In a procedure gone awry, a 43 year old woman had a bad reaction to a cerebral angiogram and had a stroke as a result. Christopher Mellino, a medical malpractice attorney has been quoted as saying, "In this case, a 43-year-old woman agreed to have a medical procedure done to attempt to determine the cause of her life-long migraines. She had several MRIs and other non-invasive medical tests, but the doctors decided she should have a cerebral angiogram. They thought it would tell them what was causing her headaches. She went along with that idea, because they were doctors, and they should know what they are doing."
The procedure, which involves a dye being injected into a vein so that images of the brain can be further explored, is a high risk test. She was not informed of this and the case went to trial and several experts weighed in stating that the test wasn’t even medically needed. Tests that her doctors had already performed had already told them the same information that would be gained from the angiogram.
Unnecessary procedures are a large part of what medical malpractice attorneys in Maryland and other areas of the country see on a case by case basis daily. In this case, the attorney handling it has said that, "In other words, the doctors saying they were hunting for a vein that was causing migraine headaches was referred to as 'baloney' by the experts. The jury agreed that the hospital, and the doctors, were negligent in their treatment and care, and awarded the woman $22 million. They also felt she had not been able to provide informed consent, because no one took the time to inform her of the risks."
In this case, the woman awoke from a coma and discovered that she had been paralyzed on her right side and had very limited motion on the left. One unneeded procedure has disabled her for life. The resolution of the case awarded $2 million for her past financial losses and medical, $14 million for the loss of her future income and care, and $6 million for pain and suffering.
Your doctors have to give you full information on the procedures that they do, before they do it. If you were injured during a medical procedure and feel you were not fully informed, contact our team of medical malpractice attorneys in Maryland at Snyder and Snyder for a free consultation.