Kaiser – Treatment Delay / Child

Our Kaiser team obtained a major (multiple six-figure settlements) on behalf of a teenage girl who experienced delayed treatment of a vision-threatening but surgically treatable condition called pseudotumor cerebri. The previously healthy girl presented several times to Kaiser with the new onset of severe headaches and visual complaints, which began after she had received a tetracycline type antibiotic. Despite this classic presentation of pseudotumor cerebri, no ophthalmology evaluation was performed for two weeks. Once the diagnosis was finally made, the attending physicians failed to recognize the need for emergency surgical intervention, allowing her vision to deteriorate for three more weeks. By then, increased pressure on her optic nerves had caused permanent vision loss that could not be reversed.