A Florida jury found that a nurse practitioner working in a standalone emergency room negligently misdiagnosed a patient. The jury awarded $70.8 million in damages to the victim.
The facility was operated by Tampa General Hospital. The hospital, as well as the staffing agency which employed the nurse practitioner, also were defendants and may have to pay a portion of the overall compensation. The doctor on duty at the time previously settled with the victim.
The patient, a 41-year-old woman, came to the emergency room by ambulance. She complained of severe headaches, describing the pain as the worst she had experienced in her life.
Although she had several risk factors for developing blood clots, including recently re-starting birth control and having diabetes, the nurse practitioner treating her did not order a CT scan that would have identified blood clots in the brain.
Instead, after a few hours at the emergency room, the facility discharged the woman with some medicine for her headache. Only two days later, she returned to the hospital, this time suffering from a debilitating stroke caused by blood clots in her brain.
Because of the stroke, the woman is now mostly blind and has other physical impairments that will make it difficult if not impossible to work. She was employed with a lending company before her stoke.
Now, her young adult children, teens at the time of her accident, provide for her personal care.
Because of a Florida law capping damages for Medicaid patients, the woman may not see nearly the amount the jury awarded her. She will get reimbursed for her out-of-pocket expenses and lost income, but she may only receive $200,000 for pain and suffering and other non-economic losses.
Nurse practitioners must follow the applicable standard of care
With ongoing need for medical professionals, nurse practitioners are increasingly being trusted to make important decisions even without a doctor’s close supervision.
Nurse practitioners still must follow the standard of care and not injure their patients through medical negligence. If they do not meet this responsibility, their victims may obtain compensation for their injuries.