Case 11: Physician Deposition
The physician who discharged the patient from the ED was deposed by the plaintiff’s attorney. The deposition covered multiple topics related to the patient’s care in the ED, and also touched on several key principles of a chest pain work-up. In this first section, the lawyer is asking the doctor about the history that he […]
Case 11: Lawsuit
The patient’s husband filed a lawsuit against multiple defendants. This included the initial physician who discharged her home, the hospital, the EMS service that responded to the 911 call, the paramedic and EMT who responded to the call, and the 911 board. Most medical malpractice cases are handled in state courts, but due to the […]
Case 11: University Hospital
The helicopter landed at the university medical center, and the patient was rushed to the cath lab. In the cath lab, a 100% occlusion of the right coronary artery was discovered. The entire cath report (3 pages containing the full procedure note) is shown below, only for MedMalReviewer subscribers. After placement of two stents and […]
Case 11: Medical Outcome 2
The physician ordered a chest x-ray to check ET tube placement and screen for other underlying pathology: The patient’s lab tests were repeated. Her cardiac markers had risen drastically, and she was markedly acidotic following the code. The physician’s T-sheet documentation is relatively sparse. It is shown below with interpretation of the hand-written text. The […]
Case 11: Medical Outcome
The patient was discharged from the ED around 9:50pm. She went back to the home where she was staying. The following morning, she woke up and was in the kitchen making coffee. She suddenly collapsed in front of her family and was unresponsive with no pulse. EMS was called. On arrival she was found to […]
Case 11: Results
The physician ordered several tests: An EKG, CBC, CMP, magnesium, CK MB, and troponin. The EKG was completed and is shown below. The court used a copy of the EKG that was unfortunately very poor quality. In order to make this case easier to understand for readers, MedMalReviewer has digitally enhanced the EKG. The enhanced […]
Case 11: Chest Pain
Note: Editing this month’s case was especially challenging due to legibility issues. The case was selected despite the legibility issue because it is an excellent example of a key liability risk. Plain-text versions of some documents have therefore been included below the original documents to help the reader understand the case. A 58-year-old woman was […]
Case 10: Documentation Review
For this case we will review the first physician’s documentation. His documentation will be reviewed in the standard format, using the Documentation Rubric. His note is a fairly standard EM note. The Documentation Template was created for clinicians to use while working, in order to create defensible documentation. This is specifically focused on the medical […]
Case 10: Case Review
Note: This post has been edited since it was originally published. It was updated to more accurately reflect the multiple different possible causes of the patient’s bad outcome, as opposed to focusing solely on a Dilaudid allergy. The review of this case is complicated by the fact that the cause of the bad outcome was […]
Case 10: Lawsuit Outcome
Lawsuits involving allegations of EMTALA violations and medical negligence can often drag on for years and involve complicated legal battles. The defense often must weigh the likelihood of a favorable verdict and ongoing legal expenses against a settlement. In this case, both sides reached an agreement to settle the case. The details of the settlement, […]