MRSA Infection Lawsuit Results in $17.5 M Verdict For Man Who Lost Limbs
Published: February 18th, 2009 • Comments: 4
A Texas jury awarded $17.5 million to a man who lost both arms and legs as a result of his doctor’s negligent treatment of his hospital-acquired MRSA infection. However, under the Texas damages cap, the verdict was reduced to $7.5 million.
David Fitzgerald, 53, a former maintenance man in an apartment complex in North Dallas, developed an infection known as MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, after surgery for ulcers at RHD Memorial Medical Center in Farmers Branch, Texas.
Hospital-acquired MRSA infections are resistant to many types of antibiotics, and can be deadly if it enters the bloodstream. The bacteria is normally found on the skin and nose and those with weakened immune systems or those undergoing surgery could be more vulnerable to the infection.
According to the MRSA infection lawsuit, Fitzgerald was treated in 2003 by the defendant, Dr. Meenakshi S. Prabhakar, an infectious disease specialist, who failed to properly treat the infection with the right type of antibiotic. Dr. Prabhakar treated the plaintiff with eight different antibiotics, but the infection was known to be resistant to all of them, and the doctor failed to prescribe the one that treats MRSA.
As a result of the failure to properly treat the infection, Fitzgerald developed gangrene and required both of his arms to be removed below the elbows and both of his legs to be removed below the knees.
On February 13, 2009, a Dallas County jury found that Dr. Prabhakar’s misdiagnosis and negligent treatment was 100% responsible for Fitzgerald’s injuries and awarded $17.5 million in the Texas medical malpractice lawsuit.
As a result of a statutory cap in Texas which limits the non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000, the judge reduced the verdict to $7.5 million. The portion of the jury’s award that provided compensation for Fitzgerald’s economic damages, including the cost of his medical treatment and lost wages, was not reduced.
Comment by Ruth on 18 February 2009:
The doctor deserves it. I wish he had to pay off this sum for the rest of his life just like the victim has to live with his doctor’s negligence for the rest of his life. The man deserves that money which doesn’t begin to compensate his losses. I am so sick of negligent, arrogant, doltish doctors who don’t give a rat’s bum about their patients (this poor man was obviously not as valuable a citizen as his crackpot doctor) I could scream.
Comment by sriparna on 23 February 2009:
Is she a doctor or a stupid quirk? Can the money reform the damaged limbs of the innocent fellow? Is there anybody to return a suitable reply?
Comment by Kathy on 22 April 2009:
I also had a stupid doctor who sent me home with a diagnosis of sciatica, having severe leg pain. Upon entering the room, I comented on how young he looked. He poked me in the butt, I yelped, and he said yup it’s sciatic nerve; despite having zero back pain.I returned another 3 times to the ER. The fourth visit I was in more pain than childbirth. Five bloodclots in my arteries caused the leg pain and now I dont have my left leg anymore. Damn right Im suing.
Comment by beth on 9 October 2009:
In 2006…
. fem-pop bypass graft
. Dc’d home wound hemorrhaged in 4 days emergecy sx diagnosis
MRSA
. 8 surgeries to remove mrsa including vein transplant
. in hospital 34 days
. dc’d home mrsa returned in 3 months surgery again
. permanently disabled..lost job, lost house,
I went into the hospital free of mrsa and left with mrsa.