Girl’s family reaches settlement with hospital for medical malpractice

A little girl and her family have settled a medical malpractice case. The family sued the hospital for medical malpractice after a delay in the ER led to the worsening of their daughter’s staph infection and the eventual amputation of both her legs below the knee, all of one hand and part of her other hand.

The little girl will need wheelchairs and therapy for the rest of her life because of the medical errors and misdiagnosis of the ER staff. The little girl almost died the day that her family brought her to the ER. Her parents noticed that she had a fever and had been getting weaker and weaker and decided to bring her to the ER. She also had bruising on her face.

The triage nurse at the ER said that the little girl had a virus and rash and told her parents to wait. The family waited five hours. While the family was waiting, the parents noticed their daughter getting weaker and the bruising growing to cover her whole face. The father repeatedly complained to the nurse, but the nurse continued to say it was a rash.

When the little girl went limp, the father could not wait any longer and pushed back through the doors and asked another nurse to look at his daughter. That nurse brought her back immediately. The little girl had to be flown to a children’s hospital. She almost died.

The settlement will take care of the little girl’s ongoing medical expenses for the rest of her life.

Source: Associated Press, “Girl to get $10M for amputations after ER delay,” Oct. 28, 2011