Recent Verdicts and Settlements (Continued from page 53)


Plaintiff ’s Counsel: Henry E. Dugan, Jr. (MTLA member), Dugan, Babij, Tolley & Spector, LLC, Timonium, MD


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Jane Doe v. Anonymous Defendant Hospital


Facts: While being assisted from bed to chair, Plaintiff was allowed to fall, injuring low back and sustaining damage to nerve resulting in neurogenic bladder and bowel.


Plaintiff ’s Experts: Frank Frassica (Orthopedic); David Hutcheon (Gastro- enterologist)


Verdict/Settlement: The case was settled prior to the filing of suit for $325,000.00.


Plaintiff ’s Counsel: Roger J. Bennett (MTLA member) Horn & Bennett, P.A., Baltimore, MD


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Jane Doe v. Unidentified Health Care Providers Circuit Court for the State of Maryland


Facts: Mother suffering from gestational diabetes gave birth to infant by cesarian section. Birth plan called for mother to nurse exclusively. Mother had difficulty in nursing and child’s nourishment was not supplemented by bottle feeding. Child died after/during fourth day of life. Question of whether death was a result of inherited fatty liver disease or malnu- trition. Autopsy at least suggested fatty liver disease cause of death.


Verdict/Settlement: Case resolved after several settlement conferences for $150,000.


Plaintiff ’s Counsel: Kevin J. McCarthy (MTLA Member), McCarthy & Costello, L.L.P., Lanham, MD.


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LMN et al. v. OPQ Medical Associates, et al. Circuit Court for Montgomery County


Facts: Plaintiff ’s decedent, a sixteen-year- old eleventh grader, developed acute abdominal pain associated with constipa- tion and vomiting, and was brought to the XYZ Hospital emergency room by her mother in acute distress with abdominal pain, abdominal distension, and a three-


54 Trial Reporter Summer 2002


week history of constipation. She was seen by an emergency room physician who, within ninety minutes of her arrival, di- agnosed her with acute abdominal pain, obstipation, and fecal impaction. Her symptoms included “nausea and vomit- ing” and “crying with pain.” Her laboratory studies demonstrated a mildly elevated WBC and mildly abnormal liver enzymes. At 9:30 a.m. an attempt at disimpaction was performed without suc- cess by the ER physician., who ordered two Fleets enemas which also failed to relieve the fecal impaction. In view of the patient’s symptoms of abdominal pain, distention, and leukocytosis (elevated white blood cells and band which are in- dicative of infection), the standard of care required that a surgical consultation be obtained STAT. Instead of a surgical con- sultation, the patient was evaluated by a pediatric team consisting of a medical stu- dent and resident who documented the presence of hypoactive bowel signs, severe distension, diffuse enlargement of the abdomen, guarding, tenderness to palpa- tion, pain upon any movement of the torso, and stool in the right lower quad- rant. The attending pediatrician wrongly concluded that the patient’s abdominal condition was essentially unchanged from her initial presentation to the emergency


room and that she did not need a surgical consultation.


The patient’s condition


continued to worsen, and by 6:00 p.m. it was noted that her abdomen was “very distended up to the breasts.” Her level of consciousness deteriorated and by 8:30 p.m. she was noted to difficult to arouse. At 8:40 p.m., a code blue was called due to a cardiorespiratory arrest. Cardiopul- monary resuscitation with mask ventilation was initiated but not before the patient had gone into multi-organ system failure with metabolic and respi- ratory acidosis, kidney failure, and sepsis, with a principal diagnosis of bowel per- foration and septic shock. An exploratory laparotomy was finally performed at 1:30 a.m. and she was found to have extensive fecal material in her colon. She was pro- nounced dead at 2:21 a.m. An autopsy disclosed that the cause of death was ne- crosis/autolysis consistent with toxic megacolon, with secondary cerebral and cerebellar, endema.


Allegations of Liability: No request was made for surgical consultation. As a re- sult, no surgeon saw the patient until after she went into a cardiorespiratory arrest secondary to fecal impaction and colon perforation. A timely exploratory would have resulted in the removal of the fecal


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