BY:
Ron Miller
Malpractice Claims against Pediatricians
Pediatricians are generally one of the most beloved type of doctors in the medical field. Pediatricians helps keep our kids healthy with vaccinations, antibiotics, good advice and a host of other medical services and treatments. As much as we may love them, however, pediatricians make mistakes just like other doctors and the occasionally get sued for medical malpractice.
While pediatricians are not the most commonly sued of physicians, studies done by the American Academy of Pediatrics have consistently found that roughly one third of pediatricians will be sued at least once during their careers. The decisions they make while diagnosing and treating children’s health issues can be vital to their development and health and when decisions are made incorrectly, the consequences can be severe. As a result, law suits alleging a pediatrician committed medical malpractice tend to be more costly to defend than others, and the verdicts and settlements tend to higher.
When pediatricians get sued for medical malpractice it is usually based on a failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis resulting in delayed or improper treatment.
Meningitis is commonly associated with malpractice suits involving pediatricians given the difficulty of diagnosing it. When it comes to Meningitis, it is imperative that if an infant or child is showing signs and symptoms the pediatrician diagnose it timely. When pediatricians diagnosis it incorrectly and it goes undetected for an extended period of time in many cases when it is finally caught, the harm cannot be reversed. Therefore, the pediatrician must take careful steps to ensure they are reading signs, symptoms, and tests correctly to make the right diagnoses.
In addition to meningitis, appendicitis is also misdiagnosed far too often in children. Females are particularly at risks for misdiagnosis, because the symptoms of appendicitis are often confused with those of pelvic inflammatory disease and/or urinary tract infections. When a pediatrician fails to diagnose appendicitis correctly and the child is not provided with the necessary treatment, the condition sometimes is unable to be fully reversed.
Additionally, medication errors are fairly common to malpractice claims involving pediatricians. Errors include ordering the wrong prescription, administering the wrong drug, dosage, timing, or technique, and failing to detect allergies to certain medications or failing to recognize and treat them.
The above are just the more common facets where pediatricians make errors, but there are many more. When it comes to mistakes, not every mistake is enough to constitute malpractice. Usually, it is determined by whether or not the physician acted as he or she should have in comparison to other physicians under the given circumstances. If, however, a plaintiff suffers an injury that was caused by the pediatrician’s failure to act as most pediatricians would have under the given circumstances, the pediatrician will likely be liable.
Pediatricians Verdicts and Settlements
Summarized below are recent verdicts and reported settlements from actual medical malpractice cases involving pediatricians. These case descriptions are provided for informational purposes only.
- Plaintiff v. Pediatrician (Pennsylvania 2019) $2.1 million: A pediatrician fails to perform a reflex eye test during well baby visits which screens for retinoblastoma and is promulgated in guidelines set forth by the American Academy of Pediatrics. As a result of the pediatrician’s failure to perform this test, the plaintiff’s retinoblastoma goes undetected for nine months until it is finally detected. As a result of the delay in diagnosis, the plaintiff experienced very extensive and painful treatments to his eyes and ultimately required the removal of his right eye. This medical malpractice action was brought against the pediatrician alleging negligence in their failure to perform the eye reflex test that resulted in the delayed diagnosis and severe injuries the plaintiff suffered. The case was settled before an arbitrator where it was found the failure to perform the reflex test was a breach of the standard of care and the plaintiff was awarded $2.1 million.
- Mercado v. Rosado (Illinois 2017) $48 million: An 8 year old girl, who is the subject of severe child abuse, suffers rapid weight loss, has healed scars on her body, and scabbed abrasions on her body. An abuse report is made, and as result she is given a consult with a board certified pediatrician who specializes in child abuse detection and care. He fails to treat or report the clear indications of abuse, and three weeks later she is murdered by her grandmother. This wrongful death action was brought on her behalf, alleging the pediatrician was negligent in failing to take the necessary steps required of him under the standard of care, and had he; her life would have been saved. The pediatrician would not settle, and the case went to trial where the jury found the pediatrician breached the standard of care by failing to treat her condition and make the appropriate abuse reports to the applicable governing bodies. The jury awarded the plaintiff a verdict of $48 million.
- Charles v. Thomas (New Jersey 2017) $4.25 million: A young boy has an ordinary ear, nose, and throat procedure done by the defendant pediatrician. After the procedure was completed, the boy quickly went into cardiorespiratory arrest that was not caught quickly enough and as a result, he suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, cortical blindness, developmental delays, and a seizure disorder. His parents brought this medical malpractice action on his behalf alleging the pediatrician breached the standard of care in his treatment by failing to properly monitor him to detect complications during and after the procedure. The case did not go to trial, but was rather settled for $4.25 million.
- Villapando v. Barstow Community Hosp (California 2016) $4.75 million: During labor, fetal monitoring indicates five heart decelerations and after birth, the infant has some difficulty breathing. At no point is the on-call pediatrician called. Later, in the mother’s arms, the newborn infant is found limp and apneic and nursing staff alert the on-call pediatrician. It is discovered the infant has developed cardiorespiratory arrest and an endotracheal tube is necessary to aid in his breathing. The pediatrician, however, places the tube incorrectly and as a result the infant does not receive adequate oxygenation. The tube is eventually fixed and placed correctly, but it is too late, the infant has suffered a hypoxic brain injury. This medical malpractice action is brought, alleging the hospital staff was negligent in failing to have the pediatrician examine the infant when fetal monitoring showed signs of distress as well as the pediatrician’s incorrect placement of the tube which further delayed oxygenation. The defendant initially denied liability, but the parties later agreed to settle before trial for $4.75 million.
- Hurst v. Piroozi (Nevada 2016) $14.5 million: A female newborn is born prematurely and requires neonatal care. While under the care of the pediatrician defendant, it is determined that the newborn has anemia, but the pediatrician informs her parents that anemia is commonly seen in newborn infants and “it was nothing to worry about.” When the infant was discharged, the pediatrician provided the parents with no treatment plan for their daughter’s anemia. Over the next three months, the infant becomes increasingly ill and eventually suffers anemic shock, which causes a permanent and severe brain injury. It is then discovered that she does not just have anemia, but a very serious form of anemia called Diamond Blackfan anemia. The parents bring this medical malpractice against the pediatrician alleging they were negligent in misdiagnosing their daughter and as a result, she went undiagnosed and untreated until the damage was already done and irreversible. The case then went to trial where the jury found for the plaintiff and awarded a verdict of $14,518,606 million.
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