On August 23, 2011 the Circuit Court of Leflore County rendered a $500,000 bench trial verdict against Greenwood Leflore Hospital in a medical malpractice case. Here is the trial court’s judgment and findings of fact and conclusions of law in Long v. Greenwood Leflore Hospital and Francois Lesage, M.D.

Facts:

Monica Long, age 10, became sick on Friday September 21, 2007. Monica’s mother Stephanie took her to the emergency room at Greenwood Leflore Hospital on Sunday Sept. 23. Monica was in pain and had a fever of 102.

At the hospital Dr. Lesage diagnosed Monica as having an ear infection and prescribed antibiotics.

Later that night, Monica seemed worse and vomited. Her mother called the hospital twice and was told to give Monica antibiotics and bring her back in the morning. At 9:30 a.m. the next morning, Monica collapsed and was taken back to the emergency room. She stopped breathing and was transferred to UMC. Monica died on Sept. 25 from bacterial meningitis.

Noel Harris of Greenville and Michael Cory and Ken Miller of Jackson represented the plaintiff. Gaye Nell Currie and Rex Shannon with Wise Carter in Jackson represented the hospital.

The Court’s Decision:

The case was tried as a bench trial before Judge Ashley Hines because the hospital is subject to the Tort Claims Act. The trial court found that the hospital breached the standard of care in giving medical advice over the phone and not telling Monica’s mother to bring her back to the hospital on Sunday night. The court found that if the hospital had instructed Stephanie to bring Monica back to the hospital, she would have been properly diagnosed and treated and would have survived.

The court awarded the maximum damages of $500,000.