Delay in Diagnosis of Aneurysm: $1.5 Million Settlement
2024 Medical Malpractice Case Report
By Attorney Willliam J. Thompson
Suffolk Superior Court, Boston, Massachusetts
Permanent neurological injuries caused by brain hemorrhage from delay in diagnosis of aneurysm
The plaintiff was a 66 year-old woman who suffered a left posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) aneurysm rupture and subarachnoid hemorrhage resulting in permanent neurological injuries.
The plaintiff fell and injured her right knee. She was placed in a knee immobilizer and crutches. She developed an occlusive DVT of the right superficial femoral, popliteal, posterior tibial, and peroneal veins, and a pulmonary embolism with multiple subsegmental emboli. She was admitted to a hospital and started on Lovenox 120 mg.
One afternoon, she complained of a headache behind her left ear that had been coming and going since the previous night. The nurse paged the hospitalist who noted that the patient had a head cold. The following morning, the patient was medicated with Lovenox 120 mg and Coumadin 5 mg. Later that day, the patient was discharged by another hospitalist.
Two days later at an INR check, and five days later at a doctor’s appointment, there was no mention of any headache. Two more days later, she reported a sudden onset posterior headache rated 10/10—the “worst headache of her life”. She was taken to a hospital and a CT scan revealed an acute brain hemorrhage. A CTA of the head revealed a large irregular outpouching off of a more distal branch of the right posterior inferior cerebellar artery, measuring up to 9 mm, consistent with an aneurysm.
The patient’s anticoagulation was reversed and she underwent suboccipital craniectomy. She was eventually discharged to a rehabilitation facility and continues to require high levels of care.
The plaintiff claimed the defendant hospitalists were negligent when they failed to order imaging including but not limited to CT/CTA and/or MRI/MRA in response to the patient’s complaint of a headache when she was on blood thinners.
The case settled prior to trial for $1,500,000.
Lubin & Meyer attorneys Andrew C. Meyer and William J. Thompson represented the plaintiff in this medical malpractice lawsuit.
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