Judge awards $8.6M in Scott air base malpractice case

[308Mike]

Linkarooni

Judge awards $8.6M in Scott malpractice case

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Dec 9, 2008 20:51:59 EST

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A judge says the U.S. government must pay $8.6 million in damages over a Scott Air Force Base doctor’s misdiagnosis of flesh-eating bacteria.

Jean Phillips is the former wife of an Air Force captain. She filed suit in 2005.

In 2002, she went to the base emergency room for pain and swelling in her right arm.

Court documents say Dr. Daniel MacAlpine believed the woman was an addict looking for prescription drugs and told her to go home and take Motrin.

Weeks later, Phillips was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh-eating bacteria.

A bench trial was held in August. In a decision late last month, Federal Magistrate Judge Philip Frazier faulted MacAlpine and wrote Phillips suffers “continuous, debilitating pain.”

Messages left Tuesday for Phillips and MacAlpine’s attorneys weren’t immediately returned.

[Jered]

Military doctors tell everyone to take Motrin.

[Catbird]

When I was in, there was a rumor that the TMC's, (troop medical clinics), had symptom flow chart books for diagnosing maladies. The joke was that all the flow chart lines led to two treatments:

Above the Waist: Motrin

Below the Waist: Foot Powder

[mekender]

is that the .mil version of Robitussin?

[cu74]

Back when I was in, (just after the Bronze Age) the standard Navy sick bay statement was, "Take two APCs**, soak it, and don't walk on it for 24 hours" - no matter what the ailment.

** APC = All Purpose Capsule, AKA Aspirin

[Wrenchbender1]

is that the .mil version of Robitussin?

Vitamin "M" is like the Obama of the military medicine cabinet. The Doc's swear up and down that it will fix everything but in reality it doesn't do much.

[SoupOrMan]

Wow. They give out Motrin now? We always got Tylenol-III.