In June, 2006, Juanita Tomlinson went to the Paris (Illinois) Community Hospital emergency room complaining of double vision, a headache and pain in her eyes. The doctors who evaluated Tomlinson diagnosed her with a urinary tract infection and sent her home with antibiotics. Shortly after returning home, Tomlinson’s vision failed, and is now permanently blind. Confusion and falling are one of the symptoms associated with urinary tract infections in the elderly, but it isn’t one of the more common signs. Tomlinson didn’t complain about or show signs of a urinary tract infection in the hospital, but this didn’t sway the doctor’s “clinical impression.”
Family Suit
A suit brought by Tomlinson’s daughter, Tomlinson herself, and their attorney, claims that Tomlinson should have been treated for either transient ischemic attack (TIA) – a type of mini-stroke, cerebral vascular attack (CVA), or temporal arteritis (TA). TA is inflammation and damage to the blood vessels and arteries that supply the head. This is what ultimately caused Tomlinson’s blindness.
The Tomlinson suit alleges that nurses, Dr. Gregory Lawson, and Midwest Emergency Department Services of O’Fallon are all at fault. The suit states in part that, “There was no differential diagnosis made that in any way considered or addressed Juanita’s chief complaints related to her vision problems and associated symptoms.”
Aftermath
Tomlinson has been suffering severe depression since the onset of her blindness. She now lives with, and must depend on, her daughter. Prior to going to the hospital, Tomlinson was very active, independent, and had good eyesight for a woman her age. (The complaint does not mention how old she is.)
We expect the health care professionals to know what they’re doing when we go to see them. Sometimes they make mistakes. They’re human, after all. I remember going in for a sore throat once and being diagnosed with allergies. Two days later I had a brutal case of tonsillitis that took me out of school for nearly a week. Obviously this is small potatoes compared to Juanita Tomlinson’s story. However, the fact is misdiagnoses happen all over the country. And when these problems lead to a permanent downgrade in quality of life, or death, people may wonder where to turn.
If you, or a loved one, have had a misdiagnosis that caused pain or suffering, please contact an experienced personal injury lawyer.
