Last night, a jury awarded a New Jersey woman and her husband over $34 million in a medical malpractice case. The 42-year-old woman – a mother of five – went to Bon Secours Community Hospital in January of 2004 with extremely low sodium levels. Her condition was chronic, which should have prompted the doctors to slowly infuse her with a saline solution. Instead, the doctors infused her too rapidly, which raised her sodium levels to high levels in under 14 hours.
This too-fast infusion triggered a medical phenomenon called osmotic demyelination syndrome. While the woman initially seemed to improve, she fell into a coma shortly after, suffering severe brain injury. Today, she has significantly limited speech and cannot read a book or even follow a TV program.
Due to her medical needs, the woman has been living at a supported living facility in Pennsylvania. On weekends, her family brings her home for visits, and they are hoping the recently-awarded verdict will allow them to bring her home permanently, with the proper amount of care.
When people’s lives are at stake, physicians need to take every precaution to ensure they are providing safe treatment that will not put patients at risk of worse harm. When a doctor who knows better takes a shortcut, or fails to exercise proper judgment, they should be held accountable for any injury that follows.
If you or a loved one has suffered from medical malpractice in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, you may be entitled to compensation. Please contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Weiss & Paarz today for a free initial consultation.
