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Infant suffered serious brain injury due to untreated anemia, doctors withheld critical information and provided false and misleading information in the discharge summary. Jury awarded $14.5 million to the family.
On May 14, 2008, Tiffani D. Hurst gave birth to M.A.H. in Sunrise Hospital in Clark County, Nevada.
M.A.H. was premature and received medical care from neonatologist Martin Blahnick, M.D. and Ali Piroozi, M.D. until she was discharged from the hospital on August 2, 2008.
Although M.A.H. suffered from ongoing anemia during her hospital stay, Blahnick and Piroozi failed to investigate her condition further and diagnose her with a serious form of congenital anemia. Instead, they attributed her anemia to her prematurity and told her parents it was normal and would resolve on its own.
Following discharge, M.A.H. fell under the care of pediatrician Ralph Conti, M.D. of Foothill Pediatrics LLC, who failed to perform a follow-up blood test recommended by Dr. Piroozi in the discharge summary.
On October 29, 2008, M.A.H. suffered an anemic shock episode, which resulted in a serious and permanent brain injury.
During the trial in 2016, plaintiffs maintained that Piroozi was negligent in failing to recognize that M.A.H. had a serious form of anemia and investigate it. They further alleged that he was negligent in the manner and method of his discharge of M.A.H. from the hospital.
Specifically, they argued that he was negligent by failing to have an appropriate plan of care in light of her ongoing anemia, by withholding critical information from the plaintiffs and the pediatrician (including test results demonstrating that M.A.H. was not making any red blood cells and her red blood cell count was dropping at the time of her discharge) and by including false and misleading information in the discharge summary (incorrect number of transfusions—5 instead of 11, incorrect diagnosis, statement that anemia had resolved, and nothing regarding any concern for ongoing anemia or explanation for why follow-up CBC was being recommended).
On December 2, 2016, the jury reached a verdict in plaintiffs' favor, finding that Dr. Piroozi and Dr. Conti had been negligent and that their negligence caused M.A.H. to suffer injury. The award totaled $ 14,518,607.00, and liability was apportioned 40% to Dr. Piroozi and 60% to Dr. Conti.
Doctors withheld critical information from the plaintiffs and the pediatrician (including test results demonstrating that M.A.H. was not making any red blood cells and her red blood cell count was dropping at the time of her discharge) and by including false and misleading information in the discharge summary (incorrect number of transfusions—5 instead of 11).