Medical malpractice errors occur on a regular basis in Delaware. Medical malpractice errors may include classic surgical errors such as incorrect body part removal, tissue damage, severe loss of blood, blood clots, infection and more. Failure to provide a potentially life-saving surgery in a timely manner can also constitute an unnecessary surgical error. One jury in another state recently awarded a family $10 million for the loss of their mother due to her physician’s failure to coordinate and provide the woman the surgery she required.
The 70-year-old woman had been referred by her primary care physician to be treated by a urologist. She had been diagnosed with a non-cancerous growth on her left kidney. The urologist evaluated the patient and determined that she would need to have all or part of her kidney removed to treat the growth. After a year transgressed, the woman had not had the growth removed and was seen again by her primary care physician. Her primary care physician confirmed in his notes that the tumor still needed to be removed.
The woman returned to her primary care physician again complaining of lower back pain. Tests would reveal that the tumor had grown, and it was recommended that it be surgically removed. Allegedly, results of the test were not communicated to the urologist. Another few more months passed, and the tumor showed it had continued to increase in size. Once physicians finally attempted to act on the tumor’s growth, the cancer had spread, and it was terminal.
The woman’s primary care physician settled out of court for a sum of $350,000 but admitted no fault in the patient’s death. The lawsuit continued to trial against the urologist as the family denied his settlement offer of $250,000. The jury felt it was clear that if the woman had received treatment up to a year prior to her death, she likely would have lived. The woman’s husband and children were awarded $10 million. Delaware attorneys can advise other families with similar cases of surgical errors understand their legal rights and options to file a wrongful death lawsuit when appropriate.
Source: thestate.com, “SC jury awards $10 million in fatal medical malpractice case“, John Monk, Nov. 2, 2017
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