$450,000 Settlement for Medical Negligence Case

A sixty-three year old woman was brought by her family to the emergency room of a local state hospital with complaints of abdominal pain. The emergency room physician cursorily examined her, diagnosed mental illness and made a coroner’s commitment. Despite her extreme discomfort and feebleness, she was required to be transported by a Tangipahoa Parish deputy to the local parish health unit where she was examined by a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist, recognizing that the woman had a serious physical condition, indicated that he would make arrangements to have her hospitalized in another state facility and asked her to come back in the morning. The following morning, while waiting outside the health unit, the woman died. A subsequent autopsy revealed that the woman suffered from an obstructed small intestine which could have been readily diagnosed at the emergency room the day before. If a proper diagnosis and medical attention had taken place, the woman’s life would have been spared. We represented the children and widow of the woman in a claim for medical negligence. The case settled for $450,000.00.