Lawsuit: Botched Diagnosis Led to 30-Year-Old New York Teacher's Brain Hemorrhage Death
• Legal Events updated 2009/11/23 10:08
• Legal Events updated 2009/11/23 10:08
Doctors at a Long Island hospital failed to properly diagnose a 30-year-old Queens teacher's head pain in the days leading up to her death from a brain hemorrhage, a lawsuit alleges.
Melissa Fudge, who taught at PS 16 in Corona, died a year ago tomorrow. She had a history of ulcerative colitis when she was admitted to Long Island Jewish/Plainview Hospital in November 2008 complaining of vomiting and gastrointestinal pain accompanied by a searing headache and shooting pain in her left eye.
Doctors treated her for colitis, but her head pain continued, said her lawyer, Gerard Lucciola.
"They kept giving her transfusions and couldn't understand where all the blood was going," said her husband, Roger Fudge Jr. "They got tunnel-visioned on the colitis."
And, he said, the tragedy had far-reaching effects.
"It wasn't only me; it was my family, her family — her students, too," he said.
The suit, filed last week in Queens Supreme Court, seeks unspecified damages from the hospital and three doctors.
Melissa Fudge, who taught at PS 16 in Corona, died a year ago tomorrow. She had a history of ulcerative colitis when she was admitted to Long Island Jewish/Plainview Hospital in November 2008 complaining of vomiting and gastrointestinal pain accompanied by a searing headache and shooting pain in her left eye.
Doctors treated her for colitis, but her head pain continued, said her lawyer, Gerard Lucciola.
"They kept giving her transfusions and couldn't understand where all the blood was going," said her husband, Roger Fudge Jr. "They got tunnel-visioned on the colitis."
And, he said, the tragedy had far-reaching effects.
"It wasn't only me; it was my family, her family — her students, too," he said.
The suit, filed last week in Queens Supreme Court, seeks unspecified damages from the hospital and three doctors.