Judge awards $8.6M in Scott malpractice case
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Dec 9, 2008 20:51:59 EST
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_scott_ruling_120908/
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A judge says the U.S. government must pay $8.6 million in damages over a Scott Air Force Base doctor’s misdiagnosis of flesh-eating bacteria.
Jean Phillips is the former wife of an Air Force captain. She filed suit in 2005.
In 2002, she went to the base emergency room for pain and swelling in her right arm.
Court documents say Dr. Daniel MacAlpine believed the woman was an addict looking for prescription drugs and told her to go home and take Motrin.
Weeks later, Phillips was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh-eating bacteria. http://www.nnff.org/
A bench trial was held in August. In a decision late last month, Federal Magistrate Judge Philip Frazier faulted MacAlpine and wrote Phillips suffers “continuous, debilitating pain.”
Messages left Tuesday for Phillips and MacAlpine’s attorneys weren’t immediately returned.
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I get the feeling the govt will appeal the size of the award, or invoke the "Feres Decision" this will more than likely make it to the Supreme Court
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Judge awards $8.6M in Scott malpractice case
