Man May Get $1 Million in Negligence Claim
Los Angeles County should pay almost $1 million to settle the medical negligence case of a man who suffered permanent brain damage because staff at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center failed to perform a routine diagnostic test that would have disclosed that he had suffered two aneurysms, the county Claims Board concluded Wednesday.
A week after he was seen in the emergency room in September 1995, Harold J. Crumpton suffered a brain hemorrhage that, according to a legal report approved by the Claims Board, would have been prevented had he received the “appropriate standard of care” during his initial visit.
Private lawyers hired by the county had recommended settling the case rather than risking a possible jury award of more than $2 million.
Crumpton, 44, was taken to the South Los Angeles trauma center after complaining of a sudden onset of severe headaches and blurry vision, county documents show. Medical staff suspected that he was suffering from bleeding within the brain and ordered an “urgent” CAT scan.
But Crumpton was given an appointment 13 days later for the procedure and allowed to leave the facility.
He collapsed a week later, and suffered a brain hemorrhage that county lawyers say was caused by failure to remove the aneurysms.
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