Echocardiograms were done, but who was reading them?
A 67-YEAR-OLD MAN had been under the care of his primary care physician for aortic stenosis. The physician was aware of this diagnosis and did periodic echocardiograms to monitor the patient’s heart. The patient was sent to a cardiologist for additional care. Over the next year and a half, the decedent’s condition worsened, and he died of heart failure.
PLAINTIFF’S CLAIM The defendants deviated from the standard of care in not reading the echocardiograms. If they had, they could have treated him and extended his life.
THE DEFENSE The cardiologist said it was not up to him to read the echocardiogram. The primary care physician acknowledged that he deviated from the standard of care.
VERDICT $3 million Connecticut verdict.
COMMENT This is a clear case of failure to take responsibility. I suspect the failure was based on the assumption by both physicians that the other physician was monitoring the patient’s status.
This happened to me with a patient who gradually drifted into acute heart failure while I assumed the nephrologist was managing his diuretics. A phone call and more furosemide would have prevented that hospital admission. (Luckily, my patient recovered uneventfully.)
Don’t assume the specialist has taken charge; verify or manage the patient yourself.
Third call to help line finally leads to office visit, but it’s too late
A 42-YEAR-OLD WOMAN called a phone help line and told a nurse that she had a fever, chills, sore throat, and severe chest pain. The next day she called again and spoke with a nurse who routed her call to a physician. The physician diagnosed the woman with influenza during their 4-minute conversation. She called again the next day and was told to come in for examination. The woman did so and was admitted. One day later, she died of sepsis secondary to pneumonia.
PLAINTIFF’S CLAIM The standard of care required immediate examination by the time of the second call.
THE DEFENSE The plaintiff did not actually report chest pain until the second call, and she contracted an unusually fast-acting strain of pneumonia.
VERDICT $3.5 million California arbitration award.
COMMENT Delayed diagnosis is one of the main reasons family physicians are successfully sued. Management of this patient may have been reasonable the first day. The second call should have prompted a same day visit or instructions to go to the emergency department or at least an urgent care facility. The third call was too late.