Vermont Jury Awards $800,000 for Failure to Monitor Coumadin in Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Vermont Jury Awards $800,000 for Failure to Monitor Coumadin
A Franklin County jury returned on October 30, 2008, a $800,000 verdict in a medical malpractice lawsuit to the family of a woman who died while on the blood thinner Coumadin for a history of deep vein thrombosis and a heart condition. Patients on Coumadin require close monitoring of their blood's ability to clot by a test called an INR. Her doctor failed to properly monitor her INR values and as a result, Mrs. Stone's blood became too thin, depleted of clotting factors, and susceptible to uncontrolled bleeding. After grazing her ear, she became unresponsive and was taken to the hospital where her INR was found to be 12.29, a dangerously high level. (The target therapeutic range was 2 to 3.) A CT scan revealed that she had suffered a massive intracranial hemorrhage which caused herniation of her brain. Attorney for the plaintiff was Chris Maley, Burlington, Vermont.