Alleged Failure to Diagnose Pulmonary Emboli Leads to Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

The widow of a 46-year-old Connecticut man has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Tully Health Center for failing to properly diagnose and treat two pulmonary emboli in his lungs. He was discharged from the hospital without treatment for the emboli. The emboli led to his death ten days later.
The Greenwich Time reports, “According to the medical malpractice lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Stamford, the man went to the Tully Health Center on Strawberry Hill Court on Feb, 11, 2010, and complained about “flank pain.” The Tully Health Center discharged him the same morning after performing a CT-scan on his abdomen without performing further testing, the lawsuit said.
Nine days later, he was rushed by ambulance to Stamford Hospital in critical condition. A CT-scan of his chest revealed a pulmonary embolism — or a blockage of one or more arteries in one’s lungs — and he died the next day while in intensive care.
An autopsy on Feb. 22 revealed Hermann died from weeks-old pulmonary embolisms in both lungs.”
Failures to diagnose is an all too common occurrence in busy emergency rooms. The consequences of such failures can be tragic and fatal as in this case.