Health Care Firm Ordered to Pay $450,000 in Woman’s Death

Ahealth care organization was ordered Thursday to pay $450,000 to the widower and young daughter of a 22-year-old woman who bled to death in her Panorama City home in 1981 after a nurse failed to diagnose a tubal pregnancy.

A Van Nuys Superior Court jury found that the California Medical Health Group Plan Inc., now called INA Healthplan of California, committed “gross negligence” in failing to recognize the life-threatening nature of Alica Williams’ condition.

Mrs. Williams, who was unaware that she was in an early stage of pregnancy, complained of severe abdominal pain on the evening of June 24, 1981. Her husband, Charles, summoned Los Angeles City paramedics.

Williams testified that the paramedics reassured him that his wife’s vital signs were normal and advised her to see her doctor the next day. The paramedics testified, however, that they offered to transport Mrs. Williams immediately to the nearest hospital but she declined, saying she was feeling better.

Williams then telephoned the health care group and spoke to a nurse. Williams testified that the nurse told him that his wife could see a doctor that night, but did not stress the urgency of the situation. The nurse testified that he advised Williams to take his wife to the emergency room of a local hospital. She was found dead in the morning.

Williams charged that paramedics and the nurse should have instantly recognized the symptoms of a tubal pregnancy and warned his wife that she could bleed to death within hours.

The city, a co-defendant in the case, was not assessed damages because the jury found that the paramedics were not guilty of gross negligence.