This case involved a 75 year women who in the morning presented to the emergency department of a Suffolk County, New York, hospital with signs and symptoms of a urinary tract obstruction. The emergency department diagnosed a urinary tract infection with an obstruction in the right ureter based upon a CT-Scan, blood work and a urinalysis. The plaintiff was admitted to the hospital because of this diagnosis which was considered a medical emergency and required surgical treatment by a urologist. Over the course of the next several hours, the plaintiff’s symptoms worsened and she developed sepsis which was not properly diagnosed and treated. When she was consulted by urologist at approximately 7:00 p.m., her fever was 104.5 degrees. The urologist decided to wait until the morning to relieve the ureteral obstruction and left the hospital. Soon after this consultation by urologist, the plaintiff went into septic shock where her blood pressure became critically low and required pressors which is medication administered to increase the blood pressure. The urologist came back to the hospital that evening to operate and relieve the ureteral obstruction. Due to the septic shock and pressors, however, the plaintiff’s upper extremities became gangrenous and she required amputation of both hands. The plaintiff passed away two years later.
