$2 Million Settlement for Failure to Recognize Respiratory Distress

Attorneys Daniel S. Weinstock and Jason A. Daria recovered $2 million for the survivors of a 71-year-old woman who died because the medical resident in the hospital failed to recognize she was experiencing respiratory distress and needed to be emergently intubated. The names of the parties in the case are confidential, pursuant to a settlement term insisted upon by the defendants.

The woman was in the Intensive Care Unit following successful bowel obstruction surgery when her vital signs became compromised. The physician responsible for her care was an inexperienced Medical Resident who recognized the patient’s vital signs were abnormal but did not know why. She made multiple attempts to contact a Senior Medical Resident, but the Senior Resident never came to bedside to help care for the patient. In fact, no physicians came to help the Medical Resident until the patient was in cardiac arrest and a code blue was begun. When help arrived, the patient’s life was able to be saved, but she lived in a state of depressed consciousness for several months and ultimately passed away.

The decedent was survived by three adult children and several grandchildren.