Congratulations to John A. Lancione, his team and his clients on this confidential settlement. This medical negligence case was brought by the parents of a four month old infant who was not properly and timely diagnosed with bacterial meningitis.
The parents brought their infant to the facility on March 17th, with symptoms of cough and a fever that had reached 105 degrees. The admitting nurse documented an elevated pulse and respiratory rate. The attending physician did not see or examine the infant. He was discharged with a diagnosis of bronchiolitis. At discharge, he still had a fever of 103.2. Two nights later the parents returned to the hospital when his condition did not improve, and in fact had worsened. The emergency room attending physician noted some very troubling findings in his notes. The chief complaint was “cough, respiratory distress, and loss of appetite and fever”. His vital signs were abnormal. He was discharged again around 2:30 pm on March 19th, though his parents were not comfortable with the discharge and notified the treating doctors of such.
While at home on the 19th and 20th, the infant did not improve. The night of March 20th, the infant began having seizures. He was taken by ambulance to the facility where he was ultimately diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. He developed septic shock, requiring mechanical ventilation and was in a coma. Imaging studies later showed severe brain damage.
The parents claimed the facility was negligent for failing to perform appropriate tests that would have diagnosed bacterial meningitis. Specifically, the standard of care required that the facility perform a blood culture and a lumbar puncture, which would have revealed bacterial meningitis. He would have been treated and he would not have gone on to suffer severe brain damage and loss of hearing. This settlement allows for the child to have the 24/7 lifelong care required to provide him the proper quality of life following the negligence.
Attorney Lancione, a managing partner in the firm Lancione & Lancione PLL, is a third generation attorney who has dedicated his career to helping others. During his over 22 years of service, he has earned a national reputation for accomplishments in birth injury litigation as evidenced by him being elected the Chairman of the Birth Trauma Litigation Group of American Association for Justice in 2008. For detailed information regarding settlements and verdicts handled by Mr. Lancione and his firm, click here.
As parents and family members ourselves, everyone here at Advocate Capital, Inc. is so thankful for attorneys like John Lancione who work tirelessly to protect the rights of our children.
Senior Vice President
