Jury awards $18.25M to girl who visited ER repeatedly before E. coli found

A St. Louis jury awarded more than $18.25 million to a young girl who suffered permanent injuries after she was repeatedly brought to the emergency room but wasn’t admitted.

Shortly after the May 22 verdict, the parties reached a confidential settlement that resolved the case.

According to the plaintiffs’ attorneys at The Simon Law Firm, the family of the then-3-year-old girl, referred to as S.G., brought her to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital three times in a 48-hour period starting June 14, 2016. S.G. had multiple episodes of diarrhea and fever, which worsened as she began to have blood in her stool and to vomit.

A nurse practitioner ordered a stool culture to test for E. coli O157:H7 — a specific strain, also known as shiga toxin-producing E. coli, that can cause bloody diarrhea in children. It carries the potential to cause kidney failure and a deadly syndrome called Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome, or HUS. S.G. was treated for her dehydration symptoms, but she wasn’t admitted for observation and was repeatedly sent home with instructions to bring her back if her condition worsened.

On the morning of June 18, S.G.’s father found his daughter on the floor of his bedroom in a pool of bloody diarrhea. Tim Cronin, an attorney for the family, said S.G.’s father, Thomas Guessanbi, picked up his daughter in his arms and, without getting dressed, drove his daughter back to the hospital, where she finally was admitted and where she would remain for three months.

Upon admission, she was diagnosed with an acute kidney injury secondary to dehydration. The test results returned later that afternoon positive for E. coli O157:H7 + Shiga-Like Toxin.

During her hospital stay, the 3-year-old child developed a host of complications, including kidney failure, seizures, neurological failure and diabetes. Attorneys for the family said the injuries she sustained required her to undergo intensive rehabilitation, chronic dialysis and a lifetime of kidney transplants and hospitalization. Cronin said the previously healthy 3-year-old, who is the youngest of a family of six who had emigrated from West Africa, permanently will be an insulin-dependent diabetic with high blood pressure, kidney disease and cognitive injury.

In a lawsuit filed in St. Louis Circuit Court, the plaintiffs alleged that Saint Louis University, which operates the hospital, was negligent in failing to admit S.G. for monitoring and supportive care as her symptoms worsened. Other defendants in the case were dismissed before trial.

The defendant disputed liability and causation, arguing that it had provided adequate care and treatment in line with the CDC guidelines for dysentery, and that upon discharge S.G. was stable and looking better. The defendant also argued that even if it had admitted S.G., the outcome would have been the same, as she had contracted a terrible, rare, aggressive disease with no known cure.

The plaintiffs, however, alleged that S.G. would have not suffered her permanent injuries if she had been admitted.

“If HUS is going to happen, it’s going to happen,” Cronin said in an interview. “But if you admit them and take care of them, it’s much better.”

After an eight-day trial in St. Louis, nine of 12 jurors found in favor of the plaintiff. Subsequent to the verdict, the parties asked Judge Scott Millikan to approve a settlement creating a trust for S.G. Millikan approved the sealed agreement on July 2.

Cronin declined to discuss the settlement, but he said there would be no appeal of the verdict. Timothy Gearin of Armstrong Teasdale, an attorney for the defendant, didn’t return a call for comment.

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