$8.35M for Brain Damage, medication overdose
A Cumberland County jury awarded $8.35M on Thursday to a 63 year old Vineland woman and her husband for brain damage caused by an excessive dosage of a painkiller. Sandra Terris was admitted to Newcomb Hospital in Vineland on May 26, 1999. She suffered a fractured pelvis and ribs in a car crash three days earlier and, following examination at another hospital, had been sent home. But Terris, a diabetic, was suffering from dehydration and low blood sugar, according to the suit.
As Terris was still in pain from her injuries, a Newcomb orthopedist, with the approval of her attending physician, Alan Cohen, prescribed a 4mg dosage of the painkiller Dilaudid. A nurse, Christine Roller, administered the drug at noon on May 27 but failed to mark it on Terris' chart. A few hours later, a physical therapist came to Terris' room, found her asleep, was unable to rouse her and reported her findings in written reports to Roller and Cohen.
Terris woke up that evening but ate nothing and her vital signs were deteriorating. At midnight, nurse Mary Ann Harris gave Terris a second dosage of Dilaudid. At 12:54 am, a monitor attached to Terris went off, signaling she was in respiratory arrest. Terris suffered severe brain damage due to loss of oxygen, according to the suit.
(This information was obtained from the New Jersey Law Journal)
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