Law360 (May 8, 2023, 4:57 PM EDT) — An Arkansas federal judge has ordered a Veterans Affairs-run hospital to pay more than $2 million to a man who alleged he suffered permanent injuries from a rare infection after the hospital staff misdiagnosed him as having bronchitis.
In an opinion filed Thursday after a two-day bench trial last week, U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson found that the nurses and doctors at Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System breached the standard of care by failing to accurately report Grayson Franklin Millerd II’s symptoms and follow up with tests when he repeatedly came to the emergency room.
As a result of those breaches, Millerd suffered a number of injuries, the judge wrote, including physical and emotional pain, cognitive difficulties and disfigurement, for which Judge Wilson said the government-run hospital must pay $1.06 million. In an order filed Friday, Judge Wilson wrote that “on mature reflection,” the damages should be increased by $1 million, making the total $2.06 million.
According to the opinion, Millerd first went to the health care center on Oct. 16, 2018, with a temperature of 100.6 F and complaining of respiratory problems and coughing. On Nov. 14 that year, Dr. Thomas Bartter performed a bronchoscopy to biopsy a nodule found on his lungs, and tests later showed it to be benign.
Millerd returned to the ER a few days later, reporting chills, fever, coughing and fatigue, and although he had a fever of 100.3 F, a nurse answered “no” to an assessment question asking if the patient had a temperature of 100.3 or higher.
As a result, the hospital did not perform a “Code Sepsis,” according to the opinion.
Instead, Dr. Barry Hendrix diagnosed him with bronchitis and prescribed the antibiotic azithromycin and guaifenesin for his cough. Millerd returned to the ER again on Nov. 21, and tests showed fluid in his lungs.
Millerd was then transferred to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences where, during surgery, it was discovered that Millerd had necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating infection, which required additional surgeries to remove.
Judge Wilson on Thursday found that by not properly reporting Millerd’s fever in November 2018, the nurse breached the standard of care, because the Code Sepsis would likely have found that Millerd had suffered an infection as a result of his bronchoscopy, and he would have received treatment soon enough to avoid the complications.
In addition, the judge wrote that Hendrix failed to obtain a complete and adequate medical history from Millerd or to conduct a full and thorough physical examination or differential diagnosis, which would have alerted him to the true cause of Millerd’s symptoms.
“Veterans like Grayson Millerd sacrifice for our country, and it’s only fair that we take care of them when their service is over,” W. Bryan Smith of Bryan Smith & Associates, representing Millerd, told Law360 on Monday. “We brought this case to make sure there was accountability, and hope the verdict will bring about improvements in health care services at the VA for all men and women who serve in the military.”
Representatives for the government could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
Millerd is represented by W. Bryan Smith of Bryan Smith & Associates and Bud Whetstone of Whetstone Law Firm.
The government is represented by Jonathan D. Ross and Lindsey Mitcham Lorence of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The case is Millerd v. United States of America, case number 4:21-cv-00416, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
–Editing by Linda Voorhis.
Update: This story has been updated with comment from Millerd’s attorney.
SOURCE: https://www.law360.com/articles/1605141/ark-va-hospital-hit-with-2m-verdict-in-infection-suit
