NEW YORK MEDICAL MALPRACTICE SETTLEMENT

Partner Obtains $650,000 Settlement for Medical Malpractice Suit

During trial, Jason Rubin settled a medical malpractice case for $650,000 involving a 66 year old woman who suffered renal failure and a heart attack after a nephrologist discontinued an anticoagulation medication, Coumadin, prior to a kidney biopsy.

In February 2004, plaintiff presented to the office of the defendant nephrologist on the recommendation of her primary care physician because blood tests indicated that her creatinine was elevated, indicating renal insufficiency. Plaintiff reported to defendant that she had been placed permanently on Coumadin, a medication which prevents the blood from clotting, approximately 5 years earlier because of several episodes of blood clots in her leg deep vein thromboses (DVT). The defendant nephrologist recommended a kidney biopsy to determine the cause of plaintiff's renal insufficiency and advised plaintiff to discontinue the coumadin four days prior to the biopsy, which was scheduled for several weeks later.

Plaintiff discontinued the Coumadin four days prior to the biopsy and, as a result, suffered from acute clotting in her kidneys as well as her coronary arteries, resulting in a heart attack. Plaintiff required dialysis for approximately 20 months and then underwent a kidney transplant in November 2005.

At trial, we claimed that the defendant nephrologist was negligent for failing to perform or recommend blood tests to determine whether plaintiff had a clotting disorder prior to taking her off of Coumadin. Additionally, we claimed that defendant failed to recommend Abridge therapy while she went off of Coumadin. Specifically, Abridge therapy involves administering a shorter acting anticoagulant, heparin, while a patient if off of Coumadin to provide the smallest window of time off of anticoagulation while undergoing a biopsy. We demonstrated at trial that, had defendant ordered the necessary blood tests, they would have revealed that she had a condition known as antiphospholipid syndrome, which would have explained the disfunction of her kidneys and would have made the biopsy and discontinuing coumadin unnecessary. Additionally, the diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome would have mandated that plaintiff receive bridge therapy while going off of Coumadin.

Because of the discontinuance of Coumadin without bridge therapy, plaintiff suffered from acute clots in her kidneys, requiring her to undergo dialysis for approximately 20 months before undergoing a kidney transplant in November 2005. Additionally, she developed acute clots in her coronary arteries, causing an anterior wall myocardial infarction (heart attack).

We were able to obtain this settlement despite the fact that plaintiff's kidney biopsy demonstrated that she had underlying severe, chronic kidney damage which would have necessitated dialysis and/or transplant within 1-2 years even in the absence of the defendant's negligence. Additionally, the evidence showed that approximately one year after the heart attack, plaintiff had substantially recovered and had an above average exercise performance on a stress test.

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