The estate of a 32-year-old Massachusetts woman has recently reached a $2 million settlement with defendant medical professionals for a delayed diagnosis of a pulmonary embolism, which resulted in her death in 2004.
According to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, in March 2004, the decedent sought emergency medical care after experiencing shortness of breath and calf pain. The defendant Emergency Room physician evaluated the patient and ordered an ultrasound of her legs, chest x-ray, lung scan, and D-dimer (a test used to find blood clots). The ultrasound revealed no blood clotting and the X-ray uncovered no apparent abnormalities. The D-dimer, however, did return abnormal results and the lung scan suggested a low-probability of embolism. The plaintiff's lawyer hired an expert witness who was to testify that the results of the D-dimer and lung scan should have prompted the ER physician to order an additional chest CT scan or angiogram, which likely would have revealed the embolism. Instead, he discharged the decedent with a misdiagnosis of "lower extremity edema" and directed her to see her primary care doctor.
Later that month, the decedent visited her primary care doctor. The nurse recorded that the decedent had twice collapsed and lost consciousness, felt numb, was pale, and had an accelerated heartbeat. She later advised her supervising physician that the EKG came back abnormal. The patient was never advised to seek emergency care. At the end of the month, the decedent again fell ill and was rushed to the ER, where the receiving doctor ordered an emergency CT scan for a suspicion of a pulmonary embolism. The patient passed away 90 minutes after being admitted. A subsequent autopsy confirmed the pulmonary embolism.
The plaintiff claimed that the delayed diagnosis of the embolism constituted medical malpractice and was ultimately to blame for the death. Further, it was alleged that the decedent's primary care physician and the nurse practitioner violated the medical standard of care by not sending the patient to the emergency room. The plaintiff settled these claims for a total of $2 million.
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