Medical Malpractice Suit Brought Concerning Surgical Infection

The death of a Brooklyn woman due to a blood infection has led to a medical malpractice suit being filed in a Kings County court. The case is being brought by the deceased woman’s husband and alleges that various doctors were negligent in treating the woman and that their negligence ultimately resulted in her death.

According to the complaint, the woman was a candidate for a liver transplant and had been admitted to NYU Langone Medical Center for treatment of a liver condition. Two doctors at the hospital allegedly drained an abscess on the woman’s back and then packed the wound with gauze. The woman was then discharged from the hospital with the gauze packed into the wound, but without having the wound sutured or bandaged together.

The woman was sent home under the care of a visiting nurse, but was then readmitted to the hospital four days later because of bleeding coming from the wound. Doctors determined that she was suffering from sepsis, or a blood infection, which had begun to cause her organs to shut down. She died later that same day.

The malpractice complaint was filed in the Kings County Supreme Court and alleged that doctors and the medical center were negligent in: discharging the woman with an open wound while she was in a vulnerable condition, failing to take appropriate measures to prevent the blood infection; and failing to provide medications and other treatment that would have discovered or prevented the infection that ultimately led to her death.

In his lawsuit, the woman’s husband is seeking damages for his wife’s pain and suffering as well as payment of her medical expenses.

Source: Westlaw Journal of Medical Malpractice, 6 No. 15 WJMEDMAL 7, via WestClip by Westlaw