USLegal Reporter

A Boston jury returned a verdict on Wednesday awarding $2.5 million in damages in a medical malpratice case involving a woman wrongly diagnosed with HIV. Audrey Serrano was told by her doctor that she had HIV. She was treated for 9 years with medication before learning she never actually had the virus that causes AIDS.

In her lawsuit, Serrano claimed her doctor, Kwan Lai, who worked at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester’s HIV clinic, failed to order definitive tests, even after monitoring revealed Serrano’s blood did not show the presence of HIV. 

Serrano had herself tested at another hospital in 2003 and discovered then that she did not have the virus. 

 Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i3k8DhrJzfadDMMVAdDi-VDVqkngD8TGI7480

The Louisiana Supreme Court held Wednesday that claims against hospitals that did not have emergency power and evacuation plans in place prior to Hurricane Katrina are not considered medical malpractice claims. The ruling reversed an appeals court decision that likened such claims to medical malpractice cases as they involve decisions relating to patient care or treatment.

Family members of Althea Lacoste, a patient admitted to Methodist Hospital the day before Katrina hit New Orleans, brought a wrongful death lawsuit after the hospital failed to provide emergency power for her life support system and/or to evacuate her to another hospital with adequate power.

The court considered the wrongful death suit more of a products liability and/or general negligence case, rather than a medical malpractice suit. Medical malpractice suits must follow a lengthy state review process and awards are capped at $500,000. Louisiana law also requires that medical malpractice claims allege an injury caused by a deficiency in professional medical skills.

Up to 194 claims have been filed with the Louisiana Patients Compensation Fund Oversight Board.

Source: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/09/louisiana-high-court-lifts-procedural.php;  http://www.lexisone.com/news/ap/ap090607j.html