness and discomfort.  After being seen by several triage nurses and Dr. Michael Peterson, she was told that she was in no immediate danger.  She was prescribed the drug Captopril, used to treat hypertension and heart failure, given a breathing treatment and discharged.

The following day, Meaux suffered a heart attack and died.

Court documents state that two EKG’s were performed on Meaux when she was in the ER, one of which was abnormal and her family claims should have raised a red flag to doctors about her risk level.  Additionally, the family claims that hospital staff failed to take into account other obvious risk factors for Meaux, such as her age and weight and the fact that she was a smoker and suffered from diabetes.

Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose a heart attack is perhaps one of the most deadly forms of medical malpractice because it is almost always fatal to the patient.  The most common things that medical attorneys see when they are working with this type of case typically involve doctors or medical staff:

• Prematurely discharging a patient with chest pain
• Improperly interpreting EKG results
• Prescribing medication without first determining the effect it will have on the patient’s cardiovascular system

Sadly, all three of these things were present in the case of Ms. Meaux, and the results were devastating to her family.  If your loved one suffered a heart attack that you feel may have been misdiagnosed by a doctor, you may be entitled to compensation.  Contact a medical attorney to discuss your case.

A St. Louis couple sued and successfully won a verdict in the wrongful death lawsuit in another unfortunate case of failure to diagnose that resulted in the death of their baby son.

Dewayne and Suzanne Blankenship took their infant son Dylan to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in June 2002.  They were concerned because the child was exhibiting the symptoms of fever, lethargy and difficulty breathing.

Little Dylan was sent home that night, but returned to the same medical center the very next day, by ambulance.  At that point he was admitted to the hospital and received emergency treatment but it was too late.  The bacterial infection he was suffering from, which had not been properly diagnosed during his first visit to Cardinal Glennon, caused his tragic death just six days later.

The wrongful death lawsuit was brought against St. Louis University because Cardinal Glennon is their affiliate.  The jury in the trial found that the staff at the medical center acted negligently and caused the untimely death of baby Dylan.

The Blankenships will receive over $6 million as compensation for their loss.

The South Dakota Supreme Court recently granted a new trial to a woman who suffered from complications following a gall bladder surgery in 2001.  Lillian Glanzer claimed hospital malpractice against her surgeon, Dr. Richard Reed, however he was found not to be negligent in the original trial last year.

Glanzer underwent laparoscopic surgery to remove her gall bladder, during which the doctor had to cut through some scar tissue to insert the instrument into her abdomen.  The surgery resulted in some complications and it was eventually discovered that Ms. Glanzer’s bowel had been perforated.

Because the doctor failed to diagnose this until four days after the surgery, the patient had to undergo multiple additional surgeries and a lengthy recovery time.  Glanzer brought a hospital malpractice suit, in which the jury ruled in the favor of the hospital and Dr. Reed.

The verdict was appealed and on October 30^th, the Supreme Court ruled that Glanzer deserves a new trial.  The basis for the new trial is that the judge in the original trial failed to instruct the jury on how to view a doctor’s judgement and how it can relate to negligence.  The failure to give this instruction to the jury may have unfairly influenced their decision.

Hospital malpractice doesn’t necessarily occur every time a doctor makes an error.  However, when a doctor or medical professional uses only his or her judgement in determining a diagnosis (or lack thereof) rather than by medical means, it can often result in a case of malpractice.

It is undetermined when Ms. Glanzer’s new trial will begin.