A Philadelphia jury determined that an infant’s death was not the result of her doctor’s failure to diagnose her life-threatening heart condition…law.com, Phila. Jury Returns Defense Verdict in $12M Infant Death Case, July 2024
Attorneys for the estate of decedent Jazlyn Rosado had gone into the trial with a $12 million demand, but while the jury found that defendant Dr. Jamie Katz had been negligent, they also found that her negligence was not a factual cause of Rosado’s death.
Katz provided care to Rosado when the 11-month-old was brought to the St. Christopher’s Hospital emergency room exhibiting signs of a seizure. The plaintiffs claimed that Rosado was discharged later that day without Katz or any other health care providers at the hospital ordering diagnostic testing.
Six weeks later, Rosado returned to the hospital suffering from a stroke and ultimately died from what was later determined to be complications of dilated cardiomyopathy, the plaintiffs’ pretrial memo said.
The plaintiffs claimed that Rosado had been suffering from an atypical seizure when she first presented at St. Christopher’s emergency room and should have been admitted to the hospital for further investigation. They alleged that if Rosado had been given further testing, she would have been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and received treatment that would have prevented her death.
The defendants, however, contended that Rosado had not demonstrated any symptoms indicating the need for cardiac evaluation when she presented to the hospital with a seizure. They asserted that the health care providers appropriately referred Rosado for a routine neurology follow-up.
The jury found that the defendant had been negligent but that her negligence was not a factual cause of the infant’s death.