Emergency room malpractice: $2.35 million verdict for injured patient

In a recent medical malpractice case, the patient was misdiagnosed and negligently treated at a hospital emergency room.  The 28 year old patient won $2.35 million in a jury trial in Maryland.  A Silver Spring woman, whose misdiagnosis resulted in partial amputations of one foot, another leg and a few fingertips, sued an emergency room doctor and a critical care doctor at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital.

The jury found the doctors negligent.  After being diagnosed with kidney stones at the hospital, the patient returned to the emergency room in pain.  Instead of treating the infection that was caused by a kidney blockage, an ER doctor tested for a gallbladder problem and an ectopic pregnancy. That doctor gave the patient too little fluids and too much medication, which cut off oxygen to her extremities and led to the gangrene that necessitated amputation.  The patient now has to use artifical prosthetics, making it impossible for her to stand on her feet or perform lifting to work.  She had once worked as a housecleaner and as a cashier at McDonald's.