Doctor's Suit Over Brain Injury Settled
A former physician who received a severe brain injury during treatment for a Sickle Cell Anemia crisis settled her lawsuit against several doctors and Crawford Long Hospital.
"My client is extremely happy about the amounts she will receive under the terms of the settlement," according to her attorney, Thomas Sampson of Atlanta. Terms of the settlement, which was concluded Monday, make the exact amount of the settlement confidential. In 1991, Sampson obtained a structured settlement in a lawsuit against Northside Hospital that will pay that plaintiff $22.8 million over the plaintiffs lifetime.
Sampson described this case as "A terrible, tragic incident," adding, "This young doctor's promising career was destroyed as a result of this treatment."
According to the suit, Dr. Migel Elie, 34, was an intern with the Emory University Hospital System, when she was stricken with symptoms characteristic of sickle cell crisis on Aug. 6, 1986. She had been diagnosed with the disease during her early childhood.
After being treated at the sickle cell 'center at Grady Memorial Hospital, she was admitted to Crawford W. Long Hospital. There, doctors determined she needed a blood transfusion. In the morning hours of Aug. 8, 1986, that treatment began. But the suit claimed that the doctors were negligent in monitor' mg her during the 9 1/2-hour procedure-during which she. went into severe heart failure.
This, combined with other sickle cell complications, caused the oxygen level in her blood to fall dangerously. The result, the suite states, was permanent neurological damage. "While Dr. Elie has made a remarkable recovery and is gainfully employed, it is highly unlikely that she will ever be able to practice medicine," said Sampson, of the firm of Thomas, Kennedy, Sampson & Patterson, "The irony is that it was a medical mistake that cost her career.