What each example shows
Each example focuses on the basic sequence: the medical problem, the alleged failures in care, and the harm that followed.
Real case examples
Real medical-malpractice cases.
These examples are here to help you see what serious medical negligence can look like in real life. Each one describes the medical problem, the alleged failures in care, and the harm that followed, so you can better understand whether your own situation may deserve closer review.
How to use these examples
If you are trying to understand whether negligent medical care may have caused serious harm, these examples can help you compare your situation to real cases. They are meant to make complicated medical events easier to recognize and easier to think about.
Plaintiff and patient names on this site have been changed for privacy. Hospital, provider, and factual descriptions remain based on the source summaries unless otherwise noted.
Start with the featured examples
The featured examples give a quick sense of the kinds of failures and injuries
that appear in serious malpractice cases.
Look for a familiar pattern
You can browse by hospital system, type of medical failure, or the full list to
see whether something resembles your own experience.
Use them for comparison, not conclusions
No example can tell you by itself whether you have a claim, but it may help you
ask better questions about what happened.
What to look for
Pay attention to recurring issues such as delayed diagnosis, poor monitoring, missed emergency treatment, surgical error, or communication breakdowns.
What these examples can do
They can help you put names to problems that may have felt confusing or hard to describe when you first looked at your own records or timeline.
What these examples cannot do
They do not replace a careful legal and medical review. Every case turns on its own records, timing, injuries, and proof.
Featured examples
Emory Healthcare
Significant permanent disabilities
Delayed stroke treatment after repeated TIAs at Emory Johns Creek Hospital
Three TIAs in eight hours followed by delayed monitoring and missed stroke treatment
This complaint states as follows: Adrian Wells suffered three transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) within 8 hours, which were not properly recognized or treated by the medical staff at Emory Johns Creek Hospital. Despite neurological monitoring orders and a neurology consultation request, the nursing staff failed to implement the monitoring for 16 hours. When a neurologist finally assessed Adrian, the neurologist suspected a conversion disorder rather than stroke, missing the opportunity for urgent stroke treatment. As a result, Adrian did not receive any treatment for the stroke he was suffering, which was confirmed by an MRI two days later. The multiple, repeated delays left Adrian with significant permanent disabilities.
Stroke delayFailure to monitorMissed emergency escalation
Piedmont Healthcare
Profound brain injury and death
Delayed response to post-thyroidectomy neck hematoma at Piedmont Augusta Hospital
Post-thyroidectomy neck bleeding, airway compression, and delayed emergency response
This complaint states as follows: Evelyn Hart underwent a thyroidectomy at Piedmont Augusta Hospital. One well-known complication of the surgery is bleeding in the neck that forms a hematoma that compresses the windpipe. That can suffocate the patient, causing brain injury or death. That can happen fast. So it is critical for any hospital that offers neck surgery to make sure their staff are properly trained and instructed to respond immediately at the first sign of bleeding in the neck or difficulty breathing. Piedmont Augusta did not do that. Because of that, Evelyn suffocated after surgery, suffered profound brain injury, and lingered in the hospital for weeks before she died.
Post-operative hematomaAirway emergencyDelay in treatment
Hamilton Medical Center
Wrongful death
Brainstem stroke allegedly missed at Hamilton Medical Center
Brainstem stroke allegedly misread on two radiology studies and not treated as a neurological emergency
This complaint states as follows: Twenty-six-year-old Olivia Drake went to the ER at Hamilton Medical Center. Olivia had signs and symptoms of a stroke. Although two radiology studies and her clinical presentation indicated that Olivia was having a catastrophic stroke, Defendants repeatedly misread the studies as normal, failed to diagnose the stroke, failed to treat her deficits as a neurological emergency, and failed to treat the stroke with a thrombectomy or otherwise, causing her death.
Brainstem strokeMisread imagingFailure to diagnose
Browse by hospital system or institution
Emory Healthcare
3 mattersMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Piedmont Healthcare
3 mattersMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Wellstar Health System
3 mattersMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Atlanta Brain & Spine Care
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Children’s Hospital of Atlanta
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Choice Podiatry Center
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Doctors Hospital of Augusta
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Gwinnett Hospital System
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Hamilton Medical Center
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Intermountain Health Care
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Kennestone Hospital
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
MAK Anesthesia
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Ortho Sport & Spine Physicians
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Phoebe Putney
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
St. Francis Health
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
St. Joseph’s Hospital
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
St. Mary’s Health Care System
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
The Emory Clinic
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Tift Regional Health System
1 matterMatters are grouped here by named hospital system, clinic, or institution so readers can browse patterns tied to a specific defendant or care setting.
Browse by negligence pattern
Failure to diagnose
7 examplesThese tags cluster recurring negligence patterns drawn directly from the imported case summaries.
Delay in treatment
4 examplesThese tags cluster recurring negligence patterns drawn directly from the imported case summaries.
Failure to treat
4 examplesThese tags cluster recurring negligence patterns drawn directly from the imported case summaries.
Airway emergency
3 examplesThese tags cluster recurring negligence patterns drawn directly from the imported case summaries.
Bowel obstruction
2 examplesThese tags cluster recurring negligence patterns drawn directly from the imported case summaries.
Conversion disorder misdiagnosis
2 examplesThese tags cluster recurring negligence patterns drawn directly from the imported case summaries.
Failure to monitor
2 examplesThese tags cluster recurring negligence patterns drawn directly from the imported case summaries.
Informed consent failure
2 examplesThese tags cluster recurring negligence patterns drawn directly from the imported case summaries.
Full case index
Delayed stroke treatment after repeated TIAs at Emory Johns Creek Hospital
Three TIAs in eight hours followed by delayed monitoring and missed stroke treatment
Delayed response to post-thyroidectomy neck hematoma at Piedmont Augusta Hospital
Post-thyroidectomy neck bleeding, airway compression, and delayed emergency response
Possible abscess on CT allegedly not worked up before discharge at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital
CT finding suggestive of abscess followed by discharge without follow-up imaging or investigation
Child bowel-obstruction case involving discharge despite worsening symptoms at CHOA
Substantial bowel obstruction followed by discharge home despite worsening symptoms and failed bedside treatment
Brainstem stroke allegedly missed at Hamilton Medical Center
Brainstem stroke allegedly misread on two radiology studies and not treated as a neurological emergency
Stroke allegedly not diagnosed or treated at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Savannah
Emergency stroke presentation followed by failure to diagnose and failure to administer TPA
Spinal epidural hematoma allegedly not recognized in the ICU at Emory University Hospital
Post-thrombectomy ICU bleeding and neurological deficits followed by delayed recognition of spinal epidural hematoma
Post-operative bowel leak and sepsis after colon surgery at St. Francis
Unnecessary colon surgery followed by delayed diagnosis and treatment of an anastomotic leak
Airway and respiratory failure case at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center after car crash trauma
Severe chest trauma followed by failure to secure the airway, failed emergent intubation, and poor respiratory monitoring
Major chyle leak allegedly not identified or treated at Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center
Post-spine-surgery chyle leak with liters of whitish fluid draining through a suprapubic catheter without investigation or treatment
Post-thyroidectomy neck hematoma allegedly not relieved in time at St. Mary’s
Rapidly expanding post-thyroidectomy neck hematoma followed by delay in cutting sutures to relieve airway pressure
Elective colon surgery preceded by alleged cardiology-clearance failure at Gwinnett
Elective surgery performed without the patient understanding a major coronary blockage seen on CT calcium imaging
Heart attack allegedly not transferred or treated at Tift Regional
Heart attack identified at a hospital lacking definitive capability, followed by failure to transfer, failure to diagnose a second heart attack, and admission without a treatment plan
Closed-loop bowel obstruction allegedly not treated as a surgical emergency at Emory
Suspected closed-loop bowel obstruction followed by overnight delay, morning delay, and loss of 40% of the small intestine
Leg-amputation case after delayed treatment of clot following thrombectomy at Piedmont
ICU clot after thrombectomy followed by delay in examination, investigation, and treatment until above-knee amputation became necessary
Hip-fracture diagnosis allegedly not communicated at Phoebe Worth Medical Center
Emergency-department hip-fracture diagnosis not communicated to the patient or primary care provider for nearly a month
Exactech recall and bone-lesion case allegedly missed at The Emory Clinic
Exactech ankle-implant recall followed by repeated failure to diagnose a growing cystic lesion visible on X-rays
Bunion surgery and nonunion case at Choice Podiatry Center
Negligent bunion surgery and follow-up care resulting in non-union and later revision surgeries
Gallbladder surgery, bile leak, and sepsis-delay case at Wellstar
Unnecessary cholecystectomy without informed consent followed by delayed investigation and treatment of severe complications
Spine-hardware misplacement case at Atlanta Brain & Spine Care
Misplaced spinal implant and screws followed by months of dismissed pain complaints without imaging
Pressure-wound and bone-infection case at Doctors Hospital of Augusta
High-risk patient developed a deep infected pressure wound that allegedly was not prevented or treated in time
Cervical epidural injection case causing spinal-cord injury at Ortho Sport & Spine Physicians
Cervical epidural steroid injections and nerve block allegedly performed without proper exams, informed consent, or response to signs of cord entry
Ketamine overdose and airway-failure wrongful-death case involving EMS and Intermountain
Vehicular-collision EMS response followed by ketamine overdose, respiratory arrest, failed ventilation, and later concealment allegation
Transverse-myelitis case allegedly misdiagnosed as conversion disorder at Kennestone
Neurological emergency in a healthy 18-year-old followed by failure to order contrast MRI of the entire spine and premature conversion-disorder diagnosis
Child surgical-fire burns case involving MAK Anesthesia and oxygen management
Outpatient eyelid procedure followed by surgical fire when oxygen-rich air was not reduced and cleared before cautery
Start here
This will help me understand your matter more quickly and get back to you faster.
If you are trying to understand whether negligent medical care caused serious harm in your own situation, the medical malpractice page is still the best starting point. The case-example section is meant to supply concrete illustrations, not individualized legal advice.