Two healthcare organizations in the Tampa Bay, Florida-area are facing a lawsuit after a more than six-hour delay in reading a stroke patient’s head CT scan allegedly resulted in irreversible brain damage, according to court documents obtained by ABC Tampa Bay.
On Aug. 20, 2019, Pedro Gil’s family rushed him to Bayfront Health Spring Hill hospital where he underwent mechanical thrombectomy for a blood clot. That day he was transferred to Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, where doctors cleared a clot from his neck. At 2 p.m. the following afternoon, they ordered a CT scan to be done “STAT.”
Despite Bayfront’s policy stating such orders must be performed within 45 minutes, on average, Pedro’s CT was completed at 3:07 p.m.—more than an hour after requested. Furthermore, a radiologist didn’t read the scan until 8:35 p.m. that night, well beyond the hospital’s 30-minute or less policy for such emergency situations, the news outlet reported.
Bayfront Health St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay Radiology Associates are now staring down a medical malpractice lawsuit, according to a complaint filed back in December.
“There were serious things that were done wrong in this case that should never, ever have happened,” Scott Whitley, an attorney who is representing the Gil family, said to the ABC affiliate. “If somebody had been paying attention here, this wouldn’t have happened. Especially if they have listened because there were repeated communications to please find the result,” he added later in the Feb. 17 story.
Bayfront St. Petersburg Hospital was sold in October and is now under new ownership. Its previous owner Community Health Systems in Franklin, Tennesse, refused to comment on the litigation, the news outlet reported. But according to court documents, CHS denied the accusation and says any “loss, injury, or damage” suffered by the plaintiff was “inevitable as part of his natural and unpreventable deteriorating condition.”
Pedro Gil can’t talk, walk, feed himself or go to the bathroom by himself, the news outlet reported. His sons have taken turns caring for Pedro, who has been in and out of nursing homes.
Read more about the story below, and see the original complaint here.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.