Third ED visit isn’t the charm
A 39-YEAR-OLD QUADRIPLEGIC MAN went to the emergency department (ED) complaining of abdominal pain. His history included involvement in a shooting when he was 16, drug abuse, homelessness, and frequent visits to the ED, where the staff knew him to be combative and ignore medical advice. The ED physician who saw the man ordered a radiograph and other testing, then released him without a conclusive diagnosis.
A month later, the man came back to the ED by ambulance, complaining of severe abdominal pain that he’d had for 4 days. Another ED physician saw him but didn’t make a diagnosis. After 4 hours, the hospital discharged the patient by ambulance to stay with family. When the family refused to accept him, the ambulance brought him back to the hospital.
With the involvement of social services, the patient was wheeled across the street to a motel. After about 5 hours, during which the motel staff said the patient was screaming in pain, the staff called an ambulance, which brought the man back to the ED covered with bloody vomit.
The same ED physician who had seen him earlier examined him, along with another ED physician. A fecal impaction was removed manually and a soap suds enema administered. The patient seemed to improve and, after about 7 hours, was released and rolled outside with a taxi voucher.
He said the hospital staff told him he was abusing the hospital’s services and the police would be called if he returned. He was taken to the house of a family member, where he was found dead 4 hours later from a ruptured duodenal ulcer.
PLAINTIFF’S CLAIM The physician who saw the patient at the first ED visit should have diagnosed peptic ulcer disease; the doctors who saw the man at the second and third visits should have diagnosed the ruptured ulcer. The hospital violated the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) by failing to stabilize the patient before discharging him.
THE DEFENSE The patient was stable and improving each time he was discharged. The hospital denied threatening to arrest the patient if he returned to the ED after the third visit.
VERDICT $1.4 million Kentucky verdict. The first trial ended in a mistrial. All defendants except the hospital settled for undisclosed amounts before a second trial, at which the hospital was found to be 15% at fault and a $1.5 million award for punitive damages was assessed against the hospital for violating EMTALA.
The hospital appealed and the matter was returned for trial after a ruling that affirmed everything except the punitive damages. At the third trial, a jury awarded $1.4 million in punitive damages.
COMMENT Most of us have a visceral reaction when faced with a drug abusing, noncompliant patient who frequently shows up at the ED. We must remember that such patients do get sick and that in this case, despite repeated visits to the ED, a tragedy occurred.