Jury awards $4.2 million in Medical Malpractice Verdict - Harris County

TYPE OF CASE : Medical Malpractice

PLAINTFF COUNSEL: OLIVIER & MUNDY, L.L.P. from Houston, TX, By: Mr. D. Craig Olivier and Jana Salinger; TAVORMINA & YOUNG, L.L.P., from Houston, TX By: Mr. John W. Tavormina

SUMMARY : On September 1, 1999, thirty two year old Kathy Miller, accompanied by her husband, went to the Emergency Room at Doctors Hospital Tidwell, complaining of a sore throat and fever. The ER was run by North Houston Emergency Physicians Association which hired the ER doctors - Humayun and Tran. Kathy was triaged and monitored for over two hours, and Dr. Humayun diagnosed acute pharyngitis and an ear infection, gave her prescriptions and she was discharged at 7: 30 p.m. The prescriptions were dropped off at a pharmacy, but when Mr. Miller returned to pick them up, the pharmacy had closed.

Kathy’s condition worsened and she and her husband returned to the Emergency Room around 10: 00 p.m., to obtain a second copy of the prescriptions, and while there asked to see the doctor. Kathy was placed in triage and instructed that the ER doctor was attending to the delivery of a baby, but would be back shortly. After waiting approximately 20 minutes, the Millers left the ER, and were in the parking lot when the nurse alerted them that the doctor had returned. Mr. and Mrs. Miller returned to the entry way of the ER and at that point had a brief conversation with the ER physician Dr. Tran, the contents of which were disputed. Dr. Tran says that he told them that he was available to examine her now, and turned away to get the chart. Mr Miller says that the doctor stated that he could examine Mrs. Miller, or that she could just go home and let the medicine work. Nursing notes had Mr. Miller stating the they were just going to go home and let the medicine work.

After the brief interaction, Mr. and Mrs. Miller then left the ER, went home and had the prescriptions filled. A short time later, Kathy started gasping for breath, and collapsed. EMS responded, intubated her, but she was taken in a coma to Houston Northwest Hospital and then to Methodist, where she was pronounced dead three days later. The death certificate listed cardiac arrest and possible epiglottitis, which is a condition that can cause upper airway blockage and can be fatal if not treated.

The records of Houston Northwest have passages indicating that some of the doctors thought that Kathy had suffered from epiglottitis. Defense experts pointed out that other records were inconsistent with that condition, including a CT scan taken within hours of the collapse, showing normal anatomical structures in the throat area. All experts agreed that epiglottitis is very treatable if timely diagnosed.