It looks like no one is going to be held legally responsible in this sad scenario.
A Florida jury Monday cleared a nurse of any liability in a lawsuit stemming from a case where a child sustained permanent brain injury after coming to an emergency room with flu-like symptoms, according to TCPalm.com.
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2012/dec/18/jury-finds-irmc-emergency-room-nurse-not-liable/
The $65 million medical malpractice suit was filed in 2009 by the parents of Milan Carvelli, 9, of Vero Beach. Following a three-week trial, the jury found that emergency room nurse Vicki Marchand of Indian River Medical Center “didn’t contribute to the child’s medical problems,” TCPalm reported.
The hospital had already reached a settlement of the suit for what was described as a “small, undisclosed amount of money.”
The suit alleged that the girl was brought to the emergency room on Feb, 4, 2008, vomiting and unnaturally thirsty. She was diagnosed with pediatric diabetic ketoacidosis, according to TCPalm.com. The child’s doctor directed that the child be transferred to a hospital that was equipped to deal with that ailment, but inclement weather delayed the child’s transfer to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orland, TCPalm.com reported.
The malpractice suit had alleged that Marchand didn’t realize until it was too late that fluid was building up on the child’s brain, according to TCPalm.com. The girl had to be resuscitated, and had sustained brain injury. Now she has developmental issues, partial paralysis in her right arm and hand, and has a limp.
The family’s lawyers had sought $65 million in damages, saying that $40 million would cover the girl’s continued medical care, TCPalm.com reported.
The jury thought differently.
