A young mother sues two ED physicians, a surgeon, a nurse and the hospital—everyone but the attending urologist.
The hospital was buzzing when Dr. K, a 44-year-old urologist, came in to check on his patients. He asked a nurse what was going on.
“Three of the ED docs and a nurse got sued for malpractice,” she replied. “It was that really unfortunate case that happened a few years ago with the woman with the kidney stone. Oh, wait….” She paused and looked at Dr. K wide-eyed. “Weren't you involved with that case too?”
Dr. K knew exactly what case the nurse was talking about. The patient, Ms. O, was 38 years old. She showed up in the emergency department after midnight, complaining of severe abdominal pain on her right side that had persisted since early in the day.
Workup in the ED
The triage nurse, Ms. R, noted a fever of 104° F, the complaints of abdominal and pelvic pain, and that Ms. O had vomited. The patient also reported that she had a history of kidney stones, although she had never been treated by a urologist, and the stones had passed by themselves.
Ms. R then performed a physical, took samples for blood tests and a urinalysis, and left the patient to be examined by Dr. F, the ED physician. When the urinalysis showed no abnormalities, he sent Ms. O for an ultrasound examination. It was inconclusive, but showed some areas of concern around the kidneys and gallbladder.
He then ordered a CT scan, but as Ms. O was being transported she went into septic shock. With her BP dropping to 59/39 mm Hg, a dopamine IV drip was initiated and the CT was aborted. Dr. F suspected gallbladder disease and said as much to the physician who took over for him on the shift change an hour later.
The second physician, Dr. G, consulted a surgeon, who decided that exploratory surgery was necessary. But when the gallbladder turned out to be healthy, the surgery was completed without a diagnosis. Then, as Ms. O was being returned to the ICU, she went into cardiac arrest. Once she was finally stabilized, she underwent a CT scan where a kidney stone was discernible.
A complete obstruction
At this point, Dr. K was paged and told to report to the ICU. The stone was causing a complete obstruction. This unusual condition led to the severe kidney infection that resulted in sepsis. Dr. K inserted a stent, and Ms. O's kidney function was ultimately restored.
However, the story didn't end there. The dopamine drip was in place for several hours to counter the effects of the septic shock, but the efforts to keep her heart beating caused a lack of blood flow to her extremities. Over the next few weeks, Ms. O watched as her arms and legs withered, eventually requiring amputation. The mother of two young children, she lost both arms at the forearm and both legs below the knee.
Although Dr. K was involved only in treating the kidney stone, the case haunted him. Now, years later he feared it was about to haunt him anew. He waited all day to be served with legal papers, but they never came. Ms. O sued the triage nurse, both ED physicians, the surgeon, and the hospital, but she didn't sue Dr. K.
The hospital hummed with rumors that settlements has been offered and rejected, and eventually the case went to trial.