Advocate South Suburban Hospital to pay $10.4 million over patient disfigurement, jury rules
Patient says wrong medication dose led to amputation of his hand and toes.
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Advocate Health Care's South Suburban Hospital in Chicago will pay $10.4 million after a court ruled that negligence in administering blood pressure medication resulted in permanent disfigurement of a surgical patient.
The case stemmed from a 2007 incident where patient Charles Calbert was admitted and underwent emergency surgery to remove an infected section of his colon. During the surgery, doctors ordered that Calbert receive a vasopressor medication to increase his blood pressure, which had dropped. Doctors ordered that he continue to receive the medication after surgery if his blood pressure fell below 100.
[Also: Medicare slashes payments to hospitals with high infection, injury rates]
In the days that followed the surgery, Calbert's attorneys claim nurses at South Suburban failed to check the arterial line that was being used to check the patient's blood pressure, which was registering low blood pressures when in fact his blood pressure was above 100. No knowing that, nurses ordered the maximum doses of the vasopressor medications, which constricts blood vessels. As a result, Calbert's feet and hands began to lose circulation, became gangrenous and necrotic, and ultimately his left hand and all the toes on his feet needed to be amputated.
South Suburban had said the loss of blood flow to Calbert's extremities were the result of organ failure and septic shock, and not the medication.
However, jurors sided with Calbert, awarding $10.4 million as compensation for the disfigurement, loss of employment and other pain and suffering.
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Advocate had tried to settle for $1.2 million at the start of the trial, but the offer was declined by Calbert.
The settlement comes as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services continues to crack down on preventable medical errors. Last December, CMS fined 721 hospitals a total of $373 million over their rates of preventable medical errors.
Advocate South Suburban Hospital was not among those fined. However, the hospital recently earned two stars in the latest Hospital Compare rankings by CMS.
[Also: 1-star hospital number doubles in latest CMS rankings, 5-stars slide; See the data]
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