Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney Blog - Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis LLP

A girl whose mother believed was being killed by the medical treatment she received for lupus, died on Tuesday. Lupus is a disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body’s organs, from the skin to the joints to the organs. The 15-year-old girl had been diagnosed with the disease in 2001 and immediately began a course of treatment recommended by doctors at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. However, the girl’s attacks grew more frequent and unpredictable, and she was transferred to Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, where doctors determined her kidneys had failed. The doctors blamed the disease, but the mother blamed the medication. Although the girl was put on a different medication, her condition continued to worsen, and when the mother requested that another treatment be tried, doctors contacted the Connecticut Department of Children and Families to have the mother charged with medical neglect. Although the mother was not charged, the girl was moved to Children’s Hospital Boston for treatment. When the mother disputed treatment again, the girl was put in her grandfather’s custody and treatment was continued.

The girl died Tuesday morning, most likely of cardiac arrest caused by sepsis, although an autopsy has not yet been performed. It is impossible to say yet in this case whether the mother’s fears were accurate, and this is an extreme case of medical malpractice, or whether the deadly disease simply took its course, the case shows the extreme power doctors can wield over life and death, sometimes for good, and sometimes for ill.

If you believe you or a loved one has suffered as a result of a doctor’s negligent application of this power, contact the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at the law firm of Pomerantz, Perlberger, and Lews, LLP today for a free initial consultation.