$2 Million - Hospital Negligence Permanent Injury

Case was settled prior to trial for $2,000,000.00

This is a case of a 20-year-old student who presented to the hospital with a 2-week history of headaches, underwent a CT scan, and was diagnosed with sinusitis. MRI was recommended but not performed.  As his lab results were abnormal prior to release a second CT scan was done which abnormal and revealed a mass in the sinus and an abnormal density in his frontal lobes. A diagnosis of encephalitis or abscess was entertained and MRI recommended, but no further studies were performed and he was released on Antibiotics. The following day he developed bilateral weakness, difficulty ambulating, returned to the hospital wherein a CT scan now noted severe frontal lobe edema with intracranial extension, cerebritis, and abscess. He underwent immediate neurosurgery consult and emergent craniotomy, required prolonged intubation, IV antibiotics, suffered actinobacteria bacteremia, mental status changes, slurred speech, and right hemiplegia. Further CT scan revealed the infection had spread to the entire cerebral hemisphere the brain protruding through the craniotomy.  His severe brain injury required long-term rehabilitation, additional surgery, placement of a brain plate, and the use of a helmet. Our experts connected his permanent neurological and life-altering injuries to the defendant hospital’s failure to timely perform MRI, diagnose brain abscess, admit and administer IV Antibiotics and perform the immediate surgical intervention, which could have avoided all of the severe and devastating permanent injuries to this young man.