Jury Finds Doctors Guilty in Malpractice Case

Doctor malpractice was deemed the cause of a 40-year-old woman’s 2003 death by a Suffolk Superior Court jury. After two days of deliberation, the jury found two doctors liable for Amy Altman’s death and awarded her family $9.4 million in damages. With interest, the total award will amount to $13.5 million.

The jury decided that Altman’s death could have been prevented had her doctors, oncologists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, looked into the cause of diarrhea she developed after receiving an experimental regimen of chemotherapy for a cancerous tumor behind her knee.

Not Just Another Side Effect
Chemotherapy is known to weaken the body’s natural defenses, and side effects are common. But Altman’s situation became dire when her doctors dismissed the diarrhea as just another side effect, when it was actually a symptom of a severe infection of flesh-eating bacteria.

According to the family’s medical malpractice lawyer, the bacterial infection could have been treated with antibiotics had the doctors diagnosed it in time.

“Instead of making sure it wasn’t a problem, they wrote it off as not a big deal. In fact, it was a very big deal,” the attorney said.

Two Girls Left Behind
Altman died two days after being admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital. An autopsy revealed that her cancer had been cured. She left behind two young daughters.