Tarrant County (Tex) District Court—When his patient’s menorrhagia failed to improve with conservative treatment, a gynecologist performed a hysterectomy. Postoperatively, the woman suffered continued blood loss and died 11 weeks later.
The patient’s family sued, claiming that the intractable bleeding led the patient to develop disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), which caused the onset of adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The defendant contended that the woman never developed DIC. He claimed that the patient’s pre-existing bacterial endocarditis caused aspiration, which resulted in ARDS.
The jury returned a defense verdict.
The cases presented here were compiled by Lewis L. Laska, editor of Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements & Experts. While there are instances when the available information is incomplete, these cases represent the types of clinical situations that typically result in litigation.