An Ohio jury awarded a boy and his family $44.5 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit against an Ohio laboratory. The child’s parents brought a lawsuit against Athens Medical Laboratory Inc. alleging that a misdiagnosed and improper treatment of an ear infection in turn resulted in a brain infection and ultimately paralysis of a 9 year old boy.
Medical experts testified at trial that the laboratory failed to perform their services in a reasonable and prudent manner by not furnishing doctors with lab results in a timely fashion. Lawyers for the child argued that the testing was ordered “STAT’ by the child’s doctors, which means the results were required to be returned within two hours; however, the results were not returned until six days after the testing. The family contends that had the doctor received the testing results earlier, the child would have undergone treatment before the infection worsened.
The child suffers from paralysis of his entire body except his eyes. Lawyers argued that moving forward the young boy will need care for all activities of his daily life. The jury awarded $24.5 million in economic damages and $20 million in non-economic and future damages. Other defendants to the suit entered into confidential settlement agreements prior to trial.
If you or someone you know has been injured by medical malpractice, contact an attorney at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner by calling 713-231-9360 or toll free at 1‑800-594-4884