Legal Pearls: Ignoring Patient History Leads to Stroke
AUTHOR:
Ann W. Latner, JD
A 58-year-old Black man with a past medical history that included obesity, smoking, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and atherosclerotic vascular disease, and a documented family history of stroke and myocardial infarction, came into a primary care office reporting lightheadedness and nausea. He had no other signs of a virus or stomach bug. The primary care physician (PCP) attributed the patient’s symptoms to otitis media and prescribed an antibiotic and an antihistamine.
The patient returned 2 weeks later. His symptoms were unabated, but now he also was experiencing double vision. The PCP referred the patient to an ear, nose, and throat physician.
Several weeks later, the patient was found unresponsive in his car by the side of the road. He was rushed to the emergency department of the nearest hospital where he was found to be unresponsive to all but painful stimuli. Brain scans revealed that there was no blood flow through the patients’s major blood vessels supplying blood and oxygen to the brain.
Was the physician negligent?
(Discussion on next page)