Case Results

Ms. D is a 42-year-old woman who has permanent scaring from numerous surgeries and skin grafts, serious gastrointestinal injuries, and emotional harm, all of which are permanent injuries, as a result of the Defendant’s negligence. On March 1, 2011, Ms. D underwent exploratory laparotomy to remove bilateral ovarian cysts at the hospital. The Defendant, Dr. X, negligently sewed a portion of Ms. D’s intestine into the closure of her abdominal wound. Shortly after being sent home from the hospital, Ms. D returned with abdominal pain and distension. Ms. D was sent for emergency surgery and the intestine enclosure was discovered. After numerous surgeries related to the infection, necrosis of the soft tissue, skin grafts, and fistula repairs, Ms. D has been left with no normal musculature in her abdominal wall, extensive scarring from skin grafts and debridement of necrosed tissue, and severe emotional distress. We settled Ms. D’s case for an undisclosed amount.

This was a wrongful birth case which arose out of the failure to identify abnormalities on two separate fetal sonograms and the subsequent failure to report those abnormalities. As a result, K & B never knew their baby was demonstrating any genetic abnormalities at a time when they could have decided the clinical course of the pregnancy. Their baby had Trisomy 13, which is a lethal genetic abnormality. It manifests during pregnancy with abnormalities which are detectable on sonogram and which, when observed correctly, leads to the diagnosis of this condition and the opportunity to decide the best clinical course for the family. K & B lost the opportunity to medically terminate the pregnancy or elect to continue to the pregnancy to term and prepare themselves and their families for the loss of their baby. Instead, they were totally surprised and shocked and had to watch their baby die without any warning or control. The Defendants in the case were two well-known radiologists in this area, who read the sonograms, and their professional corporation. There is no dispute that identifiable standards exist as to when a radiologist has a duty to inform his patient of the findings on sonogram. We settled this case for an undisclosed amount.