In June 2025, a Massachusetts medical malpractice claim was settled for $3.2 million for a man who required that his right leg be amputated because the medical staff at the hospital placed a central line in his right femoral artery instead of his right femoral vein.
The severely developmentally disabled man was found unresponsive at home by his mother on July 9, 2015. He was transported to the emergency room of a local hospital. The ER physician placed the central line, and then the man was transferred to the ICU. Throughout the day, medications were given through the misplaced central line.
In the late afternoon, a nurse in the ICU noted that the man’s pulses in his right leg had decreased but the nurse reportedly did not advise anyone about the change in condition. Two hours later, his pulses in his right leg remained diminished and his right leg was noted to be cool to the touch, but the nurse did not advise any physician regarding the changes.
It was not until two hours later, when the man’s right leg was cold to the touch, pale, and had decreased pulses, that a nurse finally advised a physician regarding the man’s condition. The physician immediately realized that the central line was in the femoral artery instead of the femoral vein, and the central line was removed. That evening, the man was transferred to a larger hospital in Boston, where he was diagnosed with compartment syndrome that required emergency surgery to relieve the pressure within the leg and to remove necrotic muscle in an effort to salvage the man’s leg. Unfortunately, the attempted treatment was ineffective and more tissue became necrotic, requiring that an above-the-knee amputation be performed.
The Massachusetts medical malpractice lawsuit was settled a few weeks before the scheduled trial date. The plaintiff’s medical experts were expected to testify that the standard of care was breached by placing the central line into the femoral artery instead of the femoral vein, by failing to recognize that the central line was in the artery instead of the vein, and by the ICU nurses failing to timely advise a physician regarding the worsening condition of the man’s leg. The experts were expected to testify that prompt removal of the misplaced central line would likely have avoided amputation.
The defense experts focused on the poor condition of the man when he arrived at the hospital, as well as arguing that it may be difficult to determine if a central line is placed in an artery instead of the vein.
If you or a loved one may have been injured (or worse) as a result of hospital negligence in Massachusetts or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Massachusetts medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your hospital malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a hospital medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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