Settlement Reached in Failure to Diagnose Spinal TB Case

Diagnosis-related negligence, such as a negligent failure to timely diagnose a condition a patient is suffering from, can cause a great deal of harm. Thus, one hopes that all medical facilities and medical professionals make sure to act properly when it comes to the diagnosing of patients. No patient should have to be subjected to diagnosis-related negligence. A settlement was recently reached in a case that involved allegations of Failure to Diagnose Spinal TB Case. The case was from another state, California.

A settlement was recently reached in a case that involved allegations of diagnosis-related negligence. The case was from another state, California.

The case involved the medical care a girl received after she tested positive on a TB skin test that was conducted on her. The girl’s family alleged that negligence occurred during this care. Specifically, they claimed that the girl was not given tests and scans that she should have been and that spinal tuberculosis that the girl was suffering from was not diagnosed and treated in a timely manner.

According to the girl’s family, the girl suffered major spinal cord damage as a result of the alleged delay in the diagnosing and treating of the spinal tuberculosis. Reportedly, this spinal cord damage has left the girl paralyzed.

A lawsuit was brought by the girl’s family against a hospital, some medical professionals and a medical imaging company in connection to these allegations. As we mentioned above, this case was recently settled. The settlement reportedly is a multi-million dollar settlement. A court approved the settlement last Tuesday.

This case, while from another state, illustrates a couple of points that are worth noting here in Connecticut. The first is that medical malpractice lawsuits are sometimes brought in connection to alleged incidents of diagnosis-related negligence. The bringing of a medical malpractice suit is one of the actions a medical negligence victim or a medical negligence victim’s family sometimes takes to seek relief for harms suffered.

The second is that medical malpractice cases sometimes end in a settlement. Settlements can contain a wide variety of terms and there are many different factors that can play a role in whether or not a party should take a settlement that has been offered to them. Thus, settlement negotiations can be a very complicated thing.

Source: The Modesto Bee, “Family relieved to receive $5M settlement in girl’s TB disability case,” Ken Carlson, July 9, 2013