Failure to properly manage a patient’s hypertension
A 44-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO WEIGHED >450 POUNDS went to his internist for treatment of hypertension. At a work-related physical the previous day, his blood pressure had been 160/110 mm Hg. After examination, the internist wrote a 30-day prescription for amlodipine, 5 mg/d, with 3 refills. The patient saw the physician 2 weeks later but not again until 3 months later. At that visit, the internist prescribed amlodipine, 5 mg/d, for 90 days with 2 refills. The patient missed his next appointment, which was set for 4 months later, but when his medication was about to run out, he was able to get a prescription for 10 months’ worth of amlodipine by phone. The patient died 2 months before the prescription ran out.
PLAINTIFF’S CLAIM The physician failed to properly manage and monitor the patient’s hypertension. The dosage of amlodipine was insufficient.
THE DEFENSE The patient was noncompliant and failed to show for follow-up appointments. The dosage of amlodipine was sufficient. The cause of death was unknown because no autopsy was performed.
VERDICT $136,000 New Jersey verdict.
COMMENT If we accept a patient into our practice, we need to have reasonable policies for patients to show up for follow-up, and to consider having them find another physician if they do not.
Did the patient’s age discourage proper evaluation?
THREE MONTHS AFTER NOTICING BLOOD IN HER STOOL, a 19-year-old woman went to see her physician. Without ordering a flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy, the physician diagnosed a healing anal fissure. Approximately 4 years later, the patient developed bloody diarrhea and went to a gastroenterologist, who found a 2.6 cm lesion in her rectum during a flexible sigmoidoscopy. Biopsy confirmed a low-grade adenocarcinoma. Imaging studies revealed that the cancer had spread to her lungs and liver, and she was diagnosed with Stage IV rectal cancer. After 2 years of extensive treatment that included surgical resection, conventional and experimental chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, the patient died.
PLAINTIFF’S CLAIM If the physician had ordered endoscopy exams when the patient first presented for treatment, testing could have identified a polyp or early-stage cancer.
THE DEFENSE No information about the defense is available.
VERDICT $2.5 million Maryland verdict.
COMMENT Colon cancer in a 19-year-old is extraordinarily rare. I doubt that the patient didn’t experience any more rectal bleeding until 4 years after she first sought treatment. A lesson in this tragic case is to be sure to document when you tell patients to “come back to see me right away if this happens again.”
23-year-old dies when myocarditis is mistaken for bronchitis
A 23-YEAR-OLD MAN PRESENTED TO THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT (ED) with chest tightness, cough, and fever. After a chest x-ray, the ED physician diagnosed bronchitis and sent the patient home with prescriptions for hydrocodone/acetaminophen and antibiotics. He was found dead in his bed less than 24 hours later. An autopsy determined the cause of death was myocarditis.
PLAINTIFF’S CLAIM The physician didn’t perform an electrocardiogram (EKG), which is a routine evaluation for a patient with chest pain. The EKG would have detected myocarditis.
THE DEFENSE The patient was evaluated properly. An EKG was not necessary.
VERDICT $2.9 million Massachusetts verdict.
COMMENT I think the jury got this one wrong. I don’t think an EKG is necessary for every case of acute bronchitis. However, I do wonder if the chest x-ray showed a large heart shadow.