ER nurse dies when Florida hospitals fail to find a doctor!
Medical center pays $2 million to settle malpractice lawsuit

July 14, 2008 – One would expect when you get to the front door of a hospital emergency room, you will see a doctor to treat you right away, not be greeted with medical malpractice. To not be able to find a doctor is incomprehensible.

That’s what happened when a 52-year-old Boca Raton woman – a former ER nurse, no less – was rushed to a hospital emergency room, but died after two Florida hospitals failed to find a neurosurgeon to treat her stroke.

According to her family’s malpractice lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court against Tenet Healthcare Corp., the woman awoke on Feb. 22, 2004, with slurred speech and weakness on her right side. Court papers allege that when she arrived at Tenet's West Boca Medical Center emergency room for help, she was bleeding in her brain.

The Palm Beach Post reported that the hospital tried calling four neurosurgeons, all of whom refused to come in to treat the former hospital nurse. At the time, West Boca had a transfer agreement with Delray Medical Center, also Tenet-owned, but a doctor there also refused to come in to treat her.

By the time Masterson was transferred to Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, she was unresponsive and paralyzed on her right side. She underwent surgery, but died March 2.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. reportedly paid nearly $2 million to settle her family’s medical malpractice lawsuit.

When a patient puts their trust in a hospital and is betrayed like this, a medical malpractice lawyer can be your best champion.

Injured medical patients, and their families, can obtain legal protection by contacting Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C. – the largest personal injury law firm in New York.

To receive a free consultation on the legal merits of your medical malpractice complaint, please fill out the form on this page and send it to the Weitz & Luxenberg team of medical malpractice lawyers.

Know your rights. Don’t get stuck with medical bills when the fault lies with a doctor, hospital or medical center.

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