Facts

Decedent L.C. Humphrey presented himself to the Kaiser Permanenante in Sun City with complaints of fever at 104 over a four day period, body aches and coughing on Sept. 26, 2001. The Nursing assessment noted Mr. Humphrey had a high fever, abnormal blood pressure and elevated and abnormal pulse rate. Mr. Humphrey was an insulin dependent diabetic. Dr. Adinda Mercer evaulated Mr. Humphrey and diagnosed him with bacterial pneumonia and prescribed ibuprofen. Thereafter, on Oct. 1, 2001, Mr. Humphrey not improving went back to Kaiser Permanente and was admitted to the hospital on Oct. 2, 2001, with persisting fevers as high as 104 with chills and myalgias. He was discharged on Oct. 3, 2001, despite no improvement from the prescribed medication and his fever spiking up and down. On Oct. 11, 2001, Mr. Humphrey presented himself to Menifee Valley Medical Center in acute respiratory distress and diffuse coccidimycosis. He died the following day.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contended that in order to comply with the standard of care of an emergency room physician, Dr. Mercer should at the very minimum in face of the heightened risk of coccidimycosis, ordered blood cultures. Furthermore, in regards to the October 1 visit, in order to comply with the standard of care during this admission, an infectious disease person and/or pulmonologist should have been called, a chest CT scan should have been done, sent serum for cocci antibodies, obtained sputum, either expectorated or induced, for routine and fungal culture, and proceed to bronchoscopy and probable cervical mediastinoscopy with biopsy, and Kaiser should have never discharged this patient on Oct. 3, 2001. He was by verifiable signs infected with disseminated cocci pneumonia. Prompt and aggressive therapy was the order of the day in order to save his life. Moreover, in order to comply with the standard of care, Mr. Humphrey should have been treated with the appropriate medication. Had this medication therapy along with the other measures been taken, Mr. Humphrey would have survived.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendants denied the above.

Length

four days.