Medical Staff Who Ignored Injured Boy Found Liable For $24.5M In Georgia Med Mal Case

A jury awarded $24,500,000 to a 14 year old boy after finding a Georgia hospital, orthopedic company and doctor liable medical malpractice which resulted in one of the boy’s leg being amputated – simply due to the fact that medical staff ignored him.

Georgia medical malpractice

This Georgia medical malpractice lawsuit involves Reginald Harris, a 14 year old boy who fell and broke his leg. Although breaking a leg may be a fairly common occurrence for a 14 year old boy, it’s still a very serious injury – one that the medical staff at Georgia’s Sumter Hospital, Albany Orthopedics and Dr. Duncan Marsh didn’t treat seriously.

After breaking his leg, Harris was brought to the hospital to monitor the blood flow in his leg – which showed multiple symptoms of limb death. Although his condition was documented by intake personnel, medical staff ignored the problem for the 27 hours Harris was a patient at the hospital. Once the staff did attend to his injuries, it was too late and his leg had to be amputated.

He and his family filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Sumter Hospital, Albany Orthopedics and Dr. Duncan Marsh alleging that they were negligent in failing to properly monitor him, note the symptoms of limb death and take appropriate action. A jury found that all three parties were partially liable – the hospital at 90%, the orthopedic company at 7% and the doctor at 3% – and awarded Harris $24,500,000.

Other med mal damage awards in Georgia

Although damage awards in medical malpractice cases depend upon the facts and circumstances of the situation, as well as your attorney’s experience, they can be significant. Here are a few examples of other damage awards which occured in Georgia:

• $4.3M: A man was brought to the emergency room after a car accident and complained of numbness in arms and legs. Although he was suffering from progressive paralysis, doctors only performed routine tests and released him. Three days later, he was a paraplegic.
• $9.4M: A mother and newborn son both died during the mother’s labor as a result of a doctor’s negligence and faulty hospital equipment.
• $2.2M: An elderly resident of a nursing home was repeatedly ignored by staff and suffered from malnutrition, dehydration and bed sores.

If you’ve been the victim of medical malpractice, contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney to discuss your situation. You may be entitled to compensation for your injuries.