Клиника Университета штата Айова выплатит 500 тысяч долларов женщине, чья перелом бедра был пропущен врачами

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa Health Care will pay a 41-year-old former Maharishi International University instructor who now lives in India half a million dollars after providers in 2021 “misread and did not properly identify (her) hip fracture.” Ruchi Sharma, who was living in Iowa City at the time with her husband, was taken to the UIHC emergency room on April 11, 2021, following a head-on vehicle collision. Upon admission, Sharma complained of hip and thigh pain, and doctors who examined her took note of her “pain with internal and external rotation,” according to her lawsuit. “Able to lift leg off the bed, but cannot raise more than two inches,” the doctor noted, according to the lawsuit, filed in March 2024 in Johnson County District Court. That doctor diagnosed Sharma with “acute fracture dislocation of the left hip, acute fracture of the C-spine, radiculopathy caused by spine C-spine injury, soft tissue injury,” according to the lawsuit. And an X-ray of her left femur, hip and pelvis were ordered. The X-ray revealed a pelvic fracture, “as evidenced by a lucent line.” Still, a resident radiologist and staff radiologist determined, “there is no evidence of acute fracture or dislocation” in her femur, hip or pelvis, according to the lawsuit. When Sharma met with a physical therapist the next day, she was experiencing pain in her left hip and thigh when walking and could only “ambulate with the assistance of a front-wheeled walker,” according to the lawsuit, noting she needed help getting in and out of bed. In the days that followed, Sharma reported nausea with the pain and characterized it as a “10/10.” “She has not been able to get out of bed since she has been in the ER due to pain,” according to a doctor’s note. “It is improved with pain medication including muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatory medications. It is worse with activity.” Sharma reported being discharged without restrictions on April 13, and two days later called the hospital after feeling a “twitch in her thigh and now is in almost unbearable pain.” During her follow-up appointment the next day, Sharma said she was still in intense pain and was planning to move home to India in five days. “UIHC providers encouraged Ruchi to increase her physical activity and movement, including on her upcoming lengthy flight,” according to the lawsuit. After arriving in India, Sharma went to Saraswati Mission Hospital on May 4 — still experiencing hip and thigh pain — and underwent a CT scan showing, “minimally displaced fractures of anterior, posterior column and roof of left acetabulum” and “left side mild hip joint effusion.” That same day, she received a letter from UIHC admitting radiologists misread the X-ray. “Your radiograph was reviewed by a musculoskeletal radiologist at UIHC, and he identified a suspicious lucent line in the left acetabulum that was not mentioned in the original report,” according to the UIHC note, as reported in the lawsuit. “This finding likely represents the fracture that was seen on your subsequent CT.” Sharma was admitted to the hospital in India for the following month, during which she required “skeletal traction and complete bed rest.” She had to continue in a non-weight-bearing mode until November and maintains “lifelong injuries, physical limitations, and disability,” according to the lawsuit. “Ruchi suffers from permanent severe osteoarthritis, and she is unable to lift anything of significant weight,” the lawsuit states. “Ruchi struggles to walk without the aid of assistive devices, such as a walker or cane, and her ambulation is much slower and more labored than it was prior to her injuries.” She had been making $625 a week teaching at Maharishi International University before the accident. With her ability to work now limited, she’s making $8,000 a year teaching remotely. To settle the negligence case, UIHC agreed to pay Sharma $500,000, according to the deputy attorney general. Alleged negligent nursing care In a separate payment the state Board of Appeals approved Wednesday, UIHC will pay $300,000 to the estate of Emmalou Welch following a wrongful death claim. Welch was a UIHC inpatient in August 2022 and fell during her stay — suffering bilateral femur fractures that required surgical intervention, according to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. The executor of Welch’s estate said UIHC negligence caused her death in October 2022, although the university had “supportive expert testimony that the nursing care was within the standard of care,” according to Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Peterzalek. Still, “given the uncertainty of trial and expense of proceeding with further discovery, UIHC reached a settlement agreement at $300,000.” UIHC will pay both of the full settlement amounts.