A patient at a Pennsylvania hospital whose CT exam was mixed up with that of another patient has been awarded $6 million in damages due to an unnecessary surgery, according to a report in the Delaware County Daily Times.
The patient, Darlene Hill, presented at the emergency department at Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, PA, in December of 2009 with abdominal pain. She underwent a CT exam, and a radiologist from Southeast Radiology, the practice contracted with the hospital, read the film. The radiologist told emergency doctors that the scan was abnormal, perhaps due to a perforated appendix or bowel, the paper reported.
Hill underwent immediate surgery and her appendix was removed. But her attorney claimed that the radiologist who read the CT did not compare it with previous images and her medical history -- which would have shown that the CT exam was that of another patient, rather than Hill.
A jury found Southeast Radiology 20% negligent and Taylor Hospital 80% negligent. Hill was awarded $650,000 in past medical costs, lost earnings, and noneconomic damages; $3 million in future medical costs; $1.4 million in future lost earnings; and $1 million in future noneconomic loss, the Delaware County Daily Times said.
