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A family in Midland, Texas is fighting against Midland Memorial Hospital, a local pediatric clinic and three doctors by filing a Texas medical malpractice lawsuit. The Hernandez family claims that these medical professionals failed to diagnose their daughter's appendicitis, which resulted in major injuries for the girl.
Victor and Bianca Hernandez brought their daughter Hannah to the Midland Memorial Hospital emergency room in July of 2011 and her symptoms included abdominal pain, fever, nausea and vomiting. The young girl could barely stand, but doctors performed a blood test and said it was merely dehydration, fever and a virus. She was sent home, but spent a week back and forth between Midland Pediatrics and Midland Memorial Hospital with the dehydration diagnosis still standing.
Finally, on August 5th, 2011 when Hannah started to cough up blood, imaging was taken and they found out that her appendix had ruptured. She was immediately airlifted to Lubbock and had emergency surgery. The result? An amputated right leg to keep the infection from spreading and permanent brain damage from cardiac arrest that she suffered during her surgery.
The family is suing the hospital and three doctors for $1.6 million, which is the cost of her medical expenses, plus an additional $40 million to cover her lifetime of medical care. Unfortunately, there is a Texas tort that limits claims against the hospital to $100,000 and the doctors can only be responsible for a combined total of $250,000.
The Hernandez family is upset that the appendicitis was not caught sooner because the outcome could have been much different.