On February 14, 2024, a Tampa, Florida medical malpractice jury returned its verdict in favor of the surviving parents of a 23-year-old woman who died because her health care providers failed to treat her ulcer that was discovered during an endoscopy. The verdict was rendered on Valentine’s Day, exactly nine years after the woman died.
On December 11, 2014, the woman was admitted to Kindred Hospital after being treated at Tampa General Hospital. Her discharge instructions from Tampa General Hospital indicated that an endoscopy was required to be completed by January 5, 2015. Two hospitalists who worked at Kindred Hospital, a long-term acute care facility, failed to arrange the required endoscopy for two months. During that two-month period, the woman’s ulcer in her small intestine worsened, developed into a severe erosive ulcer, and ultimately perforated her small intestine that led to sepsis and death.
The two hospitalists treated the woman for constipation, nausea, and vomiting that they believed were side effects of a medication they prescribed. Trial testimony established that the woman’s pain level was 9 out of 10 in the days before her death. The day before she died, the woman was sent to a nearby hospital for a brain CT scan that was reported as negative. Her parents wanted their daughter to be transferred to Tampa General Hospital instead of being sent out for a CT scan but their wishes were ignored, and their daughter was sent back to Kindred Hospital after the CT scan was completed.
The Florida wrongful death medical malpractice trial lasted eight days after which the jury determined that one of the hospitalists was 70% at fault and the other was 30% responsible for the woman’s death. The jury awarded the parents $15 million each.
The parents’ Florida medical malpractice lawyer stated after the verdict, “That erosive process was allowed to go unchecked until it ate a hole in her GI tract. So they were treating the pain but not finding the source of the pain. The worst loss that can occur to a parent is burying their own child. I think it is a loss of enormous magnitude. The jury’s verdict reflects their appreciation of the magnitude of that loss to these very, very loving parents and loving family. They’re in varying stages of emotional relief that they got justice, but they’re also more aware than ever that their daughter’s death was unnecessary.” Their daughter was the youngest of three children and their only daughter.
If you or a loved one have suffered serious harm (or worse) as a result of hospitalist negligence 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 hospitalist medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a hospitalist malpractice case, if appropriate.
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