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Medical Negligence – Misdiagnosis of Swine Flu leads to Brain Injury

A Confidential Settlement Reached

Mr. D presented to the ER at his local hospital with all of the classic signs and symptoms of the flu. But, this wasn’t any regular flu season. This was the fall of 2009 and the country was in the midst of a swine flu epidemic. Indeed, the U.S. Health Dept. had been warning doctors and hospitals about the severity of this disease, and also providing guidelines for treatment.

Unfortunately for Mr. D, the ER physicians diagnosed him with an upper respiratory infection – i.e. a common cold – instead of the swine flu. As a result, the ER physicians failed to provide Mr. D with the appropriate prescriptions and treatment. Instead, they sent him home and told him to rest.

Mr. D came back to the ER two days later, but this time he was in terrible shape. He was admitted to the hospital and treatment was started immediately, but it was too little, too late. The disease already had spread throughout his body causing him to go into respiratory failure. The hospital staff was able to save him from dying, but not before he suffered a significant brain injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down, and unable to speak for the rest of his life.

The hospital and ER physicians defended the case rigorously, but eventually a confidential settlement was reached just a few days before trial.