Professional Negligence Law Reporter

Isatu Sheriff, 39, underwent a bunionectomy and was placed on postsurgical blood thinners. A week after finishing the medication, she went to an urgent care facility, complaining of leg pain. An emergency physician performed a workup for muscle pain, diagnosed back pain, and prescribed opioids.

Sheriff collapsed and died eight days later. The cause was determined to be a pulmonary embolism that traveled from her leg to her lung. Sheriff had been a certified nursing aid earning approximately $38,000 annually and is survived by her husband and two minor children.

Sheriff’s husband sued the physician, alleging she failed to test for and diagnose deep vein thrombosis. The plaintiff alleged that the physician should have ordered a Doppler ultrasound and a D-dimer test, which would have revealed a treatable blood clot.

The jury awarded $12 million.

Citation: Sheriff v. Roe, No. 2017-063685 (Va. Cir. Ct. Fairfax Cnty. Feb. 27, 2019).

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ member Scott M. Perry, Arlington, Va.; and AAJ member Catherine Bertram, Washington, D.C.

Plaintiff experts: John Stein, urgent care, Santa Rosa, Calif.; David Brewster, vascular surgery, Boston; and Alan Rothstein, podiatry, Boulder, Colo.