Medical Expert Required in Malpractice Claim for Antibiotic Reaction

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Plaintiff administrator of the estate of his son appealed from the grant of summary judgment by the Superior Court in the Judicial District of New London (Connecticut) in favor of defendant hospital. The father argued that his claims alleged negligence and recklessness rather than medical malpractice. Thus, his action should not have been dismissed for failure to present expert testimony to establish proximate causation.

The father's four year old son was brought to the hospital by his mother because of pain and pus in his ear. He was given an antibiotic. He vomited, began to sweat, and his complexion turned white. A hospital stated it was safe to take the boy home. While waiting for a taxicab, the boy began to vomit violently. The mother tried several times to have her son looked at. The hospital personal continually told the mother to leave and threatened to call security. The boy later died. The appellate court held that since the prescription of medication was inherently of a specialized medical nature, as only licensed health care professionals could do so, the case did not involve the summary denial of treatment for an obvious injury. The hospital's determination was intrinsically related to its earlier diagnosis and treatment of the boy and required the exercise of medical judgment concerning the normalcy and severity of his reaction to prescription medication. Whether that determination was sound required medical judgment. Thus, the father's claim that the hospital negligently and recklessly refused to treat or to readmit the boy sounded inmedical malpractice. Judgment affirmed.

At Maya Murphy, P.C., our personal injury attorneys are dedicated to achieving the best results for individuals and their family members and loved ones whose daily lives have been disrupted by injury, whether caused by a motor vehicle or pedestrian accident, a slip and fall, medical malpractice, a defective product, or otherwise. Our attorneys are not afraid to aggressively pursue and litigate cases and have extensive experience litigating personal injury matters in both state and federal courts, and always with regard to the unique circumstances of our client and the injury he or she has sustained.

Source: Boone v. William W. Backus Hosp., 272 Conn. 551, 864 A.2d 1, 2005 Conn. LEXIS 21 (Conn. 2005).