January 23, 2009

$1.56M AWARDED TO ESTATE OF WOMAN WHO DIED AT HARTFORD HOSPITAL

Hartford Hospital lost a malpractice case Friday when a jury awarded $1.56 million to the estate of a 44-year-old East Hartford woman who died after suffering cardiac arrest at the hospital in 2004.

Attorney Joel T. Faxon, who represented the estate of Caroline Johnston, said workers in the emergency room failed to administer potassium to Johnston, despite blood work that showed she had a low level of it in her body.

"She basically died in the hospital, all because they didn't give her the potassium," Faxon said.

Johnston, a married mother of two young children, went to the emergency room on March 12, 2004. She had been diagnosed the previous October with a heart condition and was seeking a transplant. But it was something else that brought her to the emergency room that night: sharp chest pains, vomiting and diarrhea.

Blood work showed that Johnston was dehydrated and had a low level of potassium, an electrolyte that is key to heart function. She was given fluids, but no potassium, Faxon said.

Doctors tried to discharge Johnston, Faxon said, but she insisted that something was wrong and demanded to see a cardiologist. At 11 a.m., she was found unresponsive. She died days later after her family decided to take her off a respirator, Faxon said.

Johnston's husband, Harry, filed the lawsuit against the hospital in 2006. At the time of Johnston's death, her sons were 5 years old and 11 months old.

After a trial in Superior Court in Hartford, the jury awarded $1.56 million to Johnston's estate.

Hartford Hospital declined to comment.