$1.3M

Additional Notes

A mother whose kidneys had failed needed dialysis three times a week. As one of her dialysis sessions began, her nephrologist canceled the dialysis because the young woman was bleeding. The nephrologist had the patient transferred to the local emergency room, where the ER doctor placed a suture to stop any more bleeding. The nephrologist testified she also told the ER doctor by telephone to order blood work to see if the patient needed to have dialysis restarted. The ER doctor testified the nephrologist never told him to order any blood work. An order for blood work was nonetheless entered at the emergency room, but the patient was sent home before any blood work was done. Hours after the patient was sent home, someone from the hospital canceled the order for blood work from the hospital’s computer system. The next day, the patient’s family called her nephrologist, who assumed the blood work had been completed and was normal. The nephrologist’s office told the patient’s family that the patient could wait another day for her dialysis. The young mother died that evening due to hyperkalemia, meaning an excessive amount of potassium that would have been cleaned from her system by dialysis. The Law Offices of John Day, P.C. filed suit for the patient’s elementary, school-aged son against the ER doctor, the hospital, two ER nurses, and the nephrologist. After thirteen days of trial, a jury returned a verdict of $1,250,000 against the ER doctor, the hospital, the nephrologist, and one of the nurses.