Breaching its own policy, the hospital 1) failed to communicate the recommen- dation for a follow-up x-ray or the possible abnormal finding to the patient or his family doctor and 2) send the ER records to the family physician. An American College of Radiology standard suggested that the radiologist should have notified the emergency physician of the unex- pected finding of a possible malignancy in the lung when only pneumonia had been suspected. It is unknown whether the emergency physician received or re- viewed the radiologist’s report. The patient had several more episodes of respiratory symptoms over the course of the next year. Because the patient and his physician were under the impression that he had a normal chest x-ray at the hospital emergency room, bronchitis was presumed to be the cause of the respira- tory symptoms and antibiotics were prescribed to treat that symptoms The chest x-ray had in reality been mis- diagnosed at the hospital and a frank abnormality, representing a very early and treatable mass in the left lung, was over- looked. Had it been read properly, a chest CT would have been performed and Plaintiff ’s non-Hodgkins lymphoma would have been diagnosed and appro- priately treated. If the patient had received adequate medical care and treatment, con- sistent with the standard of care, he should have recovered from the disease, returned to his regular employment, and had a normal life expectancy. Instead, a thirteen month delay re- sulted before the patient’s cancer was diagnosed. During this time, the mass had grown to become about four times greater in volume and it began pushing against structures in the chest. The can- cer had progressed to an advanced stage spreading to the groin and spleen. At- tempts at treatment failed including bone marrow transplantation. Almost 2 + years after the emergency room visit, the pa- tient died of metastatic peripheral t-cell lymphoma. He is survived by his wife and two teenage daughters.


Allegations of Liability: The defendants’ failed to communicate their own recom- mendation for a repeat chest x-ray to the patient or his personal physician, violated their own policy of sending emergency room records to the patients’ personal physician, misinterpreted the chest x-ray, and failed to recommend a CT scan to rule out a tumor, and failed to diagnose early stage lymphoma.


Injures and Damages: The defendants’ Summer 2001 Trial Reporter 43


failure to diagnose the patient’s early stage cancer allowed it to progress to an ad- vanced and untreatable stage, resulting in death.


Plaintiff ’s Experts: Richard I. Fisher, M.D. (Lymphoma Director) Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Maywood, Il- linois; Professor Stephen S. Fuller (Real Estate Investing) Fairfax, Virginia; Will- iam H. Hartz, M.D. (Radiology) Jenkintown, Pennsylvania; Gerald H. Sokol, M.D. (Oncology) Hudson, FL; Francis A. Thomas, M.D. (Vocational Assessment) Silver Spring, Maryland; Thomas C. Borzilleri, Ph.D. (Economist) Bethesda, Maryland


Verdict/Settlement: The case settled before trial for $2.5 million.


Plaintiff ’s Counsel: Edward L. Norwind (MTLA member), J. Philip Kessel (MTLA member), and Ronald A. Karp (MTLA member) Karp, Frosh, Lapidus, Wigodsky & Norwind, Rockville, MD


________


Baby Doe v. Anonymous Defendant Hospital


Facts: Plaintiff had history of three (3) prior spontaneous vaginal deliveries at


home with no advanced warning signs or symptoms of labor. Defendant deter- mined that Plaintiff was carrying twins, one of which was in the breech presenta- tion. Despite Plaintiff’s designation as a high risk pregnancy, she was never seen or examined by a high risk obstetrician. On examination at 34 5/7 weeks, a fif- teen (15) percent weight discordance was present in twins. In addition, Defendant failed to examine Plaintiff ’s cervix in an attempt to determine the likelihood of pre-term, and possibly precipitous labor. Despite being 34 5/7 weeks pregnant, her history of precipitous and unannounced home deliveries, the presence of weight discordance, Plaintiff’s classification as a high risk pregnancy and the likelihood that Plaintiff would give birth prior to 37 weeks (50% of all twins deliver at, or be- fore 37 weeks), Plaintiff was given an appointment for a repeat sonogram in three (3) to four (4) weeks. Subsequently, without any forewarn- ing, i.e. labor or delivery pains, and totally consistent with her history, Plaintiff gave birth to the first twin via spontaneous vaginal delivery at her home. The second twin was born via spontaneous breech delivery in the ambulance en route to hospital approximately ten plus (10+)


(Continued on page 44)


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