Legal Brief: Failure to Diagnose a Blood Clot

After deliberating for only three hours, a jury in Watertown, NY, has awarded a former Fort Drum soldier $13.5 million in damages after health care practitioners failed to diagnose and treat a blood clot in his leg.

Clinical Scenario

The patient was seen in Samaritan Medical Center’s emergency department with pain in his lower right leg. He was seen by a physician assistant, diagnosed with tendonitis, and discharged, when in fact he was suffering from an arterial occlusion. A few days later he sought help at another hospital where he was accurately diagnosed with a blood clot requiring his leg to be amputated above the knee. Since then, the patient had to retire early from the Army and is wheelchair-bound.

The Case

The patient sued the hospital, physician assistant, and the PA’s supervising physician. The patient/plaintiff claimed that the clinicians had never considered a blood clot, and never tested for one, and had they done so he might have been successfully treated. The defendants argued that the plaintiff had presented at the hospital with a palpable pulse in his leg, negating the need to test for a blood clot. However, the plaintiff pointed out that if a pulse examination was ever truly conducted it was never documented anywhere.

The trial lasted 6 days, with the jury concluding that the defendants were negligent in their diagnosis and treatment of the patient. The jury awarded $3.5 million in economic damages for lost wages and medical expenses, and $10 million for pain and suffering. The jury found the physician assistant to be 80% at fault and the supervising physician to be 20% at fault.

The Takeaway

Always consider the most dangerous diagnosis, and always document what you’ve done. Had a pulse examination been documented here it might have changed the outcome.

Ann W. Latner, JD, is a freelance writer and attorney based in New York. She was formerly the director of periodicals at the American Pharmacists Association and editor of Pharmacy Times.