Kaiser Permanente, one of California’s largest HMOs, has been ordered to pay $5 million to a patient who is now permanently disabled after doctors misinterpreted the signs of a possible stroke.
The medical malpractice case went to arbitration where a panel of three arbitrators heard the case and found the Kaiser doctors negligent for not properly diagnosing the patient, Timothy Howard’s symptoms of headaches, episodic blindness and other complaints.
Howard was diagnosed with a migraine. What he was really suffering from was a tear in his carotid artery which went untreated for weeks and eventually led to Howard suffering a major stroke on Thanksgiving Day a few years ago.
Howard’s medical attorney claims that had the carotid dissection been properly diagnosed, and treated promptly with medication, it would have repaired itself. Instead, the 48 year old former middle school administrator has been left partially paralyzed and has had to have both of his legs amputated after he suffered an infection following the stroke. He is unable to work or care for himself.
Kaiser acknowledged the incorrect diagnosis and apologized with the following statement:
“We all agree that this is a terrible tragedy for Mr. Howard and his family, and all of them have our deepest sympathy.”
They did not, however, issue any disciplinary actions to the physicians involved in the medical malpractice.
Perhaps the $5 million settlement will encourage the doctors involved to pay closer attention and always rule out the worst case scenario first in their future diagnoses so a tragedy such as this doesn’t happen to someone else.
