A South Carolina man died in November 2002 after he was given the wrong drug before he underwent surgery. The man died from cardiac arrest but the family did not know this until after the man’s body was exhumed and autopsied. Originally they believed he died of natural causes but when the truth leaked out the autopsy confirmed the real cause of death.
The man was given Lidocaine instead of Hespan, but the doctor never told the family of the mistake. Instead he decided to lie to them and try to cover up the error that had been made. Had the doctor been truthful with the family maybe it would have reduced some of the pain that they had to go through, but instead he tried to cover it up.
Luckily the insurance carrier agreed there was a mistake made and settled with the family. This is how this should have been handled but all too often insurance carriers are reluctant to settle with victims. These lawsuits become long and drawn out and end up in court where there are now caps in places like Illinois that keep families from receiving compensation that they rightfully deserve.
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