Jury Finds Doctor Negligent in Death of Basketball Player
Posted on 29. Mar, 2010 in News Stories
It was January 20, 2005 during the opening minutes of a basketball game between Eastern Connecticut State University and Worcester State. Suddenly, the crowd realized something was wrong when one of Eastern Connecticut’s players, Antwoine Key, collapsed on the floor.
Related Case Studies
Stacy was in pain. She made it to the ER, saw the doctor, had tests done, and was treated. She felt so much better and was sent home. Another satisfied patient, right? Not so.
Emergency paramedics attempted to revive the college senior as he was rushed to the hospital, but to no avail. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The medical examiner determined Antwoine suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), where the heart muscle becomes thick so that it becomes harder for blood to leave the heart. It is a known cause of sudden death amongst athletes.
In 2001, Antwoine had been given a physical exam by Dr. Dorina Abdulah. She signed a report that Antwoine was in perfect health despite detecting a heart murmur (a sign of possible HCM). To be safe, she scheduled Antwoine for a cardiac echo, which would have caught his HCM–but Antwoine never showed up to the appointment. He went on to play basketball unaware of his condition.
From then until his death in 2005, he was seen by 5 more doctors, but his condition was never discovered.
After Antwoine’s death, his parents sued Dr. Abdulah, claiming that she should never have cleared Antwoine to play basketball to begin with. This past Friday, a jury found the doctor negligent and awarded the couple $1.6 million in damages.
Marla
Mar 29th, 2010
Not sure if she should have been sued. She scheduled the exam and he never showed up. That’s his fault. It doesn’t say she never followed up with him to tell him it was important to have the test as something could be wrong. That could be negligent, but, not enough to sue.
june
Mar 30th, 2010
She should not have been sued and the dumb jury should not have awarded that ridiculous amount of money!! Pt should have followed up with test that was ordered. And what about the 5 other doctors that examined pt? This is the kind of stuff that needs to be reformed instead of government take over with our healthcare!
Donald
Mar 31st, 2010
I think it does suck, but I also think she should not have cleared him to play before seeing results of the test she ordered.
Nurse Sharon
Apr 10th, 2010
What a prime example of frivilous lawsuits! People wonder why healthcare is so expensive because of Drs frequently going overboard ordering (most likely unnecessary meds and test. They are afraid of this kind of judicial negligence. Why didn’t the judge throw this out? The Doctor agreed to let this patient play while also advising the parents of need for more testing to rule out the possiblity of a more serious issue. Parents failed to follow up and the kid played 5 more years before dying on the court. Had they done what the doctor said the child may still be alive. Why didn’t anyone sue the parents for stupidity?
dr. dru
Apr 14th, 2010
i agree with all the above comments. i suspect the doc was pressured to go on and sign the form by the patient and she did so with him promising to go for the echo. it is a good lesson for us all in healthcare-don’t be ‘too’ nice and don’t assume a jury will be smart.
juries and lay people do not understand that over the course of a day you order so many tests, you can’t keep track of them. you depend on the RESULTS of the tests to prompt you for follow up-to either write/call patient and tell him/her all is normal, or contact patient for further evaluation.
doc is a physician not an personal assistant. the doc is responsible for evaluating the patient and his physical and test results-not for making him keep his appointments.
lov2ck
May 3rd, 2010
Patients have rights but no responsibility. If they are irresponsible, and there is a bad outcome, then they have to blame the doctors and get paid enormous amounts. They never have to deal with the outcome of their irresponsibility.It is very very sad to loose a child but blaming someone else getting compensated for it is not the way to handle it
These comments have to be shown to the patients so that they hear the other side of these “newsworthy” stories, which portrays doctors as irresponsible and negligent. As long as these kinds of outcomes continue to be handed out, healthcare will always be costly in this country.