Naval Medical Center looses Malpractice suit
A federal judge recently awarded $300,000 to a 3-year-old boy after Navy medical personnel failed to properly treat his sickle cell disease. The U.S. District Judge found, after the trial, that the "failings breached thee medical standard of care for diagnosing and treating a child with sickle cell disease."
A standard newborn test conducted on the child showed "probable sickle cell disease," according to court records.
The child was seen, twice, at the naval hospital, but then his parents did not bring him back as instructed by a doctor. Instead, they took him to a Naval clinic where he receievd 3 check ups during his first year.
The Navy, represented by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, acknowledged that the clinic failed to treat the sickle cell disease and noted that "The defendant has stipulated that "the standard of care was breached" at the clinic.
Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder that affects red blood cells, creating "sickle" shaped cells that have difficulty traveling through blood vessels. There is no cure, and left untreated, the disease can cause blood clots, bacterial infections, strokes and other ailments.
Proper treatment for a newborn with the disease is three years of antibiotics, according to medical experts cited in the court records.
The child developed meningitis, a bacterial infection of the brain, which led to a stroke, according to the court records and also suffered brain damage and lost what ittle speech he had acquired by age 15-months.
Because the government admitted negligence, the damage award hinged on whether the boy would require lifetime transfusions and whether his brain damage resulted in mental retardation.
The Judge ruled, based on medical experts, that child would not require lifetime treatment.
The Judge also found that, although the child is developmentally disabled, his IQ was well above mental retardation range and then awarded $300,000 for the boy’s pain and suffering.
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