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. Initial vitals were a temperature of 102.8F, heart rate 120bpm and blood pressure 91/67. She was evaluated by 2 OBGYN resident, both named Dr. G. Bedside ultrasound showed no heart rate, and she was sent to radiology for a formal ultrasound that confirmed fetal demise.
After returning from ultrasound, the OBGYN attending Dr. J saw the patient, performed a pelvic exam, and ordered antibiotics (clindamycin and gentamicin) that were started at 11:37pm. She was admitted to the ICU due to concerns for septic shock. A stillborn fetus was delivered.
In the ICU, she was seen by the ICU resident Dr. K and the ICU attending Dr. Z. She initially refused a central line and ABGs. There was a delay in giving her antibiotics for several hours as they had not been ordered stat. Over the next several days, her status continued to decline, and she died on October 2, 2011.
Her family consulted with an attorney, and a lawsuit was filed against several physicians and nurses.
Multiple expert witnesses were hired by the plaintiffs. The EM expert witness opinion, Dr L, is shown here:
The compensation rates that this physician charged are shown below for MedMalReviewer subscribers:
An expert with training in internal medicine, emergency medicine and critical care was also hired. He is also named Dr. L.
The plaintiff’s third expert witness was an OBGYN, Dr. B.
This expert’s billing is shown below.
The defense also hired multiple expert witnesses. In addition to reviewing the case, they also reviewed the plaintiff’s expert witness claims. Here the OBGYN expert witness for the defense gives her opinion.
The lawsuit was originally filed in November 2013. After extensive negotiation over the next 2 years, it was ultimately settled before going to trial. The details of the settlement are confidential.
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