Significant Cases
Seven-Figure Settlement for Incorrect Medication Leading to Multiple Amputations
After successful heart surgery, the recovering patient demonstrated classic signs of Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) a condition of restricted blood flow to extremities caused by the drug Heparin. For various reasons, including extraordinary administrative incompetence and wholly negligent and inattentive care, the patient’s condition was not recognized for an extended period. Rather than prescribing medicine to reverse the HIT, one doctor prescribed several more hours of intravenous Heparin. By the time the HIT was treated, it was so advanced that it could not be thoroughly reversed. Eventually the HIT led to necrosis, which occurred due to a lack of blood flow to the limbs and for which below-the-knee amputations of both legs as well as amputations of substantial portions of all five fingers on the patient’s right hand were the only remedy. The patient was hospitalized for seven months thereafter and is now wheelchair bound and reliant on around-the-clock care. Kolsby Gordon attorneys achieved a seven-figure settlement for the patient.
