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By Radha V. Bachman , Esq.
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
Tampa, FL
Ellen Barton , JD, CPCU
Principal, ERM Strategies, LLC
Phoenix, MD
News: A woman who suffered from long-standing depression presented to the hospital seeking an adjustment of her antidepressant medication. During hospitalization, she suffered seizures. The hospital was unable to determine the etiology of the seizures and transferred the woman to another hospital in the area. Upon transfer, she underwent an examination and laboratory testing. The woman's attending physician consulted a neurologist who performed an examination and a CT scan. The examination produced normal results, but the admitting physician's lab results revealed that the woman was suffering from hyponatremia. Before the condition was addressed, she suffered another seizure and went into cardiac arrest, ultimately going into a coma and never regaining consciousness. The woman died five years later.
Background: A 68-year-old woman suffering from depression arrived at a small psychiatric hospital seeking an adjustment of her prescription for antidepressant medication. During this hospitalization, the woman suffered seizures. In order to properly determine the cause of the seizures, the psychiatric hospital transferred the woman to a community hospital in the local vicinity that was well equipped to conduct such a study. The transfer occurred and the woman immediately underwent examination and laboratory tests by her attending physician. Her attending physician consulted a neurologist, who also conducted an examination and ordered a CT scan. While the neurologist's examination produced normal results, the attending physician's lab results were abnormal - showing hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is an abnormally low concentration of sodium in the blood. Untreated, acute hyponatremia, the form of hyponatremia in...