Confidential
Settlement – $70,000Facts
From Dec. 20, 1993 through Dec. 22, 1993, the decedent, a 4-year-old girl, experienced high fever, persistent projectile vomiting inhibiting her ability to consume food and drinks, altered mental status, and several episodes of locking of the jaws. The plaintiff, the decedent's mother, reported the symptoms to the defendant doctor's office. Despite the plaintiff's pleas, the defendant doctor's receptionist advised trying over-the-counter "Children's Tylenol." The defendant doctor made no attempt to communicate with the plaintiff, nor were any instructions given to arrange for the child to be examined by the defendant doctor and/or emergency providers. Ultimately, upon the plaintiff's continuous pleas for a visit with the defendant doctor, an appointment was made for the afternoon of Dec. 22, 1993 in his Encino office. By the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 1993, due to the extreme nature of the decedent's symptoms, including a temperature of 106 degrees and a compromised neurological state, the plaintiff arranged for her husband to take the decedent to the Santa Monica office of the defendant doctor. The decedent's father, who was a nominal defendant, testified to the decedent's altered mental state at the time of her visit to the defendant doctor's office at approximately 10 a.m. The plaintiff claimed that during this visit despite the report of the decedent child's inability to hold down liquid and food, the defendant doctor made no attempts to assess the decedent's metabolic state via appropriate laboratory studies, and took no measures to rehydrate the severely-dehydrated decedent. The decedent was dismissed with prescription suppositories. Less than 12 hours after this visit, the decedent began having seizures and was admitted to the defendant hospital's emergency room. The plaintiff claimed that hospital records disclosed that the staff and the parents attempted to contact the defendant doctor, who "asked why the family was bothering him." The plaintiff claimed that at the defendant hospital's emergency room, despite the decedent's neurological, cardiovascular and respiratory conditions and dehydration, she was kept in the triage booth with cooling measures, "pending bed availability." When she was examined by the defendant hospital's emergency room physicians, they attempted a spinal test, due to electrolyte and fluid disturbances. The spinal test was nondiagnostic. The decedent went into a coma with ensuing hemorrhage. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant hopital's staff conducted no close monitoring of the decedent's intracranial pressure. The defendant hospital's physicians performed a brain scan shortly before the decedent's transfer to UCLA at approximately 8 a.m. on Dec. 23, 1993. On Dec. 23, 1993, at 9:43 p.m., the decedent died. The plaintiff, the decedent's mother, brought this action against the doctor, the hospital and the decedent's father based on medical negligence and malpractice theories of recovery.
Settlement Discussions
The settlement discussions were not disclosed.
Damages
The plaintiff claimed $250,000 in general damages and $6,500 in special damages for funeral and burial expenses.
Injuries
Death of a 4-year-old daughter.
Other Information
The settlement was reached approximately two years and two months after the case was filed. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE: A settlement conference was held on Jan. 14, 1997.
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