Guardian Awarded $114M For Botched Intubation
December 6, 2001
A Brooklyn jury awarded the second-largest medical malpractice verdict in New York history last month to the guardians of the victim of a botched intubation. Michelle McCord went to the emergency room at St. Mary's Hospital in Brooklyn during the summer of 1998 complaining of severe breathing problems.
McCord was intubated in order to relieve a swollen larynx. The next day doctors took the tube out of her throat and the respiratory problems immediately returned, only now more severe. Doctors were unable to re-intubate and a tracheotomy was performed. McCord subsequently went into respiratory arrest, sustaining permanent brain damage from the episode.
McCord's guardians sued the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens and Dr. Randahir Bajaj, the doctor who initially ordered the removal of the intubation tube. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the doctor had "deviated from the standard of care" when he extubated McCord.
The jury awarded the family a record $114 million in damages.
-- Article Courtesy of InjuryBoard.com
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