Lawyers

Ridiculous Malpractice Lawsuit.

By Chris Rangel MD ⋅ April 16, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

In my recent travels I came across the following case:

A patient was admitted to the hospital with chest pain and underwent a cardiac catheterization, The patient was found to have a partly blocked coronary artery that was opened with balloon angioplasty and stenting. The patient was started on aspirin and clopidogrel (Plavix) and discharged to home. The day after the discharge the patient returned to the hospital with recurrent chest pain and on repeat catherterization it was found that the stented artery had partly occluded with clotted blood and needed to be cleared.

Clotting or thrombosis within the stented part of the artery is an uncommon complication and can occur anytime following the procedure for up to a year or more. Within the first 30 days the most common cause of clotting is noncompliance with antiplatelet medication, i.e. the patient stops taking their clopidogrel.

In this case the patient was appropriately treated and discharged from the first admission after being given a prescription for clopidogrel. The patient then sued the cardiologist because . . (wait for it) . . he claims that he was NEVER TOLD TO FILL THE PRESCRIPTION AT THE TIME HE WAS DISCHARGED thus leading to the clotting. Never mind that:

1. Once-a-day medications like clopidogrel are usually given the same day as the discharge and that the antiplatelet effect lasts up to 3-6 days.
2. There is still a small chance of clotting despite treatment with clopidogrel.
3. A patient who does not follow simple directions for a scheduled once-a-day medication is either incompetent (thus requiring a guardian) or themselves negligent.

But despite the obvious frivolous nature of this lawsuit, our current system allows it to progress all the way to trial despite the low possibility of success all because a jury of individuals picked specifically for their ignorance of modern medical practice might find in favor of the plaintiff. As usual, a huge waste of time and money for all those involved.