When you walk with Ms. Wickman, you never walk alone.

Improper Injection

Date of Verdict/Settlement: June 11, 2011

Topic:

Medical Malpractice – Nurse Negligence – Improper Injection – The plaintiff claimed injection improperly placed

Summary:

Award Total: $400,000

RESULT: Settlement

The parties agreed to a $400,000 settlement.

Insurance Carrier: Self-Insured

Attorneys:

Plaintiff: Victoria Wickman; Law Office of Victoria Wickman; New York, NY

Defendant: New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation

Judge: Bert Bunyan

State: New York; County: Kings

Facts: Plaintiff, 40-year-old Jamaican immigrant, visited his mother in New York. While here, he developed a sickle cell crisis. He was taken to Kings County Hospital where a nurse administered an injection of morphine into the inner lower quadrant of his buttock. He immediately screamed and reported a burning painful sensation down his right leg. He was immediately diagnosed by Kings County Hospital neurologists as having a permanent foot drop due to sciatic nerve damage caused by the injection. It was maintained by the plaintiff’s nursing expert that it is known that the sciatic nerve runs through the inner lower quadrant of the buttock, and therefore the standard of care is to always place the injection in the upper outer quadrant.  The defendant maintained that due to his sickle cell he had a shortened life expectancy.