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Special Edition Legal Case Study


Healthcare Professionals and Medical Malpractice: A Case Study with Risk Management Strategies

Medical malpractice claims can be asserted against any healthcare provider. Although there may be a perception that physicians are held responsible for the majority of lawsuits, the reality is that healthcare professionals, including physical therapists, pharmacists and counselors are more frequently finding themselves defending the care they provide.


Physical Therapist Edition

Case Study: Overly Aggressive Treatment

This case involves a 42-year old female with a long history of bilateral knee injuries and subsequent surgeries. She received her first surgery at age 14 to her right knee and then both knees at ages 16, 18, 21 and then again at 40... Read the Full Case with Risk Management Recommendations

Pharmacist Edition

Case Study: Failure to Monitor

In this case, the defendant pharmacist was employed by a home infusion pharmacy where he was the head pharmacist and also was appointed director of pharmacy. The home infusion company provided home health care to patients, including the dispensing and administration of oral and parenteral medications, nursing care, personal care services and case management... Read the Full Case with Risk Management Recommendations

Counselor Edition

Case Study: Inappropriate Behavior and Sexual Misconduct by Counselor

The defendant was a licensed mental health counselor in solo practice who treated the client (a 51-year-old married woman) for multiple issues over approximately a two-year period. The client's intake form stated she was seeking treatment for problems in her marriage, symptoms related to being an adult child of an alcoholic, co-dependency and difficulties with communication. The defendant treated the client both separately and in couples' therapy sessions with her husband... Read the Full Case with Risk Management Recommendations



January 2009 Legal Case Study
Physician Assistant Fails to Diagnose Child's Bacterial Infection - Amputation of Portions of Both Hands and Amputation of Both Feet - $3 Million Settlement.

The plaintiff, age four, was seen at a hospital emergency room in July 2006 after developing a fever and rash with pustules in her mouth. The emergency room nurse documented a small pustule rash to the extremities and tongue.

After triage the child was seen by a certified physician assistant (PA-C). The plaintiff had a fever of 103.1. The nurse had originally written “petical” rash and crossed it out and had written “pustular.” A petechial rash looks like little red dots on the skin and a pustular rash is like a vesicle filled with pus. The PA-C described a “macular/papular rash.” A macular rash includes flat, small red patches on the skin and a papular rash is raised without pus. The PA-C did not note the rash in the mouth.

The parents described the child as having a brick-red type of skin color with little red dots. The parents raised the child’s shirt and the father was able to write his name into the child’s back by pushing on it. The child was discharged with instructions to follow up with a pediatrics clinic, but no instructions on whom to see or when to go and there were no written instructions given for fever control.

The child’s condition worsened the next day and she was taken to another emergency room and then transferred to another hospital where she was diagnosed and treated for staph sepsis. The child required amputation of portions of both hands and amputation of both feet. She was fitted with prosthetics with which she is able to walk and run.

The plaintiff claimed that the defendants were negligent in failing to diagnose bacterial infection and that the PA-C’s examination had been deficient and without proper orders for testing. The plaintiff also claimed that a physician should have seen the child, not a PA-C.

The defendant argued that the examination of the child was proper and that the type of rash observed was consistent with a viral infection. The defendant also claimed that the infection the child was later diagnosed with was extremely rare and that the parents should have returned the child to the emergency room earlier.

According to a published account a $3 million settlement was reached.

With permission from Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements & Experts; Lewis Laska, Editor, 901 Church St., Nashville, TN 37203-3411, 1-800-298-6288.

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