Professional Negligence Law Reporter

Helen Mills presented to the emergency room of Bon Secours-DePaul Medical Center, suffering from abdominal pain and vomiting. She underwent a CT scan, was diagnosed as having pancreatitis, and was admitted to the hospital. Over the next three days, her condition deteriorated. Among other things, she experienced elevated heart rate, elevated and then decreased blood pressure, inability to urinate, and severe abdominal pain. Attending providers administered fluids and pain medication to Mills, who also underwent an ultrasound. Despite this treatment, Mills died. She is survived by her two adult daughters.

One of the daughters, on behalf of Mills’s estate, sued the hospital, alleging liability for its providers’ failure to timely diagnose and treat symptoms of septic shock resulting from her severe pancreatitis. The plaintiff asserted that, among other things, Mills should have been administered additional fluids and antibiotics and undergone additional testing. Suit also claimed that nurses failed to notify the attending physician of changes in Mills’s vital signs.

The parties settled for $650,000.

Citation: Smith v. Bon Secours-DePaul Med. Ctr. Inc., No. CL-2018-006011-00 (Va. Cir. Ct. Norfolk City Dec. 17, 2019).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Charles J. Zauzig and Melissa G. Ray, both of Woodbridge, Va.