The parents of a two-year-old have filed a Florida medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital in which they allege their son was erroneously administered ten-times the recommended dosage of a medication, leading to his death.
The parents’ lawsuit was filed on November 6, 2025 and name as defendants UF Health Shands in Gainesville, Florida, and several doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals at the hospital. The lawsuit alleges that the child was given 15 mmol of potassium phosphate, instead of the customary dosage of 1.5mmol, allegedly because the prescribing physician left out the decimal point. The lawsuit further alleges that several supervising physicians, colleagues, and pharmacists failed to identify and correct the medication error, despite the hospital’s pharmacy system issuing a “Red Flag” warning them about the excessive dosage.
The child’s potassium level rose to a fatal level, which caused him to suffer cardiac arrest. The lawsuit alleges that the medical staff failed to timely respond to the child’s cardiac arrest, thereby resulting in irreversible brain damage due to the lack of oxygen because he was not breathing for at least 20 minutes. The child was placed on life support for two weeks, after which he was removed from life support because he showed no signs of improvement. He died on March 18, 2024.
The child was initially brought to another hospital due to diarrhea, decreased appetite, and his persistent crying, where he was diagnosed with rhinovirus and enterovirus. His potassium level was found to be low, for which IV treatment was begun in the emergency department. It was determined that the child required a higher level of care, so he was transported to Shands, where it was determined that his potassium level was dangerously low. That is when the child received two consecutive doses of potassium phosphate, which created a massive overdose, which proved fatal.
The child’s mother stated after the Florida medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit was filed, “It’s been extremely difficult since the passing of my son because to this day, I still have not known what happened. I was never told. When I asked, it was always a vague, ‘I do not know. I do not know.’ I still have nightmares about what happened.”
UF Health Shands Hospital states on its website: “More than 1,200 expert UF College of Medicine and community physicians along with more than 9,000 skilled UF Health Shands nursing and support staff provide comprehensive high-quality patient care, from primary care to urgent care and from the treatment of simple medical conditions to highly complex conditions.”
If you or your child suffered serious harm (or worse) as a result of medical negligence that occurred in a hospital in Florida or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Florida medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your hospital medical malpractice claim for you and represent you and your child in a hospital medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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