Doctors in Hawaii and elsewhere often undergo the scrutiny of their patients, who may or may not be satisfied with the type of care and treatment they receive. Sometimes, doctors face allegations of medical malpractice for mistakes made while patients are undergoing a procedure. One family in another state suffered the unspeakable loss of an infant, and they have obtained a monetary judgment against those responsible for the death.
The child had undergone a complicated surgery on his heart in 2011. The infant was born with a condition that caused the left side of his heart to be underdeveloped. The complex surgery performed at a children’s hospital was meant to rectify the situation; however, a terrible mistake resulted in tragedy instead.
The baby was a mere two days old when he underwent the surgical procedure. It was later disclosed that surgeons did not immediately close the surgical incision on the boy’s tiny chest. Rather, they waited a full 11 days to do so. Doctors said this was because his heart was swollen, and they did not think it could stand the pressure of the sutures. Once the incision was closed, calcium was administered to the infant to help strengthen his heartbeat.
A tragic scene unfolded when the baby’s heart ceased to beat at all. He died a little over one week later. A jury recently awarded $1.3 million to the child’s family for the mistakes made in administering too much calcium. In a similar situation, a parent in Hawaii could meet with an attorney to explore the options available for filing a medical malpractice claim in order to seek monetary damages.
Source: philly.com, “Jury awards $1.3 million in death of baby at St. Christopher’s“, Tom Avril, Accessed on June 10, 2016