Case 16: Plaintiff Experts
The plaintiff’s attorney called several expert witnesses, including an emergency physician and a trauma/surgical critical care trained general surgeon. From the emergency physician expert witness for the plaintiff: The plaintiff also hired a trauma surgeon as an expert witness: The defense’s attorney called several expert witnesses as well. Depositions from the defense experts and excerpts […]
Case 16: Lawsuit
Approximately one year after the patient’s death a lawsuit was filed by the patient’s family against both the ED physician Dr. B, the surgeon Dr. R, and the hospital. They allege that the physicians were negligent in their care “by not calling for a much more immediate and timely transfer to a trauma hospital and […]
Case 16: Medical Outcome
The transport helicopter arrived at 15:10, about 30 minutes after transport was called. The nursing documentation from after the flight crew’s arrival has been reorganized into chronological order from the original document: The flight crew record is below: Per Dr. B’s note, time of death was called at 4:09 PM, approximately 3.5 hours after the […]
Case 16: Results
The patient was sent to the CT scanner after the EM physician discussed the case with the on-call surgeon. The EM doctor’s note about the conversation is shown here: The nursing notes from the time the patient was in the scanner: The patient returned from the CT scanner. 4 units of pRBC were ordered at […]
Case 16: Motorcycle Crash
Case 16: Motorcycle Crash This case involves a 55-year-old man, Mr. W, whose motorcycle collided with an oncoming vehicle. The ambulance run sheet describes the accident: He was hypotensive for EMS personnel but this improved en route to the hospital. At 12:42pm the patient arrived to the emergency department where Dr. B, an emergency physician, […]
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Expert Witness Case #1
Expert Witness Case #1 The case begins with a 37-year-old woman at 17 weeks gestation who presented to the ED with a fever. The patient was a physician herself, board certified in internal medicine. She is referred to as Dr. R in the following documents. She was sent from the ED to L&D at 5:35pm. […]
Case 15: Analysis
One of the primary MedMalReviewer concerns in this case is her anticoagulation reversal. The doctor chose to give 5mg vitamin K subcutaneously as the only initial reversal agent. It was only after her mental status declined many hours later that 4 units of FFP were given. Vitamin KMost sources recommend 5-10mg IV vitamin K for […]
Case 15: Documentation
This case is unique in that the doctor was a general surgeon covering the ED. While he did not complete a residency in Emergency Medicine, the Documentation Rubric applies to any undifferentiated patient in the acute care setting. The note is very thorough and free of cookie-cutter text, which shows the physician to be thoughtful. […]
Case 15: Legal Outcome
During the legal proceedings, the hospital’s attorneys filed a Motion for Summary Judgment (MSJ). In simple terms, this is a request for the court to rule that the other party has no case. If the judge grants the MSJ, it would avoid a jury trial and end the hospital’s involvement in the lawsuit (although the […]