Father of Four Dies from Pulmonary Embolism in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a blood clot in a deep vein, usually in the legs. Blood clots in deep veins require immediate medical care. These clots are dangerous because they can break loose, travel through the bloodstream to the lungs, and block blood flow in the lungs (pulmonary embolism). A pulmonary embolism is often life-threatening.
This 43 year old father of four was pressure cleaning a friend’s home when he fell off the roof, breaking his left leg. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance and prior to performing the surgery on his leg, it was discovered that he had some heart problems, and therefore, a cardiac catheterization was done showing stenosis in several of his coronary arteries. He was transported to another hospital where stents were placed in these affected coronary arteries. At some time during his stay at this second hospital, it was discovered that he had a cardiac arrhythmia and postoperatively, after the stent placement he was placed on Coumadin, a blood thinner. Shortly thereafter, his left leg was surgically repaired by an orthopedic surgeon and placed in an external fixator device.
During his hospitalization he complained of both legs feeling “funny”, his left foot was cold, and he also complained of his right foot being cold. No one seemed to pay any attention to the complaints that he had of his right foot, nor did they pay much attention to the fact that his left leg continued to be very painful.
Prior to being discharged from the hospital, he was taken off the Coumadin and placed on one aspirin a day by his cardiologist. Astonishingly, he was never placed on prophylactic anti-coagulation therapy.
At home he received visits from a nurse to check and clean the external fixator and he also had a physical therapist. At one point the physical therapist actually faxed the orthopedic surgeon to ask if this patient was a “thrombo risk”, and evidently received no response, according to the medical records. This patient made several calls to the orthopedic surgeon’s office requesting stronger pain medication and shortly before his death was taking a total of 30 mg. per dosage of Oxycodone.
According to the wife, the pain in this man’s left leg became unbearable and she took him to see the orthopedic surgeon. At this time an x-ray was taken and the surgeon’s partner said the leg looked fine, maybe he had gout. The surgeon attempted to draw some fluid from the ankle area, but there was nothing there. The patient was sent home, still with no anti-coagulation medication.
A few days later, this patient started having diarrhea which continued for two days and then he complained of chest pain and told his daughters to call 911. He was taken by Fire Rescue to the hospital where he died.
An autopsy was performed showing that the cause of death was Pulmonary Thromboembolisms due to bilateral deep vein thromboses caused by a fall.
Sadly, the death of this young father probably could have been avoided altogether if he had been properly monitored for his condition and prescribed the proper prophylactic anti-coagulation medication. Richard D. Schuler represented the wife and four children in the trial of this matter and this case was settled for a confidential amount during the trial.
