Professional Negligence Law Reporter

Murray v. Valley Health Sys., L.L.C., No. A-14-699586 (Nev. Dist. Ct. Clark Cnty. Jan. 23, 2019).

LaQuinta Murray, 29, experienced severe pain in her lower extremities. She was admitted to Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center with a diagnosis of sickle cell crisis, chronic anemia, and strep throat. Physician Mandip Arora ordered both opioid and non-opioid analgesics, as well as strict recording of Murray’s urine output. Over the next four days, Murray was administered Toradol. She experienced critically high potassium levels and decreased urine output, but nurses failed to record this. Murray then suffered renal failure that led to fatal cardiac arrest. She had been a CNA and is survived by her husband and minor child.

Murray’s husband, individually and on behalf of Murray’s estate and the couple’s child, sued the hospital, Arora, and another treating physician, alleging negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. The plaintiffs asserted that hospital staff administered Toradol more frequently than ordered, in violation of the drug’s black box warning; and that nurses failed to record Murray’s urine output and notify a physician she was experiencing signs of kidney failure, including a creatinine level of up to 4.6 mm per deciliter. The plaintiffs also asserted that the hospital’s medication administration policy, including the administration of certain medications at the same time, was designed to ensure efficiency, not patient well-being. The plaintiff claimed lost income totaling approximately $700,000.

The plaintiffs settled with the physicians confidentially before trial. The jury awarded $48 million, including $32 million in punitive damages. The hospital staff was found to be 65 percent at fault.

Plaintiff counsel: David Creasy and AAJ member Danial Laird, both of Las Vegas.