This medical malpractice lawsuit was filed by an Ellicott City woman in Baltimore City University of Maryland Midtown Health against after the woman falls and suffers a traumatic brain injury due to a negligent assessment of her fall risk and inadequate fall prevention measures. It was filed in Health Claims Arbitration on May 8, 2017, and it is the 217th medical malpractice case filed in Maryland this year.
Summary of Plaintiff's AllegationsA 35-year-old woman was admitted to the defendant hospital with an E. coli infection in her right eye and leg. She underwent a vitrectomy on her eye and surgical debridement on her leg. As a result of the infection and the surgeries, she was blind in her right eye and unsteady due to the pain and weakness in her right leg.
Over the five days that the woman was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), she required various restraints and her fall risk assessment was elevated to a "critical" fall risk. The woman did, in fact, fall from her bed while she was in the ICU. A subsequent CT scan was negative for any abnormalities. The woman was then transferred from the ICU to a telemetry unit, where her fall risk assessment dropped a startling forty points, inappropriately classifying her as a "standard risk" even though she had fallen just two days previously. This reduction in her score was supposedly due to the hospital personnel's failure to account for her recent fall in the ICU. As such, she was not afforded the necessary fall risk prevention measures.
After one week in the telemetry unit, the woman fell and violently struck her head. Over the next 24-hours the woman was behaving inappropriately, trying to take her gown off, pulling off her catheter dressing, insisting on using the bathroom rather than a bedpan, pulling off her monitor, and crying for unknown reasons. The next evening, the nurses noted that they were unable to wake the woman after she had fallen asleep. At noon the next day, she was still asleep, unarousable. After a CT scan, it was determined that she had an extensive multicompartmental intracranial hemorrhage.
She was transferred to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where a head CT revealed a linear left occipital skull fracture extending into the mastoid prominence, an intracranial hemorrhage, and a left subdural hematoma with mass effect. The woman underwent a craniotomy with evacuation and suffered extensive inpatient stays at multiple rehabilitation centers for traumatic brain injury and physical therapy. She now requires 24-hour care and supervision.
Additional CommentsHave you suffered a hospital injury due to the negligence of a doctor? Miller & Zois can help you. Call us at (800) 553-8082 and speak to one of our medical malpractice attorneys who can help you or get an online case review.
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