The plaintiff claimed that in June 2021, she was suffering from the worst headache of her life when she arrived by ambulance at Tampa General Hospital’s free-standing emergency department. Despite the plaintiff having risk factors for blood clots, the nurse practitioner failed to arrange for a neurology consultation or order a head CT scan…medicalmalpracticelawyers, $70.8M Florida Medical Malpractice Verdict
Instead, the nurse practitioner treated the plaintiff by ordering bloodwork, a COVID test, and providing a “headache cocktail” before discharging the plaintiff from the emergency department approximately four hours after her arrival.
While at home over the next thirty hours, the plaintiff suffered right-sided headache and left-sided weakness and numbness. She was brought to the main Tampa General Hospital where she was diagnosed as having suffered a stroke from blood clots in her brain. She was treated with blood thinners but the delay in diagnosing the blood clots in her brain and the failure to provide earlier treatment resulted in blindness, left-side paralysis, a stutter, and cognitive impairment.
The plaintiff’s Florida medical malpractice lawsuit alleged that had a CT scan been ordered and performed during the plaintiff’s first visit to the emergency department, the blood clots in her brain would have been diagnosed, leading to timely and effective treatment that would have prevented the plaintiff from developing a stroke.
The two-week trial ended with the jury awarding the plaintiff $70.8 million, including $51 million for pain and suffering, as well as other compensatory damages. The emergency department physician during the initial ER visit reportedly had settled claims against him prior to trial.