Oversight And Negligence Lead To The Downfall Of A Florida Doctor

An emergency room doctor, Dr. Ajaib Mann, was ordered to pay $2.4 million after losing a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Jerry Pettigrossi was admitted to Northwest Medical Center after complaining of loss of strength in his legs. An attending physician placed Mr. Pettigrossi on the regular medical floor instead of the telemetry floor despite orders from an emergency room doctor. When Dr. Mann returned to examine Mr. Pettigrossi, he left him on the regular floor which involves a reduced frequency of monitoring.

In a short amount of time, Mr. Pettigrossi’s symptoms worsened to the point that his legs, as well as his arms, became paralyzed. Three days after being admitted to the hospital, a nurse noticed that Mr. Pettigrossi’s heart rate and blood pressure had risen to a high level. The nurse informed Dr. Mann who then ordered a stat consultation with the hospital’s cardiologist. A personal examination was not performed by Dr. Mann. Mr. Pettigrossi died the next morning.

Mr. Pettigrossi’s wife, Ann, filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Mann based upon claims that her late husband’s death was brought on by medical negligence and a failure to diagnose her husband as having Guillain-Barre syndrome. Ann claimed that had the proper diagnosis been made in a timely manner, her husband would have received necessary medication that would have prevented his paralysis symptoms from spreading.

Dr. Mann argued at trial that Mr. Pettigrossi’s death was the result of the nurse whose job it was to continually monitor the patient. Specifically, Dr. Mann claimed that the nurse failed to order a cardiac consult as instructed and that, if the consult was ordered, Mr. Pettigrossi would not have died.

Ann Pettigrossi countered the argument by stating that the nurse was not a named defendant in the case and that when the nurse called Dr. Mann, he should have then called upon a neurologist who would have likely properly placed Mr. Pettigrossi in the Intensive Care Unit for close observation. Ann also felt that it is the treating physician, not the nurse, that is mostly responsible for a patient.

Ultimately, the Court sided with Ann Pettigrossi and felt that Dr. Mann was 85% responsible for Mr. Pettigrossi’s death. The remaining 15% was assigned to the nurse.

Medical malpractice can have devastating effects that last a lifetime. If you have been injured by a physician’s neglect, attorneys Charles Gilman and Briggs Bedigian will work to get you the full compensation to which you are entitled. Call 800-529-6162 today or contact them online for a free case evaluation. They handle cases in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.