Medical malpractice is claimed in suit against hospital

Occasionally, a medical professional may become the victim of medical malpractice. Generally, the patient or her family may choose to make a valid claim for medical malpractice and to pursue it in the courts. In Pennsylvania, that scenario recently occurred when a young medical school graduate was admitted to a hospital with severe headaches and never came out alive.

The deceased graduate’s estate recently filed a lawsuit against the Geisinger Health System where the 26-year-old woman died. The lawsuit claims that she developed headaches and bruising in May of 2013. She entered a first hospital on May 26, and was transferred to Geisinger on May 28 when her condition worsened.

It was the Memorial Day Weekend the suit alleges that Geisinger gave her a bed but no treatment because no doctors were available. It alleges that no one called a specialist, and she was not properly examined or treated. She died on May 29 at 4:37 a.m. after being removed from life support.

The family alleges that hospital negligence occurred when it ignored the patient’s critical health needs. It’s asserted that the blood clots were “easily diagnosable, treatable and entirely correctable.” Geisinger counters that the woman was treating sick children in Africa and working in contagious environments in the months before her demise.

They are now embroiled in a discovery dispute over the sharing of medical records. Geisinger wants to see all of the patient’s medical records prior to her coming to Geisinger. The hospital is inferring that somehow the patient may have had a terminal or incurable condition.

The plaintiff is complaining that the hospital is not making its personnel available for depositions. After discovery in this medical malpractice case ends, motions procedures and settlement talks normally occur. Generally, under Pennsylvania procedure the case has three ways it may resolve: (1) by court dismissal on a summary judgment motion; (2) by a mutual settlement agreement; or (3) by a jury trial and a verdict duly rendered.

This blog entry was posted on behalf of [nap_names id=”FIRM-NAME-1″], and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the firm or its attorneys. The information presented in this blog is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be legal advice.

Source: standardspeaker.com, Geisinger seeks medical records in Sidari death, Bob Kalinowski, March 19, 2014