Nearly $5 million was awarded to a Hammond, Indiana family in a medical malpractice case earlier this year. Roger Vuckovich, just twelve hours after being released from St. Catherine’s hospital in East Chicago, died of an adbdominal aortic aneurysm.
The abdominal aorta supplies blood to the abdomen, pelvis, and legs. Dr. Rajeev Sareen completed an emergency procedure on Mr. Vuckovich on December 22, 2001 and in the opinion of a jury in December of 2005, Dr. Sareen failed to complete a CT scan that could have shown the risk of Mr. Vuckovich’s aneurism. According to Barry Rooth, the Vuckovich’s attorney, Mr. Vuckovich was misdiagnosed and treated for having a kidney stone.
Vuckovich’s wife, Cynthia, received $2.2 million in the settlement and his three daughters each received $750,000. Rooth stated that he felt “heartened that the jury understood that the care required a CT under these circumstances.”