County Settles Suit in Death of Child

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday settled a lawsuit that contended that a child died after a physician at Olive View/UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar misdiagnosed the child’s illness.

The family of 3 1/2-year-old Michael Rafaeloff will be awarded $212,500.

Supervisors unanimously approved the settlement without discussion. The Los Angeles County Claims Board concluded in a report: “Michael Rafaeloff’s death was the direct result of the attending physicians’ failure to timely diagnose and treat his meningitis and the fluid on his brain.”

The claims board recommends whether the Board of Supervisors should settle lawsuits or go to trial.

According to the claims board’s report, Michael Rafaeloff was brought to Olive View by his father May 12, 1995. The child had been suffering for three days from fever, vomiting and a headache.

The emergency room physician, who has not been named, diagnosed the child with a sinus infection and prescribed antibiotics.

Two days later, Michael’s father brought him back with the same symptoms.

After X-rays of the boy’s brain were taken, Michael was diagnosed with viral meningitis, which affects the spinal cord and brain.

But physicians failed to consult a neurosurgeon when tests showed that the child’s brain had become enlarged and there was fluid in his skull, the county report said.

The child died of cerebral herniation the next day at UCLA Medical Center.