Jury Awards Nursing Home Malpractice Victim $23 Million; Kingston, Medical Malpractice Lawyer Weighs In

In a sister-state next to New York, a jury awarded a little over $23 million dollars to a woman who suffered at the hands of a negligent nursing home. The woman had to have both her legs and her finger amputated due to an infection that went septic and became gangrenous-a very dangerous infection. This all resulted when a home-care nurse-who was treating her for Crohn’s disease-failed to timely report an infection in the woman’s feeding catheter. In turn, this caused a dangerous bloodstream infection.

When that same nurse realized that the woman was having trouble breathing and began to have numbness in her lower extremities, the nurse finally contacted the hospital. But it was too late. The woman’s symptoms quickly worsened and she was diagnosed with gangrene in her extremities and in a finger. This resulted in the amputations above the knee in both legs, as well as that finger on her hand.

The jury’s award took into consideration the expensive medical bills, personal care expenses, and lost earnings.
But isn’t this avoidable? ABSOLUTELY!! Nursing home and home-care is extremely expensive, particularly when the level of care required is so high. Shouldn’t care-providers do everything and anything possible to care for their patients?! Providers really need to provide better care and cannot cut corners or turn a blind eye to certain conditions and situations that arise. I really hope this nurse, who slothfully sought assistance for this patient for a condition that was CLEARLY beyond the scope of their capabilities, received every repercussion possible the law could provide.

I know some states-including New York-have flirted with an absolute cap on medical malpractice cases. So far, it has not stuck in New York but it is inching closer, and closer. However, cases like this-even though not in New York-should really demonstrate why medical malpractice caps are not and should not be available; or at least not in every case.

The nurse here was grossly negligent and really altered the entire life of an individual patient but not doing something as simply as reporting to another authority of an infection. Or carefully monitoring the infection. Or even seeking basic medications to fight an infection. You do not have to be a trained, skilled nurse to know that infections are dangerous! Yet, in this case, and unfortunately like many others, have cost a patient who was in need, at a greater detriment because of pure laziness of their paid caretaker.

But what do you think? I would love to hear from you! I welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com . You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.